Website appeal, Twitter tactics will develop long-term clientele

With the right elements, your company website can boost your customer base. Actively employ today's media by captivating online consumers and tracking down interested Twitter followers. Aiming for overly satisfied consumers will turn prospects into steadfast customers.

• A website's purpose, beyond informing, is to convert Web users into leads, ultimately nurturing them into qualified prospects and customers.
• Most companies forget this objective, causing an unfavorable online return on investment. A website must inform, subtly sell to and capture as much information about visitors as possible.
• Websites should be developed with public relations, sales capability and a lead-generation function in mind. Pretty pictures are great, but is your selling message drawing a response?
• To attract leads, a strong landing page is critical as it persuades visitors to participate in various offers in return for providing contact information. The more valuable, category-specific content a website offers, the more visitors register to receive it. Websites should act as new-business generators.
• Below are 12 website features helpful in converting visitors into leads:

1. E-book
2. Newsletter
3. Webinar
4. Research results
5. Testimonials
6. Case studies
7. Mobile application
8. Infographics
9. Special articles
10. Videos
11. Whitepapers
12. Podcasts

• Automatic thank you notes: Instantly send a personalized "Thank You" message to every new follower to your Twitter account with more information about your company. Read more at www.socialoomph.com
• Look Who's Secretly Talking: Search out those tweeting about your company that you're not aware of because they're not replying back to you at www.BackTweets.com
• Network and Lead Generation: To find prospects by their occupation in a specific geographic location, as listed on their Twitter bio, visit Google and type the following in the search field: intext: " bio * occupation" intext: "location * city, state" site: twitter.com -specifying both the occupation and the state.
• For example, to find attorneys in Texas, type the following into Google's search field: intext: " bio * attorney" intext: "location * Texas" site: twitter.com -and Google searches Twitter profiles that have "attorney" in the Bio field and "Texas" in the Location field. Also do a separate search with the State abbreviated.

• It's time to get rid of "customer satisfaction." This worn-out phrase from the 60s did its job. Times have changed.
• Nowadays, no company - regardless of its product or service - can afford to keep merely satisfied clientele. Aim higher and replace satisfaction with excellence. Get creative. Aim for "customer love."
• Old customer satisfaction programs must be elevated so customers rave about a product or service and share their experiences with others. This way, customers become personal public relations ambassadors.
• Changing the mindset of a customer satisfaction program can bring huge results. Your choice: a satisfied customer or one who's in love with you?

• No matter the business category, in order to be successful online, companies must be active in the media business by publishing articles, videos, testimonials, podcasts and more.
• The Internet provides countless opportunities to publish content so it can be found by prospective customers. The more a company's content is found, the more successful the company.
• Developing website content should be an important part of your public relations plan. What will you publish? How will it be found? How will you capture leads and turn them into customers?
• We take these actions for our clients to make them succeed. We would love to do the same for you. Just call us. We can get you there . . . faster than ever.