online-business-smarts-increasing-sales-today-and-tomorrow-with-your-websiteWhatever type of business you run, if you want to find new customers and increase existing sales targets, your marketing strategy simply has to revolve around creating a strong online presence.

Innovation marketing is about creating impact through innovation and this is a line of thinking that you should think about applying to designing and updating your website, so that it is highly relevant and offers visitors a great experience, allowing you to increase sales as a result.

The Importance of Responsive Design

If you haven’t already noticed, a growing number of people access the internet via their smartphone rather than using a PC.

If your website doesn’t offer mobile visitors a usable and pleasant navigation experience when they land on your site, they are highly likely to click away fairly rapidly, and that maybe a customer that won’t return.

A responsive website design means that your website automatically adapts to fit any screen. This means that if your customer is viewing your site from their PC or their smartphone, the way your information is presented to them will be adapted to look the same and allow them to navigate around the site without any difficulties.

If you have visited a site using your smartphone or tablet device, that that does not incorporate a responsive website design, you will know just how awkward it is to use. Most customers have a low tolerance level when it comes to navigational issues, so they will simply click away from your site if the landing page doesn’t fit their screen.

Keep it Simple

As the classic movie line goes, “simple is as simple does”.

The message to take on board when it comes to designing your website is that it is almost always better to choose a simple and efficient website design that works, over something more elaborate with animation and flash to congest the page and turn off your visitor.

Most of us have hopefully moved on from those days when many websites were a sea of flash and animation, but however tempting it is to put something clever on your page, it often pays to opt for a clean and simple flat design.

If you were to poll your visitors on what they preferred to see when they visited your website, they would almost certainly say that they would much rather prefer a nice, clean and simple website that is easy to navigate around, rather than work their way through unnecessary animations that slow down the loading time of your page.

Be Original with Your Images

Stock photos are very convenient and can definitely be useful when you are trying to put together a blog post or in other similar situations, but if you really want to make an impact with your website, do you really want people to encounter the same image that they have probably seen on numerous other websites?

If your website landing page is filled out with generic stock photos, it really doesn’t say that much about your commitment to offering a unique and professional service.

Invest in hiring a professional photographer who can take some highly relevant and original images that will sit perfectly on your website and convey a highly professional and caring image about your business right from the start.

Use Social Media to Promote Your Website

You can have one of the most attractive websites around, but if you are not successful in driving customers to your landing page, it is not going to help your business to grow.

Your aim should be to use social media, combined with pay-per-click advertising and email as well, in order to create a level of interest about your business and your website, which should help to drive customers to your website.

If you have a range of products to sell, you can use Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to demonstrate and talk about them. What often works well, is to combine a social media campaign with the use of coupon codes, as this will encourage customers to visit your website in order to find out more about you, or hopefully, redeem the code against a purchase.

There are many ways to improve your sales both today and tomorrow, but if you don’t work on getting your website design just right and make it as easy as possible for customers to contact and interact with you, you are just making it harder to grow your business than necessary.