December 2005 - Customers - Converting Your Browsers Into Customers

Your Internet Marketing Tips
“Customers - Converting Your Browsers Into Customers”

Publisher: Enable UK

Welcome to this months issue of Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter.

Now that you’ve identified who your best customers are and you’ve tracked down where to find them and directed them to your web site, how are you going to turn them from browsers into customers? In the fourth part of this series dedicated to Customers, we will investigate the secrets of turning your browsers into customers.

To catch up with the first three issues in this series, visit:
http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/internet_marketing_newsletter_.html

I hope you find the article useful.

Customers – Converting Your Browsers Into Customers

Most established web sites get good amounts of traffic but these visitors often do not convert into customers. Business owners then start thinking about search engines, more marketing and expensive advertising when what they should be doing is taking a step back and looking at why visitors who already finding their web site aren’t doing what they want them to do!

If you can get to the bottom of that problem you might not even need to get more visitors to your web site. If you can convert a high percentage of the browsers that are already finding you into sales you won't need to devote as much time and money to marketing your web site in the first place. So today we are going to have a look at some quick and simple ways you can improve your conversion rate.

Make Sure your Links Work

Not as daft as it sounds, it's amazing how many times the link from a pay per click or search engine result doesn't go through to the intended web site. The enthusiastic person clicking on the link gets a big error message proclaiming the connection couldn't be made or the site couldn't be located. That person doesn't understand what goes on behind the scenes; they just know that the business behind that link isn't reliable or available to them. So you lose the customer and waste your marketing expenses.

Show Them What They Want To See

How may times have you seen something like this when you follow a link: "Welcome to our web site. ABC Ltd was formed in 1973 and we have 500 staff in 18 countries. Our main clients include..." And so it just goes on, boring it’s new visitor to death.

Don't put information on your site that your managing director wants there, or the graphic designer or developer wants to show. Put information on your web site that your CUSTOMER wants to know.

Your browsers want something now, and if you make it hard for them to find the information they want, they’ll click away. The consensus of the all the research that has been conducted demonstrates that you have around 4 - 5 seconds from the time when somebody lands on your web page to actually convince them to remain on your site.

You don't have long. If after the 5 seconds people don't see what they want to see they will disappear, forever. When visitors come to your web site they are looking to find answers to a series of questions as quickly as possible.

For example, they may want to want to know;

What products or services do you actually provide on this website?
Why you are different to your competitors?
What guarantees or follow up service do you offer?
What do your customers say about you?
Do you have any accreditations?
What makes your product or service so special?

Create Specific Landing Pages

Don't adopt a one-size-fits-all approach for directing traffic to your web site. Creating specific landing pages as these are the first pages a visitor lands on when arriving from a link or pay-per-click advert. They want to see the information that the link or advert promised them and creating specific landing pages is crucial.

Another way you can improve your conversion rate is to try to focus on one single goal for your website or for each page.

The problem I see a lot of people struggle with is that they are trying to do too much with their web site:

They are trying to sell a product
They are trying to get people on their subscriber list
They are trying to give information to their employees
They are trying to get new business
They are trying to get information to customers
They are trying to give information about the community

Just hold fire a minute and focus on the ultimate goal of the site. What is your site's primary objective?

You need to have one goal for the site or at least one goal for each page and make sure when your customers arrive from a link to that page, that the information they are looking for is easily available to them.

Keywords Must Rule

The very words your audience types into the search engine must also be the words that appear in the message on your landing pages. This not only improves your ranking in the search engines, it satisfies your visitors that they have arrived at the correct page and validates their action. The most effective and persuasive ways to use keywords is to place them in your call-to-action hyperlinks.

Provide Enough Information

List enough information to let the visitor make a decision about your business.

You want to list everything you can think of when you're developing your products and services pages. Here is a generic list:

Describe the product or service physically if possible, and include a photo.
Include benefits, value, features, and what's different about your product that other products don't have.
What pain will it ease?
Who usually buys it?
What type of customers benefit from it?
Is there a guarantee?
What will the buyer experience when working with the product or service?
Are there instructions?
How does a customer get started with it?
What results will it produce?
Is there a methodology or philosophy?
How can a visitor learn more?

There's a reason why long sales messages work. In addition to evoking emotions, they confront every objection a buyer has by giving them more information, enough to make a purchasing decision.

Create a sense of urgency

Create a sense of urgency with a deadline or special offer.

If visitors feel like they'll be missing out by not acting now, they will be more likely to act.

Provide Assurances

Point of Action Assurances, given in short phrases are invaluable to persuading action:

We value your privacy
Shop with confidence
You can always remove it later
Exchanges are easy.

It isn't enough that you express these somewhere on your site. They must appear in the places where visitors are going to take the action. Ask yourself what reassurances your visitors might need when they arrive on your landing page, then reassure away!

If your product or service is priced above impulse purchase level, you may need to make further assurances before your customers will purchase from you. For more detailed ways to do this, see our guide Building Online Relationships here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.html

Provide Calls To Action

Every page of your Web site must have at least one call to action.

Your pages should be carefully designed to drive the visitor into taking the action you want them to. That could be buying a product, telephoning you, setting up an appointment, signing up for your newsletter, etc.

Calls to action look like the following:

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It might be a no-brainer to have these calls to action listed on your product or service description pages, but what about your other pages? Do you have them listed on your articles pages? Right after you've demonstrated your incredible knowledge is a perfect time to mention things like "Do you have questions? Email us at ___."
Take a look at all of your pages and see what calls to action are appropriate for each one.

Create actionable content

As you write your Web copy, use phrases like "Have you thought about…?", "You owe it to yourself," and other language that invokes interaction on the part of the visitor. Include lots of "you" statements, making it about the reader. Your reader should relate to what you're saying and even empathize with your words. It's all about getting your visitor to take the first step towards starting a relationship with you. Then you'll have a chance down the road to turn them into a customer.

For a more in-depth look at our guide Writing Text That Sells available here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_3.html

Be Available

Display offline contact options for your visitors, if possible, make sure your landing pages offer your visitors a free-phone telephone number through which they can contact you. Consider it your anti-bail-out lifeline. And if you'd like to track the effectiveness of the offline option, make it a discrete number associated only with the landing page or marketing campaign.

Internet marketing is an excellent way to direct qualified traffic to your business, but it fulfils its promise only when your web site is able to convert the potential customers who do come. Capturing browsers and turning them to buyers is easy once you follow the basics and bear in mind that your web site should be written for your customers as well as the search engines.

Is your web site driving high quality, targeted customers to your business? Learn how to make your web site work harder for you by downloading our DIY Internet Marketing Guides packed with tips, information and advice on all areas of Internet marketing. Stop losing customers to your competitors and start making more money from your web site TODAY.
http://www.enable-uk.co.uk

To catch up with previous issues of this newsletter, visit:
http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/internet_marketing_newsletter_.html

If you have any questions about any of the topics raised or any other Internet Marketing issues, feel free to Contact Us. I do my best to answer all questions or to cover the issues in future editions of this newsletter.

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