How service-based businesses can increase sales through their website

A common misconception among service-based or business to business (B2B) organizations is that they can't do business over the web, and that they instead need to rely on more traditional sales techniques such as word of mouth or cold calling. This line of thinking leads to missed sales opportunities and loss of revenue to competitors who are focusing on a more complete web strategy.

Context has developed a process for online marketing that you will not find anywhere else. Our offering is designed to help service based businesses like ourselves make the most of their web presence by generating sales online.

Most likely, if you are in a service based business, your customers have specific needs that they trust you to solve. Think about the types of needs your customers have, and then ask yourself the following question: would someone else with that same need easily find your company when searching for a solution to their problem? And if they did find you, is it clear that your organization is in a position to satisfy their immediate needs? If the answer is to either of these questions is “no”, then you have missed a sales opportunity, and you need to contact us

A study by Enquiro research as early as 2007 found that for business to business (B2B) buyers, search engines are the primary research source, and one of the top influencers on purchasing decisions.

 

Let’s take a look at some figures:

 

• As far back as 2007, 65.3 percent of business-to-business Internet users surveyed said they would start their research with a search engine. (Source: Enquiro Research)
• 19% of Americans spend 6+ hours a day on the Internet, 9% spend 6+ hours a day on television (Source: IBM Institute for Business Value)
• In the U.S. alone, 13 billion online searches are performed every month (Source: comScore)
• Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," Internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. (Source:  PEW Research)

 

How do you take advantage of the online marketplace, especially in a business to business environment? You will need a complete marketing approach that includes SEO (optimizing your site to appear high in search rankings for target keywords and phrases), conversion optimization (designing your site content so that it directs potential customers to the next phase of the sales cycle), display advertising, and sales metrics (which will allow you to further optimize your campaigns as you move forward). Now is the time to partner with a company who can demystify the world of online business strategy, and who can effectively leverage opportunities on the web to drive traffic, increase sales, and provide concrete results that can be measured in dollars and cents.