Easy Ways To Improve Your Response Rate
If you've been
studying online marketing for awhile you're familiar with the
term 'AIDA' since it's the standard formula for creating a sales
or signup page.
But just in case
you're not here's what it stands for:
-
Grab the reader's Attention.
-
Get the reader's Interest.
-
Create a Desire for your
product or service.
-
Call for Action. (Tell your
reader what to do.)
So you write a catchy
headline and try to use 1 or more of the latest 'buzz' words.
Then you write
something you hope will get the reader's interest and describe
the 'benefits' of your offer.
And of course you've
put a signup form or a payment link on your site.
But ...
Nothing's happening.
No sales - No signups.
Well the first thing
you have to check is to make sure you've got some traffic to
your site.
Ok, you've got some
decent traffic so what's the problem?
There are lots of
possibilities and I am going to list 4 of the biggies.
-
Your page loads so
slow people don't stick around to read it.
True, a lot of people have fast connections but they've also
gotten used to fast loading web pages so your landing page needs
to come up quickly. Because my homepage takes too long to load,
I've created several fast loading pages to promote my site and
newsletter and you should consider doing the same.
If you don't want to create smaller landing pages you can also
divide your page into sections by using tables. Have the top
portion of your page in 1 table so it will come up quickly and
give the reader something to read while the rest of your page
loads.
- Your site is hard to
read.
When you're picking the colors and fonts for your site make sure
you pick ones that are 'easy on the eyes' and show up well on
the monitor.
You should also write short paragraphs with empty space between
them.
And one of most effective things you can do is create bullet or
numbered lists. Be sure to put some space between the bullet
items and if the list is really long you should alternate either
the color or bold style of the list items. (Changing fonts or
font size is not recommended.)
-
Your page requires
special software to be seen or heard.
Now maybe you've got all the extra downloadable software to make
all your banners, ad boxes, audio and video work but a lot of
people don't. In fact, I'm one of them.
Almost every day I come across sites that tell me I need to
download something to see or hear a page properly. While I know
how to download these things, a lot of people don't.
So if you've got something on your page that requires special
software make sure the software is easily attainable, free and
most visitors already have it.
Don't rely on the part of your page that requires extra software
to do most of your selling because a lot of visitors will never
see or hear it.
-
Your page is full of
extra clutter.
In your attempt to build a list you've created a signup form.
Then you wanted to add content so you did. Next you need to sell
something so you've put up a few ads. You need traffic so you've
added several banner exchange banners to your page. And lastly,
you've added a popup.
With all these things going for you, your visitors will surely
find something to click on. Right?
Wrong. You've given them too many things to click on. Now when
they see your sight it looks like a flashing sign that says "I'm
new at this and trying anything that will get your attention."
Remember the other marketing acronym - KISS. (Keep It Simple, Smarty!)
Ok, I changed the last word but you get the point.
Don't clutter your page with so many things your visitor is
overwhelmed with choices. Focus on 1 thing.
Sure, your homepage may be a content page with a signup form and
some ads. But what's it's focus?
If it's the content then that's what fills most of the page and
the other things are smaller and unobtrusive.
If it's primarily a signup page then the content is promoting
your mailings and the signup box is bigger and included in or at
the end of the content. Any ads on the page are smaller and
unobtrusive.
Now I don't use banner exchanges but know the banners have to be
shown for you to get credit. Rather than have several on you
home page, use 1 at the bottom and maybe 1 at the top of your
main page. To get exposure for your other banner exchange
programs, try splitting your main page or creating some other
page that most visitors will visit and then you can place 1 or 2
more on that page as well. (You could create a text link that
promotes free traffic and points to your page full of banner
exchange banners along with some words saying that by joining
these programs they can get more traffic for their site.)
There are other
things that can cause your response rate to be less than
acceptable so you should be testing different headlines,
wording, formatting, etc. while you're making sure you're not
committing 1 of the above biggies.
Creating a page that performs well doesn't mean you have to use
a lot of images, make it unique with unusual fonts and colors,
use all the latest technical gadgets or promote everything
you've joined.
If your landing pages are simple; fast loading, easy to read,
readable by everyone and focused on 1 thing, you're on the right
path to getting a good response rate.
To Your Success,
SusanSusan Carroll owner of http://www.friendswhocare.us has formed a global community of online business people through her weekly newsletter.
Although designed to help those just getting started, her community of friends
include both newbies and experienced internet marketers.
Her Circle of Friends free membership area contains many free resources and
tools for online marketers. You can get a free membership at:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/join.htm.
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