Welcome to the latest edition of the Inside Edge--your monthly report on Internet trends and advancements that can turn your business into a more profitable e-Business. In the exciting buzz around Internet marketing, a very commonly heard phrase is "call-to-action". Quite simply, it is the "calling" for a visitor on your site to go beyond the entry point and hopefully be engaged in the online actions that boost your brand's Internet profitability. For many small and medium sized business (SMBs) owners, the most desirable action their website can create in a customer's mind is to encourage a phone call. In this edition, we share with you some simple but highly effective strategies on how to make your online brand ring a bell…literally, as in Rring! Rring! Read on to find out how…
"In the beginning was a Phone Call, and the Phone Call was from a Customer, and the Customer was the promise of a Sale." This mundane twist on an oft-quoted biblical phrase is of extraordinary significance to the business world. Even before the mighty power of the Web, was the simple phone call. It's true that in the exciting and dynamic e-commerce world, the shopping cart reigns supreme. However, not every business can squeeze its products or even worse, its services, into an online catalogue or shopping cart. Remember Jennifer Lopez in "The Wedding Planner"? As she walks around with her wireless headset, her luck (b)rings in the biggest wedding of her career. Never mind that it also throws her into her life's biggest dilemma (about whether to plan the wedding for Matthew McConaughey or to become his bride – some trivia for those of you missed this Hollywood comedy)!
The point of the matter is that most small to medium size businesses using the Web are not suited for shopping carts. They sell services and products that just don't work that way — like plumbing, landscape design, corporate consulting, acupuncture, and yes, wedding planning. So when SMBs are asked what they want most from a website, they're more than likely to answer: more phone calls. This makes sense. A phone call is the call-to-action they most desire from their website. In the non-shopping cart world, sales are made - or at least initiated - with a phone call. Are you getting maximum value from your Web marketing dollars or does your online brand need a serious boost? If that boost could be a phone call from a potential customer who is on your site, click here to read on…
The abundance of metrics or Web analytics provided by Internet marketing solutions report how many visitors came to your site, how much time they spent, what pages they came from, and what search terms they used. However, if the essence of your sales model involves converting online visitors to offline customers, these pieces of information don’t necessarily tell you if your website is a good salesperson, just breaking even, or underperforming. Here's where Web telephony changes the rules. Want to know how?
Combining advanced telephony and Web services, your WSI Consultant can offer Web-integrated voice applications that turn the small business telephone into the tool it should be - increasing lead generation, improving sales conversion and enhancing the customer experience. Get in touch with your WSI Internet Consultant today to make sure your website truly 'rings a bell' and gets your customers calling!
