Sunday, January 20, 2013

Making Your Website A More Effective Sales Tool

By Shane McConnell


A website that has a high search rank does not necessarily mean that the business has success or that it is making any money. In fact, there may be many visitors but something is holding them back from making purchases or from staying on the site long. Sadly, many webmasters make some similar simple mistakes that can cause a website to be unproductive even though it has a high search return.

First, is it important to look at the site without any blinders on and see it for what it really is so that changes can be made accordingly. Is the site truly easy to navigate or does it have so many graphic effects or banner ads that it becomes confusing for the visitor? Most potential customers want a site that does not make them think when they want to place an order. It is important to keep the graphics to a minimum and let the products speak for themselves.

It is also a good idea to check all the website links to make sure that they are not broken or sending your visitors to the wrong page. Links are a vital part of the navigation process and must be in good working order to decrease the bounce rate. For those who do not know, the bounce rate is the amount of visitors who leave without navigating away from the landing and stay for a very short time.

Another common issue for companies is having customers fill up a shopping cart but they never use the checkout feature or buy the items. This could be due to an issue with the checkout process that is keeping people from going through the final process. Try running a practice checkout and see if there are any issues that are encountered.

Utilize every tool that is available to keep up the rankings on a website and to bring in new visitors who can become customers. Social media should also be used to offer promotions and giveaways that can also increase the customer base. Many companies offer successful social media campaigns and find that their business has grown from this.

Just keep in mind that every website goes through swings and these are due to more than just issues with the site. After checking through all the problems that could cause a huge dip, look at the bigger picture and use social media for promotion. When this is done, there is no reason why the search rankings can stay on a first page without falling farther than that.




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