The Importance Of The Web And The Online Store For A Company
In any type of business, one of the main concerns is to make yourself known and try to attract people interested in your product / service who in some cases will later become your customers.
In the past, the use of printed brochures, advertising on television, radio or press were the means used to be used to try to attract the attention of this target audience for your company.
But as we have seen in recent years, the rise of the Internet and smartphones has ensured that the vast majority of people are connected for a long period of time, making it something that companies have to seriously consider.
That is why today it is vital that companies have their own corporate website, since it is a perfect business card for those who have heard of your company or want to have more information about it.
We are talking about thousands of potential customers who can find us through search engine queries ( Google generally), and that unlike a physical store, this will be available 24 hours a day throughout the year, it does not take holidays or take breaks.
Must Read: How to create a website
You may have the wrong idea that this function can be fulfilled by the RRSS, but although they are undoubtedly very useful, they have limitations and you cannot edit them at your discretion. In addition, if you have a well-developed website, you will be giving a more professional image to the client as well as greater seriousness and prestige, thus improving the confidence they may have in you.
Because let’s be honest, with whom would we have less doubts? With a company that only advertises its products / services in its social networks or another that in addition to using these social media, has its own website where they explain who they are, what they are offering, how they do it and why they are the best option?
Understanding this part, now the web should meet a series of guidelines so that your marketing strategy is the most suitable for your business:
1. Professional design
It is clear that the first impression is always very important, so the design must be attractive and offer interesting information for our typical client. We must also align the image we have of our brand on the web so that our final message is not confusing.
- Digital Marketing
If we want to promote visits to the web, we have to draw up a plan to attract different digital media. It is recommended to use the RRSS most frequented by your target audience (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube), giving useful content and referring to your website generally. The use of newsletters or e-mailing when you have a certain number of contacts interested in your business is another common practice. To know more read our exclusive article what is digital marketing.
- Blog
Generating dynamic content is very relevant, since it will provide updated and constant information for your visitors and can give us credibility as experts that we are in that sector. It is a value that search engines also take into account when positioning in queries, and if we have a large number of articles talking about a topic, we will have more possibilities of ranking with any of them.
- Personalized customer management tools
Having a good manager to capture the data of our potential customers and then be able to easily send e-mails should be one of our objectives. This will help us for example when making personalized forms and we will achieve an improvement in customer service.
- Responsive Web
With the large number of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets,), it would be very unwise to not adapt our website to these different resolutions. We are talking about that the visits every day are greater through these means, so it is an action to be carried out in a mandatory way.
- SEO
As its words indicate, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tries to optimize our content as much as possible in search engine queries. We will have to use a series of rules and good practices to better position what we are publishing, the use of friendly Urls being basic.
- SEM
Sometimes it is recommended to advertise relevant content on search engines or if we are campaigning on the web. It will help us better segment the type of person we want to see the ad we have designed and we will increase visits and sales opportunities.
With these guidelines in mind, we can find that due to the type of business we have, a “simple” website is not enough for us since it would be more focused on eCommerce and we need what is known as an online store.
Unlike the more traditional website, here we will offer very detailed information about our products/services and we also offer the user the possibility of making the purchase instantly.
We can adapt an online store to any company without problems, and in this case domain and hosting are vital. Having a quality hosting will make the different pages of the store load quickly and the user does not tire after a long wait and decline the purchase.
If the best option for your business is the online store, you should follow these recommendations:
- Originality in the descriptions
If you are going to detail a product, do it personally and do not copy the text in the manufacturer or the like. In addition to harming SEO, you will not be differentiating yourself from the competition and you will not be contributing anything new.
- Options in the payment method
Always try to offer as many options as possible to your customer when they go to buy. PayPal, various debit / credit cards and bank transfer are the most common.
- Use the RRSS as a catchment, never as a direct sale
Channels like Facebook or Twitter are very good to get the attention of your audience, but do not think that you will sell in great quantity in them. Their role should be to publicize your products / services and create community with potential customers and prescribers of your brand.
- Post-sale service
We must not forget the customer after the sale, since in this way it is likely that they will buy from us again. Keeping you updated using newsletters or following up with satisfaction surveys will improve this relationship for the future.
- Quality in the photographs
The image is still very important, and for this reason we must use the best possible to show our products or services. That it is clear, striking and showy will make it better received by the user.
If we are able to apply all these actions, we will make our online store more successful.
As we have analyzed in this article, a company has an absolute need to have an online presence on a website, since it will affect its reputation, credibility and the trust it arouses in its potential customers.
Of course, when taking this step we must take into account everything that we have previously discussed since otherwise it could even be counterproductive.
And if it is an online store that best suits our needs, we must also have good professionals who transmit what we want and advise us, as well as always have leading market technologies such as Prestashop that gives guarantees of stability and quality .