With a little cash, anyone can rent a storefront and open up for business. The hard part is getting people through the door to see what you have to offer. This has been true as long as there have been Main streets. Those businesses with the flashiest awnings and fanciest signs draw more customers than the businesses with peeling paint and cardboard signs in the window.
In Short, Packaging Matters
Though the Internet has changed the way business is done, it hasn’t changed the competition for customers. If you want to bring people through the doors of your online store, you still need to focus on presentation.
Interview yourself
Plenty of differences can be pointed out between the salesy persuasion of good copywriting and the hard facts of journalism, but the basis for each is the same. The more you tell potential customers about your business, the easier you make it for them to connect with your company.
Ask yourself the questions who, what, where, when, and why, and make sure you answer all of them on your website. Tell customers who you are, what your business offers, where you’re located, when you’re available to be contacted, and why they should care.
Why should they care?
When you ask yourself all those journalistic questions, you might suffer a bout of anxiety when you try to answer the most important question: Why should customers care about your business when hundreds of businesses are just like it?
That’s the thing, though. There aren’t hundreds of businesses like yours. Something makes you unique. Focus on that special something and make sure it’s conveyed on your website. Maybe you use eco-friendly materials in your products. Maybe you can do web design cheaper than most companies. Maybe you just have a really good story on how you got started. Whatever makes you special, make sure it shows.
Be Real
If anything makes you unique in your niche, the personality behind your business will, and being honest and open about who you are will increase consumers’ trust. A survey by Financial Review found, as of May 2012, 38 percent of consumers still claim to be very concerned about security when shopping online. A lot of that is due to the faceless nature of online companies.
You can overcome consumer concern by telling them who you are, showcasing photos of the people at your company, and launching a blog. Giving yourself an online voice through a blog can help make your startup stand out from your competition. Blogs can, and should, be about more than your company, and even an About Us page can provide some background and serve as a chance to tell consumers why they should buy from you, instead of the other company two clicks away.
When you launch a startup, you don’t have to rise to the top of your field at the outset. You just have to make enough to stay afloat until you can build a customer base. By choosing a reliable web hosting company that can handle any spikes in traffic from a sudden surge in popularity, you’ll ensure your site keeps running smoothly. By featuring photos and media that draw in consumers, and writing useful content that pulls in organic search traffic, you’ll start building your brand.
The whole of your website is like your storefront. Make it eye-catching and interesting, so that potential customers will wonder what’s inside.
