As we discussed in our previous post on traffic, there are three ways to increase sales on a website: 1) increase qualified traffic (number of potential customers), 2) increase the number of conversions (sales) or 3) both 1 and 2. This list focuses on ways you can increase traffic or conversions. A good strategy would be to pick a mixture you’re comfortable with and continue to add to it as you see success.
- Increase your advertising budget
- Expand the keywords you target with Search Marketing
- Use/Expand Affiliate Marketing
- Purchase ads on niche websites
- Write articles with valuable information for your potential customers
- Start a blog
- Join social networks and start conversations in your areas of expertise
- Advertise on social networks
- Allow customers to rate and comment on your products & services
- Create a FAQ section on your website
- Add a discussion board to your website
- Start a podcast
- Target your marketing message to your audience
- Change to a customer-centric design
- Add support information about all your products and services
- Make it easy for customers to contact you with questions or concerns
- Create an ongoing newsletter
- Offer a free product or service in exchange for contact information
- Update your website design to a professional, modern look
- Add a sitemap to make it easy for customers to find information
- Include a search function
- Use structured menus instead of drop-downs
- Organize your website information intuitively
- Add contact information throughout the site
- Use a creative, but professional color scheme
- Incorporate all the information needed to make a purchase decision on product and service pages
- Solicit customer purchases from every product and service page
- Tout company accomplishments on homepage
- Announce company news through press releases
- Optimize your website copy for search engines
Do you have more ways to increase sales on your business website? We’d love to hear them in the comments below.
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(photo by timparkinson @ Flickr CC)
Technorati Tags: seo, search engine optimization, internet strategy, internet marketing, internet consulting
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Great list, Sarah. One of your “top 30″ hadn’t even occurred to me, and I’m to spend some time tomorrow fixing it. Case studies involving actual customers are nice for the website, too. They resonate with qualified readers quite well, who can often see themselves in the story.
Case studies can be a valuable resource for potential customers and also give an example of your expertise. Thanks for bringing that up, Geoff.
This was a great article – short but full of good tips. I am glad that you mention usability factors a few times on this list. That is often overlooked and people rely more and more on marketing without taking the time to evaluate the conversion blockers that may exist on their own site.
Hey that was great Sarah! In fact we have started our journey and are trying to do some of the things that you have mentioned. One question I often have is how do i increase traffic to my blog.
We have a blog at http://blog.cequitysolutions.com/
Ajay, Thanks for reading. The best way to increase traffic to your blog is to write good, informative content. Then use social media to get the word out. I’ll contact you shortly via email.