Three Essentials
to Building Website Community by
Herb Wetenkamp, Home Business Magazine Online
featured
website community resources and softwares >>>
Developing a
sense of community among visitors is now essential for ecommerce
success. Community - that sense of belonging to a particular interest
group or market niche - fosters the credibility a site needs to get
repeat visits...and sales.
But just posting
a few articles and a link or two is not enough to create product
sales. A website-based Community needs three essential elements to
achieve emarketing success:
1) solid "sticky"
features to capture loyalty
2) creative
onsite linking that drives product sales, and
3) effective
offsite marketing to encourage people to join the Community.
"Sticky"
Features
Sticky features
you can add to your Community include:
COMMUNITY
HOMEPAGE. A Community section should have its own Homepage with
a WELCOME MESSAGE and a CONTENTS INDEX to formally welcome visitors
and let them know what's in the section. If several pages long, list
"hot links" to various sections, especially to the product page or
online store.
MESSAGE BOARDS
allow visitors to read and post messages, usually freely, but sometimes
monitored by the webmaster or outside "editor." Allowing people to
express their views and read those of others is a proven sticky feature.
REAL-TIME
CHAT enables visitors to have live, two-way "conversations."
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS) describe the site's purpose, how to participate,
how to create a member profile, and other information drawn from
email and feedback.
FEEDBACK
FORM allows the visitor to send in an opinion, complaint, question,
or suggestion, often set up with an automatic, pop-up email.
AUTORESPONSE.
Allows the visitor to request pre-written information or answers
to questions by sending in their email address and receiving a reply
using an autoresponder.
HELP.
How-to instructions covering all areas of the site, plus staff names
and emails to contact with questions. Ideally should be searchable.
Consider offering "Live Help", in which a visitor can chat real-time
with you. This interactive process allows you to move your correspondent
closer to a product sale.
MEMBER PROFILES
allow members to create "profiles" describing themselves, their interests,
and their businesses. They can also check other profiles to find
out about other members and even view photos, if you offer capability
to upload photos into profiles.
"MEMBERS
ONLY" SECTION with special information or resources available
only to visitors that have created a profile, in which they set up
a "User Name" and "Password." Exclusivity creates loyalty and allows
you to capture customer information...and opt-ins for your email
lists. Special message boards, downloadable ebooks, articles, free
software and other "members only" offers encourage sign ups and loyalty.
NEWS & ARTICLES.
News about your niche Community, information, free advice, and how-to
articles on topics helpful to your Community members, written by
industry experts or members with particular expertise. Shows you're
helping your visitors (potential customers) become successful. Frequent
updating gets better return visit rate.
PRIVACY POLICY.
Now essential, it assures visitors that their personal information
is safeguarded, won't be used for spamming, and won't be sold without
their consent. They can "opt-out" from being put on an email list
to receive offers or other correspondence. Anyone using a credit
card to make a purchase will be looking for this privacy information.
ABOUT US
details staff functions, background, credentials, and history of
the company.
EMAIL.
Free or low-cost email accounts give visitors a reason to come back
daily.
CONTACT US.
Make it easy to reach you by phone, physical address, and email,
especially if you're selling products on your site.
SEARCHABLE
ARCHIVES for Community sections, specific articles or even Message
boards. Saves visitors a lot of time and possible frustration.
OPINION.
Your views on your niche market can help you establish credibility.
Featuring opinions of members makes all visitors feel the site is
accessible.
LINKS AND
DIRECTORIES. Helpful links, contacts, business resources, member
businesses, industry associations, affiliates and partner sites.
If complete for your niche market, visitors will log on to your site
more often to use them.
ONLINE CLASSES.
Develop your own online courses on how to be successful in your niche
market, or link up with an elearning website to offer-or custom develop-one
or more courses.
ONLINE CONSULTING.
Offer a free consulting session related to your products or services.
You can schedule a phone consultation or "live chat" session on the
site. Free consulting is an ideal feature for the "Members Only"
section, too.
ONLINE STORE.
