6 Website Changes You Can Make in 30 Days to Increase Sales

When it comes to lead generation and conversion, is your website a sports car or an 18-wheeler?

Does your site attract prospects and sales as fast as a Maserati on the autobahn? Or is it about as efficient as an 18-wheeler chugging up a hill?

I’m always chattering about sending people to your website because that’s where the magic happens. Here’s how business owners react to that:

“But, Meghan, if I get more traffic to my website, will I get more sales?”

My reply is always the same:

“Yes, but only if your website successfully converts visitors into customers.”

Which usually results in…

SILENCE. And then avoidance. Sometimes denial.

As a web designer and online marketing strategist, I’ve spent years working on websites. (I’m working on one right now, in fact.)

For some reason, people don’t factor conversion rates into their site design and content. Even with guidance, they fight it. They are much more concerned about looks than about function.

The purpose of your site is to convert visitors into leads and customers.

Everything else is secondary.

When you worry about conversion, good design (aka aesthetics and functionality) naturally happens. When you focus on aesthetics, good design doesn’t always happen.

Let me ask you this…

Would you rather have a website that makes you money? Or a website that looks pretty?

One pays the bills; the other offers bragging rights. It’s up to you.

When it’s all said and done, you need three experts to optimize your site for conversion:

1. A digital marketer
2. A website designer/developer
3. A sales copywriter

Alas, I know you. You’re going to say that you can’t afford to outsource your site improvements.

I’m fairly certain you can’t afford NOT to. (Unless your website is a conversion machine…if that’s the case, move along, this article is not for you!)

You know your business and your avatar; you know your customers; and, you know your niche. But website and digital marketing stuff? Well, hiring the experts is the best option.

However, if you insist on doing everything yourself, here are six changes you can make to improve your website’s conversion value.

6 Tips to Get More Sales from Your Website

Unless you’re an eCommerce store, website sales don’t just happen off of an ad or even one blog post. Selling requires time!  There is the nurture factor, meaning you need to build trust and relationships with your fans.

Thus, making these changes won’t result in immediate or even direct sales. But they should improve your website’s value as a lead generation and conversion tool.

1) Promote at least one free lead magnet

A website visitor is looking for information. It’s your job to provide the information they want or they’ll go elsewhere.

If they aren’t your ideal customer, it’s best they move along. No loss there.

Let’s say you’ve attracted the right visitor to your site. Have you given them an irresistible content upgrade? This is where the free lead magnet comes in.

Create an add-on to extend the value of your content and ask for your visitor’s email address in exchange for that add-on or upgrade.

You are likely familiar with the AIDA concept in marketing and advertising:

Attention > Interest > Desire > Action

Basically, you move the consumer through a series of steps, starting with brand awareness and ending with an action, ideally purchasing.  Lead magnets and freebies aid in the AIDA process.

Your lead magnet attracts leads into your funnel and convinces them to take some sort of action, such as buying or signing up for a webinar. The end result is usually a purchase, which is why lead magnets are important to sales.

You want your free offers to correlate with your products or services. This way, you can promote your paid items within the freebie or after the fact through email follow up (aka your funnel).

You can maximize your sales by creating a free offer for every one of your products or services. But at least start with one!

Lead Magnet Ideas

• eBook
• Blog roundup
• Checklist
• Video
• Audio
• Email course
• Free trial

2) Include at least one opt-in opportunity within every blog post and on every page

Why are you blogging for your business?

Sure, we know it helps with search engine optimization and increasing your authority with your readers (and within your industry).

But, your blog posts are your chance to acquire leads and sell your stuff. (You caught that, right? Your website is where you do the selling, not social media.)

For new visitors, they’ll probably need to become a lead first since they don’t know, like, and trust you yet.

For repeat visitors, they may be ready to buy, so don’t disappoint them!

Here’s the problem, though. The sidebar’s value has diminished. You’ll need to incorporate your opt-in opportunities WITHIN your blog posts. This way, visitors will see your opt-in.

Another option is to put an opt-in bar across the top or the bottom of your pages.

I’ve found that a time-triggered slider works best for my bi-weekly newsletter opt-in. However, I’m constantly testing what works best and where. You need to test too because every audience is different.

Don’t let this task overwhelm you. Slowly incorporate opt-ins throughout your site weekly until you’ve made nearly every page count!

Tools to Try

• OptInMonster (affiliate link)
• Sumo
• Hello Bar plugin
• Your auto responder’s opt-in box options
• Johnson Box

3) Improve your sales copy

Sales copy? Hmmm, I’d rather clean up the dog poop in my backyard than write sales copy for my own stuff. I’ll postpone it as much as possible! But, selling is a necessity to getting sales and making money.

