Yesterday, we looked at 12 ways to improve traffic and sales on your Website. Today I’ll provide you with another 12 key ways to boost your site’s success with minimal time and effort.
13. Acquire Testimonials
Ask for testimonials in your emails, site, forums, and any point at which you have contact with the customer. Whenever a customer praises your business, ask them whether you can quote them. Then place those testimonials on your home page, testimonials page, buy page, and sales letters. Testimonials increase the credibility of your marketing communications and can improve conversion rates dramatically.
14. Offer a Valuable Bonus
The offer of a valuable bonus to buyers has two key benefits. Firstly, it makes your product much more valuable to the buyer and thereby improves customer satisfaction. It also increases sales dramatically – many prospects who are undecided about your product will find making a purchase irresistible when it comes with a bonus. Make sure your bonus is useful and relevant to your target customers! What you actually offer will depend on your industry and customer needs, but consider:
- the inclusion of extra product portions/features for a discount or for free, and
- the provision of valuable and exclusive information.
15. Guarantee the Purchase
Guarantees can also have a strong impact on sales – often a 30-day money back guarantee is enough to entice your users into a purchase. If you can stand by it, an even better option is a double-your-money-back–style guarantee. Be sure, however, that your product is good and fulfils the promises you make, otherwise you could find yourself spending more on refunds than you made in sales. The secret to guarantees is to have a good product or service that your target audience can see an obvious benefit in.
16. Make your Product a Bargain
Shoppers love a bargain! Compare your product with others in your industry and show how yours provides better value (if possible, at a lower price). Once you’ve established this, it’s easy to show what a fantastic bargain the combination of your product and a bonus really is. And then, to clinch the deal, present the bargain as being available for a limited time.
17. Speed up your Site
Slow sites kill sales. Time means money, so make sure your site loads quickly. If you don’t know how to ensure a speedy download, commission a Web designer to do it for you – you’ll find it’s worth the investment. Or if you have the skill, make your site load in separate tables in a top-down fashion. See CNet for a fast-loading, yet detailed site designed in separate tables.
18. Get the Look
A clean look makes sales. Good graphics and a slick design will make your site appear professional and trustworthy. A poor interface design will discourage purchases, as customers doubt your capabilities. Speak to your designer or read up at SitePoint.
19. Buy eZine Ads
Ezine and newsletter ads offer relatively cheap advertising and are usually highly targeted. So it’s not difficult for a few well-placed ads to generate a lot of interest and high conversaion ratios, as the majority of the newsletters’ subscribers will be interested in your type of product or service.
20. Try Banner Advertising
Many niche sites that have comparatively low, but very targeted traffic levels will often sell banners very cheaply, simply because they can’t sell to large corporate buyers, who prefer sites that receive more page views. Find a few good sites in your industry, and call them to ask whether they’ll take your banners for around $10 for every 1,000 impressions. Even better, see whether they will run your banners for free by becoming your affiliate, so they earn a percentage of the sale whenever one is made as a result of a clickthrough from the banner.
21. Start an Affiliate System
This is a great way to encourage other sites to link to yours, and can really improve your traffic levels! This effectively markets your site for minimal cost and you only pay the link partner when a clickthrough from their site generates a sale. Some good , if pricey, systems you might consider using to run your affiliate network include LinkShare or BeFree. Though their setup and ongoing fees can be high, they have over 1 million affiliates each, and once you join up, they’ll tell those affiliates about your program. So you instantly acquire thousands of affiliates, which could quickly generate sales that pay for the setup fee and more. For a less expensive solution, try a service like AffiliateShop.
22. Accept Purchases Online
Many customers want to use their credit card to buy online, but they’ll only do so if you have a secure payment gateway. So if you don’t provide this facility, you’ll lose a large percent of your potential sales. Visit your local bank and shop around to find a good, reliable gateway for your site.
23. Use Fully-Featured Shopping Cart Technology
Shopping cart technology that allows you to suggest additional purchases to the customer when they reach the checkout can really boost your sales. Imagine, for example, you sell printers and related equipment. Someone comes in, selects a printer to buy and adds it to their shopping cart, before they proceed to the checkout. Immediately, your site suggests that they also get a refill cartridge, some paper, and a printer cover. These items automatically appear, along with their prices, next to check boxes – and all the buyer has to do is tick the check boxes to add them to their order. Most people will go ahead and click to buy these additional products! Some sites can literally double their sales using this functionality.
24. Read Up!
There’s a lot of literature out there that can help you improve your online business. Check out the SitePoint eCommerce Reviews for the lowdown on the latest literature.
So… What are you waiting for?
Well, there you have it! These 24 steps you will get higher traffic and sales starting in the next 24 hours – and they’ll only rise from there! I hope you’ve found this informative, but you still have to do one thing to make it all worthwhile: you must act on this information. A lot of people read articles, think ‘wow, that’s great’, and do nothing about it. Promise yourself to act today. Success is 1% knowing what to do, and 99% showing up to do it!
David GikandiDavid is CEO at Search Positioning. Position Weaver features tools and resources that get top positions for your Website on all major search engines. It also has forums, articles, links, and other resources useful for the Website owner and marketer.
