Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:58 am Post subject: Getting People to Buy Products
Hello -
I am new to the forum but have been attentively reading the posts, which have been very helpful. I have a number of questions, but I'll start with this one...
I have gone through the laborious process of building a site, which went online about a month ago, and now have about 60 visitors a day. The problem I am having is getting people to click - and definitely getting people to buy (a few people click but no one has purchased anything). I'm not sure what I am doing wrong but I suspect that it is either that no one is interested in buying or that I do not have enough compelling content (but I do have some).
My question is this: How do I know if I have made a mistake in thinking that people want to purchase these items, or if it is just a matter of getting them to click. And if it is just a matter of getting them to click, what do I need to do?
Thank you for any comments you may have
Shelley _________________ www.magiclarklearning.com
Making Learning Fun
Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Posts: 1126 Location: London, England
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 5:54 am Post subject:
Hi Shelley,
Welcome to the board, and congratulations on a great looking site.
>> I'm not sure what I am doing wrong but I suspect that it is either that no one is interested in buying or that I do not have enough compelling content (but I do have some).<<
I'm no expert, very much a newbie in fact, but my thoughts are these:
You may not be doing much wrong. You say you are getting 60 uniques a day (better than me, I'm getting about 20 so far), it could be very much a numbers thing. I notice that those that do claim an income also claim quite high traffic, so it will probably pay to keep working on the traffic.
As for people being interested in what you offer, I assume that you checked out the demand for your keywords before you built your pages. If there is a demand, and not too much heavy competition, keep on keeping on.
As for content, I suspect that you cannot have too much. (You do have well presented content, that looks good to me.) Content is "spider food" as they say, the more you attract the spiders, the more visitors you will have. Content also pleases your visitors so they are more likely to respond to your recommendations.
I expect others who are more savvy than me will reply (not so much the blind trying to lead the blind), but I think if you persist, it's gonna pay off.
I agree with Larry, you have a great looking site and the content you present is wonderfully on target. As Larry says ... keep on going ... add more content, target a few specific keywords that are popular in your niche ... do something on home schooling? I see a lot of that on various boards I frequent ...
Don't just put a link or graphic to a site where you can earn commissions ... mention specific products and why you think they are worth getting ... do reviews on products you have tried, your friends, etc. have tried ... that is what people want ... they want to know what's in it for them before they will buy ... so tell them!
Believe me, you have done an awesome job on your site and content, keep on!
Debs _________________ Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!"
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 205 Location: Assisi, Italy
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 5:47 pm Post subject:
Hi Shelley,
I took a look at your site and I have a few ideas that might help you.
First of all, ask yourself, "what is my most wanted response from my visitors?" (Apart from them gaining helpful and useful info) - Do you want them to click over to merchant sites, subscribe to your newsletter, just gather knowledge?
Your visitors are not guided in anyway - you have to help them navigate - and when writing for your visitors - think benefits for them! You did somewhat, but there are no calls to action, and how this action will benefit the visitor. This is critical.
Home Page
Don't talk too much about how YOU gathered info or what YOUR goal of the site is, rather talk about how and why your info is going to help THEM.
Make your intro relatively short, then create a paragraph for each section explaining and encouraging your visitors to click for further benefits. Don't just leave them with the choice of links to the left. Gently but enthusiastically guide them towards your most wanted responses.
Internal Pages
If one of your most wanted responses is to send visitors towards merchant sites - then these pages should be close to Home, not buried, and as Debs said, you should tell your visitors why it is in their benefit to click over - what will they find that is going to help them? If you have used the products or services give a testimonial or two - or a site review.
Navigators will gladly allow themselves to be guided if they begin to trust you - but you have to be snappy, and keep their attention. If you abandon them even for a few secs - click - their gone.
Also, your page loads fast, but I came accross an image that is WAY TOO BIG (286KB) - takes forever to load. An image that size should be 10KB. The 3d kid. If you have Photoshop, reduce the image to 72 dpi then save as JPEG for web.
