Make Traffic Count - How To Convert Traffic Into Sales

By Mary Ann Tordecilla
Make Traffic Count - How To Convert Traffic Into Sales

 

The primary goal of internet marketing is to bring traffic to a website. But let’s face it: While a lot of us are successful in bringing in traffic to our website, this does not mean that we are successful at our marketing campaign unless we make a sale.

Unfortunately, it has never been easy to convert website traffic into sales. A lot of websites are very successful in attracting visitors but very few can really convert visitors into customers.

If you are not gaining any sale from your web traffic, you are wasting a lot of your time, energy, and money in your marketing campaign. If this is the case then it’s time to re-evaluate things and figure out what’s wrong with your online strategy.

Below are handy online marketing tips that can significantly contribute change to visitor response rate in your website:

The target market

When it comes to your market, it is very important that you really ‘target’ your website visitors. The more targeted your market is, the better it is for you to provide them the right information that cater to their needs.

Additionally, try to find visitors who are ready to buy. You can do this by carefully selecting your keywords. While it is better to consider high volume searches like women's  watches, try to also get more specific keywords like product names such as Timex GPS watch or Timex 1440 Sports.

If you are successful at targeting your market by choosing carefully your keywords, it’ll be easier for you to attend to their specific needs and you’ll be able to easily address these needs in your marketing materials.

Content

After you conduct a thorough research of your target market, the next step is to figure out how to effectively communicate with them.

It is very important that you consider “humanizing” your content rather than being too sale-sy. For example, instead of providing customers with 500-800 word content on the benefits of using your product why not give them something that will connect you to them personally? You may write something about how your previous customers felt and experienced after using the product.

Of course, if you are able to target your market, you should also be successful in creating the right content for your market. This means that you supply your market with complete and right details as much as possible. This is another way to connect to your market.

If your website is about hair straighteners, do not just provide your readers a list of products with pictures. Try to give as much information as possible to fulfil your market’s need for information. You should also include important details like features, pricing, and reviews.

The problem with most website owners is that they supply information that does not really ‘connect’ to their target market. Again, it is very important that you think of your market- what are they looking for in the first place? What are their needs?

Quite importantly, do not forget to do on-page optimization. Make sure that your webpages are well optimized. Like for example, your title tag and meta description are the first content that your visitors will see when they search online.

Thus, make sure that these sections are well optimized using your keywords and at the same time include a sentence or two that describes your product or service. Try to also add a call to action type of message to draw attention.

Design and navigation

You need to know how your visitors use your site. If you want to make a sale, you need to seamlessly combine content and page layout to get your visitors to purchase.

Most customers who are ready to buy often seek these things- contact information (specifically a phone number), satisfaction guarantee, and good support or customer service.

Again, when it comes to content, always create something that will ‘speak’ to your customers- provide them with clearer messages, assist them with their needs, and then eventually place a ‘call to action’ at the end of your message.

You’ll be surprise how little things can make a huge difference in online shopping. Make sure that your website is set-up in a way that people can find their way around effortlessly.

This is where split testing is needed. Most website owners only focus on their content and marketing strategies that they do not even bother to install a split testing software into their site.

Always consider and treat your website like it’s your real (offline) store and you are the store owner. All store owners know everything that is going on around their stores. This includes the number of people going in and out, the number of people buying, the products purchased, and so on.

Store owners have all these information and at the end of the day, they evaluate everything and check which needs replacement and which needs to be improved.

As a website owner, running and maintaining a website should also work that way. Having a split testing software installed will help you keep track of all elements that are working and not working in your site.

A good split testing software is able to provide you with good comparison between two or several elements in your site (like the headline or opt-in form) and suggests you the version that provides you with better results.

By constantly conducting split tests in your site can get you ahead of your competition since this will mean you’re always finding ways to improve your website pages.

Web analysis

Analysis and measurement of results should not be neglected. Make sure that your tracking software is accurate so all your efforts won’t be put to waste.

Always allot time to analyze your website statistics. This is the only way to know your visitors and to find for ways to convert them to customers.

Google Analytics for example can provide you with important information about your visitors and your website- the keywords that bring them to your site, the page entry, the exit pages, the links they click, and so on.

Use all this information to improve your website and develop ways on how you can convert visitors to customers.

That’s it guys! Go ahead and try to incorporate these things in your website. Hopefully, you can also share your thoughts here. I would love to hear them! :)

PS: Are you still looking for good SEO analysis tool? Download Traffic Travis for free! I also recommend you try Affiloblueprint 3.0 for in-depth step-by-step video tutorials on website building, SEO, PPC, and more.

22 Comments
Jason Bennet 11 years ago
I agree that it is worth the investment of time to understand the customers so that we will be able to create the kind of content that will be able to get them to connect with us.

