5 Tips to Sell More on Your Websites

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Article Title: 5 Tips to Sell More on Your Websites
Author: Stephanie Foster
Category: E-Business, Sales, Home Business
Word Count: 637
Keywords: make more sales online,online selling,improve website to make more sales
Author's Email Address: workingathome@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.contentcrooner.com
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Online selling is very different from selling in person. You're convincing someone to make the purchase on their own time. Bore them, fail to make the case, and they're gone, off your site. You may be able to slow them down with a popup window, but you can't stop them, and you don't even know for certain what their objection was. How do you improve your websites so that you make more sales?

1. Make it easy to buy from your site.

Sometimes the problem is as simple as people can't figure out how to buy from your site. The "buy now" button may be difficult to find or it takes to long to go from cart to finished order.

If people have to struggle to buy from your website, they aren't going to. The internet is a big place, and even if other sites won't have exactly what they were after, there will probably be something close enough elsewhere.

Links to add a product to your site's shopping cart or to buy the product through your affiliate link should be easily found. Even if your copywriting still needs work, a clear and simple path to making a purchase will improve the chances that people will buy from you.

2. Make your site easy to read.

An easy to read website is a combination of good copywriting and good layout. A poor job on either of these factors will cut down on your website's conversion rates.

Most people do better with short paragraphs and bullet points when reading online. You can use longer blocks of text if that's what it takes to get your point across, but remember that many people skim more than they read online. Make it easy for them, and provide greater detail a little further along for those who want it.

Keep your writing simple too. There's probably a lot of jargon specific to your niche, and while you may be comfortable with it, others may not be. The same goes for showing off your vocabulary in general. Use simple words everyone understands.

3. Use appropriate graphics.

The right graphics are a big help in making sales. People can't touch your product when they're online, so if you're selling a physical product, graphics are the one way you have to show them what they're shopping for.

Make sure your graphics look good. If you're selling a product as an affiliate, there are often good images available for your use - just check with the program you're associated with. If it's your own product, make sure you take a good picture. A photo taken with a cluttered background or with several other of your products won't be nearly as appealing as a clean one showing just the product in question.

4. Establish trust.

If your website gives people a bad feeling, they aren't going to buy from you. Do your best to make your website look reputable.

In part, this means avoiding hype in your descriptions. Be clear and honest about what the product is and what it is not. People like to know what the advantages and the disadvantages are when they're shopping.

This also means avoid spelling and grammatical errors. We all make them, but if they're all over your website, people won't trust you as much.

5. Encourage newsletter or autoresponder signups.

People don't always buy on the first visit. It's often said that it can take seven exposures to convince someone to make a purchase. Having a newsletter or autoresponder for people who want more information about your products can have a big impact on your sales.

Provide solid, relevant information in your newsletter, plus sales links as appropriate. Don't go overboard on trying to make sales on your newsletter unless you understand that you will get a lot of people unsubscribing quickly. Some people can make that work, but others lose more than they gain that way.

Stephanie Foster shares tips at http://www.homewiththekids.com/home-business/running-home-business.php about running a home business. Learn how to set actionable home business goals at http://www.homewiththekids.com/blog/2011/09/are-your-home-business-goals-actions-or-results/


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