Want to generate sales from your small business website? Keep It Simple Sister. Don’t sweat the geek-speak. Don’t get caught up in all the bells and whistles and shopping carts (and expense). Forget about programming. All you need are these five pages:
- Homepage – it will be the most visited page on your site. Make it strong and persuasive.
- Product / Services Listings page – describe your products’ benefits to the buyer. If you have more than 12 products, you’ll need a separate page for each. Make it easy to find what they’re looking for within two clicks.
- About Us page – the most difficult page to write. People want to know who they’re buying from, tell them like you’d tell a friend about your business.
- “Why Us” page – your customers have more buying options than ever. Use your Why Us page to demonstrate the benefits of buying from you.
- Education page – not everyone who visits your site is ready to buy now. They’re looking for information. More than sales and product information, educate them on your philosophies, your industry, post about the things that they’re going to be interested in reading.
Where’s the shopping cart?
The real question is, “do you even need an eCommerce site?” There are only three reasons a small business should invest in a shopping cart for their site:
- You sell something I can’t find anywhere else easily online.
- You sell the same product for less than anyone else sells it online.
- You ship your product outside of Kansas City or you don’t have a physical location in town where I can buy your product.
Otherwise, save your money. Your energy, time and resources are better spent creating a better website that moves people into your store.