This is one of the first things I learned when I started working at a help desk. Many of my customers were calling, not because they had a system problem, but because they were confused. Confused people are timid, not confident.

My job was to explain things to them in a way that minimized their confusion. Often they were able to solve there own problem after the explanation.

I have seen this same issue pop up in IT project after IT project.

Rule number one is DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS! If you do, they will go somewhere else. Period!

To avoid this problem design your website, from the start, to reduce confusion and drive sales.

Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Silly) If yo

Maybe you are concentrating too much on quantity and too little on quality.

Let’s look at one method of online sales generation, driving traffic to your website. This method relies on the law of averages.

If a certain amount of people visit your website, a predictable number of them will buy your product. Let’s say that number is 2 percent. Further suppose you have 1000 visitors per month.

If you have a $100.00 product then your sales would look something like this:

• Visitors=1000
• Conversion Rate=2%
• Sales=20
• Revenue=$2000.00

Suppose you needed to double your sales revenue to $4000.00. You could accomplish it in one of these ways:

Increase the sales price. Increase the number of visitors. Increase the number of sales. (Conversion Rate)

Is your $100.00 product still a value at $200.00? How many sales will you loose? Or gain? If your market survey was accurate, your pricing is probably already where it needs to be.

So what then?

What about increasing traffic? After all, if you double your traffic you should double the number of sales, even if you only convert 2 percent of your visitors.

My question is this, how much more time do you have to devote to driving traffic to your website? Hopefully you are fully engaged in that activity now. And it’s only yielding 1000 visitors per month.

How much harder are you going to have to work double your visitors?

Taking a page from the work smarter, not harder book; let’s look at increasing sales by increasing conversion rates.

To get to your new sales goal, we need to double your conversion rate to 4 percent.

So your sales profile would look something like this:

• Visitors=1000
• Conversion Rate=4%
• Sales=40
• Revenue=$4000.00

Ok, so how do we increase the conversion rate?

We’ll need to take a long look at your website. First you need to understand that while there are many great and talented web designers in this world, few of them are focused on the marketing aspects of creating your website.

Coming from an IT background, I have on numerous occasions’ overheard technicians and web masters complaining that their customers just did not get it. “They need to join the 21st century!” they lament. Whine actually!

Many of them create awesome websites that have all the bells and whistles, even though they confuse the average web surfer. Think about how many times you’ve visited a site that had flash presentations and dynamic HTML content, but nothing else to offer. Or just plain confused you!

Confused people do not buy! They go to someone who will explain things to them in a manner that they can understand. Then they buy.

Is your site all flash or does it speak to your customers in language they are comfortable with and can understand?

Planning Your Website

I’m going to say something here that my colleagues in the IT business aren’t going to like. A high tech solution is not always the best solution! Technology often confuses the average person. Many are downright afraid of it!

This is one of the first things I learned when I started working at a help desk. Many of my customers were calling, not because they had a system problem, but because they were confused. Confused people are timid, not confident.

My job was to explain things to them in a way that minimized their confusion. Often they were able to solve there own problem after the explanation.

I have seen this same issue pop up in IT project after IT project.

Rule number one is DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS! If you do, they will go somewhere else. Period!

To avoid this problem design your website, from the start, to reduce confusion and drive sales.

Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Silly) If yo

Suppose you needed to double your sales revenue to $4000.00. You could accomplish it in one of these ways:

Increase the sales price. Increase the number of visitors. Increase the number of sales. (Conversion Rate)

Is your $100.00 product still a value at $200.00? How many sales will you loose? Or gain? If your market survey was accurate, your pricing is probably already where it needs to be.

So what then?

What about increasing traffic? After all, if you double your traffic you should double the number of sales, even if you only convert 2 percent of your visitors.

My question is this, how much more time do you have to devote to driving traffic to your website? Hopefully you are fully engaged in that activity now. And it’s only yielding 1000 visitors per month.

How much harder are you going to have to work double your visitors?

Taking a page from the work smarter, not harder book; let’s look at increasing sales by increasing conversion rates.

To get to your new sales goal, we need to double your conversion rate to 4 percent.

So your sales profile would look something like this:

• Visitors=1000
• Conversion Rate=4%
• Sales=40
• Revenue=$4000.00

Ok, so how do we increase the conversion rate?

We’ll need to take a long look at your website. First you need to understand that while there are many great and talented web designers in this world, few of them are focused on the marketing aspects of creating your website.

Coming from an IT background, I have on numerous occasions’ overheard technicians and web masters complaining that their customers just did not get it. “They need to join the 21st century!” they lament. Whine actually!

Many of them create awesome websites that have all the bells and whistles, even though they confuse the average web surfer. Think about how many times you’ve visited a site that had flash presentations and dynamic HTML content, but nothing else to offer. Or just plain confused you!

Confused people do not buy! They go to someone who will explain things to them in a manner that they can understand. Then they buy.

