I recently wrote a post on the 3 best things you can spend your time doing to make more money online, and since then have received requests on going into a little more depth on each of the three things.
Today I want to talk about certain things you can do to increase conversions on your site. Before I get into the specifics I should explain how we test whether or not conversions are improving or getting worse. Back in the olden days I would make a change to my site and then just wait to see if it seemed like I was making more money. This was the less effective way to increase conversions.
Luckily Google came out with a free service called Website Optimizer. You need to have an Adwords account (which is free) in order to use the tool but it is the awesomest free tool on the internet. This tool literally allows you to test two versions of a page and see which page converts higher. If you want to test very small and specific things like trying 2 different pictures to see if it makes a difference in conversions you can.
We use this tool all the time and more times than not what we thought would convert higher ended up doing worse. That is why we say you should always be testing.
So, what to test?
The best place to start your testing would be on your sales page, if you are selling a product. For example on Lawncaredirectory.com I sell a kit to help people start a lawn care business successfully. So most of the tests I run on that site are on the page where I try to sell the kit to people.
Here are some good things to test:
- Headline – this is what gets the conversation between you and your customer started. A good headline can make all the difference in the world. You will be surprised on how big of a difference a great headline can make in conversions.
- Testimonial Placement – If you don’t have testimonials on your sales page, you need to get some and fast. Then when you have them test where you put them on the page. Putting testimonials in the right spot can have a very good effect on conversions.
- Call To Action Placement – You need to find the best possible spot for your call to action button or link. This means the button or link to get them to buy your product or subscribe to your newsletter or sign up for your service etc.
- Call To Action Message – Not only should you test the placement of your call to action you should also test the message itself. You never know if a big “BUY NOW” button is going to convert higher than a link that says “Start your lawn care business now”.
Start with these few ideas as you test your own site. Don’t try to run too many test at once. Just pick one from the list and then test it. When that test finishes either run a new test on the same thing or pick another from the list and test that out.
The more you use the testing software the more comfortable you will get with running tests on other things and hopefully you will get ideas on new things to test.
