How To Convert Site Visitors Into Customers
By: John Elder posted in Internet Marketing
Hello good people!
Today I want to talk to you about converting your site visitors into customers.
Last week I got an email from a reader asking me this question:
“I have a lot of site traffic, but none of the people that come to my site buy anything. What can I do?”
This is a common question so I thought I’d write about it today.
First, there’s a winning formula that I use to make web sites profitable. Every web site I build follows this same basic formula.
Basically it goes something like this: each web page you build should focus on selling just one thing.
Remove everything else from that page except your sales message for that one item. Take away all the banner ads, all the link exchange links, all the noisy graphics that distract from your sales message.
You want basically just a header graphic of some sort (though even that’s not necessary really), followed by a headline that grabs the person’s attention, followed by a “long copy” sales letter, followed by a link to click on in case they want to order.
Then at the bottom of the page you can put a link to your “About us” page and maybe a link to your main web page….but that’s all.
A very good example of this is this web site here. Go take a look at it. See how it follows this basic formula? That is a winning web site that I’ve not changed in 10 years because it continues to pull sales like crazy. Set up your own pages like that!
** “My legal department says I have to tell you that the last statement was not a forward looking statement or a statement of earnings guarantee. Any web site you create that emulates the site I mentioned has no guarantee of success…..don’t you just love lawyers!”
The message….KEEP IT SIMPLE….
Now we can dig a little deeper….let’s start with the headline…in the example web site above, the headline is:
Web Promotion Tools – Who Needs Em!
The headline is the most important feature of any web page because if you don’t grab the person’s attention, you can bet that they’re going to click over to the next web site.
If you work on headlines for years and years, you get the knack of it…in the mean time I recommend you use a cheap little tool called Pro Headlines. With Pro Headlines, you simply type in some info about your product and hit the button…the software shoots out like a hundred headlines based on the info you gave it using templates of past headlines that have proven to work well for others.
It’s a neat little tool…and I still use it today to help brainstorm ideas for headlines. Click Here to check it out.
Next is the sales letter itself. This is the next most important item of any web page. The sales page should give a person everything they would possible want to know about the product, but in a way that keeps their attention and creates a desire for them to buy.
I could write whole books on this subject, but people far more talented than me already have. You’ve GOT to learn the skill of writing copy (sales letters). You can’t expect to succeed on the internet without yhis skill. After all, web sites are really just sales letters.
If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know that I recommend as the Bible of Copywriting – the Robert Collier Letter Book (its at Amazon).
This is a must have…it’s excellent. Next you’re going to want to read “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word” by Joe Sugarman, the guy behind those blu blocker sunglasses….he’s a master copywriter and you can find his book at Amazon.com
I recommend you start with the Robert Collier Letter Book then move on to the other one.
And that’s really the formula I use to create successful web sites.
That’s all for today. See you next time!
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John Elder
The Marketing Fool!
