Having a website that sells items, whether it be purely affiliate or e-commerce, can be a great way to make a full-time income from home. However, not everyone who decides to open up their own websites ends up making that much money.
It all comes down to a few simple concepts that these people just don’t end up following in the grand scheme. It can be surprising at what small, simple changes can result in dramatically increased conversion rates, all of which means more money in the bank. People use the internet in a very specific way, making it of the utmost importance to best exploit psychology and get those people to buy. A good website is the perfect blend of marketing, advertising, psychology, and simple common sense.
Here’s what separates the wheat from the chaff in the online marketplace:
1. Clearly State What Value You Provide
On any landing page, it is of extreme importance that you quickly get the point across as to what need you are fulfilling and how valuable your solution is. Don’t assume that your visitors know exactly what a product does or how it can help them, start small and then work your way up to the more complex details. If someone lands on your page and can’t figure out what it’s all about within 10-20 seconds, chances are they’ll find a different site that is much less obtuse in how it delivers its information.
2. Keep The Homepage Simple
Too many people go completely overboard on their homepage, giving too many options and too much in-depth information to their readers. The homepage should be simple and elegant while allowing the visitor to then decide which page they’d like to navigate to. Keep only your best sellers and most trafficked pages on the homepage, don’t do too much at once.
3. Use Other Forms Of Media On Your Pages
While text is the quintessential way of delivering information on the internet, that’s only the only medium available. Use audio and visual resources to the best of your ability on any landing page. A simple 30 second video that clearly explains how a product works and why it is better than the competition can perform much better than the most well-written and in-depth explanation out there. People’s attention spans while browsing can be fairly limited, any good media that helps keep them engaged will translate into increased sales.
4. Make Sure To Build Trust
Anything that makes your website seem like it is more than just information solely provided by yourself and existing in a vacuum will help your website out more than you can imagine. Things like comment sections, testimonials, and even case studies about how your services work all come together to make your brand seem much more trustworthy overall.
Some sites require further information from people in order for them to book a service. People might have to enter their personal details such as their email, phone number or even card details that’s why it’s imperative to build trust with users.
Some services need to send follow-ups to people and reminders to ensure they attend their booking or appointment. The best recommendation for sorting these tasks is to create a bespoke system which will send personalised emails and reminders to customers. By using personalised messages and messaging them a few times they will become familiar with your brand and feel like you’ve created a relationship with them; therefore trust is created.
If you can gain potential customer’s trust early on it means you’ll do very well when competing with competitors. This is something you can’t put a price on.
5. Know Your Audience & Target Them Accordingly
You should already have a basic understanding of best SEO practices and have some tools at your disposal to best understand what the people in your market are looking for, but if you haven’t, this is an important step. Carefully select your keywords and pages to target a very specific kind of customer as opposed to painting in broad strokes hoping to attract as many people as possible. While it might seem appealing to cast a large net, a smaller net with smaller holes will catch more fish.
6. Create An Email List
If your site is full of new products & a constantly updated stream of information regarding the industry you’re in, people are going to be willing to sign up for an email list to stay up to date. This email list is essentially people consenting to having your advertisements land directly into their inbox and you know that they’re already engaged with the kind of services you provide. Any new content you pump out as well as best sellers can be consistently brought right in front of the eyeballs of the people most likely to make a purchase.
7. Upselling Is Your Friend
There are many products that have sister products that accompany them to make the experience easier overall. For instance, if you sell hockey sticks, it would be prudent to have a link to things like hockey tape nearby. When people have already decided they’re willing to put a bit of money down, they’re more likely to be able to mentally justify another purchase, especially if it is only a fraction of the cost of the original item. With the right upselling techniques, you can consistently sell two or more items instead of one in every transaction.
8. Perform Split Tests
A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a way to see what kind of web design works best on your prospective customers. An example of an A/B test is to have one webpage with a call to action in the middle of an article and another page with the call to action around the top of the article. By comparing which pages result in more conversions, you can then re-tool all of your existing articles to better suit the shopping habits of those who frequent your website.
Improving your website is a constant, never ending game, these tips are only the beginning of a wildly successful site. Always think about how you can improve each and every aspect of your site to fit new & existing trends. It might seem like you’re always a few steps from where you want to be and your site will never be truly “complete”, but that’s actually precisely the truth. Stagnant websites are cast aside every day in favor of more modernized and up to date sites. It’s up to you if you want to be in someone’s bookmarks tab or in page ten of the search results.
