1) The site has no focus.
A website should be designed with its primary purpose in mind. You should have ONE thing that you'd really like most visitors to your page to do. Almost everything on that page should lead the visitors toward deciding to take that primary action. Nothing on the page should distract them and "lead them off down other trails."
Common primary actions that you'll want your visitor to take are to join your list, buy your product, download a free trial version, or join an online community. Make sure that you know what you want your visitors to focus on,
and get rid of the other distractions. It's been proven that if you give your visitors too many choices, or confuse them, they will simply choose to leave!
2) The site has no email capture mechanism.
Most honest copywriters will tell you that in most Internet marketing type niches, a 1-2% response rate to a sales letter is VERY respectable. You've worked very hard to get visitors to your site, and if you completely ignore the 98% who don't buy you're not going to be in business very long.
Incorporate a form into your website that gets them into an autoresponder so that you can follow-up with them. Offer them a free report, access to an MP3 on the topic, or access to an exclusive community. Get them to opt-in, and then you can follow up with them on their topic of interest.
Your opt-in form can be set up "in-line" as a part of the webpage, and even take them back to the point on the webpage where they were reading before they stopped to opt-in. You can also have an exit popup, or pop-under, that offers them a freebie as they're leaving your site. Once they've decided to leave, you'll probably NEVER see them again unless you have a way to invite them back. An autoresponder is the perfect way to do this automatically.
3) The owner is "hiding behind the website."
Web surfers are skeptical and distrusting. You need to let them know that there is a real person behind the site. Give them contact information, show them your photo, and even let them hear you. You can easily add audio or video to your website, and allow it to "touch" your visitor on such a deeper level. When people hear your voice or see you talking, and get to watch your body language, you communicate so much more effectively than just the written word.
To add audio to your website, all you need is a microphone plugged into your computer. To add video to your website, all you really need is a webcam plugged into your computer. There are services that will take this audio or video, allow you to edit it with a few clicks of your mouse, and then stream it from their servers or upload it to your server.
A totally amazing service that I use is called Audio Acrobat. I use it to have customers, subscribers, etc., call in and leave testimonials. I use it to record some teleseminars, interviews, product recommendations, and for dozens of
other purposes. I do record video from my webcam to this service too. You can also upload video recorded on a regular video camera to this service, and then stream it from their website.
4) The owner of the site offers no credentials.
The very first question I ask when reading a magazine article, watching a television show, or reading a web page, is "What makes this person qualified to teach ME this topic." Most web surfers don't trust you, and believe that most
Internet sites are out to rip them off. You need to show them that your experience and training makes you qualified to teach them the topic. In addition to formal credentials a professional looking website also shows that you are a serious business person. Don't skimp on your website's design!
For the other reasons, click here to read more!
A website should be designed with its primary purpose in mind. You should have ONE thing that you'd really like most visitors to your page to do. Almost everything on that page should lead the visitors toward deciding to take that primary action. Nothing on the page should distract them and "lead them off down other trails."
Common primary actions that you'll want your visitor to take are to join your list, buy your product, download a free trial version, or join an online community. Make sure that you know what you want your visitors to focus on,
and get rid of the other distractions. It's been proven that if you give your visitors too many choices, or confuse them, they will simply choose to leave!
2) The site has no email capture mechanism.
Most honest copywriters will tell you that in most Internet marketing type niches, a 1-2% response rate to a sales letter is VERY respectable. You've worked very hard to get visitors to your site, and if you completely ignore the 98% who don't buy you're not going to be in business very long.
Incorporate a form into your website that gets them into an autoresponder so that you can follow-up with them. Offer them a free report, access to an MP3 on the topic, or access to an exclusive community. Get them to opt-in, and then you can follow up with them on their topic of interest.
Your opt-in form can be set up "in-line" as a part of the webpage, and even take them back to the point on the webpage where they were reading before they stopped to opt-in. You can also have an exit popup, or pop-under, that offers them a freebie as they're leaving your site. Once they've decided to leave, you'll probably NEVER see them again unless you have a way to invite them back. An autoresponder is the perfect way to do this automatically.
3) The owner is "hiding behind the website."
Web surfers are skeptical and distrusting. You need to let them know that there is a real person behind the site. Give them contact information, show them your photo, and even let them hear you. You can easily add audio or video to your website, and allow it to "touch" your visitor on such a deeper level. When people hear your voice or see you talking, and get to watch your body language, you communicate so much more effectively than just the written word.
To add audio to your website, all you need is a microphone plugged into your computer. To add video to your website, all you really need is a webcam plugged into your computer. There are services that will take this audio or video, allow you to edit it with a few clicks of your mouse, and then stream it from their servers or upload it to your server.
A totally amazing service that I use is called Audio Acrobat. I use it to have customers, subscribers, etc., call in and leave testimonials. I use it to record some teleseminars, interviews, product recommendations, and for dozens of
other purposes. I do record video from my webcam to this service too. You can also upload video recorded on a regular video camera to this service, and then stream it from their website.
4) The owner of the site offers no credentials.
The very first question I ask when reading a magazine article, watching a television show, or reading a web page, is "What makes this person qualified to teach ME this topic." Most web surfers don't trust you, and believe that most
Internet sites are out to rip them off. You need to show them that your experience and training makes you qualified to teach them the topic. In addition to formal credentials a professional looking website also shows that you are a serious business person. Don't skimp on your website's design!
For the other reasons, click here to read more!