Is your site all flash or does it speak to your customers in language they are comfortable with and can understand?

Planning Your Website

I’m going to say something here that my colleagues in the IT business aren’t going to like. A high tech solution is not always the best solution! Technology often confuses the average person. Many are downright afraid of it!

This is one of the first things I learned when I started working at a help desk. Many of my customers were calling, not because they had a system problem, but because they were confused. Confused people are timid, not confident.

My job was to explain things to them in a way that minimized their confusion. Often they were able to solve there own problem after the explanation.

I have seen this same issue pop up in IT project after IT project.

Rule number one is DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS! If you do, they will go somewhere else. Period!

To avoid this problem design your website, from the start, to reduce confusion and drive sales.

Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Silly) If yo

Taking a page from the work smarter, not harder book; let’s look at increasing sales by increasing conversion rates.

To get to your new sales goal, we need to double your conversion rate to 4 percent.

So your sales profile would look something like this:

• Visitors=1000
• Conversion Rate=4%
• Sales=40
• Revenue=$4000.00

Ok, so how do we increase the conversion rate?

We’ll need to take a long look at your website. First you need to understand that while there are many great and talented web designers in this world, few of them are focused on the marketing aspects of creating your website.

Coming from an IT background, I have on numerous occasions’ overheard technicians and web masters complaining that their customers just did not get it. “They need to join the 21st century!” they lament. Whine actually!

Many of them create awesome websites that have all the bells and whistles, even though they confuse the average web surfer. Think about how many times you’ve visited a site that had flash presentations and dynamic HTML content, but nothing else to offer. Or just plain confused you!

Confused people do not buy! They go to someone who will explain things to them in a manner that they can understand. Then they buy.

Is your site all flash or does it speak to your customers in language they are comfortable with and can understand?

Planning Your Website

I’m going to say something here that my colleagues in the IT business aren’t going to like. A high tech solution is not always the best solution! Technology often confuses the average person. Many are downright afraid of it!

This is one of the first things I learned when I started working at a help desk. Many of my customers were calling, not because they had a system problem, but because they were confused. Confused people are timid, not confident.

My job was to explain things to them in a way that minimized their confusion. Often they were able to solve there own problem after the explanation.

I have seen this same issue pop up in IT project after IT project.

Rule number one is DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS! If you do, they will go somewhere else. Period!

To avoid this problem design your website, from the start, to reduce confusion and drive sales.

Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Silly) If yo

Many of them create awesome websites that have all the bells and whistles, even though they confuse the average web surfer. Think about how many times you’ve visited a site that had flash presentations and dynamic HTML content, but nothing else to offer. Or just plain confused you!

Confused people do not buy! They go to someone who will explain things to them in a manner that they can understand. Then they buy.

Is your site all flash or does it speak to your customers in language they are comfortable with and can understand?

Planning Your Website

I’m going to say something here that my colleagues in the IT business aren’t going to like. A high tech solution is not always the best solution! Technology often confuses the average person. Many are downright afraid of it!

This is one of the first things I learned when I started working at a help desk. Many of my customers were calling, not because they had a system problem, but because they were confused. Confused people are timid, not confident.

My job was to explain things to them in a way that minimized their confusion. Often they were able to solve there own problem after the explanation.

I have seen this same issue pop up in IT project after IT project.

Rule number one is DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS! If you do, they will go somewhere else. Period!

To avoid this problem design your website, from the start, to reduce confusion and drive sales.

Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Silly) If yo

This is one of the first things I learned when I started working at a help desk. Many of my customers were calling, not because they had a system problem, but because they were confused. Confused people are timid, not confident.

My job was to explain things to them in a way that minimized their confusion. Often they were able to solve there own problem after the explanation.

I have seen this same issue pop up in IT project after IT project.

Rule number one is DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS! If you do, they will go somewhere else. Period!

To avoid this problem design your website, from the start, to reduce confusion and drive sales.

Use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Silly) If you are selling widgets, then make sure the steps you want your customer to take are explicitly spelled out.

Tell them—Click here to order… not to order, go to our product directory.

Every detail of your website should be focused on your customer.

Tell them how your company helps solve their problems, not how great your company is.

Before you even go talk to a web designer sit down with a paper and pencil and map out the basics of your website.

Answer these questions and any others you come up with:

• Who are or where is my market?
• What is the purpose of my website?
• Product sales?
• Services?
• Informational?
• How can I maximize my sales and provide benefit to my customers?
• How computer savvy are my customers?

Drill down and ask yourself what you like about other websites, and why. Try to make your site better than them.

Only after you have a good idea of what you are trying to accomplish should you contact a web designer.

In part two we’ll look at how to use your web content to educate your customers and increase confidence by reducing confusion.

Always remember substance over flash, show rather than tell. Confident customers buy; confused customers go looking for more information. Learn how to make sure they find it on your website, not your competitor’s.