How many phone calls do you receive from excited marketers trying to sell you traffic to your site? Probably quite a few. Now, how many phone calls do you receive from someone wanting to show you how to convert the traffic you are already getting? Our guess is very little or none.

Unfortunately, someone selling you traffic could typically care less about your conversion rate: They delivered the traffic they sold you – and in their eyes, their job is done. If it fails to convert, it must be your site’s fault.
 
The truth is, over a period of time, traffic to your site will always fluctuate, but with a little work, your conversion rate can steadily increase. Sadly, most internet business owners are satisfied with a one percent conversion ratio when, in fact, one percent is already the general conversion ratio for online sales. Can you imagine any bricks and mortar business content with this rate of conversion? Certainly no car dealership, department store or Mom & Pop. They simply could not survive with anything less than 10%.
Bottom line: Instead of spending money on traffic, focus on conversion and in particular, on the following points to make it happen:

Create Trust – Creating trust means much more than just offering your customers a secure checkout. A professional site with no dead links and no missing products is the biggest credibility builder you can have. A well-designed site utilizes good use of color, space, and navigation techniques to communicate experience, commitment and customer service. In addition, think of including testimonials, client lists and independent reviews to educate your visitors. Yes, prospective customers really do read those things!

Pay Attention to Presentation – You have one chance to present your product: Make it outstanding. Professionally photograph items, optimize your pictures for quick download and show multiple angle and zoom shots of important details. Make it easier for visitors to read about you and your company by keeping your web site content in short width lengths. One of the fastest ways to lose visitors is forcing them to read a wall of text that goes across the full width of your pages.
 
Write Killer Copy – Write descriptive and detailed copy with an emphasis on benefit and remember to remain user friendly. Don’t bog your readers down with unnecessary words, such as ecommerce when Selling Online can get the message across faster and more simply. Utilize clear, bold headlines on each of your pages to draw in your readers and encourage them to read on. Remember the two-second rule: you really only have two to three seconds to grab the average users’ attention.
 
Disturb the Buyer - You want the buyer to take action immediately and the easiest way to accomplish this is to associate a negative consequence with not buying now. Low inventory, limited price availability, competitors buying remaining stock and missing the peak trend, are all effective ways of conveying this message.
 
Entice the Buyer - Clearly define your products’ most positive attributes and communicate the benefits of owning your products. In most cases, people are looking to buy the feeling your product creates. SELL THE FEELING. Speak directly to your visitors and ask them questions that make them think about what benefits you are offering. For example, do you want to improve the conversion rate of your web site? What will happen when you succeed in improving it – More sales? Pride of ownership? A trip to Hawaii?
 
Ask for the Sale — Most important is your call to action, and remember, your site’s most desired actions could be any number of things, including a quote request, free gift or brochure download. A buyer should never need to look for an “action” button. Name your buttons with assertive buying terms such as, Buy it Now, Add to Cart, Make it Mine, etc. Be sure to place these buttons liberally throughout your pages.
 
Make it Easy – How many of your prospective customers are computer whizzes? Your buyers need to be able to view their carts easily and check out quickly. Attempt using a one-page checkout to streamline the process. Allow customers to see the contents in their carts and the purchase amount. Clearly define your shipping policy and offer a variety of shipping methods and times.

 
If you’re serious about your online business, receiving quality, targeted traffic to your site will always be a necessary marketing expense. Optimizing your conversion allows you to wring the most from your marketing dollar and will outlast your advertising campaigns. It is also what your customers will remember best.