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20 Website Mistakes That Cost Me Three Years And 22 000
Learn from other's experience in the future. Did you
mistakes," my Mom always knowthat 60% of buyers opt-out
advised me.Learn from mine, and don't complete thetransaction
save three precious marketing because of the little things?
years, tonsof frustration,
energy, and come out way ahead of 2. Do you have boxes or radial
the game.Best of all, this will buttons that they need tocheck
not create a loss of sales, as it off in the ordering process? If
did for me. you do, then go aheadand fill-in
the checkmark "in" for them. Let
1. If you use a shopping cart, them uncheck it ifthey do not
check if the zip code want the choice you gave them.
requestappears before the city Again,making it easier to buy
and state on the order form. from you and reduce the chance
Mostcarts don't do this. Why is ofthem leaving before completing
this important? Because the transaction.
ifordering is not easy, I mean
real easy, for your buyers,they If you have a questionnaire or
drop out in the process. Ordering survey form, check all the"yes"
should be aseffortless as categories or one of the radial
possible for the purchaser. buttons for them sothey don't
have to do the work. They will
If the zip code is before the remember theexperience as "easy"
city and state and is set todrop and it will be imprinted in their
their city and state into the minds forthe next purchase or
next two fieldsautomatically, it experience with you.
saves the purchaser's time.
Believe it ornot, this one 3. Many people forget to set up
"little" item leaves a memory the "error page" on theirweb
chip and theywill remember the site. Do not leave that to
chance. Ask them questionson the this is a different story.
error page so that you will know Teenagers will enjoythe
what occurred. Example:"Tell me entertainment.
how you saw this page please."
Add your e-mailaddress. Hyperlink If you offer an entertaining
the address and spell out the feature on your site, you
fulladdress for those with willneed to carryout the theme
different browsers. Make it easy throughout your site,
forpeople to identify any errors otherwisethey will leave as soon
on your web site so you canfix as it stops. This has
them quickly. occurredquite often lately as
professionals add video to their
If you think that will never site(considered entertainment)
happen to you and that you and then the rest of the site
havechecked your links isflat. They get a lot of hits to
repeatedly, it can still the video and then noresponse on
happen.Software has glitches and the call to action that they have
they happen to be the best of set up.
thebest. In addition, an error
page is a great place to addother 5. Please do not activate "under
hyperlinked navigational bars (a construction" pages. Waituntil
list of the main areasof your web the page is ready and then upload
site). Also, offer an opportunity it. If you areusing FrontPage,
for them toenroll in your ezine you can remove it from the
here as well. Navigationalsystem by right
clicking on the page and turning
4. Omit the metaphors. Most it off.
adults do not have the time orthe
patience to play games on the 6. Don't beat around the bush
Internet. If your marketis teens, with your visitors. Make
yourmessage so clear that even a use the default page whentheir
ten year old will understandit. search comes up empty. Offer them
Make the language conversational a 10% coupon forsomething else,
-- easy English. or for anything on your site.
Tell themthis is a one-time offer
7. Make your "buy me" buttons (they will not know otherwise).
"Amazon" blue. Backed by Onthe other hand, you could
goodresearch, Amazon has trained provide a list of
millions of their visitors inthis availablediscounts or offer them
color and in their design style. a choice of sections to proceed
Use their success toyour to.Do not let them get the "Can't
advantage. Visit find a match" message at anytime.
http://www.amazon.com to see
what"Amazon" blue looks like. 9. When collecting visitor
information for your database,
8. Do you offer a search form on doit one step at a time. Do not
your site? You need to.Once again try to do everything at once.If
-- making it easy for your you offer an ezine, the first
visitors to find theinformation step is to ask for their e-mail
they want quickly. Here is a tip address only. After they type
that I learnedonly a few months that in, take them toanother page
ago that has paid big since. to answer questions.
After all Ihave read and learned
over the past 10 years, nothing Alternatively, you can send them
wasevery mentioned about this. an auto responder askingthem
When someone searches questions. Better yet, send them
forsomething and it is not found, to a survey pageafter they have
set up a default-sellingpage. subscribed to your newsletter.
You willenjoy an increase in
Here are a few ideas on how to subscribers and survey
submissions. Give them all the informationthey
need to make a choice and to
10. If you use drop down menus subscribe. If they arefirst-time
for your states or visitors, where do they click
countries,remove them. "Techies" first?
like drop down menus, but
visitorsdon't. Let the visitor For example, if you are a coach,
type in their state and country. ask them if they want toknow more
Itis ten times faster and much about coaching. If you are a
easier than looking through along virtual assistant(VA), send them
list searching for a state and to a page or two about what a VA
country. Even if theUnited States does andhow you help your
is at the top, it still makes the clients. After they get to the
buyersearch. next page,give them choice of
different areas where you can
11. The best way to give your help themas a virtual assistant
visitors what they want is tokeep or a coach.
it simple. This is especially
true for the landingpage of your Walk them through the process in
web site. The landing page is steps, "hold their hand" asyou
your main orindex page. lead them through all the things
that you can do forthem. Create a
What do you want your visitors to walk-through easy-to-follow
do when they reach yoursite? If effect. It willpay off in
they are there to subscribe to profits.
