Albert Einstein was once asked what he felt was the most powerful force in the universe. His response was "compound interest".

Einstein was referring to how small incremental changes over time can produce amazing results.

Improving the conversion rate of your website is exactly the same.

Small changes - like improving your customer checkout process - can have a big effect on how many people end up buying from your site.

By experimenting with new ideas you'll quickly get a feel for what works specifically for your business, but here are a few proven strategies to get you started:

1. Make it Easy to Navigate and Find Information

Good websites make it easy for visitors to find what they're looking for. This means:

- Organizing your products and services into logical categories

- Minimising the amount of clicks to get from point A to point B

- Allowing visitors to use a 'Search' function on your site

In a nutshell, the better the user experience - the more likely your visitors are to buy something. The golden rule of website design is keep it simple.

For example, Google is a multi-billion dollar company that receives millions of visitors to their website everyday.

Take a quick look at their 'About Us' page: http://www.google.com/about.html

Notice how they've resisted the urge for flashy graphics and spinning logos? Clearly they have placed functionality above cosmetic appeal.

If you take a moment to look at popular websites like...

Amazon.com
eBay.com
Dell.com
Micosoft.com
Ford.com

... you'll find they all have two things in common - a clean website design and a simple navigation system.

Once you've finished building your website, it's worth conducting some basic usability testing.

This is as simple as getting a few customers and colleagues to review your website and asking them what you could do to improve your site design.

2. Make it Secure and Trustworthy

Before customers are ready to give you sensitive information such as their home address or credit card number, they need to be reassured that your website is safe and secure.

Any doubt or hesitation on their part, substantially decreases your chances of making the sale.

Steps you can take to build trust with your shoppers include:

- Displaying a security and privacy guarantee

- Assuring them that their email address won't be spammed or sold to a third party

- Having your website security audited by a third party like TRUSTe (www.truste.com) or the Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.com)

3. Offer Free Shipping

Offering your customers free shipping can be a massive sales booster. Imagine this scenario for a moment:

Two pizza stores are competing for business in their local neighbourhood:

- Pizza store A sells their pizzas for $10 but charges $5 for delivery
- Pizza store B sells their pizzas for $15 but offers free delivery

Who sells more pizzas?

The person who buys from Pizza store A is happy with their pizza - but feels a little ripped off by paying 50% of the pizza cost for delivery.

The person who buys from pizza store B is happy with the pizza and happy about getting 'free' delivery.

So even though the total price to the consumer remains identical ($15), why is it that pizza store B will always outsell pizza store A?

The answer is basic human nature; we all want 'something for nothing'.

Even though logically we understand that the delivery price for pizza store B is built into the purchase price, emotionally we're still attracted to the thought of 'free delivery'.

Offering free shipping to your customer's works on the same principle, test it out and you might be surprised at the difference.

4. Generate Repeat Orders

No matter what industry you're in, it's much easier (and more profitable) to generate repeat orders from existing customers than to be constantly chasing new customers.

Repeat shoppers to your website have the highest conversion rate online, so keep in touch with them by sending:

- Thankyou emails
- Discount offers
- First pick at new or limited stock
- Limited time promotions

Everybody loves a bargain and a quick email blast can be especially handy if you need to move old or discontinued stock.

Adrian Mullan is the author of 'The Internet Demystified' and founder of WebDummy.com - a popular Internet marketing resource for small business owners.