Convert Web Site Visitors into Clients

Getting people to come to your web site is hard. But once they're there, is your web site making the most of their stop? Not all small businesses can afford to hire search engine optimization experts or analysts to study your site's data.

When you meet someone for the first time, you don't ask them for a date (OK, maybe a few rare instances). For businesses like yours, it takes time to build trust and credibility before a prospect buys from you. So what are you doing to bring them into your sales cycle and keep them there, at least long enough to buy?

What's Your Call to Action?

Do you want the prospect to call you? That may not be the ideal first step. Do you have an email newsletter? A blog? If you have a blog, do you offer a feed AND email updates? Not everyone uses feeds. Many businesses lose opportunities because they don't have email updates as an option, and they're easy to add.

Give them a free download. Encourage them to subscribe to your email newsletter. Offer a free 30 minutes consult. Plan a webinar and have them sign up.

Connect with Customers

Maybe you've pshawed Twitter, turned a nose at Facebook for business, leave your LinkedIn alone and ignore YouTube. But they can bring you closer to your customers. You can get feedback from them -- on what works and what doesn't work.

Think about how you can integrate social media sites with your site. It should all play together. But of course, don't do any of this until you've planned and strategized. No one jumps into a business or marketing effort without some kind of business plan. This also applies to social media and your web site.

They love free information. Offer free stuff. They'll give you their email address in exchange. Or they'll subscribe to your blog, YouTube videos, whatever. Remember the free information needs to give them something valuable that helps them in their business -- not helps you.

This part is NOT about you (except to connect and collect information). Opening dialogue with the right people leads to more conversations later on.

What does all of this have to do with working capital and managing cash flow? You can't get cash if you have no relationships or no way of connecting with the people who can feed cash into your business, which grows your business.