How To Turn Your Website Into a Revenue Generation Machine
Every company that has a website already knows that it's a great tool for boosting revenue streams. However, not enough business websites are optimized to reach their full income-generating potential. If you think you might be leaving money on the table with your company's website, we're here to show you how to rake in that cash. Here are 5 ways to turn your website into a revenue generation machine.
1. Integrated Ecommerce Platform & Website
If adding an Ecommerce platform to your site seems a little too obvious an answer, stay tuned. Generating revenue from your website requires more than just providing things for people to buy. Optimizing your offerings will make the difference between selling a few items and generating meaningful revenue.
When you choose an Ecommerce platform that integrates with your website, you'll gain the benefit of powerful reporting. When you start collecting detailed information about who has browsed your items and promotions and who has made a purchase, you'll be able to better tailor your offers and advertising.
For example, if you notice that one of your items is selling particularly well with men between 40 and 50 in the Northwest, you can boost your promotion among that demographic. You can also see if there are similar or related items and promote those with that group as well.
No matter which Ecommerce platform you choose, make sure it's equipped with robust reporting tools and integrated right into your website so you get complete data collection.
2. Monetize Website Space
Many visitors to your website will be looking for information on your products and services and they may not be ready to make a purchase in the moment. For that group, you want to have plenty of informational content available so you can answer any questions and move the sale along at a comfortable pace for the reader.
For those who are ready to buy, optimizing your pages for buyers will help increase sales. For example, you want to have plenty of high-quality images of your products so consumers can closely inspect them and use customer reviews and testimonials to boost consumer confidence.
You can also monetize your website space by selling it to advertisers. By offering ad space or including sponsored content on your pages, you'll be able to drive a bit more revenue to your company while others do much of the heavy lifting.
When you are carefully selective about who you partner with for advertising, you can also gain a bit of credibility for yourself as well. For example, if you're running a travel website and your ads are for hotels or restaurants in the area, your pages will be well-rounded destinations for travelers.
The last way you can monetize your website space is with referral or affiliate links. When you partner with a retailer and link to their products, whenever someone follows that link and makes a purchase, you'll get a kickback. Many affiliate programs use cookies to track user behavior so even if the purchase isn't immediate, you'll still get credit for it.
3. Upsell and Cross-Sell
Capturing as much potential as possible at checkout is key for turning your website into a revenue generation machine. Consider that any customers you have who are checking out are already confident in your company and ready to buy at least one product or service. It only takes a bit of encouragement to boost that a bit.
For example, offering upgrades during checkout is an easy way to nudge buyers along, especially if your expanded offering is close in price to the customer's original choice. If she has selected a regular item, an upgrade to "premium" for a few more bucks will seem like a great deal.
Offering companion items or suggesting products that other customers have purchased with that selection is another way to get a few more items into the shopping cart. One way to do this is with bundling or packages. For service-based companies, packaging-related services will boost your bottom line while giving customers the feeling of added convenience, a win for both sides of the equation.
Add-ons are another way to get customers thinking about more products as they complete a purchase. If you've ever placed a food order online, you've probably encountered this as an offer to add on a drink or dessert. Or, if you are selling tickets to an event, you can offer a parking pass as an easy add-on.
4. Boost Repeat Business
According to the National Law Review, loyal customers are worth ten times as much as their initial purchase. The importance of maximizing the potential of repeat customers cannot be overstated.
There are many ways to keep your customers engaged and thinking about returning to your website for future purchases. For example, with the completion of a sale or delivery of a product, you can offer a discount or free shipping on a future purchase.
You can also send a follow-up message shortly after a purchase and invite your customers to return to your website to leave a product rating or review. Not only will this help other customers who are looking for a bit of social proof, but it will also get the original customer back on your website and keep your company at the top of their mind.
It's also important to pay attention to the shopping habits of your repeat customers so you can send timely and targeted offers based on their behavior. Sending offers for products and services that are unrelated to their previous activity is a fast way to annoy people and drive them away. Instead, use the detailed reporting you're already gathering from Tip #1 and build a history for your best customers so you can put it to work for you.
5. Pay Attention to Where Bounces Are Happening
If you're trying to capture revenue from your website, then it's important that you pay close attention to which pages are contributing the most to your bounce rate, or how many people leave your site without completing any actions.
In some cases, people leave because they found the information they were looking for and are satisfied. In other cases, there could be a problem with your pages that is driving otherwise purchase-ready customers into the hands of your competitors. For example, make sure your pages load quickly and that you don't have any dead links.
It's also important to make sure your site is optimized for mobile shoppers. For one thing, more than 60 percent of smartphone users have made a purchase from their mobile device in the last six months. What's more, 2017 marks the year when the number of global mobile device users overtakes the number of desktop users. If your website isn't optimized for mobile users, you could be throwing money away needlessly.
Mobile users want pages that load quickly. Slow phones and spotty coverage cannot handle bulky pages with tons of information to download so keep them light whenever possible. Avoid things that don't work well on mobile such as Flash and pop-ups. Lastly, make sure your pages are optimized for tiny screens by either using a responsive or device-specific design.
Cashing in Where it Counts
Turning your website into a revenue generating machine is all about making small changes to improve the customer's experience while taking advantage of the data you acquire about customer behavior on your site. When you maximize the potential of your existing assets, you can efficiently increase sales without having to invest heavily in new avenues for revenue.
Use data to provide a customized experience for your shoppers whenever possible. When you clear out the clutter of what one user will find irrelevant, you make it easier for them to find what they want so they reach a purchase decision faster and with more confidence.
Upselling, cross-selling and capturing repeat buyers is a simple way to make the most out of every customer. The hard part is always attracting new leads and closing the deal; suggesting related products or offering a package deal will make customers feel like you're paying attention to their needs while boosting your income.
Having a website is a great start. Optimizing it to get the most out of each interaction will keep your cash flowing in the right direction while also keeping your customers happy.