Getting Directions
As retailers, we will (grudgingly) accept phone calls and e-mail from our website’s visitors. What we really like, however, is when website visitors take the time to come visit us in person. That is when we make the most money.
This being the case, it makes sense that your website do everything possible to help people get from their homes and offices to your front door.
Our sample website does this in a variety of ways (and you should, too).
- To start, you want to make certain that your store address, as it appears throughout your website, is one that works when plugged into MapQuest, Google Maps and most automotive GPS systems. (Increasingly, this is how your customers are finding their way anywhere.)
- On our sample website, there is a utility link labeled Directions that appears near the top of every page. And while this will immediately take visitors to a dedicated Directions page, we don’t even make them wait that long. Right near the top of the home page, users will find a small map which may be all they need to locate the store.
As mentioned earlier, because different people feel more comfortable getting directions in different ways, our Directions page provides them with a variety of methods to find the store.
These include:
- A large, color map showing the relationship of the store to major intersections and landmarks.
- Turn-by-turn directions from the closest major intersection (which, in this case, is Interstate 75).
- Downloadable PDF documents with directions to the store, pool and local dive sites.
- A Google Maps dialog box that allows visitors to generate a custom set of maps and directions from their home (or just about anywhere else) to the store. Try this one yourself.
Okay, at this point, you are probably saying, “Jeezz! I can’t do all this on my website.” That’s okay. At least make certain you have the following:
- The correct GPS address to your store.
- A MapQuest or Google Maps map to your store with the ability for users to generate custom directions.
Both Google Maps and MapQuest make it easy to create the latter and, best of all, its free. For example, here is the Google map to our fictional dive stoer:
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