Online sales depend on getting targeted visitor traffic to your site, but how do you convince them to buy? Your goal is to convert window shoppers into paying customers. These are important strategies in business website design.

1. USP: State your unique selling proposition. This is what sets you apart from your competition. This could be free shipping, unique products or a lowest price guarantee.
2. Targeting: Target your visitor to bring in ready buyers. Certain keywords have a much higher conversion rate. This is especially important in pay per click (PPC).
3. Content: Use clear website copy that emphasizes the benefits of buying from you. Your visitor is in a hurry, show your product advantages in bullet points and even compare your product to your competitors. Include a clear call to action.
4. Build Trust: Everything about your website should be designed to build trust. It should be fast loading, well organized, have clear navigation, be user friendly and work in all major browsers.
5. Testimonials: Customer testimonials build instant credibility. Keep your testimonials in their original form including grammatical errors. Provide contact details for the people giving the testimonial.
6. Make it Easy: Make it easy for people to use, easy to find information and easy to find the buy now button. Think like your customer and make every step of the purchase easy.
7. Contact: If buyers have questions, can you be reached? This can be phone, email or online live support. A quick answer can keep buyers on track to purchase.
8. Returns Policy: Returns on web purchases is a major concern to most buyers. A clear and liberal returns policy calms these fears.
9. Assure and Secure: Assure your visitors that the personal information that they share is totally secure by posting a privacy policy. Use only a secure payment gateway.
10. Payment Options: Buyers like choices. Offer multiple payment methods like credit cards, Paypal and even pay by check options. Consider alternatives to the usual methods.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am and is filed under Internet Marketing, Website Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.