Is your website working for you
By Frank Furness

When speaking to audiences around the world, I always ask who has websites and most of the people raise their hands. I then ask who generated a large or even small proportion of business from their website or generated some decent leads. Very few hands are raised. What is happening is that so many organisations have developed websites that are really worthless and it is like receiving the glossy brochure in the mail that goes straight into the bin. Most of the time, they will have a decent website, but it is not seen by anyone, it does not market the goods or services and clients don’t return because the website is not updated with new information or reasons for clients to return.
I now have six websites and developing another ten. The only purposes of my websites are to both sell products or services and give good solid information. Millions of people are looking for free information each day on the internet, so, how much free information are you giving to your potential clients. Give them articles or eBooks where you develop an online relationship. They will then see you as the expert in your field and in turn this will result in enquiries or sales.
Some of the essentials for a good website are:
Great content – provide good valuable content.
Links – develop a linking strategy. Have all you clients linking to your website and in return you link to theirs. Also, develop a strategy to link to other sites with high Google rankings. I use a great piece of software that finds me linking partners based on keywords and then automates the complete system for me to develop links. Take a look at http://tinyurl.com/pmcfo
I also discovered an incredible eBook on linking strategies and Search Engine Optimisation that has really assisted me in getting high rankings for my sites. It is written by a recognised expert and if you would like to receive a free copy, please email me at mail:frank@frankfurness.com
Articles – Write articles with valuable information. There are thousands of magazines that are looking for articles. Find the magazines in your sector and submit them to the editor. As a footnote always have your contact details. Some years ago, I approached the Financial Times regarding one of their international newspapers. This resulted in me having my own column for two years in an industry newspaper that was distributed to forty two countries. I didn’t earn much from it, but the recognition, branding and business generated was incredible. It was low cost, no cost marketing (my favourite).
You can also use these articles to develop an online marketing strategy. In your website, have links to all your articles. Submit your articles to article directories. Have links within your articles and at the footnote back to your website. Not only will people all over the world be downloading your articles, they will also put them into their websites as a resource and these will result in hundreds of links back to your site which the search engines lobe and this will automatically increase your ranking and visibility. An article site that I use often is http://www.articles4business.org

One of the things that I discovered when I first built my website was that every time I made any change to the site, I was sent an account and this amounted up over time (my wife asked if I had shares in the website company). I changed website providers and now use an organisation called Advenzia - http://www.advenzia.com

The biggest advantages to me are that I now have a back office system where I am in complete control of the site; I can make changes, add articles, and add products at any time. I also have a full ecommerce system for selling my products as well as a great affiliate system where people can sign up as affiliates to market my products and earn healthy commissions for doing so. (If you would like to become an affiliate, please go to http://tinyurl.com/syb5l ). The system I have on my website tracks all affiliate traffic, commissions and is simple to use.
Take a look at a short video I produced demonstrating my back office system at http://tinyurl.com/kqfhk



Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. www.frankfurness.com

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