The most important feature of a Community section for an ecommerce
site, your store should be part of the Community or linked to from
the Community section.
GUARANTEE.
Prominently place a guarantee in the Community section that you stand
behind all your products and will cheerfully refund money-no questions
asked-for any product a customer is not satisfied with.
Don't become
overwhelmed in adding all these features at once. Select the ones
that you feel are sticky and most useful for your niche market...ones
that will help you best sell products.
Add new features
regularly and announce their debut in a press release. (For software
and web-based resources you can use to add features discussed above,
see the book, Poor Richard's Building Online Communities, available
from Top Floor Publishing at http://www.TopFloor.com/)
Onsite Linking
to Drive Sales
Remember, you've
set up your website (in theory, at least) to sell products. Your
Community page should work directly toward helping you sell them.
Make the features
of your Community informative. Informative advertising is not manipulative;
it instructs, advises, helps and offers solutions to problems. This
"informative advertising" should position your products as solutions
and tools to be used for success in your niche market.
Throughout your
Community section, strategically place links to your product sales
page or online store. Post news items and articles that relate to
your products and services, and add links at the end... or within
the text... that go directly to the related product.
Make sure your
FAQs have an answer for "How do I purchase a product in your store?"
Make sure your Help and Contact Us sections list contacts for questions
related to products.
Prominently
promote discounts on products and services in the "Members Only"
section, with links to the store. In short, do everything you can
to link Community page items with your product sales section.
Promoting
Your Community Section Offsite
DIRECT EMAIL/MAIL
LIST. Promote your Community with regular announcements on what's
new, or that highlight specific sections. Include a "hot link" back
to the Community homepage or section. Email only those visitors that
created a member profile with opt-in permission to email them.
EZINE NEWSLETTER.
Better yet, create an email newsletter and send it out regularly
to those that opt in. Include articles from the Community section
with a hot link to the section at the end, or previews of articles
that can be read fully by clicking a link to your site's Community
page. Place teaser ads about your Community features in various slots
throughout the ezine.
OFFLINE PROMOTION.
Send out news releases about interesting Community section features
to industry and general interest publications. In the release, note
that all readers can take advantage of free email, software or other.
Mention your Community page resources for starting a business in
your niche market. The web address listed in all media exposure should
contain the specific URL of your Community page. Participate in events,
such as business shows and trade expos; you can offer a hands-on
preview of your Community on a computer set up in your booth.
LINKS.
Trade links and banner ads that broadcast your free Community services
with other websites. Promote your free or low-cost email, message
boards, chat room, market news and articles.
DIRECTORIES.
Get your Community listed in as many online directories as possible.
SEARCH ENGINES.
Submit your Community pages to search engines separately from other
pages on your website, using your Community page title and metatags.
EMAIL SIGNATURE.
Include a signature line in all email mentioning the benefits of
visiting your Community section.
VIRAL MARKETING/
TELL A FRIEND. Ask Community members to tell a friend about your
Community section. Set up a "Tell a Friend" button, with pop-up email
form to make it easier for them to do so.
ONLINE EVENTS.
Sponsor regular events online such as contests, polls, guest speaker
chats, online seminars. Promote them in your offsite email, ezine
and news releases. Gear them to relate to products or services your
company offers.
POSTINGS
IN ONLINE GROUPS. Post announcements about your Community in
mailing list groups, newsgroups, online message boards, and online
clubs. Study these groups before doing so and try not to abuse the
club rules.
Herb Wetenkamp
is web publisher of Home Business Magazine Online, a website featuring
articles, business tools, networking contacts, business opportunities
and other resources for home-based business owners, home office workers
and telecommuters. A former newspaper reporter and magazine editor,
his areas of expertise include website development, publishing, marketing,
sales, advertising, publicity, trade show production and home office
management. Starting a home business and need info? Wetenkamp welcomes
questions and comments, and will personally answer all emails sent
to herb@homebusinessmag.com
. Please visit his website at http://www.homebusinessmag.com
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