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20 Website Mistakes That Cost Me Three Years and $22,000
First Published: Sep 2004
Last Update: Sep 2004
Author: Karon Thackston
"Learn from other’s mistakes," my Mom always advised me. Learn from mine, save
three precious marketing years, tons of frustration, energy, and come out way
ahead of the game. Best of all, you probably didn't lose thousands of dollars
like I did.
1. If you use a shopping cart, check if the zip code request appears before the
city and state on the order form. Most carts don't to this. Why is this
important? Because if ordering is not easy, I mean real easy, for your buyers,
they drop out in the process. Ordering should be as effortless as possible for
the purchaser.
If the zip code is before the city and state and is set to drop their city and
state into the next two fields automatically, it saves the purchaser's time.
Believe it or not, this one "little" item leaves a memory chip and they will
remember the experience in the future. Did you know that 60% of buyers opt-out
and don't complete the transaction because of the little things.
2. Do you have boxes or radial buttons that they need to check off in the
ordering process? Yes, then go ahead and fill-in the checkmark in for them. Let
them uncheck it if they do not want the choice you are gave them. Again, making
it easier to buy from you and reduce the chance of
them leaving before completing the transaction.
If you have a questionnaire or survey form, check all the "yes" categories or
one of the radial buttons for them so they don't have to do the work. They will
remember the experience as "easy" and it will imprint in their minds for the
next purchase or experience with you.
3. Many people forget to set up their "error page" on their web site. Do not
leave that to chance. Ask them questions on the error page so that you know what
occurred. Example: "Tell me how you saw this page please." Add your e-mail
address. Hyperlink the address and spell out the full address for those with
different browsers. Make it easy for people to identify any errors on your web
site so you can fix them quickly.
If you think that will never happen to you and that you have checked your links
repeatedly, it can still happen. Software has glitches and it happens to the
best of the best. In addition, an error page is a great place to add other
hyperlinked navigational bar (a list of the main areas of your web site). Also,
offer an opportunity for them to enroll in your ezine here as well.
4. Omit the metaphors. Most adults do not have the time or the patience to play
games on the Internet. If your market is teens, this is a different story.
Teenagers will enjoy the entertainment.
If you offer an entertaining feature on your site, you will need to carryout the
theme throughout your site, otherwise they will leave as soon as it stops. This
has occurred quite often lately as professionals add video to their site
(considered entertainment) and then the rest of the site is flat. They get a lot
of hits to the video and then no response on the call to action they set it up
to give them.
5. Please do not activate "under construction" pages. Wait until the page is
ready and then upload it. If you are using FrontPage, you can remove it from the
Navigational system by right clicking on the page and turning it off.
6. Don't beat around the bush with your visitors. Make your message so clear
that even a ten year old will understand it. Make the language conversational --
easy English.
7. Make your "buy me" buttons "Amazon" blue. Backed by good research, Amazon has
trained millions of their visitors in this color and in their design style. Use
their success to your advantage. Visit http://www.amazon.com to see what
"Amazon" blue looks like.
8. Do you offer a search form on your site? You need to. Once again -- make it
easy for your visitors to find the information they want quickly. Here is a tip
that I learned only a few months ago that has paid big since. After all I have
read and learned over the past 10 years, nothing was every mentioned about this.
When someone searches for something and it is not found, set up a
default-selling page.
Here are a few ideas on how to use the default page when their search comes up
empty. Offer them a 10% coupon for something else, or for anything on your site.
Tell them this is a one-time offer (they will not know otherwise). On the other
hand, you could provide a list of available discounts or offer them a choice of
sections to proceed to. Do not let them get the "Can't find a match" message at
any time.
9. When collecting visitor information for your database, do it one step at a
time. Do not try to do everything at once. If you offer an ezine, the first step
is to ask for their e- mail address only. After they type that in, take them to
another page to answer questions.
Alternatively, you can send them an auto responder asking them questions. Better
yet, send them to a survey page after they have subscribed to your newsletter.
You will enjoy an increase in subscribers and survey submissions.
10. If you use drop down menus for your states or countries, remove them.
"Techies" like drop down menus, but visitors don't. Let the visitor type in
their state and country. It is ten times faster and much easier than looking
through a long list searching for the state and country. Even if the United
States is at the top, it is still makes the buyer search.
11. The best way to give your visitors what they want is to keep it simple. This
is especially true for the landing page of your web site. The landing page is
your main or index page.
What do you want your visitor to do when they reach your site? If they are there
to subscribe to your ezine (electronic newsletter), send them to that page by
giving them that immediate option. Then send them to a page that focuses them on
subscribing. Give them all the information they need to make a choice and to
subscribe. If they are a first-time visitor, where do they click first?
For example, if you are a coach, ask them if they want to know more about
coaching. If you are a virtual assistant (VA), send them to a page or two about
what a VA does and how you help your clients. After they get to the next page,
give them choice of different areas where you can help them as a virtual
assistant or a coach.Walk them through the process in steps, "hold their hand" as you lead them
through all the things that you can do for them. Create a walk-through
easy-to-follow effect. It will pay off in profits.
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