(Read time 2 mins)

How do most testimonials read?

Like resumes. And resumes are created to make the candidate look wonderful. But often times, like resumes, testimonials lack real life – so they sound boring, making it easy to overlook.

Yet, what’s the first thing a company does when you present them with a resume? They check the details to get a clearer picture. They dig to find out the other side of the story.

And if the company is smart, they’ll know to not only pursue the references, but make sure to ask them the right questions.

In all reality, your future customer does NOT want to hear, nor will they really relate to praise, praise, praise (and 5 stars to boot) – They are looking for satisfied customers that closely resemble them and their situation.

That’s why these questions are the right questions, because they will help you construct the flow of your testimonial so that it reads more like a relatable story, thus giving you (or your past customer) the power to get the attention of your future customers’ much quicker and easier.

The other reason these 6 questions (and of course, variations of them that may work better for you) are the right questions, is because they answer the “who”, “what”, “when”, “how” and most importantly “why” your prospect should choose you over your competitor.

So without further a due, here’s question #1…

1. What would have prevented you from buying this product/service?
You ask this question because the customer always has either some kind of obstacle or perception that prevents them from handing you there money.

No matter how ready the customer is to buy your product/service, there’s always a hitch. The hitch could be money, or time, or availability, or relevance – or a whole bunch of issues.
And when you ask this question, it brings out those issues. And it does something more. It gives you an insight into issues you may not have considered, because the client is now reaching into their memory to see what could have been the deal-breaker.
And there’s always an obstacle; always something you may not have considered. So when the customer brings up this obstacle, it presents an angle that’s unique, personal and dramatic.

NOTE: Like I kinda mentioned before, since your customers may not understand the question as I lay them out here, I encourage you to tweak the language of each question when necessary.

Of course, since this post only features the 1st question, you can rest assured, because in the next 5 posts we’ll go over the rest.

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If you’re interested in getting a website review so you can improve your online conversion, just fill in the contact form —> Click HERE.

In the meantime, I hope these tips and the other posts here are helpful for improving your website’s conversion.

HINT: You may have this on your website, but if it’s not in the right place or in the right order you could missing out on a lot of leads and sales.

Another important aspect of the header I recommend is including your phone # at the top right.  If someone comes to your site and just wants to talk to someone on the phone, you will increase the chance of them picking up the phone if you put the # at the top.  I’d include a phone icon next to it as well.  And you might consider adding a button with the phrase “Give Me a Quote”.

And lastly, when you’re listing the services you provide, make sure to start with the service that more of your market wants.  You can easily find out by putting them all in the Google Keyword Tool and see which one has the higher ranking.

As obvious as these points might seem, it’s ironic how often very successful businesses tend to overlook this stuff – mainly because they busy running a business.  There many more ways to improve conversion on a website what your read here or other sites like this (I’m not gonna show you all my cards).

If you’re interested in getting a website review so you can improve your online conversion, just fill in the contact form —> Click HERE.

In the meantime, I hope these tips and the other posts here are helpful for improving your website’s conversion.

After sending them their website review, I figured I should share some of the points I made – seeing as they’d probably help you with your online conversion and to avoid some of the common mistakes that I spoke to (I know that’s bad grammar but I don’t care).

Fortunately they were gracious enough to let me spill the beans about their review, and so I didn’t have to bribe them to let me share this… as long as I keep their identity hush-hush.

Over the next several posts I’m going to be copy and pasting (for time sake, and because I’m kinda lazy the transcription of their website review.

So to get things started off in a linear fashion, here’s just a few of the first points I made about their website.

(HINT: Pay close attention to point #3 – because I cover something about user-experience that many in the website design/development world don’t even consider)
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The Top
The clean feel of the banner is nice; however the size of it (specifically the height) should be smaller. As you well know, it’s essential to make sure the most important aspects of each page can be seen above the fold. Of course you do include some very important aspects in the header area already, but there are 3 other important reasons why I think you should shrink the height of it…

1. According to multiple studies, you only have about 3-8 seconds to grab your visitors attention. Fortunately though, when we’re searching for a product or service locally, we are often more willing to take more time because there may not be as many choices. However, the fact is, it’s really not much more time. (some say it’s 15-30 seconds).
2. The more your visitor is forced to move their mouse to find what it is they are searching for, the more you end up decreasing the chance of them sticking around and taking the action you’re trying to provoke.
3. Something that is often forgotten is the fact that there are many people out there that use web browsers which are jam-packed with unnecessary and often unused toolbars. That means the real estate your website has on their web browser gets shrunk, so they do not end up seeing above the fold what you hope they would, so that are forced to scroll down and their attention span shrinks.

