This is a guest post by Ray Wilson from Recipe4Marketing.com
Oftentimes we get so obsessed with traffic that we completely forget to improve the conversion rate of our website.
The reality is simple: you’re wasting your time if you don’t properly monetize your website.
[note]You could have a low conversion rate like 0.5% and make a few sales, but why not maximize the conversion rate to something like 5% and make a ton more sales.[/note]
That’s why I’m giving you a few principles to think about …and I hope you’ll understand how important they are.
Your job is to put these principles into practice and see more money in your bank account.
Here’s what I like you to think about…
Make It Easy For The Reader
Too many people make huge mistakes here.
They usually put way too much on their website. Doesn’t matter if it’s a blog, or a squeeze page or a niche website or whatever.
The problem is that they turn their website into a promotional material, an advertisement.
Don’t assume that if you put more advertisements and more links on your website, you’ll make more sales. Quite the opposite, you’ll make much less money.
Therefore what I suggest is to keep it as simple as possible.
It doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice the cool design of your website, it just means that you need to be a minimalist.
A good practice is to remove all the clutter in the sidebar like links to other websites, archive, recent comments, latest tweets, etc.
Instead, add 2-3 links or add as a click-able image to your very best articles or resource pages. You can leave the popular articles too.
Of course, you need a optin box too.
Write For Customers
Another biggie.
In general, nobody cares about your business and what you have to do to make money, all they care about is themselves.
Because of this reason, you need to write your content targeted specifically to help your readers. That’s all.
Don’t even think about bragging or adding too many details about yourself.
When a new visitor comes to your websites, he/she wants to know what’s in it for them. They want to know if you can help them somehow with their problem.
And they don’t need your story or your achievements, they want the solution to their problems.
If you can give the solution, then you have gained their trust. Now they can become your potential buyers.
Deliver Your Promise Immediately
Even though you may have the greatest solution to their problems, you really need to deliver on the promise immediately.
If you don’t deliver immediately, then you risk to lose the customer.
Why?
Because people on the internet, especially today, are very impatient, very, very impatient. They want instant gratification. Like – NOW!
Therefore, it’s your job to give them what you promise on the homepage or on any other webpage as soon as possible.
A great mistake most internet marketers make is that they make their potential buyers work. Yeah, they make them work …which is a bad idea.
You definitely don’t want to do that because every obstacle you place between the customer and your solution costs you big time.
The simple solution: if you’d like to give your readers something for free, then give it fast, and don’t make them work for it.
Copy Needs Emotion And Passion
Boring doesn’t sell well.
Your writing needs to consist of something more than plain words. You need to package it with emotion and passion.
Unless someone is absolutely desperate for a solution to their problem, you need to write interesting and entertaining content.
Everyone has a different approach; their unique selling point; but if it sounds like something copied from a college textbook, then it’s really bad.
Include A Valuable Free Bonus
You could offer your readers anything for free, but it definitely should be of high value.
And even better if it is of high perceived value like a video or an audio. Just adds to the credibility more.
But, if you share your strategies in a report that you offer free, it doesn’t mean the content must be poor. No! the e-book must be so valuable that you could potentially easily sell it for money.
It depends on the price of the products you sell, but if you, basically, sell $100 products, then you could write a $27-$37 ebook which you offer for free.
The advice really must be golden. The better the free advice you share with others, the more willing they will be to buy your products and pay higher prices.
Hi Ray, Any leak in the web site conversions equates to $$$s lost. Therefore, it is especially important that we make it simple for the customer to buy our product. Clutter is one of the culprits. Kudos to you for pointing out that more opportunities does not mean more conversions.
That freebie that you recommend will go a long way towards branding you as an expert.
Great recommendations.
Conversions is one of those fun ways of a site to work on.
Conversions need to be checked and seen to make sure you are not wasting time to build traffic.
Good article
Hey Ray,
I totally agree that clutter is a big problem. I almost always turn away from a site if there’s a bajillion banner ads in the sidebar or if the home page has so much stuff on it that I don’t even know where to start. I agree that a lot of people think the more links the better, but a lot of times a single link will stand out because it’s all by its lonesome instead of surrounded by 100 other links.
Hi Ray,
Reducing clutter is a fave tip I share with struggling online entrepreneurs. Keen insight here.
Failing entrepreneurs feel adding more calls to action is better. The opposite is true. Less is better. Why? Say you go to an ice cream store. You have 50 different flavors to choose from. Unless you have a favorite flavor you are terribly confused, and it takes you a few minutes to make a selection.
You don’t have a few minutes to clear up this confusion online. You have seconds. Include ONE to TWO clear calls to action on your sidebar. Reduce clutter. Minimize calls, reduce confusion, and more people take your call to action, quickly.
Thanks Ray!
Ryan
I also agree with the clutter problem: Less is more, especially when it comes to blogs!
These days people don’t have time to browse through a cluttered sidebar, to find something that they might consider to be interesting or valuable.
Thanks for the tips. I have been tracking my traffic and I see the numbers coming in..just not converting. I’m going to try a few of your tips!
Thanks
Totally on board with the simplicity point. Generally, if I have ANY questions at all about the process, I’m far more likely to abandon my signup.
I like your website conversion tips, Ray. I think it’s important to make our website easy to read and navigate, and also make the call-to-action obvious and clear. This will increase the conversion rate.
Hi Ray,
I completely agree with your simplicity advice! I hate being virtually screamed at with flashing banners, or overwhelmed with links, clutter and multiple calls to action. I also agree that content should be written for the reader.
Interesting comment about not including much about yourself. Many gurus, especially of attraction marketing, suggest talking quite a lot about yourself, interests, family, etc, so others who can relate to you will feel that they know, like and trust you and therefore, be more willing to buy from you. Not sure about this one yet myself. I do think you want to share enough that your personality comes through so potential customers feel that you are honest, helpful and trustworthy. I guess it’s a balancing act…not too much and not too little.
I enjoyed your post! Tx!
Pat
I think delivering on promises is far and away the most important step in retaining new business. Startups and small business and new ventures all love to trot out bold claims that make them different from their competitors, but too often they fall short. Keep your claims within reason, and always, ALWAYS deliver on what you say you will do. I think this will build trust, and will keep many more people on your site.
I totally agree Paul. So many startups fall down on the first few hurdles and then their reputation is damaged.