Even the best, most-useful product in the world won’t sell from your website if you’re attracting the wrong demographic. Millennials aren’t buying much in the way of arthritis ointment these days, and if you’re inadvertently attracting senior citizens to your site that sells clothing for teens, you’re missing the mark by at least two generations. If the Internet sometimes feels like a big gated community that refuses to grant you access, read on.
The key to creating a successful web presence is drawing in potential customers, but not just any customers — ones who are actually interested in what you have to sell. The tricky part is figuring out who your visitors are, what they’re hoping to find on your site, and then using appropriate website content services to draw them in. Happily, there are a number of ways to do this.
Advanced Website Analytics
Programs like Clicktracks go beyond showing you how many people visited your site yesterday and from what country they hail. Using an advanced analysis program like this gives you valuable insight into which pages caused your visitors to linger and which ones resulted in a conversion. Clicktracks, and programs like it, allow you to data-mine right from the comfort of your home or office computer. Find out which keywords brought visitors to your sight, the pattern of their search and what actions they ultimately took. It’s sort of the equivalent of the old two-way mirror in the dressing room — a way to catch your visitors when they’re unaware to discern their true shopping habits.
Intelligent Virtual Assistants
Sometimes called avatars, these small digital people live inside the confines of your website and pop up to ask visitors questions to help guide them to their ultimate destination. Not only does your digital pal prove helpful and satisfying for your guests, it reports back to you about everything they said so you can make adjustments and upgrades based on the questions they asked. Even girl’s room gossip was never this insightful.
CodeBaby is a forerunner in the world of Intelligent Virtual Assistants. They boast global clients such as Toys R Us, CareFirst and MetLife. They also offer a free trial to site owners who want to learn more about the service.
Surveys
It seems too simple to work, but plain old customer surveys are still major players in the world of website feedback. Make one available on your site to find out such pertinent information as how old your readers are, whether they’re married, if they own pets and how much they make each year. It might seem trivial to collect this type of personal information, but if you process it correctly and use the information to your best advantage, it will help you offer more targeted products and services to those who regularly frequent your site. There are any number of sites out there — like Survey Gizmo — that can help you post polls and surveys to your website.
Realizing who’s stopping by your address on the web is a vital element of online success. Find out who your readers are, what they’re looking for, what they would love to see on your site and why they did or didn’t make a purchase, and you’ll have the magic key that opens up all the treasures of Internet City. All you have to do is figure out how and where to use it.
Anne G is copywriter with big aspirations. She plans to one day parlay her writing talent into a paycheck big enough to provide for the kids, the cats, and the beagle in the custom they so richly deserve.
