Mass Traffic But No Sales?

Katie writes me, “By the way, I wanted to tell you that when I write an article for your site, almost immediately I see an increase in traffic to my site. It is fascinating to see where my articles are apparently picked up!

Unfortunately, the increased traffic has not led to increased business for me, in terms of the e-books and services I sell. Any ideas on how to improve that?”

At first I was going to say that the obvious problem is that Katie only has (6) articles listed with us. That’s like advertising your business 6 times not including syndication love. Yes, Katie needs to write 60-600 more articles to make an impact in today’s competitive Internet climate, but the real problem in this case is her website process flow.

When I first came to her site, it took me a full 40 seconds to figure out how to buy something from her.

If you want to sell something on your website, don’t hide the products near the bottom of your navigation. In her left navigation were 11 items. Guess which item was the 11th item? The link to her online product catalog. No wonder sales are not what they could be.

She could also benefit from deep linking specific products with each article resource box.

Example: If she writes an article about a specifc area of expertise that she has an infoproduct or a related product on the same topic, she should include the URL of the sales letter for that product in her resource box rather than her home page.

Assuming her web visitors will know how to find the link to buy the product is getting her what she has today (low sales conversions). Deep linking directly to the sales letter of a product or service that further solves the problems presented and attempted to solve in the article will speed up the sales conversion cycle.

Think about it: If an average person only gives 2-7 seconds when visiting a new site before they leave if they don’t find what they are looking for, in this authors case, she wouldn’t get any sales because it took me a multiple of that time to even find out what she was selling when starting with the home page (that’s the link included in her resource box).

I know this blog entry is rather harsh and I’m picking on Katie; but the reality is that her case is a frequent one that I see over and over again. Hopefully others can learn from the same lessons and bottom line: MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOUR WEB VISITORS TO BUY FROM YOU.  :-)

Posted by on July 18, 2006 at 7:27 am | 2,969 views

7 Comments »


1
Shauna writes:

Thanks, what you said about Katies site applies to mine.

I am glad to have advice and I will be updating my site.

Thanks again, Shauna

Comment provided July 18, 2006 at 10:05 AM

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2
Lance Winslow writes:

Well sounds good but what is Katie’s website, so we can check it out and buy her eBook?

Comment provided July 18, 2006 at 10:44 AM

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3
Christopher M. Knight writes:

I didn’t ask her permission to use her question to me and that’s why I left her website URL off and last name off this blog entry.

I did alert her to the post and if she wants to disclose her name; she’s welcome to do so.

Comment provided July 18, 2006 at 10:48 AM

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4
Dina writes:

What a GREAT topic. I’ve been studying veteran web marketers for a while now and observing their sales strategies. I do agree with what Chris said, and also want to add that famous marketers build lists and then market regularly to those lists. They communicate with their ezine readers regularly – and when it comes time to release a new product you can bet that everybody is getting a personal introduction to the new item in their inbox.

Comment provided July 18, 2006 at 10:54 AM

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5
Edward Weiss writes:

Conversion is the one topic everyone seems to want more information about. I’ve come to a conclusion about this topic. If you’re selling something people really want, they’ll find a way to buy. If you’re selling something that’s just not that essential to your prospects life, you may have to wait a good long while before sales pick up.

Comment provided July 18, 2006 at 10:58 AM

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6
Jennifer Thieme writes:

“I know this blog entry is rather harsh and I’m picking on Katie . . .”

No, harsh would be to ignore, misguide, or ridicule her. You were not harsh. You were honest. There *is* a difference. And the difference is the intention.

Comment provided July 18, 2006 at 6:01 PM

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7
Henry writes:

Chris you are speaking the same language that many other successful marketers have been speaking. Article writing is THE KEY to bringing in free and sustained traffic.

Tim Knox told those of us at his seminar in Huntsville last April that you are his favorite site to post articles to and that when he does the vary next day he sees traffic increase to the website that he lists in his resource box.

OK, got to stop and start writing my next article to post here before I go to bed tonight. I’m convinced. Thanks Chris for such a great place to post my works. Henry

Comment provided July 19, 2006 at 5:31 PM

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