How to Get Qualified Traffic to Your Web Site and Convert it to Sales
Getting good quality traffic to your web site and converting it to sales requires strong search engine relevance, a positive user experience, and usually some advertising. The major steps are:
1. "Before you throw a party make sure your house is in order".
Make sure your site layout is clean, professional, and accurately represents your business. Make sure the copy is conversational, directive, and anticipatory. A site should use conversational copy to engage the user and build rapport. Copy should also be directive and point the user towards the areas you would like them to go to, like "see our products", or "request a quote", or "contact us". And the copy should also anticipate what the user may need to see before they are ready to buy, so overcome possible obstacles with supportive links, text, and graphics. Use all of this to establish a flow and develop a rapport with the user, which they will definitely appreciate.
2. Make sure your meta tags are in order and copy is relevant.
Most search engines use meta tags to help categorize your site. While they may not be as important as they once were, meta tags still can have a major effect on where your site appears in search results. Also, your site copy should be rich in keywords for greatest relevance because search engines actually read your site's copy (but not graphics) to help categorize you. So try to include words and phrases you feel users will most likely use to search for you. But don't "stuff" it full of keywords or repeat them, this kind of search engine spam can get you booted.
3. Manual Submission to Search Engines.
Submit your URL(S) by hand, not by an automated system. This way they are much more likely to be integrated into the search engine's database. Also consider the paid inclusion submission programs on MSN, Lycos, Yahoo, and others. They offer quick turnaround and each listing in a notable engine will help to boost your rankings with the others (search engines are like teenagers, they always want to know what the others are doing).
4. Post your web site address on all marketing materials, advertising, invoices, vehicles, etc.
The more people see your brand, the more likely they will remember it. And when a user is considering multiple firms a strong web site may make the difference. So let people know that you have a site and give them good reason to go there. Don't just list your web site address or use the phrase "Visit us at…". Instead use a strong call to action like "See photos of our work at…", "How much can you save? Use our cost savings calculator at www…", etc. Get them to your web site, away from your competition, and closer to a sale.
5. Create traffic with Cost-Per-Click advertising and Internet Yellow Page advertising.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) advertising is a very efficient way to get qualified visitors to your web site for one simple reason; you only pay for traffic to your site. And Cost-Per-Click listings appear near the top of the search results on: Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Excite, Lycos, Altavista, and others. Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) are a powerful way to market to potential customers in a specific geographic area. IYP users are "ready-to-buy", in fact research shows that upon finding a business in Internet Yellow Pages 77% of users contact an advertiser and 48% make a purchase (NFO Ad Impact Consumer Online Survey, 2002) which is much higher that general search engine traffic.
6. Consider e-mail marketing.
Your site is generating traffic through all these efforts and e-mail marketing can greatly increase the return on investment when used effectively and ethically. You should be using an opt-in sign-up on your site and soliciting all callers and store visitors to join your mailing list. Then send them periodic newsletters that offer a gem of value.
The above are by no means the only steps to successful online marketing, however they do represent the first (and most important) steps a business should take. Wishing you much success.
Paul Morgan Jr. is President of Nationwide Media LLC, a web site design and Internet advertising firm in New Providence, NJ.
