The over-quoted but underviewed scene in Glengarry Glen Ross where Alex Baldwin rips into the staff has a bit where he talks about the ABCs: Always Be Closing, when it comes to any kind of web presence for a business it should be: Always Be Converting. If your website is not designed to get custom and make contact with potential clients then it’s a vanity exercise.
It’s very interesting to read how Obama’s decision to announce his VP selection via text message came about: They needed more subscribers to their mobile phone database. Simple really. A few 100k were on their list, announcing it via text message ensured that number would jump a magnitude. Getting people to contact you or opt in to updates from you from one of your channels (Email, text, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc.) should be a focus for your web work.
So on the front of your site, have contact details, credible ones (not just a mobile number), don’t have just a form on the Contact page. A real postal address and landline helps a lot for that contact page. See this business communications checklist. List your content channels if people look at the site, make a positive (but not buying) decision about trusting you and want to get updates from Twitter or Facebook. Tell them why they get rewarded for doing so. Bargains, discounts, first for new content etc.
And don’t forget to use language that appeals to the person. Conversational, not formal and removed.
And now the same idea with more expletives and a bit of insanity:
Here’s some other tips which people might find useful: http://www.doshdosh.com/ways-to-influence-people-online/
that clip is poignant today – stuff like that is exactly what the banks were doing when pushing credit and the builders and ‘professional’ auctioneers were doing when pushing and closing house deals. Balls is right.