To achieve maximum effectiveness, primary calls-to-action (e.g., add to basket) are usually placed at the top of web pages. Yet, it is equally important to include calls-to-action at the bottom of the pages, too.

You might lose customers who have not selected a call-to-action from the top and will just exit for lack of further push from you. Such calls-to-action are determined by the goals you have set for the site or page.

They may consist of links to the following:

1. Contact details

Contact information should be seen at the bottom of every single page of your website if this is what you want your users to do. Your email address and phone number, along with a short, friendly message like “We’d love to hear from you” can produce more results than a curtly worded “Fill up the form to make an enquiry”.

2. Registering or Signing Up

If getting users to register or sign up (e.g. for a newsletter or an event) is your site’s main objective, place an appropriate call-to-action at the bottom of the page that follows your sales message. If you exerted time and effort to write killer copy, you must end it with a call-to-action so the user knows what the next step is: sign up.

 3. Related Products or Services

The user may not find your main products or services to his liking. As he scrolls down without making any action, display images or descriptions of other products or services at the bottom of the page so he’ll have other options to purchase instead of leaving the site with his needs unmet.

 4. Social networking bookmarking services

Social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and Digg store web pages and recommend them to other users. Placing a link at the page bottom to these sites will automatically add your web page to users’ bookmarks on that site if they click on the link. The list of users’ bookmarks is open to the public, making other users and search engines aware of the existence of your site.

Very often people think of their about us page as a corporate dumping ground or an afterthought – something that has to appear on a website, but are baffled when it comes to working out what exactly needs to go on there.

This is a real problem, because the “about us page” is a key way to build online credibility – and as you’re already aware, customers only buy from people they know, like and trust. So lousy about us information = lousy sales!  This problem worsens, the more expensive the products and services are, so it’s vital that you get the about us page right.

Here are 3 ways to improve your about us page and make sure customers know more about your business.

1. Communicate your USP Clearly.

Many visitors arrive at your site directly from the search results – and guess what’s listed on the search results page along with your website – your competitors. They are only a click away. You can’t afford to be lax.

Of course it’s important to have a professional, intuitive website, but if visitors don’t have confidence in the organisation behind it – sales and profits inevitably suffer.

By adding your (unique selling point) USP, you are encouraging the visitor to see value in what you do, and also differentiate your business from your competitors. What’s more if you don’t tell prospective customers about the benefits of buying from you, no one else is going to – right?

Explain how you solve people’s problems quickly and easily – that’s great information to include on your about us page.

2. Provide Bios of Key Staff

Ultimately, people buy from people they feel comfortable buying from, even when those people are part of a large organisation. When you use your about us page to demonstrate the charisma and personalities behind your organisation, the unique knowledge and skills you possess etc, you make your business more likeable and trustworthy in the eyes of the user (customer). It helps to combat corporate facelessness and promote the idea of expertise, honesty and integrity.

3. Offer a Brief History of the Organisation

Visitors want to know that the company they are buying from is not just being run from someone’s back bedroom. Adding information about the organisation’s roots to your about us page is helpful. It doesn’t need to be a dry piece, describing everything in minute detail. Try to keep it interesting and “personable”. Perhaps mention some impressive statistics, list awards you have won or reference magazines articles and interviews published about your business.

Have a review of your about us page – is it helping or hindering your business? Fixing your about us page can be a really quick fix and boost your sales.

If you have some comments about how you have improved your about us page to improve your online credibility, just add a note below.

If your business needs some in-depth training on how to improve online credibility, check out my comprehensive course, the Website Success System, which has a whole module on credibility and how customers perceive your business online. Getting rid of showstoppers like this is critical to increasing your online sales and securing the long-term future of your business.

Over the last 10 years, businesses have been rushing to get online with their company website.

Nowadays, if you have a small business, and you want to be richer and more successful online, you have to have a website that looks professional.

 Almost like deja vu, social networking is also gaining in popularity - by the time 2020 rolls around, SMEs will be just as prevalent on social networking sites as they have been on the internet. The time is right to master these new business models, marketing techniques and strategies.

Using social networking, small businesses can get more free exposure. This makes it easier to talk to clients directly, plus increase and improve the quality of referrals and traffic to their existing websites.

The most common social networking sites for business are Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.

Social networking hasn’t been around very long. It’s based around online communities that get together based on common interests and existing online friendships and connections.

Every day, 6,000 more businesses join Twitter for social networking. It’s estimated, by UK telecoms company O2, that more than 700,000 small businesses use this micro-blogging service.

500 small businesses were polled in the study. It was determined that 17% of them used Twitter, and 25% of those got started with social networking in the 30 days prior to taking the study.

Of those surveyed, almost 30% said they had saved up to £1,000 on marketing and advertising since signing up. A significant 16% claimed that they had been able to save up to £5,000.

Simon Devonshire, O2’s chief of small business marketing, said: “The increase in small businesses using converged devices such as smartphones combined with the simplicity of Twitter represents a fantastic opportunity to further raise their profiles and increase efficiency,”

SMEs can benefit greatly from social networking, according to Chartered Institute of Marketing research head Mark Stuart.

“Firstly, they are a very cheap, fast and effective way to reach new customers if you use them in the right way. If you’re targeting Generation Y; teenagers and young adults, then you need to communicate with them in ways that they want to be communicated with, and that means using channels like Facebook and YouTube to reach them.”

“You can also create a presence by setting up a group application for your company, or create a profile page for the business the same way an individual would. People will add you as friends if they like what you do; you then have a free advertising platform.”

Companies can experience vast growth and customer recognition and improved loyalty by getting website referrals through these social networking sites and services. Social recommendations provide a window on your business credibility and can encourage new customers to get in contact with you. Companies can update their social media profiles to link to their website and campaign landing pages.

If you want to get a lot of natural links, just sign up for social media and link back to the home website of your business. It’s a good idea to add information about company on your social media profile, enabling you to show people exactly what you’re all about and what you can do for them. Make sure you include a physical address and contact number, so that internet customers can see there is a real organisation behind the networking “face”. This is a key part of getting new customers to “know, like and trust you” and essential part of increasing online sales.

Social media can provide a lot of natural links and free traffic, if it’s used correctly.

Businesses should provide regular updates and give their potential customers the ability to get in touch with them and see what they’re doing right now.

I urge you, if you run a small business, to do a little bit of research into social networking and see how it fits into your planned marketing efforts. My free guide to twitter for business has some useful guidance.

 It need not be onerous. At first it can seem like another tidal wave of information crashing over you, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Many online and offline tools can help you manage your social media profile with ease. There are scheduling tools that control when you publish information. There are tools to follow trends and managing the responses you receive. At the touch of a button, you can monitor the types of follower you have and the online communities they belong to and much more.

Why not Google for the ‘Top Ten Twitter Tools’ and see what twitter users are recommending right now?

If this still seems a bit daunting, there are also companies that will manage your blogging and social media accounts. This means you get the benefit of the web exposure without having to master all the technology first. This is a great way of reaping the benefits now, not later – or maybe never, if you don’t have the courage to take those crucial first steps.

My top tip is to take the plunge and go ahead and create some accounts on these sites and observe what’s going on.

It’s time to commit to a completely new way of advertising your business and start planning your social media marketing campaign for the coming year.