Every good Internet business understands the value of conversions versus hits received. Far too often, businesses become fixated on the hits they are receiving instead of monitoring their hit to sale conversion rate. This misguided focus is the road to ruin because it fails to take in the issue of abandonment.
Abandonment
"Abandonment" is one of those terms that has a unique meaning when applied to the Internet. The term refers to reasons why a user abandons a site before taking the action the site owner desires, typically purchasing a product or making an inquiry.
There are a number of beautiful sites on the Internet with unique innovations. Unfortunately, these sites rarely turn a profit or unnecessarily limit their profit potential. Site owners must focus on only one thing when building a site ? converting visitors to customers. To avoid abandonment issues, you should focus on the following:
1. The site should always load as quickly as possible to accommodate visitors that are using 56k dialup modems.
2. The site should be designed for ease of use, not "what looks good."
3. All advertisements must click through directly to the items that are being searched, not the home page of the site.
4. Site pages should be kept short to improve load times.
5. Information that is not germane to the product or service should be removed.
6. Flash, music and other "atmosphere elements" of the site should be removed or optional to speed up load times.
7. Signing up for the site newsletter must be incredibly easy.
8. Customers should be required to fill out the minimum of information to make a purchase.
9. Newsletters should be issued in HTML and text since some email systems do not accept HTML.
10. All images should be compressed for quick loading.
11. All links and emails must also include AOL friendly equivalents.
12. All emails must have automatic text wraps at 60 spaces so that the recipient does not receive a disjointed mess of code in their email box.
13. Email communications from the public must be responded to within 24 hours.
14. Communications made after business hours must be responded to first thing in the morning.
15. The site should offer accumulating bonus points for purchases that eventually lead to a "free gift"
16. When an order is shipped, an email should be sent to the customer telling them as much.
The list is fairly endless, but you should always view site designs and advertising from the perspective of the customer. The universal question for each project is, "How could we make this easier for customers?" By emphasizing this approach, you will bypass many of the problems you see on the net and avoid wasting your advertising dollars.
Halstatt Pires is an Internet marketing consultant with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing firm in San Diego.
The internet has taken over our lives with a vengeance,... Read More
"I am a writer, not a business-person. I don't want... Read More
Three way linking and concerns.For many years SEO experts were... Read More
In a previous ezinearticles.com article,"I Need real visitors, Not Search... Read More
Any new website competing on the internet, needs to take... Read More
In about the Time it takes to Watch a Reality... Read More
You've decided to create a website to market your products... Read More
Your ObjectiveYour small business needs an appealing and professional website... Read More
Running an effective website is a continuous process. I have... Read More
There are many elements that are key to successful web... Read More
Many millions of dollars are being wasted on promoting and... Read More
Are you aware that 90% of the websites on the... Read More
Writing for the web is totally different to writing for... Read More
The art of turning website visitors into paying customers depends... Read More
QUESTION: Should I build and maintain my business Web... Read More
When used to describe a web site, the term "sticky"... Read More
The first thing my business consultant (read brother-in-law) asked me,... Read More
Many executives and investors are skeptical that software products can... Read More
Part of the success of most home-based businesses is their... Read More
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing... Read More
Looks like every client wants a Flash site these days... Read More
There are lots of HTML editors on the market, however,... Read More
Optimal website design is the art of logical navigation.It will... Read More
Visitors to your site come looking for information or solutions... Read More
Having an eye catching website is great, but are you... Read More
One of the things that Internet excels is disseminating information... Read More
If you have your own business website and you are... Read More
If you like the Internet and surfing through the billions... Read More
There was a time not long ago when setting up... Read More
A PHP Redirect automatically transfers a web user from one... Read More
Never has competition been so difficult in the Internet world.... Read More
Like wine cars get more attractive to collectors as years... Read More
Functions and Subroutines in ASP If you read... Read More
August 8 2005, Macromedia announced a release of Studio 8.... Read More
Have you ever wondered what challenges are faced by other... Read More
People like to get immediate responses to requests. Autoresponders are... Read More
A PHP Redirect automatically transfers a web user from one... Read More
If you like the Internet and surfing through the billions... Read More
2 Golden Rules for an Engaging Website35% of visitors fail... Read More
Mini Websites are the most powerful and cost effective solution... Read More
It is an undeniable fact that not everybody is keen... Read More
Below, I have listed 8 simple steps that you can... Read More
The cost of setting up a web site is dirt... Read More
This simple question can take on several different forms, but... Read More
Recently I was reviewing the keyword specific conversion rate data... Read More
You've just finished congratulating your marketing team. After six months... Read More
1. Choose a big enough font size. A size 12... Read More
Building a website and getting it online is easy. Driving... Read More
If you are developing your website on a host that... Read More
The following is a list of patterns that many visitors... Read More
So what do you do if need to get a... Read More
The internet has taken over our lives with a vengeance,... Read More
"How do I improve web site sales figures?" The CEO... Read More
A website provides invaluable advantages for businesses who have one.7... Read More
The evolution of web development parallels the model of technology... Read More
Yahoo has long offered email, an online calendar, notes, bookmarks,... Read More
There is an ongoing debate about web copy. Some say... Read More
That's right. Your method, behavior and strategy you are now... Read More
You want to give your site's visitors a way to... Read More
Project Safekids provides webmasters a valuable tool which could save... Read More
In this example I have used the map of the... Read More
I recently received an unsolicited e-mail from some company offering... Read More
You've put up a website to promote a product or... Read More
After years of working with entrepreneurs who developed their first... Read More
Do you make your website just to entertain yourself or... Read More
That's right. According to a recent study by Nielsen/NetRatings, Amazon.com... Read More
Web Development |