So you have traffic on your website but without sales the amount of traffic is not important. How do you convert these visitors into clients?

Just think about the user experience - they have come to your website because you have promoted a product or service to them and they have found your website. Now you need to engage your visitor with useful information and provide a simple but compelling sales funnel for them to purchase from you.

• Provide valuable content on the first page
• Build 'calls to action' to engage your visitor
• Provide a reason for them to want more information such as 'Special Offers' or User Reviews'
• Make the navigation very simple, allow your user to find the information they need to make a decision
• Provide additional product information such as user reviews, spec sheets, first time customer discount etc
• Give them something useful that they do not have to purchase to make them feel comfortable like 'Free Guide to ......' Download NOW... ask for their email address and name on the form at least.
• Provide a resources section and/or FAQs so they can make an informed decision about your business and the product or service
• Ensure you provide Testimonials and customer product reviews to further engage your visitor
• Provide 'related products' or 'similar products' just in case the product they are viewing is not quite right for them
• Offer an add-on product. If you can convince the user to purchase, do not lose the chance to 'upsell' another product to them at the same time. Related products can be very useful, for example, if they are viewing a pair of trousers, offer a belt or shirt that would go with it.

Creating an effective sales funnel and turning users into customers seems to be the hardest task for online businesses, however, if you think hard enough about your user and why they are on your site, you can provide great usability and improve profits!

An Aspedia client, www.abis.com.au, has seen online sales increase from 7% to 42% in seven months after engaging Aspedia to provide a full web strategy and marketing campaign for their business, which includes building sales funnels, split testing, calls to action, usability, marketing campaigns, SEO and more.