How to drive traffic to your website and get sales
There are a lot of Internet marketing firms that tell you they can get you more traffic, and some even do; but what do you do when that traffic fails to get sales? It all goes back to an old method called M.O.T., and can help you convert your traffic into sales.
So you have your site on Google, you're on the Maps and traffic flow is now steady on your website. But the phone isn't ringing and no sales are coming out of it. What's wrong? It has to be one of three things.
- M - Market. Who is your target market? Are you reaching them? Are they the correct demographic for your products and/or services?
- O - Offer. What is your offer? What are you selling? What makes you stand out from your competition? Price, Quality, Convenience, Location, Service, your Offer has to be something people want, at a price they can afford.
- T - Traffic. If you are getting traffic, and no sales, either your Market is wrong, or your offer is not good enough. Analyze your traffic, talk to customers, get feedback, these things will tell you what's wrong.
OK, so you know what's wrong. Now, what to do about it. Look to your competitors.
If your Market is off, you're reaching the wrong people. Your Traffic will tell you this, but you have to accept it as a business owner. If you own a retail store, you know it's all about Location, Location, Location. The Internet is no different, your location on the web will dictate your traffic. If you advertise all over Craigslist and Facebook and get no sales with your Offer, you're looking for love in all the wrong places. The fix - change where your website is getting traffic from, advertise to a better demographic, or look at your Offer. Look to your competitors' traffic using tools like www.spyfu.com to see what Google Ads they're running, how much they spend, what keywords they pay for and their organic traffic. This information is invaluable in knowing what traffic works. Important - make sure you're researching a successful competitor, not a guy you 'think' is doing well!
If your Offer is off, your message, price or product is unappealing to your audience. You need to start with competitive analysis and look at what your competition is doing online, and in print ads. Do they offer a coupon? Free shipping? Better pricing? A prettier website? Better calls to action? Get inspiration from them, and from larger companies online to build a better Offer.
If your Market is good and your Offer does convert, but sales are not where they should be, look to your Traffic. Whether you're a website or a storefront, traffic dictates sales. Not just volume, but quality of traffic is paramount. Look at free tools like www.statcounter.com and Google Analytics to analyze your web traffic and see what kind of people are surfing your site. Statcounter can break down stats to little details like Browser type, mobile or desktop, Operating System (Windows or Apple), Screen Resolution (the higher, the more expensive the device) and much more. Knowing this information is critical to delivering the right content to the right traffic.
Example - Johnny is selling hero sandwiches from his Deli in Boston. Foot traffic is good, but internet orders almost non-existent, despite his ads and website traffic. By looking at Statcounter and Analytics, Johnny finds out that 90% of his traffic is from iPhones. When he checks his site on an iPhone, he realizes it looks a lot different than Android or desktops. His offer is cutoff, certain effects aren't loading and the cart is broken. Johnny hires Trig Web Design to fix it, and sales go up almost overnight. Within a month, Johnny is hiring 3 new guys to keep up with the rush.
Example 2: Bill has a great website with lots of traffic, but almost no online sales for his products. Upon analysis, he finds that his competitors online (companies in the top 5 in Google for his keywords) have better Offers. One offers free shipping on orders over $100; another has a better price, but hidden fees or core charges. And yet another has great calls to action that lead the customer to sale quickly and easily. Bill hires Trig Web Design to modify his navigation, install a One Page Checkout plugin and change the site messaging, including 'Don't Get Fooled by Low Prices with Hidden Costs', and so on. He also offers free shipping on larger orders, and a coupon on Facebook when his page is 'Liked'. Within a week, online sales are up.
To many readers, this might seem obvious, but I am surprised at how many business owners simply don't know these things and wallow in poverty. When sales are down when your competitor's are up, fallback on M.O.T. - an oldie but a goodie.
