80% of your Web site is Maintenance!

Once your Web site is up, you must maintain it. That means changes, and each time you make a change, you may make a mistake. I'm really grateful when people point out my Web glitches by emailing me, and these encourage me to be more proactive by checking my site each week.

If your visitors get a link that doesn't work, see incomplete instructions, or read your dull instead of passionate copy, they will leave your site immediately, and not bookmark it.

Before you invite potential buyers to see your masterpiece you need to check and correct all parts of your site, and especially the home page. Use the seven tests below to guarantee you loyal customers and clients.

1. TEST YOUR HEADLINES. You have four-eight seconds to get your visitor's attention when they arrive on your home page. Test your title or opening sentence of copy. This one item alone can make a huge difference in the responses you receive.

Instead of the wasted words "welcome," or a long mission statement or biography of you, put a benefit-driven headline with a link to your sales letter about your product or service. Remember to lace all of your top phrases on your home page with the right kind of key words and phrases. Check out www.goodkeywords.com.

When I placed "Quadruple your Web Sales in Just Five Months" as a link to my sales copy following it, my Web sales on one of my eBooks increased ten times from my original home page-- in only six months time! Those sales soared from the first month 3 years ago at $75 to mid 2004 sales of $4500 a month and more.

If your headline doesn't emotionally appeal to your potential buyer and give them a reason to buy, the game is over. Always think what's in it for them.

2. TEST YOUR OFFERS. People perceive more value when you add an incentive to buy. Give them a complimentary special bonus report, eBook, or a tips list with the order. It takes little time and effort to create, but increases sales thirty-fold. Many visitors will buy your product based on the extra bonuses.

Motivate your visitors like I do with a "Discounts of the Month" link (navigation bar). In this special page offer one or two discounts that are sure to increase sales. Under each discount offer such as a teleclass on "Boost your Book and Business Success with Free Articles," include the what, where, when, cost, but also put in benefits, testimonials from happy clients and details on how it will go. Some people need more information than others, so give it to them complete, so they are not confused. Confused visitors do not buy. Once a year, I offer a "half-price book sale" as long as purchase total is $25 or more.

3. TEST YOUR WEB HOME PAGE TESIMONIALS

Testimonials lend credibility. When potential buyers see that other well-known leaders or small business buyers like your products or services, they are more likely to buy. It's relatively easy to get these too with the aid of a book called, "How to Get Testimonials From the Rich and Famous."

Follow my lead and put your best, most specific testimonial near the top of your home page. Make it a link to its related product. Here's a few that worked:

- "Save yourself from headaches, disappointments, and money down the drain. Read Write Your eBook or Other Short Book-Fast! before you write another word. The author puts you on the fastest track to publishing success."

- "Wow! My sales letter worked! Thank you, thank you, thank you for presenting your 3-session teleclass "Create Your Homepage With Marketing Pizzazz." You helped me focus on who my target market really is--a major accomplishment. Knowing the difference between benefits and features helped me produce a sales letter that got me a sale the next day I put it up on my site."

- "In just one coaching session I learned how to strengthen my article's language, got a perfect acronym for my coaching business, learned the difference between benefits and features, got a new bio/benefits statement to use for networking, and most of all the "bigger picture" to see a series of products and services to sell--definitely worth her fees."

Test your testimonial copy by emailing several groups in your address book with several choices. Call it a Survey. Ask them, which benefits makes their heart skip a beat? Which words influenced them enough to take out their credit card and buy? Get people to tell you which benefit hooked them. Try out different headlines, phrases, power words or metaphors

Appeal to different senses like smell, touch, emotions or visual. Remember most people are visual and kinesthetic, so if your benefit is making money--give your audience a picture of what they can spend the money on such as a long-needed vacation to the Caribbean or college money for their children.

Here are a few ideas:

For a personal growth book one client submitted these benefits:

-Clean up the places of your life where you're out of integrity
-Create more time, energy, and passion in your life
-Uncover your deepest values and honor them.

Another book's benefits included:

-Be your self in a world that wants you to be like everyone else
-Develop positive expectancy to achieve real results
-Procrastinate into your hearts desires
-Balance work and home by mastering the joy of moseying

For tests 4, 5, 6 and 7 on testing your price, home and web site layout, and ordering process, read "Bring Your Visitors Back Clamoring for More! Part 2. When you test these parts of your Web site often, you make it easy for your potential customers to buy to make you financially successful to travel, invest, or even buy a new car.

Judy Cullins