Speed up your site, make the navigation easy to use and make the content easy to read. Following these steps can make your site more profitable.
Speed up your site!
Your site’s download time directly affects your visitor retention. If you have a slow loading site for those people out there that are still using dial up then you can be assured they are going to be the first to click away from your site. Keep in mind that you can have the best looking site on the Net, but if no one wants to wait to see it what good is it. There are a number of design practices that can allow you to have a site that looks great and still downloads in a relatively short time. For example say you have a gradient bar that separates your header from your content, use a background image in that table cell instead of using one large image. If that bar is 780 pixels wide by 16 pixels tall, that can create a file that may be 10k. If you took a 1 pixel by 24 pixel slice of that image and made it tile in a cell you can create that same look with a few hundred bytes.
Make your navigation easy to use
Easy to use navigation is the key to more sales. Be sure that your visitors can buy your products with as few clicks as possible. Make sure that you have included links on your home page directly to the content or products you are selling. Another good practice is to include links to main areas of your site in the design of your site, like links to your order page or contact page. Sometimes the design of the shopping cart you are using limits your ability to do this, and if this is the case, it is time to find a new cart. Another area to consider is cross selling. Be sure to include related products in an area maybe called, “People who purchased this product also bought this”. In that area feature products that may be related to increase the net sale amount.
Make your content easy to read
If your visitors do not understand what you are selling because they do not understand the “jargon” who wins? Try not to use words and phrases that are hard for the general web surfer to understand. You may be impressed with your vast vocabulary, but you do not want to make others feel incompetent. Make your message clear and concise. Tell them exactly what they get and how much it will cost. So many times when I am looking to buy software on the Net, I look for the price first. After clicking through a number of pages I come to a page that reads, “Please contact a sales associate for pricing details.” This makes me very uneasy. If you cannot clearly display your prices, then how do I know I am paying the same as everyone else. Imagine trying to buy a car like that…I rest my case.
Making your site more user-friendly can significantly increase sales. Why do you think large corporations spend so much money each year on usability?…because that is what gets the sales!!!