Doing Business on the Web

Doing business on the web is vastly different to your offline business approach, but the principles are very much the same. Doing business offline is all about developing a 'relationship' with your customers and providing them with what they want and need. Doing business online is no different, but your approach should be.

Today I would like to talk about an important aspect of doing business on the web, your website. And more specifically your 'about me' page

I want to discuss why you should consider having one and how it can hurt your business if you don't.

Internet Success Recipe

Why You Should Have
an 'About Me' Page

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics a small business is:
any business that does not employ staff or employing businesses with less than 20 staff, is a small business.

It is these businesses that will get the most benefit from an 'about me' page on their website.

Some people feel that an 'about me' page is not necessary. They argue that large companies do not have them so they don't feel that it is essential for their own business. Large companies have an advantage that you and I do not. People know who they are. They have built a reputation,they do not need to tell people who they are. We already know!

How the Way We
Do Business Has Changed

The internet can be a very inpersonal experience. In the past, traditional businesses had the opportunity to develop and nurture the customer relationship. There were many ways that businesses could achieve this.

Examples include simple face to face contact, positive body language, allowing interaction with products and creating a positive and encouraging ambience in their store or place of business. These options for developing the customer relationship are not available via the internet.

Doing business on the web has changed the way that we interact with customers. There is less customer interaction now then in years gone by. Just two examples of how this has occured are with banks and supermarkets.

In years gone bye we had to visit the bank to make a deposit or withdrawal. Yes, I am showing my age but I remember regularly standing in a queue during my Friday lunch hour to make sure that I had enough money to last the weekend. These were in the days when banks closed at 4pm and there were no ATM's.

Gone are the days when you bought your groceries and chatted to the checkout person while a second person packed your bags. Now we can even go to the supermarket, scan our products ourselves, bag them up, place our money into the machine, receive our change and receipt and be on our way.

You can now even order your groceries on-line. I am yet to try it but I don't think that they have worked out a way to get them to your home without some form of human involvement. But they are probably working on it.

And I won't even start on the service that is offered when we call the phone companies, insurance companies and various other customer service lines. "Push one for claims, two for new policies, three to speak to a human....oh if only that was an option.

Times have changed and sadly, greater convenience (if we can call it that) often comes hand in hand with less customer service.

Developing an Online Relationship
with your Customers

To establish a positive online relationship with your readers or customers, you need to show that you are intersted in them and their needs. One way to do this is to speak specifically to them. When you write, write as though your customer was right there in front of you. Use language that you would use if you were face-to-face with them.

So give some thought to adding your own 'about me' page. Share a little of yourself with your readers. This can be extremely daunting - believe me I know! I was very uncomfortable 'exposing' myself to the world. But the rewards are worth it. My 'about me' page is one of the most visited pages on my site.

By sharing a little about yourself you are establishing some credibility and trust with your audience, ie your potential customers.

Also when you are dealing with potential customers online, you don't have the option of tuning into their buying signals or overcoming objections. The more comfortable that visitors to your site are, the greater chance that you have of them becoming a loyal customer.

Without any idea of who is behind your website visitors to it may be skeptical about your intentions. There are a lot of internet scams out there. Showing people that you are a 'real' person will increase your online success.

My about me page is very long but I wanted to answer those un-asked questions that people might have when visiting my site. Such as 'who is she and why should I trust her or believe that she is credible' etc. So although it is lengthy, I chose to include it all so that people have the option to read it if they wish.

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