Increasing Your Rate of Conversion - Improving the Website Design
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Often, small changes in website design can mean huge leaps in sales conversion rates. Simply making the site more visitor friendly will do wonders for your online business. Two of the more common deterrents to conversion are often the most clung to design aspects. They are improper page sizing and the use of too much Flash.
Make certain that the site registers properly in all commonly used Internet browsers. Not all searchers use Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0. The other major operating systems (such as Linux and Mac OS) and browsers (like Firefox and Opera) should all be checked for loading your site correctly. Don't miss out on potential buyers simply because they use Macs, or prefer Firefox as a browser.
Overtly long pages that require the user to constantly scroll down are not conducive to sales. There is too much work required of the prospect. In fact, breaking the page into more than one page creates additional site size, creating more entry paths to the site. Placing only the essential buyer information on the page makes it less likely to lose potential customers before they reach the end.
Even worse than pages that are too long are pages that are too wide for most computer screens. Horizontal scrolling is an irritant to most website users. They will abandon a site that requires side to side scrolling very quickly. The problem stems from designing a website that fits a 21 inch screen, but is over sized for all others.
An Internet commerce site designer must recognize that smaller monitors are far more common than large ones. Fitting the majority of the customer screens will immediately increase sales due to the longer visitor staying time. Length of stay is easily found in visitor traffic logs.
An even larger problem for visitors is excessive use of Flash. Website intros written in Flash are usually skipped if possible. That option should definitely be available with a single click. Better yet, avoiding Flash intros entirely should be considered. Within the site, Flash often distracts from the sales message, and causes prospects to leave the page, or even the site, taking their cash with them.
If a short Flash movie is required, to demonstrate the product in use, provide a clearly marked link for those who wish to view it. Forcing the Flash movie onto everyone will lose far more potential buyers than it will gain.
Improving ease of site navigation will add many more sales. Providing an easy to tour site will increase conversions simply by the helping the visitors find the products, and making it easy to buy them. The use of a good site map and easily understood page linking is essential.
Next: Sharpening Up the Sales >>
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