Adults aren't too different from children, if they are joyfully guided in a fun manner they will go where you want them to - just as kids will not do what you want if you don't give them constant, but engaging attention and direction.
Unfortunately, it doesn't happen by itself, if people went where we wanted them to, without the need to guide or encourage them, there would be no need for marketers.
I have gone through the laborious process of building a site, which went online about a month ago, and now have about 60 visitors a day. The problem I am having is getting people to click - and definitely getting people to buy (a few people click but no one has purchased anything). I'm not sure what I am doing wrong but I suspect that it is either that no one is interested in buying or that I do not have enough compelling content (but I do have some).
My question is this: How do I know if I have made a mistake in thinking that people want to purchase these items, or if it is just a matter of getting them to click.
Why not try an on-exit pop up asking people what they found but liked and didn't find but wanted? If you offer to email them a free article or report, you can even collect email addresses into the bargain. When you add what they ask for, you can contact them and them know where to find it!
You could run this pop up by everyone, or you could make it conditional on what they have clicked.
Once you get some feedback, you can make the freebie about the subject most people are mentioning most.
I reckon feedback and ethical email collection are two of the most important things you are forgetting here, so why not try combining them like this?
Secondly, I notice that in your left hand navigation box, you are using "home" as the anchor text for each link to your home page. To make best use of this internal linking, change "home" to include the primary search term you are optimising the homepage for...
e.g. "Learning Resources", or "Learning Resources Home" or whatever the phrase is. (These are examples only - you know better than me.)
By the way, I like the site look very much. Graphics were slow for me too, though, as has been mentioned.
Cheers,
Charlie. _________________ "Before I speak, I have something important to say."
- Groucho Marx
Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 5839 Location: by the beach, Australia
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 9:57 pm Post subject:
Timothy Warnock's advice is excellent. If you do what he suggests, that should improve your click-throughs and sales.
Here's another was of looking at what an affiliate needs to do: Help people make a buying decision. Think about that carefully and remember it as you write your articles. It's a virtal point.
You can be subtle or blatant about this. The choice is yours.
A little excitement often works wonders (for example "I love this book. It has helped change my life.") especially if you can describe in DETAIL how a product has helped you do something or achieve something.
I purchased this on Friday and just couldnt stop reading! Im about 2/3rds of the way through - i even stayed up til 1am reading this as i couldnt put it down.
The book helped me to look at my website from another point of view and to find out where i was failing as well as giving me some great ideas
I use to have 60 unique per day and still manage to make around 5 - 10 sales. Most of the suggestions here are very good. I don't know what else to tell. Just hope to give some inspiration that you can make sales on 60 unique per day.
Do you know how to check your website log and see what your visitors are searching for when they got to your website? Maybe that can help you determine the content that you can put more focus on.
Another thing is, DO RECOMMEND and tell them why you are recommending. You can also try making product specific pages, and recommend that product. Instead of having a link that says, "Children Software", try having a link with a page for "Children Softwares that Help 2nd Graders in Reading". Then you go on telling visitors about that product and how and why it will help. You can also have screen shots which shows you have bought it yourself.
Just one more suggestion, don't have other non-related links on that page. Like when you are telling about a children software, don't have links about computer printers as well. The only links that you can have is your navigational menu at the top and then the affiliate link of the product that you are recommending. This is because, you don't want them to be distracted with anything else except for the things that you are promoting to them. I believe this will increase you click through rate. And just have one affiliate link on a page, just one. Your visitors will have no where else to go except for that link.
My website has around 10% - 15% click through rate with this and a conversion ratio of 1% to 1.75%. If you have about the same amount of success, lets calculate this.
60 uniques a day = 1800 uniques a month
Let say you have 12% click through = 216 clicks / visitors to the merchant's site
Let say you have 1.5% coversion rate 3.24 ... let say 3 sales
Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2003 9:50 pm Post subject: Advice
Dino -
Thank you for the pointers. I think they will help a lot. I have been feeling like my site was not focused but wasn't sure how to make it better - now I know how.
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but I think if you persist, it's gonna pay off.
