Trade Up for a Better Home Business

If you sell products or services out of your home, what are you doing to make sure your customers get top-notch customer service each and every day?

For some home business owners, that task can be challenging given all they have to do as a one-person show. Others, however, are able to pull it off, knowing that their customers will always rank as the most important item on their to-do lists.

With that in mind, what are you doing as a home business owner to improve your brand?

More specifically, what are you not doing, and how can you correct that moving forward?

Give Consumers What They Want

Fredmeyer_edit_1

Start out by reviewing your customer service procedures, including what information your website provides them before they might even have to talk to you by phone.

Look at your website to see if it covers the following:

  • Basic information – Your website should have basic company product and/or service information on it. Such things as what your brand offers, how long you have been in business, how to reach you etc. are all necessities your site needs. The information should be in areas on the site that are easy to find, meaning customers (current and potential) do not have to feel like they are surfing through a maze to find it;
  • Product or service instructions – If you sell a certain product, do you have information about it on your site? Products typically come with how-to manuals, giving customers the basic of how to put it together, how to operate it etc. Take an example from Trade Bit, who offers repair manual downloads on countless products. While you likely only sell one or a number of products, it is a good idea to download such manuals on your site, allowing customers access to them if they do not have the paper version handy. Doing so just makes for smart marketing tactics for your brand;
  • Error-free copy and links – There are many ways to make your home business website look professional, one of which is making sure it is free of errors and broken links.  One of the more irritating things for customers (current and those you are hoping to convert) is coming onto sites where links do not work, copy is loaded with errors, and a simple search for this or that seems to take forever. As a home business owner, funds may be a little tight at times or seemingly all the time. That said it does not mean you shouldn’t be spending money where funds should be directed. Spending some extra money for a professionally-done website is certainly worth the investment;
  • Eye-catching imagery – Your home business website also needs to be appealing when it comes to imagery. If you have a dull site that is full of copy and very few images, it will more times than not bore viewers. This doesn’t mean go nuts on photos etc. but do have them strategically placed on the site for maximum exposure;
  • Social component – It shouldn’t come as a surprise that your website needs as much attention as you can possibly give it. One of the great ways to go about this is via social media. In the event you haven’t up to now, promote your site on social networking sites and allow consumers to do the same for you. For any web copy you have, leave icons at the top of the page so that visitors can tweet, share, pin etc. This will put your site and its offerings out in front of the eyes of countless others. Also be willing to share other’s copy, including those who you may invite to guest post on your blog. Once again, this sharing component presents you with more opportunities to market your brand.

Part of being a sound home business owner is being able to market your products or services to the general public without too much hassle and effort.

If your website has been on the backburner for some time now, take the time to get it up to speed.

Remember, your website is a key component of your overall marketing strategy, so make sure it is a fine representative of your brand.

Continue Reading