By now you probably realize that getting traffic is easy, but knowing how to convert traffic into sales is harder!
In today’s blog, I’m going to share with you some practical tips on how to convert traffic into sales.
First, what sales are we referring to?
Are we talking about ad clicks, as in the case of Adsense click-through? Or we’re referring to product sales, as in the case of affiliate sales or sales of your own products or services?
Since they require different techniques, I will discuss them differently.
How To Convert Traffic Into Ad Clicks
The “prerequisite” of any ad-clicks is targeted traffic. Whether you’re getting traffic from search engines, PPC or other advertising channels, the traffic must be interested in the content on your webpage and hence the content of the ads. Without this prerequisite, nothing else can work.
With that prerequisite in mind, let’s look at the strategies to convert traffic into sales (ad clicks in this case).
1) Place an ad above the fold
Don’t worry about making your webpage ugly. Be focused. You want ad-clicks! Just get it.
One of your ads, such as an Adsense ad, should be above the fold (i.e. can be seen without scrolling) and located right in the middle of the webpage. Usually, a good place to put it is immediately below the title.
2) Place an ad near the action button or action link
If you are running a forum or any website where people tend to click on buttons or links to take some actions, place an ad near the most used button.
3) Place an ad at the end of the article
If the visitors happen to read the content on your webpage, you’ll want to offer them something to do after reading. And that something is of course… an ad!
4) Don’t frame the ad!
Don’t frame the ad with borders. Remove any border.
In the offline world, retail shop owners are adopting an open concept, removing glass panels and walls because they realize that this will increase the traffic flow to their shops.
Same goes for the virtual world. Borders prevent people from clicking the contents in it. No borders please.
5) Build instant trust
Nowadays, people are more and more web savvy. You can forget about the old tricks of camouflaging your ad and misleading visitors into clicking your ad. (That is against Google’s terms by the way). If your visitors ever click on your ad, that’s because they want to get the info and they know you’ll make money out of it.
Instead, what you should do is to build instant rapport with your visitors. Make them feel that your website is trustworthy, not a made-for-Adsense site.
No, I don’t mean you have to start writing every article yourself and putting a personal touch in every article. That would be crazy, especially if you have hundreds of niches.
The trick I use is to place a ‘personal’ photo on my niche site, so that visitors can feel that what they are visiting is a little personal site of mine and I am the little expert in that niche.
Of course, I’m not going to put my real photo! You can find tons of free photos here.
That ends part 1 of How To Convert Traffic Into Sales series. Next week, we will continue to discuss how to convert traffic into product sales. Stay tuned…
The 5th point is very important I feel from “Preselling” point of view. “Law of attraction” works great. Blog / site readers are more likely to return again later if they see author’s photo and bio. Money is in the “relationship” we build with the list (residual traffic/visitors) Adsense monetization model works great but requires strict adherence to Google TOS. And like any other serious business it also requires patience, persistence and passion to succeed :)
These are some great tips today especially #5 which are pretty common to see. I used to think I loved sites like that until I realized that the purpose was more geared to me clicking on their Adsense ads. Big Big turn off after learning the truth. Where was this post when I first started? :-)
Great tips yet again Kenneth.
Targeting is paramount for quality click through. Position is savvy for getting your ad noticed but for getting good leads and sales targeting is the key.
Advertise on websites suiting your niche, create value reports for optin pages on the same target niche as your main product line, use advertising products that have built in targeting methods, post on blogs and forums in your niche area, answer questions on yahoo answers, wiki answers relating to your niche, create social network lists and contacts relating to your niche.
All large corporations do this extremely well and they pay big for it. We’ve all seen the latest and greatest cooking show interspersed with targeted advertisements on everything from restaurants to cooking utensils, not to mention the amount of MacDonalds ads we see during the hour.
Best lesson: The principle of advertising doesn’t change only the medium :-) Thanks again Ken.
Thank you Kenneth for the great tips. I am looking forward to Part Two. Thanks for the tips about ad borders. Never realize it would make such a difference.
Cant wait till next week. love to hear what you’ll have to say. i think here most ppl trust product sales and that i am into testing the waters..
