FEATURE STORY
By Brad Smith
Turn your website into
an e-commerce machine
Last article in a two-part series
Branding
From the moment a visitor lands on
your website, you need to begin the
"close-the-sale" process. As a dealer, you
need to think of your business as a brand
and build buyer confidence. Marketing
matters. Consumer confidence is built
through a great-looking site that includes
all the elements of a legitimate, trustworthy business.
Your brand is without a doubt a oneof-a-kind entity with a unique value
proposition to offer your customers and
prospects. The branding basics include a
custom logo, possibly a tagline to reinforce
your brand proposition, and a specific
color scheme that you commit to and
use consistently across the board on all of
your marketing materials, including your
website. Evaluate your current branding
with a simple exercise in brand positioning
n August 2013 Outdoor Power
Equipment, I reviewed the four
most common mistakes outdoor
power equipment dealers make
that can turn their e-commerce
website into a shopping nightmare
for customers and prospects. The article
focused on the technical side of the
shopping experience, so let's pick it up
from there and dig in to how you can use
22
the graphic elements of your website to
sway website visitors to "close the deal."
The best advice I can give you when
designing a website is to educate yourself
on the topic and be vigilant in conducting periodic reviews of your website to
implement improvements. All too often,
we fall back on what "feels" best because
it's just part of our nature as human beings. This can be a huge detriment to
OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT
From the moment a
visitor lands on your
website, you need to
begin the "close-thesale" process.
www.outdoorpowerequipment.com
Image ©istockphoto.com/yuuurin
I
success. The problem with this approach is
that one person's opinion has nothing to
do with creating a successful, functional,
sales-driven website.
Based on my conversations with
dealers, the website design process goes
something like this: a group of folks sit
in an office and duke it out, with each
person vying for his or her preferred color
scheme, website navigation, shopping
cart features and other design elements.
Then, after all is said and done, the owner
marches in, takes one look at the design,
and changes everything! Am I right?
If you decide to "go it alone" and
design your own website — rather than
working with a website provider — here
are three key website elements, which
executed correctly, will help you get it
right the first time around and turn your
website into a 24/7 virtual dealership.
