What's the quickest way to make more money out of your website? ...Improve the conversion rate!

Without gaining any more web traffic or increasing prices you can quickly make more money with a website by improving the average number of sales you make per 100 visitors.

Let's say you made 5 sales from 500 people visiting your website, the conversion rate (visit to sale ratio) would be 5 divided by 500 timed by 100 which gives 1.0%.

There are hundreds of ways of improving this conversion percentage including graphical tweaks, positions of key information, costing and colouring of the website.  Below are the top 5 tips to improve you conversion rate of your website:

1. Show what you're selling straight away

If you are selling a product then it's really important that you show your visitors that you sell the product they are looking for.  If you sell 'lawn mowers' for example, then you have around 4 seconds to convince a visitor that you sell them; if a user doesn't find any reference to lawn mowers then they'll soon be off to a competitor's website.

Be blatantly obvious what your website is... place a large heading at the top of your website with text that is relevant to the products sold, for example: "Quality Lawn Mowers for Sale".

Also be sure to include a large, high quality image of your product/service at the top of the website, make sure that even someone with terrible eyesight can be sure that they're on the right website!

2. Make things clear

Cluttered websites make it harder for people to find what they're looking for and they may leave after getting frustrated.  If you sell multiple products then categorise them, sort them out and use a clear text and image navigation so people can quickly find whatever they want in the right section.

Masses of  links in the navigation bar will be mostly ignored, if your homepage has 50+ internal links then the user may become over-whelmed by the amount of information on the site and move onto a competitors.

Do you have fancy looking links on your site? Default, underlined, blue links still out-perform any other types of links, if you have removed the underline from links or made them the same colour as the text then turn it back to the default CSS settings for instant results.

3. List advantages for buying your product or service (not just details)

Let's say you are selling 'lawn mowers' again for example; now which intro text will sell more lawn mowers below?

1. "Our lawn mowers spin at 1000 r.p.m. and can store 2 bags worth of grass"

2. "Create the perfect lawn for all the family to enjoy"

Intro text #1 juts focuses on the product and intro text #2 focuses on an emotional advantage to using the product.  Intro text #2 will outperform #1 as it paints a picture of what the lawn mower could achieve for the person who buys it.

It is important to list all the facts and details about your product but that should be a later thing a potential customer should read to back up the feeling that this product or service is right for them and that they should reach into their pockets to purchase it.  Images of happy people can back up this ideal image the lawn mower example for instance would work well with children playing on a perfectly mowed lawn for example, the lawn mower wouldn't even need to be in the picture to sell it!

4. Give potential customers one extra reason to buy now

Lots of people put off making a purchase online usually thinking they'll come back at a later date when they are sure they want it or have a little extra money in the bank.  These people could never end up making the purchase or even worse end up on a competitor's website when they search for the product/service again!

Give them a solid reason to buy now or perhaps end up paying extra in the future.  Furniture shops do it all the time with seasonal sales along-side warnings that the "Offer ends soon!", you can do the same thing online by also having a sale or by throwing in an extra product or free delivery if they buy within a certain time period.  Showing the crossed out the 'old price' of a product also gives the impression of a bargain that may not last, some bigger companies use promotion codes to get online discounts that only last for a few days or weeks, there are lots of tricks that can be used including some shock tactics that highlight negative points if the visitor doesn't use the product as soon as possible.

5. Use colours to your advantage

The colour scheme of your website can play a large part in people's emotions when they visit and use the site.  Black backgrounds with white text for example creates a negative feeling in most English speaking countries; if you create a negative feeling in the visitor then they certainly are not going to make a purchase.

Red is the best colour to highlight anything on a website, humans are drawn to red more than any other colour, see how much this header stands out below using a splash of red:

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The word "FREE" stands out a mile and I'm guessing that you probably noticed it before you even started reading this section of this blog.  Too much red text will dampen the effectiveness of it so only use it on perhaps an offer or a key advantage of purchasing your product/service.

"Buy" buttons should also stand out with colour and a 3-d shading effect, it's generally conceived that an orange 'buy button' is the most user friendly (used by Paypal and Amazon).

Light blue backgrounds are used on several sites as it gives a neutral, friendly feel, which is great if you're selling a family product/service but can look out of place if you're selling something exciting such as paintballing.

Dark purple backgrounds can denote luxury and quality, perfect if you're selling a one-off expensive item such as high-end jewelry or shoes.

Ecommerce websites usually benefit most with a white background (showcasing the products), gambling websites work well with reds, blacks and greens (mimicking casino games) and health websites convert well when they have a green or turquoise background (friendly hospital colours).

Do research into your customer demographic and try and chose colours that reflect their mind-set, if not then change to a safe, white background which always works well for usability and clarity.

Conclusion

Stop chasing extra traffic for your website for a day or two and think how you can improve conversion rates of your own site.  Look at the statistics of how visitors interact with your website and when/where they leave it; even better sit behind someone who never seen your site before, keep an eye on what they try to do and let them tell you their honest thoughts!