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To few of you who read this, they may seem like, “No-Duh Keith” points, however, for many others, like a lot of website design companies and other very successful businesses, this stuff it out of their radar – mainly because they busy running a business.

If you’re interested in getting a website review so you can improve your online conversion, just fill in the contact form —> Click HERE.

In the meantime, I hope these tips and the other posts here are helpful for improving your website’s conversion.

If you have a website for your business, then you obviously don’t want it just sitting there as a kind-of online business card right?

Your hope is that it will actually generate business for you.  Essentially, you want it to act as a virtual salesperson, to bring in leads, drive sales and increase profit, right?

Sadly, more often the not, websites owners with these kinds of intentions are frustrated with the lack of business that comes from their website.

Hey – maybe you get most of your business offline, or from referrals (that’s actually the way it’s been for me recently).   But sticking with the idea that want your website to act as a virtual salesperson for you, it’s necessary that you equip your “web-salesperson” with the right tools.

Over the last 18 years of my working career, I’ve been in some kind of sales position (give or take a few months for some of the warehouse jobs I’ve held).

I sold books, movies, photos, hotel rooms, shuttle rides, cell phones, homes, insurance, just to name a few.

But sadly, with almost every sales job that I had, I ironically struggled with putting into practice the #1 key to being a successful salesman.

I mean, I was a “natural” at being able to strike up a conversation and quickly build rapport with someone.  And then to be able go on about how wonderful the product or service was I was trying to sell – well that wasn’t hard either.

The biggest mistake that I made is actually the same mistake that many website owners  make on their own website.  You see, the #1 key to increasing your online conversion comes about by simply asking for the sale.

I’m serious.  I mean it sounds kinda too simple, right?

But as you think about your website and all the work that you may have put into it – creating the look and feel; the beautiful graphics; the copy you slaved over; and all the time, sweat and “virtual” blood you put into it (I wouldn’t doubt real blood may have been spilled too .

… And still, your website is not acting like the successful salesperson you built it to be.  I know it’s frustrating.

Well, it’s gonna come down to this.  You need to look over the pages of your website and find places where your copy is talking about how great your company, service or product is and ask yourself an important question.

Something like – “If I were in a conversation with a customer telling them all about these great features and benefits of my widget; or even how past customers have benefited from using my widget (testimonial page – hint, hint), would I just stop there, or would I would ask them if they’d be interested in trying it out?”

Chances are, given the fact that you’re not standing in front of them being affected by the awkward silence in the moment, or wondering if and when you should ask, you’ll probably have more guts to ask for the sale on your website than in person.

So ASK!

In my next post, I’m going to share with you some simple but extremely effective ways to ask for the sale.  You’ll see that they’re not very intuitive, for you as the website owner, but they’re super friendly for your website visitor to give the response you want, because they speak directly to them.

*If you found this helpful, or you’ve had luck with other methods, comment below and share.

Semantics—the language you use to describe your product and offer—can make a huge difference in bottom‐line results. If that were not true, no car dealer would advertise “pre‐owned automobiles.” They would just sell used cars.

Another example: Collin Street Bakery, headquartered in Texas, was struggling to generate sales for its fruitcake. Apparently, the cakes are delicious (if you’re into that kind of thing).  But “fruitcake” has a negative image.

One of the reasons Collin Street fruitcakes taste so good is they are made with pecans grown on the Texas river banks. So Collin Street Bakery repositioned their fruitcake, calling it a “Native Texas Pecan Cake.”

The results: response rates to direct mail selling the cakes increased 60%…and the promotion was so successful, the bakery sent 12 million pieces of mail.

If you’re wondering why your website visitors aren’t taking action and clicking on your links, then you may want to consider making a small simple change to how you’re leading them through your sales funnel.

A common mistake in designing web pages is to use an underlined word or phrase as the hyperlink to lead the visitor to the page you want them to go.

