The age of websites as brochures has long since passed. To keep up with the competition you need to have a more interactive website. If you just give people something to look at but no way of taking meaningful action, they’ll browse and leave without forging the lasting bond you want them to make.
Asking website visitors to fill out a contact form is a recipe for disaster – 67% of visitors don’t complete them. You’re adding a layer of friction between their intention and them getting what they want. Nowadays, people want instant gratification – not to fill out a tedious contact form and wait patiently for a response.
Informational websites are great, but what you really want is a transactional one that drives your bottom line.
You wouldn’t open a shop where customers would need to wait days before they could actually buy a product. And you shouldn’t run a website in the same way either. Your business website isn’t there to look pretty. It should be a core part of your monetization strategy, and there are tools available to help you do this with minimal effort.
Here are three ways to enhance a business website to turn it from informational to transactional.
Sell Consulting Sessions Directly
There is no need to waste time trading emails if you want to sell your time online. The dance of a potential client needing to fill out your form and waiting for you to reveal your availability should be a relic of the past. Can you blame them if they look at your competitors and book with them instead because their process is more streamlined?
We all want convenience at a click of a button. Special attention should also be taken when creating such forms. For instance, asking for someone’s phone number is a particular red line. Approximately 14% of people say they’d never give this piece of information, even to a store from which they’re making a purchase. If you currently require a phone number to make a sale, you’re sabotaging yourself.
Imagine if a potential client could book a session on your website and pay in advance. There would be fewer hurdles for them to jump through, and they’d have a great first impression because of how simple the process was. This puts them in a positive frame of mind before even talking to you. And you don’t need to worry about people not paying for the services you provide.
There are already ways to do this. One way is through vcita’s WordPress plugin. It handles this exact workflow and you get the calendar invite, Zoom link, and pre-appointment reminders all set up. Their information is automatically added to your CRM for you to reach out to them in the future too.
Customers will see a user interface they are familiar with. They can select slots on a calendar that are automatically updated with staff availability. The plugin takes the pain out of the payment process by being 100% secure. To add to that, the vcita platform is trusted by over 100,000 small businesses.
Refresh Content Regularly
If all your webpage content is static, there’s no incentive for someone to return. This means if they don’t sign up for any of your offers, you have no second opportunity to convince them. When they see you’ve been active and engaging with viewers, then there’s more reason for them to come back and see what you’ve been up to in the future. What’s even better is when you can generate sales directly from your content.
Offering dynamic content on your website can come in many shapes and sizes. Many companies publish their own article-driven blogs, which does help. However, highlighting your social media activity is an underused complement to augment the effect.
You can use Spotlight to add your Instagram feed to your website in just a few clicks. The ease in which you can integrate means there’s no excuse for not taking this easy win. The obvious benefits are showing your Instagram posts to people who might not already follow you – helping you can gain followers.
You can be smart with it like KFC, which uses hashtags to create user-generated content that keeps things fresh. It adds intrigue to the website and can fuel the desire for users to keep coming back.
Where Spotlight really shines is that it allows you to add external links to your Instagram images and create a shoppable feed. This means the visual content doesn’t just entertain but can actually generate sales directly. It can provide a rapid path from seeing the product to purchasing it.
It’s common knowledge our eyes are drawn to images, but with Spotlight, you can then direct them to your product pages. Unlike Instagram, there are no limits or restrictions, so even if you’re just starting your Instagram journey, you can reap the rewards.
Create Binge-Worthy Premium Content
Quality content creation isn’t cheap. You’re an expert, and dedicating time and effort to your website can feel like a distraction away from your actual money-making processes. There’s a way to remedy this though which isn’t used often enough. Create a member’s area for your website behind a paywall using Restrict Content Pro.
It’s a win-win for everyone. You get compensated for the work you do and have a new potentially powerful source of revenue. Your true fans have a way to get your best work with regular updates. Everyone is happy.
One company that uses this methodology successfully is Process Masterclass – an in-depth online program. On their website, they show some free resources but most are safely hidden behind a paywall. This creates a sense of exclusivity. Another aspect that is particularly important if you have low traffic but a highly engaged niche is that you can monetize it based on the depth of interest and not just relying on mass appeal.
A smart thing Process Masterclass does is show the syllabus for the course. This shows prospective members exactly what they’d get if they sign up. As well as showing them the topics, it shows how long all the videos are. In this way, you quickly get a sense that there is a lot of material to get through, but that it’s created professionally and likely to be worth your time.
The other benefit of a membership program is that it keeps the customer coming back to your website. By converting them to members, you’ll gain a loyal audience. And if they see value in the content you sell, then the upsell potential is enormous.
Wrap Up
We’ve covered three ways to transform your informational website into a digital business hub where visitors can make purchases without any intervention from you. This allows your business to scale faster in a reliable way with payment systems you can trust.
People expect access when they want it and the more obstacles you can remove from their path, the more likely they are to do business with you. For a new business, this income can be a vital lifeline but with the right product fit, it can help you truly thrive.
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