10 Secrets To Improving 
          Your Website's Conversion Ratio
        By Dean Phillips
        Date: Monday 6:31 am 
          
          According to the so-called experts, a decent conversion 
          ratio is right around one percent. In other words, one out 
          of every one hundred visitors to your website converts to a 
          sale.
        Personally, I think you 
          should ignore what the experts say, 
          and strive to achieve as high a conversion ratio as 
          possible. You should never be satisfied. You should always 
          be looking for ways to improve your conversion ratio. My 
          website consistently converts anywhere from 3 to 5 percent, 
          and often converts as high as ten percent! 
        Unless you're selling a 
          big-ticket item and making $100 
          or more per sale, it's extremely difficult to make any real 
          money with only a one percent conversion ratio.
        Of course, there are exceptions 
          to every rule, and if your 
          website is attracting hundreds or even thousands of visitors 
          a day, then obviously you can do quite well with a one 
          percent or lower conversion ratio. 
        But what if you don't have 
          that kind of traffic--and most 
          websites don't. Then what? What if you're selling a $20 e-
          book and you're only attracting a hundred visitors a day to 
          your website? With a one percent conversion ratio, that 
          means your website is making a measly $20 a day. And believe 
          me, that's much more common than you realize.
        However, what if you could 
          improve your conversion ratio to 
          3 percent? 5 percent? All of a sudden, you're making $60 to 
          $100 a day with the same amount of traffic. Improve your 
          conversion ratio to ten percent and voila, that $100 a day 
          turns into $200 a day! 
        So, how do you go about 
          improving your website's conversion 
          ratio? Here are some tips that should help: 
        1. Make sure your visitors 
          know what you do, the instant 
          they land on your website. Don't make them have to guess. 
          Tell them right up front with a benefits-laden headline.
        2. Make sure the design 
          of your website is up to par? Make 
          it easy to navigate. Get rid of distracting flash or 
          stupid, meaningless graphics that are a waste of everybody's 
          time and take forever to load? Simplify your website. Get 
          rid of the flash, graphics and pop-ups!
        3. Use psychologically 
          effective colors. The color blue 
          suggests quality, trustworthiness, success, seriousness, 
          calmness--the perfect choice for sales pages. Avoid purple, 
          which connotes uncertainty and ambiguity, and only use 
          yellow to highlight key words and phrases. In addition, try 
          to have as much white space as possible. This makes for a 
          much cleaner looking, easier to read website.
        4. Get your own domain 
          name. URL's that contain names 
          like, "Geocities", "Angelfire" or "Tripod" 
          have amateur 
          written all over them.
        5. Prove what you say. 
          Back up your claims with cold, hard, 
          indisputable and verifiable facts? 
        6. Put your name, telephone 
          number and street address 
          on your website? 
        7. Use authentic customer 
          testimonials, complete with 
          first and last names? Just make sure you get your customers 
          permission first.
        8. Offer a fair and reasonable 
          money-back guarantee? Thirty 
          days is good. Sixty or ninety days is better!
        9. Make it easy for your 
          customers to pay. And offer a 
          variety of payment options. I can assure you, if you're 
          using Paypal only, you're losing sales. There are a lot of 
          people out there, myself included, that just won't do 
          business with Paypal. It's too much of a hassle!
        10. And last but not least, 
          make sure you have a powerful 
          sales letter. A strong and effective sales letter can blast 
          your earnings into the upper stratosphere!
        If you aren't capable of 
          writing that type of sales letter 
          yourself, hire a copywriting expert to write it for you.
        Follow the 10 steps set 
          forth in this article, and your 
          website's conversion ratio will improve dramatically--and so 
          will your profits!
         
        Dean Phillips 
          is an Internet marketing expert, writer, 
          publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be 
          reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
        Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net