Having consistent flow of traffic is important but I think improving the conversion of the website is equally important too.
Neil Shearing 11 years ago
Thanks for the conversion tips. In my ebook from the year 2000, I wrote, "You can have as many visiting vicars as you like... but if you're selling adult-oriented devil keychains, you're not going to sell many!"

I guess it still holds true! :-)

Neil.
Anthony Chatfield 11 years ago
This is great stuff - our website has seen a boom in traffic in recent months but we actually get less inquiries now than we did before the site was remodeled last fall. It's almost certainly an issue of what kind of traffic we are getting and from where. Lots of fun things to attempt, but it will take time to determine exactly what to improve. Great tips though - thanks for the article!
TJM Philpott 11 years ago
Getting traffic to your site can be a 'battle' but you're absolutely right, if you can't convert it into a sale, your time is wasted!

Thanks for the tips and calling attention to the importance of using analytic tools to dig deeper into what visitors are doing once they hit your site!

TJ
Shuja ur Rehman 11 years ago

This post is very informative for me and has good SEO Backlink strategies.. Backlinks are like back bone for your website without it you can't promote your site. But you need to have quality backlinks. Quality backlinks are from your site niche, relevant to your site and if it's do follow link then it's better not just good. The things you have discussed above are missing in my blog. I will implement these strategies in my blog. I hope you will publish more posts soon.
Brian Edmondson 11 years ago
Great post and a lot of great points. Ultimately it always comes down to knowing who you're target market is, communicated with copy that converts, followed by tracking and tweaking. Measure, monitor, adjust, and control.

Brian
Duy Nguyen 11 years ago
I totally agree with you. The success of a internet marketing site depends on the visitors you attract and the number of sales you can make from those visitors.

From your post, I can see that : we, as site owners, often try hard to drive as much as possible traffic to our page, and the traffic is something we can control. It's about the SEO and keywords

But it depends on the customer to decide whether they want to buy products we promoted, and this is something we don't have total control. Since we don't speak to the customers face to face, we can only "influence" them by doing design and navigation on our pages. And so we need the Google Analytics tool

Thanks again for your post.

Nguyen
William Fenerson 11 years ago
The point being made is that we need to get out of that mindset that just because we bought a course does not guarantee that millions of dollars will be pouring into our bank accounts while we are in our pajamas.

With affiliate marketing we are going into business for ourselves. Business is business whether its brick-and-mortar or online. Take your business seriously and treat it just like you are going to college to get a business degree.

Affiloblueprint or any other course you purchase are INTRODUCTIONS into the business of affiliate marketing, not the end result. They lay the foundations, but it is up to us as marketers to build on that. I guarantee you that 90% of the people that complain about how these programs don't work also believed that the course was supposed to solve their money problems or do the work for them.
if you are fortunate enough to have money to afford more personal, intensive training from a respected authority then do it. It's like the difference between a Harvard education and a community college - One will clearly take you further faster. Money may not be necessary to get started, but it will definitely shorten the learning curve!

Investing in yourself and your business is a lifelong endeavor. You can reach the levels of the Mark Ling and those big names, but remember that it took them years, if not decades to get where they are today. More precisely, years of learning and unlearning, mind reprogramming, buying courses, implementing courses, making and losing money, getting scammed, failed launches and products, disastrous joint ventures, etc. Do you honestly believe Mark hasn't had any days where he wanted to pluck his hair out?

You have to commit to learning every aspect of this business, especially if you are like most of us and don't have any money to start. The blueprint is simple: Whatever stage you are on in this course, learn all you can and master it by implementing it. If you are building a site, read all you can on it. SEO? Learn all you can! Need traffic? Literally millions of sites on the topic.

Take action on what you learn! Don't get stuck thinking and daydreaming all day, because you only waste that day, never to get it back. You master only by doing, not watching someone else do it.

When you begin to make a little money, put it right back into your business! Buy more advertising, articles, software, whatever, Start to automate as much as you can in your business so that you can free up your time. With that time you repeat the process all over again in another niche. That's how you build a business and even though it may take years to learn and master, when you do, you are only going to wonder one thing - what the heck took you so long to get started!
Andreas Wittmann 11 years ago
Thanks for this informative article!

And thanks to Ithamar, too - your comment is really motivating for me!
Shalisha Alston 11 years ago
Great post! In terms of a target market, I read and saw this in a really great presentation from an amazing successful internet marketer.

He said if you want to talk to your target audience, after you pick a niche, create an Avatar around that niche. Make up a detailed story about that Avatar as to why they are looking for your product.

Get real specific. After you create the avatar, go on forums for that niche and see who's posting and then tailor your avatar. If you want me to explain further, you can PM me.

Second, I read a really great book. It says, if you want to create good copy (which for me goes for articles) answer the following questions:

What is the problem?
Why hasn't the problem been solved?
What's possible?
What's different?
What should you do now?

