subject: Know Thyself - Understanding What Kind Of Investor You Are [print this page] In the midst of economic uncertainty, the internet has created an opportunity explosion for those who understand how to harness its power. A common but costly mistake is focusing on driving traffic instead of converting it. Maximizing your web presence requires not only driving users to your site, but also converting or compelling an action, and optimizing customer relationships to achieve retention. Tim Ash, author of "Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions" recently joined Jason Hartman on The Creating Wealth Show episode 175 and discussed best practices for converting visitors of a business website into customers.
Landing Page refers to anyplace users arrive or land on a website. The aim of an internet marketer is to optimize the experience from the point of arrival on a site to the conversion into action. When traffic with a focused message is directed from a specific point of origin such as a banner ad, the destination is called a Squeeze Page. Furthermore, landing pages can stand on their own, or occur as a micro-site within the main website.
Along with opportunity, the internet presents a unique challenge since the audience is unknown. Eliciting responses to a split test of different pages is one way to better understand this audience. In terms of demographics, marketing messages should target the large segment of undecided visitors who represent the most potential for profit. Web analytics only come into play when websites consistently attract enough users to serve as a sample. While web analytics may be useful for diagnosing existing problems, they are ineffective for detecting errors of omission. Testing has the advantage of being proactive rather than reactive.
Although technology has changed, the psychology of human behavior has not. Individuals are as unique in how they perceive web pages as they are in how they perceive the larger world. Some methodically graze, gathering information, while others seize on an instant pay-off. Some have a more powerful response to text, others to graphics or sound.
The job of the internet marketer is to translate the four stages of sales-decision making awareness, interest, desire, and action for an online audience. It makes sense to exploit the attention-riveting power of motion (flash, video, etc.), but don't let it derail your main message. Avoid page feature overload which results in attention leakage. Ash offers a free tool at AttentionWizard.com for determining where people actually look when they land on a page, which is influenced by reactions to motion, contrast, and other visual elements. This information can be used to reconfigure web design prior to launch.
Successful conversion depends on compelling headlines, site navigability, testing and data interpretation, and managing technological aspects. Conversion consulting services are provided at SiteTuners.com.
Know Thyself - Understanding What Kind Of Investor You Are
