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Our free click-through in the newsletters of www.matamata-info.co.nz - www.tearoha-info.co.nz - www.thames-info.co.nz - www.morrinsville-info.co.nz goes to the following town website www.thames-info.co.nz/oceanview (a very popular Thames accommodation provider)

March Stats - 13799 Pageviews from 6404 unique visitors.
March's top directories in order of popularity were -
www.matamata-info.co.nz/jellicoe-farmstay
www.matamata-info.co.nz/TirauGolfClub
www.matamata-info.co.nz/countrylodge
www.matamata-info.co.nz/OrakaWapiti
www.matamata-info.co.nz/stocker
www.matamata-info.co.nz/bayleys


Our most visited index pages, in order of popularity were: ACCOMMODATION - INFORMATION - ATTRACTIONS - REAL ESTATE - MAP - CLASSIFIEDS - TIRAU

Are you giving your website the credit it deserves (Part 2)
(The first part of this article is available online for those of you that can't remember it - CLICK HERE)

Part 1 on how to justify your Web efforts offered ways to calculate the direct value of your website. But direct value measurements like sales, lead generation, and customer service efficiencies, are only part of the story. Time now to focus on the indirect value a site can add and how to claim credit where credit's due.

Granted, charting indirect value means focusing on visitor behaviours that are harder to track, value and quantify. Many site owners don't even try. They often say, "Oh, we don't sell products on our site, so we can't really come up with a dollar value for our website." Or they do sell online, but only take credit for the direct revenue dollars they generate, not taking into account the influence they likely had on purchases made via other channels.

They're short-changing themselves. If direct value is the only valid value, what's the point of all those glossy car sites? They don't sell cars, they only display them. Bettycrocker.com doesn't sell cake mix. Pampers.com doesn't sell nappies, but it does generate high value in the business-to-consumer (B2C) world. Even when you're not selling or capturing leads online you can still quantify your site's indirect value. Here are three ways to start:

Referrals. Many organisations use their sites to steer referrals to stockists or resellers who will handle the ultimate transaction. (That is actually what all those car sites are up to.) Are you getting credit? Site managers often tell me, "Our site is there to educate potential customers about our products and answer any questions." On further examination, the site's real role is to propel people to partner sites.

Track this action through redirects, count handoffs to stockists/resellers sites, then work with those partners to learn what percentage of those leads end up buying. That's revenue driven by your site.

Offline sales. People regularly use websites to research products or services, whether they buy them online or not. (Many businesses that conduct a very low percentage of sales online gain a large percent of new customers who conduct online research before making a purchase) A persuasive website obviously helps your business well beyond the "web". Your job is to find out how much. Ways to track your site's true influence:

Dedicated email. Perhaps you promote email contact in numerous channels, including stationery and advertising. The address you provide on your website shouldn't appear anywhere else, so that you can separate website leads from the others.

Dedicated phone number. Same tactic. Consider offering a special toll-free number on your site. That, too, breaks out website leads. Businesses are often surprised at how many phone leads really originated online.

Web-only offer codes or coupons. Give customers an exclusive, nominal premium offer and see how often it's redeemed in other channels.

Customer satisfaction. A good website can help improve overall satisfaction with your organisation. A bad one can throw satisfaction scores into a nosedive. If you regularly conduct customer satisfaction surveys after the sale, add a couple of website specific queries. Consider running surveys or questionnaires on the site itself, although the data won't be as accurate with self-selected respondents.

Combined with the direct-value metrics offered in Part 1, these simple tactics should help you to add up the real, total value of your website



Site of the Month is Bayleys Real Estate - and they receive a free direct click through and feature image from www.matamata-info.co.nz to their website.
Leanne Taylor
:: www.wwwdesign.co.nz ::
Award Winning Website Design, Hosting & Maintenance
Phone/Fax (09) 817 9656 ~ Mobile (0274) 701990


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