How To Convert More Website Visitors Into Customers

Here are the 9 big-picture secrets to having a website that gets you maximum conversions, leads, sales and profits.

Twinsburg, OH (PRWEB) July 15, 2006 -- Some tough obstacles must be overcome in order to get a website visitor to respond to a company. These include the short attention span of the web, hundreds of websites they can visit, and the visitors having seen thousands of websites already.

In analyzing the 25 most successful websites written for our clients, here are the 9 big-picture secrets to having a website that will provide maximum conversions, leads, sales and profits.

1. The website needs a headline that is very specific, unique, remarkable and features a mouth-watering customer-benefit.
    
Generalities in the headline and website will kill the response. People have heard general statements hundreds of times before, so they have no power:

“lowest prices” … click away;
“great services” … click away;
“industry leader” … click away.
    
2. Develop instant credibility on the first page of the website by using logos of well-known customers, membership associations, years in business, etc.

The internet is a phenomenal tool because it literally puts the world at your fingertips. The problem is that there are a lot of crooks, cheats and nuts in the world who could all have web sites.

Make sure the website visitors instantly know that yours is a legitimate, professional business. This not only puts their minds at ease, but it removes a huge obstacle they might otherwise have to doing business with you.

3. Get to the point on the first VISIBLE screen.

The key here is VISIBLE. This means make sure website visitors know EXACTLY how you will solve their problems and meet their needs BEFORE they ever touch a scroll bar. There is nothing more aggravating than a site that forces you to link and scroll before you can even figure out if they can meet your needs.

Think about it: do you take the time to dig through one website when you can GOOGLE thousands or millions of other sites that also claim to have what you need? Neither will your prospects. If people have to go hunting, they will simply move on.

Two other important tools that can help turn visitors into buyers are a site search, and easy-to-find contact information. Make sure no one visits your site without INSTANTLY knowing you WANT to help them and YOU can solve their problems.

4. Make a free or special introductory offer.

Get the website visitor to DO SOMETHING NOW … IMMEDIATELY! Because if they don’t, they’re gone … and you’ve lost your opportunity. (When a free evaluation offer was added to the Profit Boosters Copywriting website, the response rate tripled.)

5. Offer a free eNewsletter sign-up.

This is a must. Give it a good name, offer free special reports along with it and push the privacy policy. It will be necessary to capture visitor emails and follow up with helpful information to them on a regular basis.

And don’t worry about writing an eNewsletter. You obviously have a passion and expertise for your business, or you wouldn’t be in it. Just write about what you know, using your own words.

Here’s another important related tip: don’t try and impress anyone with technical jargon and flowery language. Pretend you’re writing a letter to help out a good friend. That’s the perfect tone for the eNewsletter.

6. Focus on the message, not the technology.

With a media as technology-driven as the internet, it’s unbelievably easy to get caught up in all the latest bells and whistles.

But remember, people are visiting the site because they WANT something … NOT because they want to be impressed by how much technology is packed onto the site.

The headline is still the key (see tip number 1 again) to driving business. And whether you use the latest technology, or plain old text, EVERYTHING on the site should point the prospect to a BENEFIT only YOU can provide.

Here’s another good reason to hold back on the tech stuff a bit: not all new technology is ACCESSIBLE or ACCEPTED by most users right away, or even at all. To reach the largest audience, wait until a technology is generally accepted by users and developers so they’ll already have, or be willing to download the necessary components to view the site. Some examples of this are:

• java applets
• activex controls
• shockwave objects
• tools that require plug-ins
• specialized document formats

One common mistake is to overdo the graphics. Web design programs make it so easy to add graphic elements that they’re sometimes hard to resist. Remember, just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
Try the “Squint Test”. Look at the web page and kind of squint your eyes. Do you see a main thought and graphic … or do you just see a bunch of colors, shapes, patterns, boxes and flashes?
As a rule of thumb, anything that diverts your attention to ITSELF as a graphic element and AWAY from the MESSAGE of your main benefits, is probably overdone.
Some common things that get overused are:

• excessive graphics
• frames
• background images
• bevels and other graphic tricks

Mike Pavlish is the Founder and Creative Director of Profit Boosters Copywriting. Satisfaction guaranteed since 1978! For a FREE, no obligation evaluation and recommendations to improve sales from your website, call Mike at (330) 963-0330 or click here: http://www.ProfitBoostersCopy.com

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