Websites: Increase Your Earning Potential
- January 26, 2009
- by Collateral Staff
[caption id="attachment_692" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Website"][/caption]
If your bail bond business does not have a website, you are not getting as many calls or earning as much money as you could with the additional exposure that a website offers. When deciding how to market your bail business you need to ask yourself, "How are my clients finding me?" More and more people are turning to the Internet. In 2008, internet search engines overtook print Yellow Pages and White Pages as the first source people turn to for business information. According to TMP Directional Marketing, the first sources that Americans turn to for local business information are search engines (31 percent), print Yellow Pages or White Pages (30 percent), internet Yellow Pages sites (19 percent) and local search sites (11 percent). Those results differ from last year's study, which ranked Print Yellow Pages first (33 percent), followed by Search Engines (30 percent). This trend will only continue to grow.
There are countless reasons why all bail professionals should have a website. First and foremost, it allows your business to be found by anyone, anywhere. Advertising in the phone book limits you to a defined area of coverage; whereas if you have a website, someone who does not have a local phone book can still find your services. This is an important quality because even those who live in your locality may not have a copy of the phone book. Telephone book advertising is expensive and not nearly as cost-effective as creating a website.
Next, having a website validates your company and gives people a reason to call your business over the competition. There are many things you can put on your website that will put your company ahead of other bail businesses in your area. Unfortunately, according to SitePro News, a leading resource for webmasters, there are three main reasons why business owners fail at converting website visitors into paying customers:
1. They don't provide the information that their customers are looking for.
2. They don't make it easy for their customers to find information.
3. They don't prove their credibility.
You can combat these problems by thinking like your customer. Imagine that you have never encountered the bail system before and do not understand how it works. Your customers are often scared and unsure of how the process works. Provide resources on your website that walk your customers through the bail system and spell out each step. This will make them feel comfortable in contacting you, which will create an enormous amount of goodwill.
Next, make sure that you provide your business' contact information at the top of each page. You never know which page an internet user will find you on, therefore, make your contact information available on each page.
Finally, you can be seen as credible by having a professionally designed website. Your website is a direct reflection of your business, and a first impression for your clients. Do not include any cartoons, off-color or inside jokes, or slang terminology. Have someone else proof-read the content for your website to make sure that there are no grammatical errors. Your business is an important part of the criminal justice system and your clients want to feel a large amount of trust in you.
As Internet usage continues to grow, do not allow your business to get left behind. Use your website as a marketing tool to sell your company as an expert in the bail industry. If you can create a professional website for clients to find your business on, then you will reap the rewards of additional bail bonds in a recessionary market.