Most of us are so busy talking about our business that we don’t focus on what potential customers need to hear. Or, we aren’t schooled in writing sales copy.

That doesn’t mean you can’t do it. There are a TON of resources and swipe files that can help improve your sales copywriting (paid and free).

While there are lots of options, I want you to get started quickly. As a result, I recommend reading Enchanting Marketing’s blog. Start with Henneke Duistermaat’s helpful, simple advice on sales copy. Sign up for her free resources to improve your sales writing. Then review your site and edit the content to focus more on the customer’s objections, fears, and doubts.

I’ve compiled a few of my favorite tips from Henneke:

Henneke’s Sales Writing Advice

Focus on benefits, not features 

Features are facts about products and services. They add credibility to your sales pitch. Benefits give consumers a reason to buy and explain “what’s in it for them.” She recommends taking your features and translating them into problems your prospect can avoid. (This is similar to the PAS strategy of writing sales copy: Problem – Agitate – Solve.)

Show, don’t tell

Showing helps readers visualize and understand in practice what you’re saying. Business content tends to focus on telling whereas “showing allows readers to imagine experiencing our products and services, and that makes our sales pitch more persuasive.”

Incorporate questions in your copy to persuade

Questions make your reader process your message more intensely and give them independence. Think about it: they get to decide for themselves by mentally answering your question. Once they say “yes,” they are more likely to take action.

4) Add contact and personal information

Your website is your home base and where people expect to find evidence that you are indeed a real person. Consumers have lots to worry about these days with fraud and fake running rampant in the online world.

Your website’s job is to calm their fears, providing confidence about who you are and any personal information. You need contact information and your photo somewhere on the site.

When I’m researching a product or a person and I don’t see an About page with people’s faces or contact information, I leave the website.

Including contact information, when appropriate, can help instill trust and confidence. I’m referring to an email address, mailing address, or a phone number. These otherwise seemingly small details offer visitors more proof that you exist, are real, and aren’t going to bamboozle them.

Another option is to use online chat so that you can answer questions from website visitors in a more timely fashion.

5) Display social proof in various forms

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions reflect the “correct” behavior for a given situation.

More simply put, social proof is the mentality that “if everyone is doing/using it, it must be good!”

You need to take social proof seriously because it’s a factor in purchase decisions.

In fact, according to Buffer, 70% of consumers look at product reviews before purchasing, and product reviews are 12x more trusted than manufacturers’ product descriptions.

Your prospects, especially the ones that don’t know or trust you yet, are looking for clues that either prove or negate their fears about buying from you.

You can help yourself by providing as much social proof as possible on your website. These items “prove” that your trustworthy and help remove barriers to buying. Here are some ideas:

• product/customer reviews
• testimonials
• recommendations
• influencer or celebrity endorsements/referrals
• case studies
• storytelling (with real people)
• email subscriber numbers
• social media follower numbers (if large)
• customer logos
• publication logos
• displaying how many people purchases a particular item
• listing your best sellers

Notice how Neil Patel incorporates testimonials by sprinkling images throughout his blog.

Want more real-life examples of social proof in action?

6) Use an SSL certificate and security/trust badges

In 2017, Google is penalizing all websites without an SSL certificate. Google will show visitors that your site isn’t secure, whether it be in the browser bar or with a pop-up warning.

You don’t need any barriers to sales! Security warnings and pop-up windows that reflect “danger” messages will make visitors exit your site quickly.

Look at what popped up when I tried to access a site without SSL. The words “attackers,” “steal,” and “back to safety” won’t help your sales, that’s for sure!

Google’s decision will negatively impact those sites without SSL certificates, so you don’t want to be one of them!

Also, if you have any badges that suggest you and your website are trustworthy and secure, please, by all means, display them. Even money-back guarantee icons can persuade people to purchase from you.

Installing an SSL certificate involves some technical expertise, so this may be something you don’t want to DIY. Hire a professional to help you with this one!

Sites That Know How to Convert

Let these sites inspire you to start using your site for sales!

• Digital Marketer
• Hubspot
• Kim Garst
• Neil Patel
• Don’t you want your site on this list? 🙂

Wrapping It Up

With everything you already have on your to-do list, I’m sure you are annoyed that I just added a few more items!  I feel your pain, I really do. But, at some point, we all have to take a look at what we’re doing to bring in money.

So, kick the non-revenue-generating tasks to the curb, and start working on your website and sales funnel.