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Converting Clicks Into Customers

There are plenty of easy ways to increase visitor traffic to your site. The problem most online merchants face is converting those visitors to revenue producing customers.

Online marketing, especially search engine marketing is no longer a idea that needs to be sold to business owners. Online retail exceeded $211.4 billion last year and everyone wants a piece of that very appealing pie.

You'll find plenty of advice on how to get good traffic from ad campaigns and marketing techniques "guaranteed" to deliver the results you're looking for with your online marketing. We are not going to repeat the latest "optimization tips" or "secrets" to getting good rank in the search engines. Those are strategies to increase traffic to your site... you need advice on converting those visitors into customers.

Millions of potential customers are online searching for your product or services. If you really want to hit a home run with your online business marketing, stop for a minute and consider what those future customers want to find.

You use the Internet or you wouldn't be reading this. Your customers are just like you. Think about the sites that you visit again and again. What do they have in common?

No matter what techniques draw you to a site, the only thing you want to find is exactly what you are looking for. Google, MSN, Yahoo! and other search engines spend a fortune trying to deliver search results that will provide just that...the most relevant information. Think about the last time you went online to find something. What was it about the site you eventually chose to do business with that kept you from clicking away?

• They offered what you were looking for and made it easy to find the product, service AND information.

• You didn't have to wait a long time for the site to load or wade through a lot of irrelevant information to get what you wanted.

• They didn't waste your time.

• It was obvious that they value and respect YOU, their customer.

Now think about your reaction the last time you went to a site that promised what you wanted...and when you opened the site you couldn't find what you wanted. You probably got annoyed with the site and the search engine for feeding you garbage sites instead of the good ones on your topic. "Bait & Switch" marketing is not the way to build customer loyalty.

We saw an ad the other day that promised the best shopping info with store and price comparisons on...unique baby names. The demographic of expectant parents and others looking for names for a new baby is a very big group and the ad was seen by many people. Were the visitors ready to purchase? Did the ad generate "good traffic" where the clicks were converted to customer? Probably not.

We've seen ads that promise a free copy of the DaVinci Code for those who want to read the book. When you go to the site you find a company that has a collection of "frëe" offers if you sign up for something you don't want. Again, an ad that generates untargeted traffic that will not convert to sales.

Don't misunderstand. The shotgun targeting approach that these ads represent will bring increase traffic. A few of the visitors who reach your site may even convert into sales. But the majority will just click away and avoid your site in the future.

That is not a strategy for long term growth for any successful business.

The Web gives you the ability to target your marketing efforts at people who are looking for your product. If you can understand what your customers are looking for - pick the words they will use to find what you are offering - and present your marketing copy to them when they are looking for it - you are guaranteed to see a high conversion rate. Not just "visitors" but interested shoppers who are ready to become customers.

Imagine if your local newspaper could run ads for food related products only on pages with articles about food and cooking. Just think, if special daily editions of the newspaper could be put together so only the people who wanted your product or services would see your ad. Would you get better results advertising gardening supplies in the paper focused on politics or in the special gardening edition? You can showcase your online ad on busy sites that attract visitors already interested in what you sell. Why spend money building interest when you can focus on getting visitors who already want your product?

If your store sells fish, don't place an ad that implies gardeners can find the supplies they need. How would you react if you went to a fish store expecting to find grass seeds? Building trust is the key to a successful web business. Respect your customers, use honest marketing tactics and watch your sales skyrocket.

Here are some strategies to help you convert your clicks into customers...