Using website to generate business for you

1. Be a customer ourselves first
If we are selling any product, we should be the first customers to really use the product for us to understand the painful or pleasant experience. From there, we also know how to enhance the product (if we are building the product on our own) or look for another products to sell If the product really sucks.

2. Keep your website up-to-date
A good website need to be constantly updated and the contents are fresh. A outdated website does not really look too professional and customers will not trust the information. One indication is the announcements and news in the website, which should be updated constantly. Not good to show the latest news in the website is last year January.

3. Constant communication with current and potential customers through newsletter, mailing list, announcements/promotion, etc.
A good website should collect and build up their mailing list and constantly communicate to this list, sending information on promotions, news, etc. that can prompt customers to come to your website or even buy things from you.
Also, the content is important. Make it look very nice and informational and customers will not hate you for that, even though the information is not useful for them or they would not really buy the products. A good content make the customers believe in your service and your company, even though they are not your customers yet. For e.g., Dell also always constantly have product promotions on their website. It gives a good reason to visit the website again and again to learn about new promotions.

4. Ability to impress customers
I am impressed with website with good & clean design, especially with some flash. I believe sometimes customer buy the products not because of clear logical reasons (do not think they will do a win-loss analysis on the products before they buy them) but because of their feeling (or psychological reason) about the product. Thus, we cannot underestimate the ability of website being able to impress people.

5. Good website is searchable
Need to make sure the website is searchable in major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and you name it!) and also get listed in some local directories like Yellow Pages, Marketplace, or even some specific target communities like expatriate website.

6. Target industries
You should know your target industries of your product, in order to know which channel you should market your product.
Related to the earlier point, if you are in fine dining business, you need to put up your website and get listed in the website for expatriate, searchable in search engine, so that people can find out more information on your restaurants (foods, locations, etc.) and this will increase sales! (Although u might not know why more customers start coming to your restaurant, maybe is WOM or maybe it is your website)