Websites for Service Professionals/Consultants - Part 1

Websites for Service Professionals/Consultants - Part 1

Selling services on the web is not restricted to web design type services.

It is also not restricted to those businesses selling to a Global market.

Local search is being rolled out by all of the major search engines and will become more and more popular as more and more local businesses are added to the search engines indexes.

New research shows that is on the rise, and that a surprising amount of local searches are now being conducted.

 According to ComScore Networks 63 percent of U.S. Internet users conducted a local search in July with almost 60% searching for a restaurant or other entertainment related like theme parks.

Many were searching for business phone numbers or addresses, something I've often done myself.

In this course we will be focusing on websites for service busnesses like web designing, computer consultants, plumbers etc. Some services ( information based) will be easier than others, but all are open to be sold/marketed on the Internet using a website

The Common Mistake

Many small business owners just get themselves a website and put up a few contact details and leave it. The site design might look good ( sometimes not) but:

• The site doesn't have a purpose.
  
• Doesn't rank in the search engines.
  
• Isn't actively promoted.
  
• Doesn't capture email addresses and contact information.
  
• Doesn't Inform.
  

A little Test- Next time you see a web address on the side of a white van or in some leaflet etc go to Google and imaging you were looking not for that business but for a business that offered those type of services and try to find one on Google.

Now does the website appear in the first 10 results for a few searches? I have done this numerous times and haven't found the business I as looking for.

However you don't need to be the invisible man. Most of the sites I looked for made elementary mistakes which with a little knowledge and effort could easily be corrected.

 
 

The Site Purpose and The Most Wanted Response

The purpose of you site is to demonstrate that you have the technical expertise to do want the client is searching for and to build a relationship with the client/potential client.

Your Most wanted response is what you want the visitor to do when he/she reaches your site.

The obvious answer is that you want to sell the visitor your service but is that possible on the first encounter?

Most people will look at multiple product offers before deciding to purchase. If they are looking to buy a service they will  want to evaluate several providers before they make a decision.

Therefore you should:

• Make it easy for them to reach you again
  
• Get a way of contacting them
  
• Make it easy to contact you
  
• Provide compelling prove that you can deliver
  

You should also be aware that the more expensive your service the more contact you will need with the potential client.

 Therefore your most wanted response should be to establish a contact and this is usually by email or phone.

In Part 2 we will be looking at targeting and getting clients