Let's say your niche is get your ex back niche:

What is the problem? My girlfriend dumped me and refuses to take me back.
Why hasn't the problem been solved? I've been trying all sorts of books that promise me I'll win her back but none of them work because they don't provide step-by-step hand-held solutions.
What's possible? You could have her eating out of your hands soon and begging you for another chance.
What's different? XYZ (the product you're promoting) will make you irresistable to your girlfriend because it takes you by the hand and tells you exactly what to do and leaves no room for wondering if you're doing it right (not too hyped though)
What should you do now? Click on this link and when you get to the next page, press the icon that says "Buy Now"

When you have these questions in mind, it makes writing the content easier. I think this is some of the best advice I've read.
Shalisha Alston 11 years ago
Awesome advice Ithamar. It took me about 4 years before things started to click with me! Now making websites is super easy to me along with SEO, understanding target audience concept, link building, etc.

At first it seemed like I was NEVER going to understand it or be able to implement it, but it does take time. It's better to get it up and tweak it later, than analyze and procrastinate.

Now I'm learning how to make video sales letters and writing webcopy. Yes, definitely reinvest your money into your business.

More Tips:

Someone taught me this early on. Make a goal for your business. Be specific. Say, "It is now March 15, 2014 (or whatever date) and I am currently making $2,000 a month. I accomplish this by having 3 websites created each with 30 articles. I work 15 hours a week, 7 days a week."

That may not be your plan, but I'm just writing it just so you get the jist of what I'm trying to say. Next, please read the next section as that is important.

1. Set hours for your business - this will make you take it seriously and keep you consistent.

2. When you work, turn off everything, don't check your emails, nothing.

3. The night before, outline what you need to get done for that day. This way, when you're ready to work, you know exactly what you're working on and you won't waste time.

4. By a timer. When I sit at my desk at home, I set my timer for 60 minutes and I work straight through until the timer goes off. If I'm in the zone, I reset it for another 60 minutes. Time flies when you do this!

5. Take 10 or 15 minute breaks. Sometimes I need to take a step back and refresh my brain.

6. What you don't get done that day, carry it over to the next day. So the night before, if you see you didn't get to something, when you make your schedule for the next day, put on there.

I hope this helps. If you need additional help, feel free to PM me.
Shalisha Alston 11 years ago
One more thing about procrastination: It took me a year to write my first ebook because I thought I had to do it perfectly! The ebook is done and now I'm creating the video sales letter for it. I refuse to take another year to do it. I know it will be my first one and it won't be the best necessarily and it doesn't have to be.

Just like my first website wasn't the best. But the more I do it, the better I get at it. So just get something up there and tweak it later.
Maketta Abdullah 11 years ago
I agree you have to connect with with your readers and customers. You can't just scream for them to buy them when you haven't gave them any details or reasons too.
Dickinson Eddy 11 years ago
Great informations.We need people like you.Honest and Direct.If you are going to succeed online,you must convert visitors to ''buying customers''.Period.
Marsell Guillen 11 years ago
Successful marketing is that when you convert your website traffic to business lead. and that's not the easy task.
dream cyber 11 years ago
thanks a lot to share this information. After reading this pots, Finally, i got the solution to get traffic and convert into sales.
Venchito Tampon 11 years ago
It doesn't make sense if you get tons of traffic but not converting any of them. This is perhaps the most mistake many internet marketers made.

That is why content marketing is vital to every online business. It gives you the ability to connect with your target people, identify their problems and attend to their needs.

Great Post!
Devid Clark 11 years ago
Converting traffic into sales is the first and foremost purpose of online business and the ways you elaborate and give the tips to get this target is awesome. I'm impressed with the points and want to say Thanks
Ashok Sinha 11 years ago
Yes very good, very informative. You have presented in a very simple and effective way... and that is the Beauty. thanks & congrats
George Levy 11 years ago
Excellent article and I'm dealing with several pain points with one of my sites, ILoveBeingHappilyMarried.com

Although some of the visitors to the site have marriage problems and I can monetize them by selling them programs and coaching on how to fix their marriage, the vast majority are people who find the website by looking for love and marriage inspirational quotes. The issue is, they don't have any problems and they are just "happy" as a result... not much monetization opportunity there.

I love Neil Shearing's quote on his book:
"You can have as many visiting vicars as you like... but if you're selling adult-oriented devil keychains, you're not going to sell many!"

It's hard to sell marriage help products to happily married people...

Been trying to sell other products to these happy folks but haven't had any luck. Anyone have any suggestions?

From experience - it's really tough to sell something to a happy person who's not dealing with a crisis situation.
luxury replica watches 11 years ago
Thank you so much for bringing this to our notice.
Daljeet Kaur 10 years ago
Very nice information. These things matters while converting your traffic into good sales. Here are some points that I want to add:-
->You can also go for website user analysis:- It includes that you should check that if your website contains some useful content or not.There should be no crawl errors, malware. If you are not such a technical person, you may contact some website experts for that
-> Second thing is that is you must add some appropriate landing pages to your website. It means that you should add quality products related to the user search query.