What is the biggest need for a business? What is the base necessity to drive sales and profit? The answer to both of those questions is customers. Every business, big or small, startup or established, will face this same struggle to some extent. So what if there was a tool that you could use to attract more traffic, filter those visitors and then get them to buy your product all before they’ve entered your store? Sounds good right?  Here we offer three ways that having a good website will improve your in-store traffic and get more sales.

I recently took a road trip from Montana down to the bay area in California. Road trips can be a super fun time of laughing and chatting with friends for hours and hours as you discover new landscapes and explore small towns along the way. However, anyone who has been on a long road trip knows that gentle hum of the car can put you right to sleep. The solution?….Coffee. Now you are probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with website design and driving traffic to my store? Well, bear with me, we’ll get there.

So you need some coffee, the kind that puts a smile on your face and wraps your mind and soul in a warm soft embrace and says, “don’t worry, I’m here for you, the next 12 hours will be easy”. Starbucks is usually the go-to place for most coffee drinkers on the road. After all, there is one basically every 3rd exit between Seattle and San Francisco, but if you want to find the best local shop, It’s a lot harder to find, in fact, if you don’t know the area it can be impossible…. so what do you do? A Google search for “coffee shops near me”.

Google searching is becoming the most popular way to find a new business. Customers are looking for businesses like you, and just like those coffee shops, Google might be the only way they can find you. Now imagine that there are two coffee shops near you but only one of those coffee shops has a website. It’s pretty clear who would get the business in that situation, not necessarily because they are better, or in a better location, not because they were the early bird but because they were the only bird that showed up. They were the only shop to show results on google, which means that’s where you are going.

Having a website helps you get discovered. It allows customers who are already searching for your product/service to find you easily. In our age of digital exploration, having a website will certainly help bring traffic into your store.

Once you have been discovered, the real challenge begins. Now it’s time to convince that potential customer that you are better than the competition, or that you have a solution to their current need. Your website allows you to share your brand. It’s a platform for you to showcase your products, services, and what makes you special. Think of it as your digital storefront.

Let’s take another look at those coffee shops. Let’s say you found two coffee shops with websites. Store #1 has a white page with their name and phone number on it, below there are two blurry pictures of what appears to be a cup of joe and a donut with the words “stop in and enjoy our delicious pastries”. Not very intriguing is it?

Well, now let’s say that you go check out store #2 and right on the front page you see photos of a homey well lit shop with people reading and playing games in the corner, you see a short bio highlighting barista of the month and you get to see their most recent latte artwork. There is a brief description of where they get their organic, free range, cage free beans and how they roast them to perfection for the ultimate coffee experience. Quite a difference right? You probably wouldn’t even read it all because you would be sold in the first couple seconds. You would simply scroll to the bottom, find the address and head straight for it.

Store #2 used their website to paint a picture. They shared their values, their culture, and their product. They cast a vision and set an expectation so when the customer comes in, not only are they excited to be there, but they are ready to buy.

Let’s take a look at another example. Direct clothing is a small shop off 8th St WN in Somewhereville, WI. They have a nice little brick and mortar store that specializes in second-hand high fashion clothing. They are a little off the beaten path, but they get a decent about of foot traffic in the store because their website gets them a lot of search results. The problem is the customers who are finding them online only see them as a second-hand store and are not prepared for the high fashion prices listed on the garments. As a result, they get lots of people just walking around in the store, but not buying anything.

Pulse Designs is another second-hand fashion shop across town. They have about half the visitors, but nearly every customer buys a high dollar item. That’s because Pulse is using their website to filter out the customers who don’t want their products and attracting the right buyer. So how does that work?

Well, the cool thing is it works in conjunction with the things we have already discussed. A good website design captures the traffic by getting views, then it filters those viewers by showing the brand image, the company culture, the mission and explaining just what you’re all about. It answers questions like “what makes you special?” and “why should I buy from you?”. Answering these questions helps the consumer understand if you are the right fit for them, so that if/when they do visit they are one step closer to making that purchase.

A properly designed website is the result of a complex and in-depth discussion about your business, your clients, and your goals. This article is by no means an exhaustive look at how these three aspects of a website can drastically change your business, but we will look deeper, in the future.  We will be sharing more insights into your website and how you can improve your business through the use of technology. If you would like to hear more Subscribe to our mailing list and our Facebook page.