Print, Email, Social Media Sharing

When you visit a website and want to remember a particular page so you can go back to it later, what do you do? Maybe you add it to your computer’s favorites or save it to your desktop…
              
There are lots of options, now more than ever. But people are going way beyond simply saving pages to go back to later. Today’s websites let you interact in ways you might not have thought possible.

Staying in Touch, Spreading the Message Visitors can now access their preferred way of saving information right on any page of your site via a handy “Share” button that automatically presents all the options they could want. They could email themselves your page without having to open their email account, save it to an online bookmarking program, text it to a cell phone, post it to their blog or any other social media site they may choose!

Scenario 1: Potential buyer wants to keep your information on hand

Suppose you have an alpaca for sale that a potential buyer is interested in. They might not be ready to purchase immediately, but they want to be sure they keep your alpaca in mind as they research.

Simply by clicking, your site visitors can access their preferred method for keeping track of web pages they’re interested in:

• Print a page
• Email a page
• Save a page to their favorite bookmarking site online so they can access it from another computer or anywhere on the Internet
• Text the web address of that page directly to their cell phone for viewing on the go
• Share a page with friends or colleagues

Think this sort of thing is beyond what you need? Think again. You might be barely going online to check your email. But that doesn’t matter. Because your website is not about you. It’s about your customers.

Every page on your website can take advantage of tools that let people save or share the information they’re interested in. And anything you can do to make it easier for them is a good thing. The last thing you want is for an interested buyer to misplace that scrap of paper he used to write down your web address, right?

Scenario 2: Get more exposure for your website via social media sharing

Let’s say your farm day made a big impression on someone who is interested in the alpaca lifestyle. He loves to connect with his friends online and regularly updates his status at several social media sites. He visits your site the day after the farm visit and sees he can let everyone know how much he enjoyed it with just the click of a button.

Using the handy “Share” button, he posts a quick message to his friends and colleagues publicly linking to your farm website. His note (and the link to your site) is now visible to hundreds of others! Of those 300 some friends in his network, perhaps there are others who are living nearby and also interested in alpaca farming…

Your website visitors can actually help you get more exposure for your website!

People are having conversations online before making decisions. They use Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Ning, Digg, instant messaging, Skype, LinkedIn and whatever new site has caught on to share their thoughts and information.

Even if you’ve never tweeted and you don’t have a profile on Facebook, seoAlpaca websites make it easy for those who are actively engaged in sharing interesting websites with their friends and peers to save and share your information.

Sometimes people also ask, doesn’t all this free flow of information sound a little scary? Aren’t we giving up control of what’s said about us online?

We understand if it sounds a little scary at first. Some of our corporate clients were also a little skittish when Web 2.0 started to really take hold several years back.

This is word of mouth advertising online! With no extra investment or effort, people can actively refer and link to your alpacas and website, getting you exposure that might otherwise cost thousands for you to generate. And the best part is it’s much more credible than advertising.

Here’s the newsflash: You no longer have control over what’s said about you online. If someone really wants to say something about you in their blog or on Twitter, they already can and probably will. And it’s in your best interest to help them do it!

Unlike a big corporation, you’re probably not going to face consumer backlash online. Most people in the alpaca community online are recommending products and services, referring people in their virtual network, and simply looking to connect with other likeminded people by sharing information they find valuable.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you intend to participate in conversations online. Other people are. And attracting those active users online is an excellent way to extend your marketing reach – again with no extra work from yourself. Imagine with no extra investment or effort, people can actively refer and link to your alpacas and website, getting you exposure that might otherwise cost thousands for you to generate. And it’s much more credible than advertising. This is word of mouth advertising online!

And if you do want to test the waters of social media, perhaps by setting up a page on Facebook or posting your latest newsletter issues to Twitter, your website will already have this nifty capability built in to help you, when you’re ready. Without installing any extra software or making any changes, you can tweet a link about your new cria or update your status to let people know your latest newsletter is out, complete with a link to it. With the click of a button, you can access many more people who are interested to hear your news.

Flexibility to update the information that shows on your own website is also a great feature to have. But not all content management systems are created equal…

Next feature: Content Management System

 

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