How To Turn More Web Site Visitors Into Customers Who BUY

by Lisa Lake

These days I receive a lot of email from web site owners who say "I get plenty of visitors to my site, but hardly anybody buys."

Sometimes it is downright embarrassing. These folks are getting WAY more traffic to their site than I get to mine. I'm tempted to write back and say hey, I'll fix your conversion problem if you will show me how to get all that traffic.

Low conversion rates (the number of visitors who become paying customers) are a common situation caused by a few simple problems. Fix the problems and you can expect your conversion rate to jump. There aren't many instant fixes in life, but better conversion can immediately help pay the bills and put more money in your pocket.

1. Start off by putting your most popular products or services on the front page. Don't make people hunt and peck through your site to find the good stuff. Let them know right from the start you've got something that will make them drool.

Take a look at Meredith Pond's http://CheapWriting.com She promises you good, low-cost business writing, then clobbers you with a ridiculously big promotion package you can buy for pennies on the dollar.

Even if you don't go to Meredith's site to buy marketing packages, she gets your attention. You immediately understand she knows your situation and has good offers for you. That's enough to keep most people looking through her site.

2. Can you put up a delicious photo of your product? How about a picture of you or your staff providing a service? We humans are very visual beings (that's why we see color and dogs don't.)

Give the average shopper nice photos of what she is looking for and you can expect a sale. I always come away hungry when I see the pictures of chocolate at Nancy Davis' CandyGold.com.

3. Nancy's site brings us to conversion strategy number three...put YOUR photo on your site. Most people don't buy because they don't quite feel comfortable, they don't quite trust you yet. It's a natural reaction to the Web filled with so many sites and no way to sit down and talk with the owners.

Set people at ease by putting your smiling photo on your site. Nancy has hers right next to the pictures of chocolate and cash you can earn working with her. You can see that Nancy looks like a nice person you feel you've met somewhere before. That's not a bad impression to give customers.

4. Write some exciting, interesting, informative descriptions for your products and services. The more expensive the product, the longer your description must be. Rather than just droning on down the page, make your longer text include deeper details. Customers love copy that tells them everything they need to know. AND gets them excited about buying.

5. Describe the problems your product or service solves. Give real life examples that visitors can identify with. Show how your customers use what you sell. Then describe what the visitor's life will be like after he buys from you and uses your product.

6. If you can, let people search through your products and services by subject and by price. Some people want to see all the Compaq computers you sell. Others just want to know what you have in the under-$1000 range. Let people shop both ways.

7. Make it EASY to order. On longer pages of copy, put a BIG order link near the top, in the middle, and toward the end of the page.

Give people a button they can click and have the item put directly into their shopping cart. Tell customers how long it will take to receive the product or service they are about to order.

These simple 7 suggestions can quickly turn your site into a money-maker. More visitors will discover reasons to come back to stay on your site longer, come back again and again, and to buy.

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Lisa Lake has created a list of top ways to promote your business or career. See her http://MyAdBlaster.com Lisa also writes ad copy that sells for DrNunley's http://InternetWriters.com Reach her at lisa@myadblaster.com or 801-328-9006.

Today's Motivational Reading

Don't Complicate Matters

by Success.org

Don't complicate your life. Think before you act. Look for the simple ways or answers first. Make sure that you understand the assignment or the problem before you begin. What are the time and performance expectations that will indicate satisfactory completion? Reexamine how you are doing things:

Is a task consuming all of your time? Is it worth the time you are investing? Can it be delegated? If so, is the right person assigned to complete the job? Your research, your quiet time, your commitment to teamwork and your prioritized to-do list should all help. Pare away the unnecessary. Even the philosophy underlying these Action Principles can be very simply put. Improve yourself and help others.

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Small actions done consistently can yield big results. In less than one minute, you can read the Action Principle below and set a positive tone for your entire day. The day to improve yourself, help others and be happy is TODAY. In this defining moment, you can make that choice. Be the example.

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Subscribers' Corner:

FAB Fliers For Soaring Sales

by Meredith Pond

Could your small business use a boost without breaking the bank? Well, contrary to popular belief, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get decent results.

Even in this day and age, you still see occasional ads and fliers on your front porch, windshield, tucked under your door, or in your mailbox. Why? It's simple: because they work!

Especially during summer months, when people are out and about, working in the yard or taking walks through the neighborhood, distributing fliers can be a very effective way to market your small business.

You might be thinking that most of these fliers will eventually end up in the trash can. That may be true, but before you dismiss fliers as a marketing tool, think about what you do with a flier BEFORE you throw it away. Don't you at least look at it first to see what it is? Better yet, do you keep it around to use as scratch paper? Anything that will get your flier inside the house will help you get your foot in the door.

Now, if you're concerned about littering, try attaching rubber bands to your fliers and hanging them around doorknobs instead of laying them on porches. This will ensure that your flier is seen, plus keep them from blowing around the street. If you want your fliers to be more environmentally friendly, try printing them on recycled paper and including a note at the bottom to remind your prospects to recycle. If you want to take it a step further, give them a date when you'll be driving through their neighborhood with a truck, picking up things to take to the nearest recycling plant. You'll not only help clean up the neighborhood and our environment, but you'll also get a chance to be seen (with your logo on your truck) and even talk to people face-to-face.

Now let's discuss the nuts and bolts of putting your flier together. First and most obvious, make copies of your flier on brightly-colored paper. This will make them visible and more likely to be picked up.

When writing your flier, keep in mind that you're not writing the great American novel. Keep your fliers to a half-sheet, allowing you to save a lot of money and a lot of paper. The type should be bold and large, in an easy-to-read font so it takes very little time to read.

All your flier really needs is a snappy headline, a bulleted list of the benefits of your product or service, and a phone number with your business name. The headline will grab their attention, the list will quickly state what you can do for them, and your phone number, well, that's obvious, isn't it?

In short, a responsible flier campaign is a simple, down-to- earth, effective way to get the word out. Best of all, they're nearly FREE!

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Meredith Pond is a professional and freelance writer with extensive experience working on the web. Meredith provides writing and editing services (yes, even flyers) to individuals and businesses alike at great prices. See http://www.wordsmithweb.com Contact Meredith directly at wordsmith25@hotmail.com

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