Internet Marketing: How to Turn Website Visitors Into Customers
Most online businesses focus their efforts on increasing the amount of visitors to their Website.
The rationale behind this is that in order to make a sale, they first have to let the customers know the varied wonderful features of their product lines.
They can only do this if the prospective customer steps into their virtual store.
That is why they invest their resources in optimizing their ranking in search engine results, creating links on Websites frequently visited by their target customers, and posting useful content that consumers would find helpful.
However, focusing your efforts solely on increasing traffic to your store is just half the battle.
Once your prospective buyers step into your Website, your next goal is to convert your Website visitors into customers.
You may have very good statistics as far as the number of visitors generated by your Website.
The critical question is how many of those visitors actually proceed to buy your products.
What is your sales percentage among your total number of visitors? To improve your visitor conversion rate, you need to incorporate important characteristics into your Website.
Here are a handful of practical ideas for enhancing your sales success among your site visitors: Make your site accessible and easy to navigate.
Ensure that your site is compatible with varied Internet browsers.
Some unknowingly drive away potential customers because their Website only works with Internet Explorer.
Depending on the site, you can have as much as 50 percent of your visitors who use alternative browsers.
Display your 'buy' button in a prominent part of your Website.
Don't make your prospective customers hunt for it.
If they still have to scan and scroll to the bottom of their screens to see the link for purchasing, they might lose interest in your virtual store.
If your site provides a shopping cart, display the 'add item to your basket' link in big, bolded letters, at the top of the page, as much as possible.
These links don't have to be loud, but they certainly need to be obvious and well-positioned to make shopping in your site convenient and efficient.
Provide convenient links to more detailed information about your products.
Most customers use information on a product's specifications and suitability to decide if they will purchase or not.
Posting a picture of the item is not enough.
Be mindful of your customers' needs for making informed decisions on purchasing.
Provide candid information on the availability of your products, as well as the total amount they need to pay for the product.
They need to know immediately if the product is out of stock, or if they have to pay extra for delivery.
Don't surprise your customer with a host of extra charges at the check-out screen.
This can be very annoying to the customer, and they might just leave your Website for good.
If you want to get additional information from your customers, provide an option for registering at your site, but don't make it compulsory.
If they're just there to buy a single item, don't waste their time by having them input a lot of information.
Of course some information are necessary, such as their physical address and phone number if the product is to be delivered to them.
The customer's email address might be needed to provide them with a confirmation of their order.
Just ask the information that is relevant to the transaction.
Leave out any surveys or invitations to newsletters so you don't complicate your customer's shopping experience.
The rationale behind this is that in order to make a sale, they first have to let the customers know the varied wonderful features of their product lines.
They can only do this if the prospective customer steps into their virtual store.
That is why they invest their resources in optimizing their ranking in search engine results, creating links on Websites frequently visited by their target customers, and posting useful content that consumers would find helpful.
However, focusing your efforts solely on increasing traffic to your store is just half the battle.
Once your prospective buyers step into your Website, your next goal is to convert your Website visitors into customers.
You may have very good statistics as far as the number of visitors generated by your Website.
The critical question is how many of those visitors actually proceed to buy your products.
What is your sales percentage among your total number of visitors? To improve your visitor conversion rate, you need to incorporate important characteristics into your Website.
Here are a handful of practical ideas for enhancing your sales success among your site visitors: Make your site accessible and easy to navigate.
Ensure that your site is compatible with varied Internet browsers.
Some unknowingly drive away potential customers because their Website only works with Internet Explorer.
Depending on the site, you can have as much as 50 percent of your visitors who use alternative browsers.
Display your 'buy' button in a prominent part of your Website.
Don't make your prospective customers hunt for it.
If they still have to scan and scroll to the bottom of their screens to see the link for purchasing, they might lose interest in your virtual store.
If your site provides a shopping cart, display the 'add item to your basket' link in big, bolded letters, at the top of the page, as much as possible.
These links don't have to be loud, but they certainly need to be obvious and well-positioned to make shopping in your site convenient and efficient.
Provide convenient links to more detailed information about your products.
Most customers use information on a product's specifications and suitability to decide if they will purchase or not.
Posting a picture of the item is not enough.
Be mindful of your customers' needs for making informed decisions on purchasing.
Provide candid information on the availability of your products, as well as the total amount they need to pay for the product.
They need to know immediately if the product is out of stock, or if they have to pay extra for delivery.
Don't surprise your customer with a host of extra charges at the check-out screen.
This can be very annoying to the customer, and they might just leave your Website for good.
If you want to get additional information from your customers, provide an option for registering at your site, but don't make it compulsory.
If they're just there to buy a single item, don't waste their time by having them input a lot of information.
Of course some information are necessary, such as their physical address and phone number if the product is to be delivered to them.
The customer's email address might be needed to provide them with a confirmation of their order.
Just ask the information that is relevant to the transaction.
Leave out any surveys or invitations to newsletters so you don't complicate your customer's shopping experience.