A much more effective method is to simply change the hyperlink into a button.  Buttons are much more intuitively click-friendly.

Oh, and color makes a difference. The Mequoda group reports a split test where the only variable on the landing page was the order button color. Red was the control, which was tested against green, yellow, and ochre. The winner? Ochre, generating 27% higher
conversion rates than red.

If you found this helpful, or you’ve had luck with other methods, comment below and share.

(Read time 1min or so)

It’s been said that, “Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”  So if you’re struggling to come up with a killer headline, you should stop and make sure you’re asking yourself the right questions.

Among the many questions I drill myself with, here are six that are sure to help you get your juices flowing…

1. Does your headline offer the reader a reward for reading your sales copy?
2. What specifics could you add to make your headline more intriguing and believable?
3. Does your headline trigger a strong, actionable emotion the reader already has about the subject at hand?
4. Does your headline present a proposition that will instantly get your prospect nodding his or her head?
5. Could your headline benefit from the inclusion of a proposed transaction?
6. Could you add an element of intrigue to drive the prospect into your opening copy?

As a rule, the main objective of your copy should not be too startle the reader with a new thought, but to enter the conversation that is going on their mind already.

If these help, or you have other questions that you use, please leave a comment below and share.

If you’ve considered using the inexpensive Google Tag to add a little zing to your Google Places Profile, you’ll now have to consider different options.  After realizing how many businesses want to take advantage of their Google Places, and how well it can help their local organic search, Google has “Upped the Annie”, by giving Google Places owners to enhance their listing with their newer advertising platform, Google Boost.

You can read more about the decision here –>Google Tags Pulled for Local Search Advertising – eWeek.com.

When it comes to writing the copy for your home page, you’re naturally eager to want to put your best foot forward, right?  But so often (I’m speaking from 1st hand and client experience), you end up putting too many feet forward, and the result is you overwhelm and confuse your website visitor… so they leave.

The best way to write a great home page is just by following the classic K.I.S.S. rule – Keep It Simple Stupid (or Silly for those easily offended).

When visitors arrive at your site, they are in a hurry to find out if you have what they want.  So your copy needs to communicate a great deal, quickly, and demand very little.  In other words, don’t make your visitors work to find the information they want.

A key element of simple, fast communication is the simplicity of the language you use.  Start your site with short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs.  Don’t start with complex ideas or sentences that will make your readers scratch their heads and pause.

Win their hearts and minds on the first page, and you’ll have plenty of time to get into details on the next levels.

Obviously there’s a lot more that can be said about this very important topic, but because this rule is so often forgotten, or just plain unknown, I’ll leave this post the same – simple.

(Read time 2 mins)

Most likely, you’ve heard that it’s never about the thing – it’s never about the product.  It’s about the result that your product delivers…right?

Well, the reality is, it’s actually much deeper than that – it’s about the human emotion that your customer associates with the result they achieve with your product/service.

A perfect example of this is how I enjoy shopping.  Correction – I enjoy buying things.   Because ultimately, I am attracted to the feeling and sensation of power and control that I get when I buy something.  It doesn’t really matter what it is sometimes, because I’m caught up by my selfish and insecure desire to be in control and to feel power.   The key is to be aware of this driving emotion.

This is what is actually called the Primary Driver emotion.

Market research guru, Clotaire Rapaille calls it – the “Reptilian Hot Button”.  Essentially it doesn’t matter what we tell ourselves and how we explain the “why” behind our buying decisions.  It is the primary driver that is the subconscious decision maker.

The key is in learning how to bring that emotion up to light with your audience.  No matter whether it’s for a something you’re selling, or a cause you’re convincing others to join.  If you can bridge and associate your product, service or whatever, with that human emotion, you will have a situation where your audience is demanding to buy your product or be apart of a movement.

If this is a topic you’d love to explore more (despite whether you’re an expert in it or not), I encourage you to check out the PBS Frontline Special called “The Persuaders”.

It’s all about what’s going on in the world of today’s marketers and advertisers?  What are the new and surprising methods they’re using to decipher who we are and what we want?  And, where is this taking us?

Just click on the image to open up the video window.

**I’m always trying to improve the content of this site, so please tell me, “Was this helpful or just totally irrelevant ?”  Simply reply in the comment section.*