Posts Tagged ‘conversions’

How to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

The two most important factors to a successful, money-making website are traffic and conversions.  Clearly, a website that does not get any traffic can’t possibly be profitable but on the other hand, all the traffic in the world is no use if the website doesn’t convert visitors into buyers. Here are five things you can try on your website in order to increase it’s effectiveness.

1. Include a Clear Call to Action

It’s absolutely vital to have a clear and strong call to action on your landing page. There should be only one action that the visitor is encouraged to do and it should be front and center. For example, if your goal is to get people to sign up to your list, make sure that the opt-in form is very clearly visible and at least one benefit of subscribing is listed.

2. Test Positioning

For pre-sales and sales, test order-buttons above and below the fold. Placing an order-button and call to action further down on the page encourages visitors to read more of your content before they are confronted with a buying decision.  Confronting visitors with the buying decision too early can lower your conversion rate. Give your visitors a possibility to order when they are already hungry for it and not before they’ve had a chance to make up their minds.

3. Interaction

Test a multi-page setup against a single-page sales-letter. Getting people to interact (even if it’s just clicking on the “next page” link) can often significantly increase conversions.

4. Colours and Graphics

Test different colours for your text elements and the background. Test different type sizes and different order-button images. Just keep testing and you’ll often be surprised at how small changes can make a big difference.

5. Opt-in vs. Sale/Pre-Sale

Instead of sending visitors directly to the sales-page or your order page, make them sign up to your newsletter first. Sometimes, making people jump through a few hoops will actually have a positive effect on conversions. And frequently, having people on your list gives you a much better chance of making a sale happen, as you have more than one chance to make a pitch.

You probably recognize the common factor here: It’s that you can never test enough! Get a hold of a good split testing program and install it for your sites, as this can speed up the entire process significantly. If you are looking for a free option, you can give Google’s own split-testing solution a try. It doesn’t work very well for WordPress sites, however. For those, I recommend a plugin called WP Split Test .

And remember: If you aren’t testing, you’re leaving money on the table!

Best Copywriting Tips for Online Marketers

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Copywriting is a constantly changing and vast field. The copywriting tips we will be talking about in this article will help you grow your business. While it’s often overlooked because it’s not very exciting, copywriting is a very central skill and you need to learn about it if you want to make money online.

Isn’t it true that when you are writing sales copy your goal is to get the reader to buy what you are selling because you know it will help him? But apart from great copywriting skills, you need to know how to make your sales letter more believable and trustworthy. Put another way, the copy you create should be supported with testimonials from people who have previously purchased your product and other experts in your chosen market. Even copy writers who can write dazzling copy with everything perfectly spelled out can use some help from customer given testimonials inserted into the text (it absolutely raises your conversion rate). You are more likely to trust something other people have found trustworthy–it is human nature to need proof. Ask previous buyers if they will be willing to contribute a testimonial to your product’s sales letter. If they are comfortable doing so, you might even ask for audio or video testimonials which are a lot more convincing. If you do not have customers to ask for this, try sending your product out to niche experts and asking them for review. Once they go through it, ask them to give out an honest testimonial so that you can have it in your copy. Having testimonials from experts in your field will help your credibility grow and increase your sales–there is proof of this. Whenever you’re writing a sales copy remember that you need to keep things crystal clear with your prospect. Don’t put in ten different things in your copy and make it confusing. The focus of your copy should be on explaining the benefits of your product to the prospect. In addition, it’s best to write your copy as if you were talking to one person. In other words, use “you” rather than “they.” You want every person reading your page to feel like you are addressing them individually. You want to give it the feeling of a private discussion between you and one other person. How does this help you? To begin with, it makes each reader feel like you are talking to them personally. Additionally, this allows your potential customers to feel more connected to you. You can then start to develop lasting relationships with people and they will come to trust you. You can more easily make a sale from someone who feels connected to you after reading your sales letter.

Use the most uplifting and inspiring words you can think of when writing copy, to make your readers feel like taking the action you want them to take. If you use words like fantastic, unbelievable and spectacular, you will get people’s attention. If you can make readers feel a little better about themselves as well as about your product, your sales letter did its job. Give them a clear picture of how your product will make one of their problems disappear or fill some gap in their lives. At the same time, remain honest and don’t overhype your product.

You want to appeal to their emotions, but you also want to give some factual benefits about your product. There is no better way to succeed at internet marketing than to become a good copywriter. Once you get good at it, the sky’s the limit.

If you are new to online marketing, click here to see an introduction about how to make money online.