50 Simple Things You Can Do To Increase Your Conversion Rate
Two of the most important aspects of internet marketing include driving traffic to your website and then monetizing the traffic in some way. And one of the most lucrative ways to monetize traffic is to sell them your product or service.
Most people agree that driving qualified, targeted traffic to your website isn’t always easy, but it is doable - and you don’t want to waste the traffic you do get. For some traffic generation ideas, you can see my article on “50 Tips On Getting More Traffic To Your Website.”
No matter whether you’re selling a product or service, you want to make the most of the traffic you do get, and that involves increasing your websites conversion rate. While there are hundreds of things you can do to increase the percentage of visitors that convert into customers, the following list is what I consider 50 of the most influential elements. If there’s something monumental that I left out and you feel it should be on the list, please feel free to post it as a comment. Here you go:
1. Hire a professional copyrighter.
2. Make sure your product or service has a USP (unique selling proposition) and it’s clearly identified on your sales page.
3. Appeal to your customers emotions and wants, not needs or logic.
4. Put all pertinent product information above the fold if possible.
5. Have someone who is new to the internet navigate the order process. Watch vigilantly and correct any shortfalls.
6. Change the headline and test the results.
7. Offer multiple payment options including PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, AmEx and Discover.
8. Revise / test your offer including pricing, packaging and content.
9. Provide a list of FAQ.
10. Have a contact form, phone number or email address prominently displayed for questions.
11. Don’t make your visitors choose between options or packages. Make it so there is only one choice.
12. Be clear, open and 100% honest.
13. Don’t waste your visitors time with meaningless BS.
14. Make the checkout process easy and less than 2 clicks from start to finish. Many times sales are abandoned on the order form.
15. Only ask for necessary customer info and use auto-filling whenever possible.
16. Add an audio introduction to your site.
17. If possible, add a video product demonstration.
18. Make sure you page loads fast - 30 seconds or less on dialup - 3-5 seconds on high speed.
19. Include your physical or mailing address on the order page.
20. Take orders by phone, fax or snail mail.
21. Have more than one strategically order button and prominently display them.
22. Use strong calls t action.
23. Add VeriSign, HackerSafe, SSL or other security seal to the sales / order page.
24. If you’re a member of the Better Business Bureau, display their membership logo.
25. Add a live chat option to the sales page.
26. Offer payment options for big ticket items.
27. Offer free shipping on physical products or automatic downloading of electronic products,
28. Use simple graphics that enhance the products and/or services, not take away from them.
29. Write in a conversational tone and don’t use complicated language – 5th or 6th grade English is best.
30. Use easy to read ‘common’ fonts such as Tahoma (headlines), Verdana (text), Arial, Time New Roman and/or Comic Sans MS.
31. Attract targeted, quality traffic.
32. Have an unconditional, 100% money back guarantee. The longer the stronger.
33. Identify and define your return policy.
34. Be upfront with pricing including shipping/handling and any other related charges.
35. Post customer testimonials. Better yet, post testimonials and reviews from industry experts.
36. Give away a freebie, free trial or demo, then follow up with an autoresponder sequence.
37. Find out what works for your competition, add and improve on it for your site.
38. Remove clutter.
39. View your site at different screen resolutions and in different browsers to make sure its looking best at all times.
40. Consider removing any unnecessary external/internal links.
41. Have an “About Us” page and use it to build credibility and trust.
42. Use simple and friendly navigation.
43. Use your sales copy to build trust.
44. Target your market, not everyone.
45. Add a picture of yourself.
46. Add your signature to the bottom of the sales copy.
47. Use at least one P.S. but not more than three.
48. Stay away from flash, animated graphics and loud annoying music.
49. Test and track absolutely everything you do. Know your numbers like the back of your hand.
50. One last quick thing - this might seem blatantly obvious, but don’t sell crappy products.
Justin Michie is an Internet Marketing specialist, small business consultant and author of the best selling Internet Marketing Book, Street Smart Internet Marketing . If you’re interested in learning more about marketing on the internet and/or making money online, you can pick up a copy of his brand new book from Amazon.com.
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