It’s All About Presentation: Tips for Increasing Your Online Sales

August 17th, 2010 by Marty

Are you disappointed at your low online sales volume and/or lack of repeat visitors?

If so, your problem may not be your product so much as your presentation. A great product can be lost if it’s presented in a way that doesn’t grab the viewer’s attention and keep him interested. Even a so-so product can sell like hotcakes if the presentation is right.

With that in mind, take a hard look at your website and ask yourself whether it’s designed to sell. Start by assessing some basics that, when done right, can help increase website sales exponentially.

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Choosing an Effective Website Analytics Package

August 16th, 2010 by Marty

You know you need to monitor your website in order to determine how users interact with various elements and pages. But with all the website analytics software available, how do you know what packages will meet your needs without dipping too deeply into the company pockets?

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Don’t Splatter your Visitors: Web Redesign for Usability

August 13th, 2010 by DMacy

Does anyone else struggle with pouring fluids into their car, or is it just me? Whether it’s oil, antifreeze, or windshield washer fluid, the first ounce or two always ends up all over the engine before I successfully pour it into it’s reservoir or tank.

You might be laughing at me now and saying, “That’s why you use a funnel, dummy!” Exactly – a funnel catches all the liquid and directs it to the target. Is your website design a funnel, or do your visitors end up splattered all over the engine block?

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4 Tips to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate

August 12th, 2010 by Marty

Many online business owners exert lots of energy trying to get more clicks on their websites. They spend time, money, and creative effort learning to attract attention and earn higher search engine rankings in order to increase the number of unique visitors each day.

While these steps can be an important part of your overall marketing strategy, don’t overlook the power of converting more of your present visitors into customers.

Use these four conversion optimization tips to turn your website into a selling powerhouse.

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Quick…What is Your Unique Value Proposition?

August 11th, 2010 by Marty

Your unique value proposition should be the foundation for everything you do—your marketing strategy, your ad copy, the products you choose to sell, and your customer service approach.

If you do not have one, then you will not have a unifying factor behind all these elements and it will be difficult to determine your business goals.

If you already have a unique value proposition, is it the right one? Does it serve as the foundation for your business approach? To help make this concept more concrete, let us use an example.

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Marketing to Small Businesses: A Tale of Two Approaches

August 10th, 2010 by Marty

Carl talks about two different marketing approaches and why one succeeded while the other one didn’t.

4 Tips to Improve Your Calls To Action

August 5th, 2010 by Marty

Call to Action button A call to action is easy right? Just slap a big orange button at the bottom of the page that says Buy Now and wait for the sales to roll in.

Unfortunately, if you want to improve online sales, you’re going to have to put a little more effort into the process than seems necessary at first. If you want a call to action that improves web conversions and boosts your monthly sales data, you’ll need to put some thought into it.

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No Thinking Allowed

August 4th, 2010 by Marty

Is your bounce rate too high? Is your conversion rate too low? These are just a few of the website issues that can be solved by not forcing your website’s visitors to think.

The single most important thing to keep in mind when designing a webpage is that your audience is typically in a hurry, busy, and doesn’t have time to think. The more your website requires the visitor to stop and think, the less effective it will be.

Anything that serves as a distraction—this can be difficult navigation, hard-to-spot links, or a confusing search bar—will force your busy audience to think, and to become frustrated. When a visitor is frustrated, they aren’t going to be able to focus on how great your new product is. All that they will be able to concentrate on is their frustration with your website.

The solution is to focus on creating a webpage that will make people feel welcomed and confident. The first step in being able to do that effectively is to observe how people actually use the internet. As a designer, it is easy to get wrapped up in your own artistic conception of the website and forget about the users.

The most basic concern of internet users is speed and efficiency. People don’t want to read long essays, and they don’t want to have to struggle through difficult navigations or obscurely worded links. Rather, they will scan a page and look for keywords relevant to their interests and needs.

If a page does have a lot of text, this will only make the user wary that they might be missing out on something important. Why frustrate your visitors with several long paragraphs when a well crafted sentence or two will accomplish your purpose? Every design choice it needs to be made in the context of what a web user actually wants. They want a website where what to do and how to do it is easy and obvious.

Want to learn more about making your website more useable? Pick up a copy of Steve Krug’s best selling book “Don’t Make Me Think” and join the discussion at our book club Conversations on Website Conversion on GoodReads.com .