Convert your Web site visitor into a customer

In recent months we've covered several topics dealing with driving more visitors to your Web site.

Those topics included:

• Search engine marketing (November 2007 CRBJ).
• Online press releases (December 2008).
• Online advertising (January, February and March 2008).
• E-mail marketing (April and May 2008).

The intent of each of these articles was to provide you with enough information and knowledge to begin implementing your own online strategy and to drive more visitors to your Web site.

If all you do is focus efforts on increasing traffic to your site, you've only done half the job.

If visitors immediately leave your site without doing anything, the time and money to get them there was virtually wasted. So, what more should you do?

The answer: increase conversion. You need to convert visitors to your site into customers -- either through a direct sale or have them fill out your contact form or have them sign up for your newsletter so you can continue your relationship with them long after they've left your site.

Example: If 2,000 people visit your site each month, and 20 of them turn into actual customers, your Web site conversion rate is 20/2,000, or 1 percent. If each of those customers equals an average sale of $500, your business has made $10,000.

Now consider the effect of improving your conversion rate to just 2 percent. You now have 40 customers from those 2,000 visitors, and at $500 per sale, you've increased revenue to $20,000 -- without any increase in the amount of money spent to get visitors to your site.

Important factors to increase conversion:

The focal point of your home page and interior pages is what you want customers to notice about your business:

• What your business is.
• The benefits you can offer.
• How to become a customer.

Don't clutter pages with too much information or flash that will distract visitors.

The benefits of your products and services should be clearly outlined and backed up with sound content.

Every page should encourage visitors to take action: purchase a product or service, sign-up for your newsletter or to contact your business.

Make it easy for visitors to get to where you want them to go on your site. Think like a visitor and include navigation-friendly links and paths to get there.

Whether optimizing your Web site for keywords, running a pay-per-click campaign or an e-mail campaign, make sure that the page you have them land on is what they expect. This alone can greatly increase your conversion rate.

Follow these guidelines and watch your conversion rates double or even triple from what they are today. Combined with increased traffic to your Web site, your business will see significant increases in revenues.

Jonny Buroker is an Internet Marketing Consultant with WSI -- We Simplify the Internet, serving south central and southwest Wisconsin.