16 replies to this topic

[cathyespere]

I have spent the last year optimizing my site. I have taken much of your advice and it really does work - thanks. I find my site listed on the first page of the major search engines for my search terms and even some that I was not trying for. Business is picking up and I am happy with the results from all my hard work.

I keep up with my linking and keyword optimization. I post new articles monthly, offer a monthly contest and have very good customer support. My monthly newsletter goes out to more and more people every month.

My question: where do I go from here? I want more customers. I have very good products and my pricing is in line with everyone else out there. My traffic is good, but my conversion rate is awful. I also notice I loose quite a few orders but can't figure out why.

Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Cathy Espere

[AlDugan]

Do you currently do any other advertising or marketing besides search engines?

[AaronNimocks]

2 suggestions,

Pictures on homepage and change the red font.

You may be losing people that dont want to click any further to see what the products look like.

[cathyespere]

We are listed with findgifts.com, presentpicker.com and a few wedding sites that bring us good traffic. I am not advertising in any other way. I am not having any problems with the home page. That page is optimized for the search engines.

[AaronNimocks]

We are listed with findgifts.com, presentpicker.com and a few wedding sites that bring us good traffic.  I am not advertising in any other way.  I am not having any problems with the home page.  That page is optimized for the search engines.

I wasnt suggesting homepage change for SEO I was suggesting for a better converstion rate.

[cathyespere]

Thanks for the suggestion freetrades. We have tried many different scenarios on this page and have tried to keep it simple and quick loading. There are plenty of product photos through out the site so our thought was not to inundate the user. We will take your suggestions into consideration.

[Randy]

My suggestion?

Pick up a copy of Steve Krug's book Don't Make Me Think.

One of the best investments I ever made, even if it would have cost 10 times what it actually costs.

[Betty]

I would agree with losing a good deal of that red font. It's hard on the eyes. I would also suggest adding some sort of graphics to the home page. People might never get any further then that if you don't give them a reason to want to.

[torka]

Uhm, folks? I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but this looks like it's starting to stray really close to a site review.

My question: where do I go from here?  I want more customers.  I have very good products and my pricing is in line with everyone else out there.  My traffic is good, but my conversion rate is awful.  I also notice I loose quite a few orders but can't figure out why.

Welcome, Cathy!

First, congrats on the optimization success!

You do need to get a handle on what issues there might be causing your poor conversion rate and shopping cart abandonments.

Randy's suggestion is terrific. You might also want to check out the newsletters from Marketing Sherpa and GrokDotCom, which will give you a lot of insight into tactics that have worked for others. You may also find some relevant research reports at Marketing Experiments (you'll have to register for a "Lab ID" to view the content, but it's free).

HTH!

--Torka

[cathyespere]

Thanks so much for all your help. I will definitely take all your suggestions seriously and make some site changes.

[Michael Martinez]

Bad conversion rate = wrong sales copy.

If what you're doing is not working, don't keep doing it hoping it will somehow magically start to work.

I constantly evaluate my sales copy and make adjustments when I don't see the kind of results I want.

You have to continue experimenting with your writing technique. And keep in mind that the market audience is a moving target. They have collectively seen everything done to date, so innovation is important.

[Raphael]

We are listed with findgifts.com, presentpicker.com and a few wedding sites that bring us good traffic.  I am not advertising in any other way.  I am not having any problems with the home page.  That page is optimized for the search engines.

That's probably your first mistake

Optimize for your users, not the engines....

Something I've always said (And it seems like you're finding out right now) .. Ain't no good if you get a million hits per hour if none of 'em like your site and click away the instant they get there.

Remember, those hits are people, with likes, dislikes and personalities.... Not just entries in a log.

[Randy]

Well said Raphie.

My old, old mantra is:

Would you rather have 1,000 unique visitors per day, even if only 1 or 2 of them buy; or have have 500 real visitors per day, of which 15-20% have been qualified so well before arriving that they turn into customers?

You do the math.

[peao18]

Introduce new products.

[Dragon]

[i]Would you rather have 1,000 unique visitors per day, even if only 1 or 2 of them buy; or have have 500 real visitors per day, of which 15-20% have been qualified so well before arriving that they turn into customers?

Absolutly Randy - it does not help being on the first SERP and not getting any conversions!

Definately get Steve Krug's book on usability: Optimisation without Usability is a deadend for websites - IMO