your ezine(electronic
newsletter), send them to that 12. Do not add any pages to the
page by givingthem that immediate site that do not pertainto the
option. Then send them to a page visitors' reasons for coming to
thatfocuses them on subscribing. your site. People donot have time
for irrelevant information. Know where the advice is coming
from and hire them only fortheir
13. You do not need an engineer expertise. If you are reading an
or a web site designer todesign article on marketingon the
your website. In fact, while they Internet that was written by
would not like tohear this, you someone who is a website
do not need them. They may do designer, a red flag should go
everythingright technically, but up.
they do not know how to get
people tostay at your site or buy If you are talking with a
from you. marketer who does not have
website design experience and you
Marketers know how to do that. are looking for help inbuilding
While 98% of engineers andweb your web site, raise that flag
site designer claim they are again. The rareperson with the
marketers, less than 1%know unique combination may be hard to
anything about marketing. The find, butwe exist -- I designed
truly rare commodity isa my learning to be one of those
fantastic marketer who is savvy rareones.
about web site design.
I have helped many people clean
Building your site is just like up their web site after theyhave
building a house: without worked with web designers and/or
anarchitect who knows about marketers. And trustme, the clean
layout, structure air flow, up is more time consuming than
etc.,all you have is a starting allover.
construction company building the
housefrom their sense of style, 14. Don't make your buyer feel
direction and beliefs. stupid while they are in
theprocess of buying from you --
in the "cart" process.Internet to go to the next pageor to pick
service providers (ISPs and web the most popular page or product
site hosts) do thisfrequently. in thislocation. If the purpose
Just one example of this is when of the page/site is different,
they ask theirnontechie buyers youmay want to put the back and
the option, "Choose your server" forward buttons there.
The majority of their buyers have Don't put graphics, especially
no idea what this means.They do your logo, on the upper lefthand
not understand that you are corner. This is prime real estate
asking if they want a Unix for your website.If you have a
orWindows based system. Moreover, retail site, place your
even these same buyers areasked top-selling item inthis space or
in this manner, they still do not a drop down menu of three of the
have any clue whatare the top sellingitems.
advantages or disadvantages of
either one. 16. Answer the visitors' main
questions in one easy-to-findand
So, they feel stupid. You will readable paragraph. Don't make
lose more buyers withquestions the font too small toread and do
like this. The buyer feels not make it go across the page
frustrated and 99% ofthe time requiring thereader to scroll.
leaves without buying. Look on I've seen young web site
your site, are youasking any designers usesmall fonts on their
questions that make the buyers or website which wants to attract a
visitors feelstupid? marketthat's in their 40s and
50s. Fact, the older you get
15. The most common place to thebigger the font.
click on any web page is thetop
left-hand corner. Put the choice 17. Don't talk down to your
visitors. They are visitors. "Whatquestions did they
intelligentpeople who will not have when they landed on the
stand for it. They will leave and first page?",is a great question
nevercome back. There is a to start. Get them to walk you
difference in talking down throughtheir thinking. You will
andpresenting a conversational pick up some patterns after
style. Talking down is thefirst three or four. This is
likeexplaining it to your child; the best research you can doand
the other is like talking it will save you years of
toanother adult. Technical people revisions.
have a big tendency to talkdown
to nontechnical people. Do not ask family members or
friends. Ask clients who havejust
18. Make it easy for them to finished visiting your site. They
share their comments with are familiar visitorsand they
you.Whether it is about a will want something different
hyperlink that does not work or from a new visitor.You need to
othererrors they have found. They set up your landing page to
may want to tell how much handle both familiarand new
theyappreciated your information. visitors without being confusing.
Create a place on every pagewhere
they can feel comfortable about 20. One of the most valuable
submitting theircomments. pages in a web site that issadly
Comfortable also means that they overlooked is the "thank you"
have a choiceon whether to send page. If someone signsup for your
their contact information or not. ezine or places an order, include
a popup saying"thank you for
19. Organize your site from the visiting." Use whatever way you
visitors' point of view.If you can thinksays it best, but don't
are not sure, ask some typical leave it out. The other half of
thisequation is not to loose the the Internet in between the first
opportunity to cross sell orup cart processingpage and the last
sell on the thank you page. page. It is usually because it
took toomany clicks to complete
First, say thank you and then the transaction or it took too
give them an offer they muchtime to think about it or to
cannotrefuse. On the thank you make choices. Check your website
page, you can provide a coupon and eliminate any obstacles or
for10 percent off on anything in places that do this soyou can
the store or 10 percent off on reduce this percentage on your
anyoverstocked or limited stock web site.
item.
Bonus Tip 2: If you have
Now that you have these tips on questions on your page,
what mistakes not to make,you dividethem into categories and
need to put them into practice. don't put them all on one
Choose three and startcompleting page.Spread them out between
them. Then move on to the next pages. It looks easier and
three and keepmoving through the fasterto the person answering the
list. You will be excited of questions. Give them anincentive
theresults. to move from one page to the next
and give themencouragement
Bonus Tip 1: 60% of the buyers between the incentives.
opt out of purchasing aproduct on
About the Author:
Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing &
Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet
writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters
and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com
blog: http://abundance.blogs.com
Read more articles by: Catherine Franz
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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