When most people talk about website marketing they focus on getting more traffic or higher search engine rankings. Personally I prefer to focus on improving website conversion before spending a lot of time sending traffic to it. That way the results will be impressive when the traffic is finally added.

The sad truth is many business owners believe traffic is everything on the internet. But it’s not their fault… there are enough people promising riches through website traffic. They just fail to mention that if your website doesn’t sell anything then all the traffic in the world won’t save you.

How your website really makes money

My philosophy is to build a relationship with visitors using your website. Part of this is the way you present your content and your business. But you have a huge advantage when you start collecting their email and building a relationship with the visitor.

You can expect to sell about 1-2% of people the first time they visit your website. But if you bother to take the time to form a relationship with them then that figure will be a lot higher. You can compare it to the one-hit wonder band versus the band who makes consistently great albums.

Don’t fall into the social media trap

The danger is with all the social media buzz that we lose sight of our aim. There are now many tools for communicating with potential prospects… and other useless ones as well. But in the end it’s all about building a relationship.

It doesn’t matter if you build the relationship over email, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube… or even through newspapers, physical mail, fax or phone. It’s still about the relationship and how you provide value through that relationship. You’re in a much stronger position when you use a wide variety of media when connecting with your market.

Don’t lose sight of your real objective

There is no absolute answer… there is no almighty social media property that you should base your business around. That’s like having a store but not getting a phone. Smart business owners realize a phone is a great tool to supplement their business and it’s the same with social media.

The moral of the story is to focus on building a relationship with visitors irrespective of the media. By building a valuable relationship with your prospects (and clients) your sales will naturally increase. Because your prospects are a lot more willing to buy from people they know and trust.

Just do this stuff

Examine your website and discover whether you’re simply stating what you do or actually building a relationship. Are you offering valuable information? Are you collecting contact details to send this information with?

Creating a relationship doesn’t have to be difficult… just imagine what you’d do if the person was right in front of you and go from your gut. And get ready for some amazing results.

Because at the end of the day it’s all about standing out from the crowd.