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Turning At Least 60% More Visitors into Sales!
IIf you're like me, you're probably pretty excited that summer's right around the corner. The days are getting longer, the veggies are growing in the garden, and barbecue smells are wafting through the neighborhood. Ah, summer!
Now that it's almost here, a lot of businesses are winding down for the warm weather lull. That means it's a great time to spruce up your web site. Whether your site needs a complete overhaul or just a little tidying up, it can really benefit from a thorough once-over.
In this issue, we're going to look at the top 4 "Fatal Mistakes" that many designers make with their web sites. These mistakes seem like innocent blunders, but they can really kill your sales. We'll also go over the top 10 essential elements that every site must have if it's going to be successful. Then we'll provide a list of useful resources that you can use to optimize your site's performance.
Read on to learn how you can simplify the design of your web site to improve its effectiveness and really get your profits to soar!
The Top 4 Fatal Mistakes Web Site Designers Make
If you want to be successful online, you have to develop a web site that serves the needs of your visitors in a user- friendly fashion. It's surprising how many people don't think about this when they plan their web sites!
An important rule of thumb when it comes to designing a web site is: SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY. Your web site should be easy to use and easy to understand. It should guide your visitors through the sales process in a simple and convenient manner. Your visitors should never have to guess at what you mean or what you're trying to get them to do!
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the common mistakes businesses owners make when developing their web sites...
FATAL MISTAKE #1: Trying to "dazzle" customers instead of sell to them
A lot of new business owners want their web sites to be as eye-catching as possible. They think that by including a lot of flashy graphics and nifty animation effects, they'll capture their visitors' attention. That may be true, but they can distract your visitors from what you really want them to focus on: the value of your product!
Never confuse eye-candy for content. Graphics should only ever be used to support the main purpose of your site: to get people to buy what you have to offer! If a graphic doesn't directly relate to your product or service, then it shouldn't be on your site. It's just that simple.
You may want to impress people with your technical know-how by including lots of banners and links on your site, but too much visual clutter looks unprofessional and can ruin your credibility. And, if the graphics and gimmicks don't have anything to do with what you're selling, they're just going to detract from your main message. Anything that distracts visitors from your copy is guaranteed to lose you sales.
You also don't want to chase your visitors away with long, unnecessary Flash presentations and splash pages. If your customers have to spend too much time trying to figure out how to stop your Flash presentation so they can get through to the "meat" of your site, they'll be gone, most likely never to return.
Believe it or not, studies have shown that most first-time visitors spend only 10 SECONDS on a site before deciding whether or not it offers any value for them. You don't want to waste these precious seconds with a pointless splash page or distracting animation!
The best way to drive sales is to design a simple, clean site using only two or three colors and one or two fonts throughout the entire site. Avoid using colored or patterned backgrounds. You might think they look cool, but they make it really difficult to read your sales copy. Also be sure to keep your link colors and format consistent. People generally expect links to be blue and underlined. This may seem boring from a design point of view, but the links will be instantly recognizable and that's what really matters.
FATAL MISTAKE #2: Making Your Site Too Large
One of the worst mistakes people can make is building massive, multi-paged sites that take forever to load. "The more, the better," is NOT true, at least when it comes to web site design!
Our studies have shown that 30% to 60% percent of visitors drop off with each click they're made to take! Your site has to be as streamlined as possible in order if you want it to reach its true profit potential.
As you spruce up your site, try to reduce the number of pages wherever possible. If you're selling 10 o