Thanks for tips, it is very usefull
Hi Kenneth,
Concerning your tips no: 5, about attaching a personal photo. Does adding a real photo of yourself provide a better impact? If we’re doing real business, why should we hide with a free photo? I could be wrong. What’s your opinion? Thanks.
For you main site where you want to build ‘real’ rapport with your list, of course, you should use your own photo. What I’m referring to in this article is the hundreds of niche sites that you may have. Of course, you can always use your photo if you don’t mind. Will it have a better impact? I doubt so.
Do not try to sell directly. The first thing you need to have is your very own capture page, a webpage designed to generate leads by “capturing” your visitor’s name and email address. Ideally you want a capture page that promotes and “brands” YOU. This might take a little extra effort at the beginning, but remember that you are now building YOUR enterprise! It will take more effort, but it will pay you much more than simply building some one else’s business.
On the fifth point, I must disagree with not using your own real photo; if you are really going to build some trust, why would you use some generic photo and not your real photo? As a both an IM’er and internet consumer, I tend to not trust a web site if I recognize that they are using a generic pic, and not a photo of the real person – I personally feel I have nothing to hide, so I don’t need to hide behind a pic or photo that is not of myself. The tip about not using a border on your ads: I never even took that into account, nor would I have suspected it was what was keep my ad clicks down; since, however, you have pointed that out, I IMMEDIATELY changed my Adsense border color to white – I initially had them colored to match the theme of my blog. Good tips, Ken, and I await part 2 :)
I agree with Dave.
I tend to not trust a web site if I recognize that they are using a generic pic, and not a photo of the real person …exactly.
When choosing a photo to use, make sure that you choose one that looks as if it’s really a photo of the site owner, not one that is generic.
Also, my reason for not using my own photo is because those are my niche sites, NOT my main site. For niche sites, I don’t build list. Neither do I communicate with the visitors. All I want is “instant trust” so that they come to my sites, trust my site and click my ads or buy my recommendations. It’s purely from marketing point of view.
For example, if I have a site on “vaginal yeast infection”, I can’t be possibly putting my own photo right? A site on “senior retirement plan”, strategically, should have a photo of a senior person, not a young chap. For a dog site, instead of putting picture of dogs, I put a picture of a person with a dog.
Take a look at those Adsense sites or Affiliate sites. Most marketers use generic pictures. That’s not what I mean. Point 5 is about making your site look like a personal site, by carefully using photos that look ‘believable’ and ‘personal’.
I like that you should use your own photo for your main site but however some of us just don’t take that good of a picture so for these people it might be best to use another photo.
But however I would use a high quality photo you can find these all over the internet and make sure that the photo makes your website look trustworthy and honest.
But on that note I would use a photo of myself if all possible on your main website and it doesn’t have too be a perfect picture just make sure the resolution is good and you look the part of your website.
And most of all don’t be ashamed of you looks and let that be the reason for not posting your own photo because no one looks the same to anyone some will think you take a great photo and others won’t don’t worry about that as long as your taking an honest photo and remember they have photo editing so relax with it.
All good points, you need to write something on building your list.
Very true. The article has been well written and the strategy shared is truly valuable. It hits all sides of doing business online. Thanks for sharing this.
Just don’t go overboard with the above the fold ads – Google does not like it when you ad placement is too aggressive.
Take it easy to begin with and ad your Google ads over time. Too many ads too soon and you will see the wrath of Google!
the most important before doing this all i think, targeted location, and targeted audience is the most important part,, and one thing more,, attracting and compelling content really do great in converting..
web marketing services
“Don’t worry about making your webpage ugly. Be focused.”
I concur. If the content bears importance, you’d be surprised how well people can strain their eyes, but I wouldn’t suggest requiring eye bleeding.
“Don’t frame the ad with borders. Remove any border.”
I did this with the Leads Leap Widget, and being able to adjust the colors helps it to blend into my IBO Social business profile theme:
http://www.ibosocial.com/richcog
“Build instant trust”
Using a payment processor that provides both buyer and seller protection helps.