You have listed your email on your FAQ page. You have listed your street address on your Company page. Your Contact page should include your street address, phone number, fax number if you still have one and email address.

These addresses add credibility to your website. Your customer wants to be assured that they can give you a call any time they want. You must be reachable. Make sure your email link is clickable on your Contact page. Make emailing easy.

A bonus would be to install instant Messaging. It let’s your customer chat with you in real time. The 4 global instant messengers are; MSN, AOL, Yahoo and ICQ.  Have at least one available and preferably all should be available. If you install all of them there is programs that will manage all your services; Trillian for windows and Fire for Mac. I suggest using a username that identifies your music. Use whatever you have in your powers to make that sale.

Your company page should be a trust builder.  We are at the point where your customer has decided they like your music and wants to spend their money with you. There is one more objection to over come. Your customer must decide if you are for real or are you legitimate.

Your company page must create the right impression. Your company page gives them the right impression through your experience and business philosophy. Write a one-page company resume. Don’t try to sound like an attorney. Keep it simple and easy to read. List your company achievements, partners you are working with or have worked with. Give them a clear reason for you being in business. Tell them why you are in the music business. Tell them what changes you want to make in the music business.

This whole page shows your customer that you know what you are doing. Be sure to include a complete business address. Give every reason to do business with you. Make it clear that your customer can trust you.

To boost their trust include a guarantee.  Not only guarantee for defective or broken CD but also guarantee your music will be liked. If they don’t like your music, you will cheerfully refund their monies. Remember even though you provide a sound sample feature most will not make up their mind about an album until they have heard it all the way through.  Think about how many albums you have bought because of one song. You got your song but the rest of the album was trash.

You are eliminating the fear of anticipated remorse before it can occur with a guarantee. Your guarantee will increase your sales. There maybe that 1 in 500+ that will be returned. Think of the 500+ that are happy with your wonderful music. Don’t put a time limit on your guarantee. No hidden catches.

FAQ Page

The Frequently-Asked-Questions page must deal with any doubts your customer might have as far as business with you is concerned. It’s normally not that they mistrust you as much as it is they mistrust Internet businesses. You must convince your customer that business with you is secure.

This is where you must remove any obstacles between you and their credit card. People are becoming more and more concerned about their credit card information. Try to give as much detailed information as you can up front. Don’t leave any open ends. The customer has to know the exact amount for shipping and handling policies are. Your FAQ page is to gain their trust.

Try to cover every question that might be asked. You won’t cover every question. Believe me! Here at Alabama Music Office.com we still have questions almost daily that no one has asked before. If we have a question that is asked more than 5 times, we then post it to our FAQ page.

These are the questions most asked and must be addressed on your FAQ page.

Is your Web Site safe to buy the CD?

What is said here is determined by who will fulfill the order. Are you connected to CD Baby or do you have your own music store with check out software? Regardless CD Baby will help you with detailed information on handling credit card transactions. These are good guys that will help, if you ask.

I don’t use my credit card online. Can I still buy your album?

Services like CD Baby accept orders by fax, phone and snail mail. Which may really help in your situation unless you don’t mind the phone ringing with someone wanting to place an order at 4:00 in the morning.

I don’t have a credit card. How do I buy your CD?

I would say that 90% of your orders will be with credit cards. The other 10% will order via checks, money orders, international money orders, cash, wire transfers, etc.

When will my CD arrive?

Tell them what UPS and Fedex tells you.

How much does it cost to ship the CD?

Again, this will be determined by UPS and Fedex. You might also consider including the shipping cost in the price of the CD. Free shipping is a powerful selling point.

What happens if the CD arrives damaged?

Assure them that you will replace the CD at your cost. In my experience there might be 1 in a 1,000 that are damaged if you use padded envelopes.

I have a question that is not on the FAQ page. What do I do?

List your email. Let them know how to get in touch with you. Know this: Some won’t bother to read your FAQ page and will ask questions that are on your FAQ page. Don’t get upset, just cut and paste your FAQ answer and send it to them.

Your CD sales will become a greater part of your life and you must do what is needed to finalize the sale. This fulfillment is important to you both financially and emotionally.

Live gigs are of huge importance to music artists. Posting your upcoming gigs on your web site is a must do. Not only does it give notice to your fans, it also shows your visitors that you are serious about your art and business.

Your web site is a showcase for music business professionals. Your web site shows these professionals that you are playing live and the type of venues you are playing. If you have video, it will show them your stage appeal, an indication as to how strong your live shows are and how you sound live.

The average music lover basically uses the same info as the music business professional. Maintaining your live gig sub-page is obviously a continuous process. You need to know how to change the information. The information is the date, the venue name, and venue street address including city and state, the cost of admission, when the venue opens and what time the gig starts. If tickets to your gig are available for purchase through a ticket agent like Ticketmaster make sure you know how to place the link in the right place.

A sub-page to your lyrics is important if you didn’t print them in your CD package. Keep all your lyrics on one page. If you are covering a song make sure you have permission to reprint the lyrics on your web page.

This completes your Product sub-pages. Next we go to business sub-pages, which guide your visitor and answer their question; how do I buy your music? Your next sub-page, The Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) should answer any questions they might have.