You Get Them in the Door, But Can You Get Them to Convert?
There are now about 2 billion people on the internet. There is no shortage of traffic. You can put up almost any kind of site, and if it has honest real content, thousands of people will end up there. I have a page that is a very high ranking page on choosing a mattress, that I never get around to even giving an offer to convert to. Does not even have adsense on it.
A year ago I first crossed paths with Tim Ash, the guy who is behind the Conversion Conference, Site Tuners, and Attention Wizard. Tim wrote a book called Landing Page Optimization. It is absolutely the best book ever written on conversion.
Tim actually, factually has more experience on what pages convert and what don’t. The reason Tim knows more about it than you do is that Tim has a piece of software that can literally make over a million landing page options in a week.
If you have a site that has a few million visitors per month, then Tim can figure out the best landing page in a few weeks that creates the conversion you are aiming for.
For sites in the thousands of visitors like I have Tim does it based on experience. I gave Tim a shot with a facebook landing page that I had been spending about $5,000 per month on. The problem with a website that has a few thousand visitors per month, is that it takes a long time before your results have any statistical significance.
We have now been running Tim’s version of my landing page for about a month. So far it looks like there is about a 40% improvement in conversion. The problem is that the sample size is still too small to know for sure. Ask me again in a few months and we should have the full info.
Tim’s numbers speak for themselves, and when you hear him talk, you will know you are hearing the real deal.
Some of the things are so obvious that you will know them to be true as soon as you hear them, but were not previously obvious to me.
One example is that people don’t want to scroll down. If you put everything you want them to see above the fold, (on the screen), then they are more likely to see it. Also that people’s eyes move from the upper left to the lower right. He also confirmed Shoemoney’s research about a big fricken bright button on what you want them to do. Many of the other things are more subtle, but when put together create a page that you can look at and just know is right.
The express review that I did with him is under $1,000. His conference is priced averagely.
The truth is, that if you click around the internet, you will immediately see that most landing pages are not thought out, and definitely not set up for conversion. Just ask yourself how much more profit you would have if you paid the same for the traffic you have, but simply converted 10% or 20% more.
Many of the affiliate landing pages I look at, I won’t send traffic to because I can tell by looking that it is unlikely to convert. By the same token, I find more and more I prefer to send traffic to my own pages, because I can control the landing page.
If you want to go to the Conversion Conference, use my promo code (discount code) to save $250 off of the 2-day conference pass, plus I get an affiliate commission promo code CCW603.
If you want to get your page reviewed and corrected by Tim personally then e-mail me (dk =at= purposeinc =dot= com) and I will hook you up. If you have a site that has a million visitors per month and are making money off it, then e-mail me about Tim’s software that can maximize the landing page conversion. If you have a site with a million visitors per month and are not making any money off of it, then I’ll buy it from you and get it profitable! LOL. Just contact me as well, and we can figure out what needs to be done.
Sounds like Tim really does know his stuff! I was reading through about the reading top-left-first thing, and while it sounds odd in text….I pulled open a firefox tab, and my eyes jumped to the top left naturally!
If you’re paying a lot of money for a great looking site that pulls in people, making the next step to get them to reach for their wallets makes great sense. I hope to attend one of his seminars in the near future – I’ll be sure to use your affiliate code if I can manage it!
ReplyReally?! An advertisement disguised as a blog.
Reply@Brenda:
ReplyActually it is a blog about advertising disguised as an ad.
This is great advice for people that want to get more business from their landing pages. I currently have a site that doesn’t get more than 500 visitors a month and I’m not sure that I get any business out of it. This would be a great option to get everything I can out of my landing page and maybe some suggestions to increase traffic and the number of conversions I get.
ReplyIt sounds like Tim knows what he is doing and has the numbers to show for it. I think he is right about making it simple with a big button and relevant information above the fold for easy reading at a glance. It is the little things that make all the difference and this sounds like a winning combination to me!
Reply$5,000 a month on ads is insane, if the goal of website creators is to make money through the site and ads then what spend so much on advertising. To make up the $5,000 wasted on ad sis going to take a long time.
ReplyLike DK, I have been very fortunate to have received some A+ landing page advice from Tim Ash. I have taken much of his advice and applied it to the landing pages of an ecommerce website/company for whom I work. Results? 10% – 20% lift.
Due to a few internal-items within our code-base, we were not able to use Tim’s Site Tuner tools. We did, however, implement his advice and tested via Google’s Website Optimizer, and voila!
With complete honestly, I can tell anybody reading this post that the advice Tim gives is clear and concise and loaded with insight. Moreover, it was backed by real numbers.
I wish I could get up to San Jose for this conference, but alas I cannot. Bummer is I know I’d make way more money on things learned, which would more than cover the low cost of the conference fee.
My advice… GET YOUR ASS UP TO SAN JOSE! (:
ReplyThere are so many subtle things people can do to make people take notice of what you want them to see. I think it’s awesome that he’s having this conference. I wish I had the money to go learn from him. Oh well maybe I will get his book. Can’t wait to effectively advertise my pilot car company!
Reply@purposeinc:
ReplyCan’t wait to see your new site and all the case studies from your $5k a month advertising.
I agree that most landing pages are not layed out properly. You give some good advice that could come in very useful to many site holders. Thank you for your advice and offering Tims services. 🙂
ReplyThat’s amazing, he should market that maybe sell it too a big company like Microsoft that will market it and he could get a percentage of the profits. I would!
ReplyI love the idea about putting everything where people see it immediately, without having to scroll down. It’s strange to thing that people are that naturally lazy, and very smart to cater to it. I do believe it sounds like Tim knows what he’s doing, but the price for his lecture is a little steep. It seems like that is where he’s really making his money.
ReplyI believe this information about Tim’s software could have been showcased much better in a seperate website. I believe the writer of this blog should have used their time more wisely on a topic that benefited the consumer better.
Reply@crystal:
ReplyUmmmm .. this blog is about internet entrepreneurs, and the business of making money through internet businesses.
How true that most websites are set up poorly!!! Brilliant to not have people scrolling for information. This should be a given, and lastly yes big buttons to let us know what is supposed to be done, perfect!
ReplyIt is true that most websites are not as user-friendly as they claim to be or seem to be, and it is helpful to see that Tim is trying to fix that and create a more accessible world wide web.
ReplyThe article looks more of a info-advertisement . Though it has some info about how to create better landing pages it also does look like an adrvetisement for Tim. It asks you to use authors link ! Looks like spam in the end. Better to remove the last paragraph. Article is good otherwise. Good info for people on how to build better lading pages.
ReplyLanding pages are in reality the most important aspect of website conversion. In the rare instance that I actually follow an ad, it takes all too little to send me pulling a 180. Any hints that the site to which I’ve been sent is shady in the least. While the whole left-to-right concept holds true, honestly the first thing I take a look at is the page header and the URL for relevance to the ad I followed.
Reply@prasoonv:
ReplyIt really is an info/advertisement. Tim is a genius and has helped me a ton. In exchange I want to get him more business. If I happen to make any money off of doing so great, but the real reason I am pointing people to him, is that he is the best at what he does. I honestly doubt I will make much or any money off of advertising his work. After all, this page is not set up to convert well! LOL
It is really funny to think how far webpages have come in the last ten years of so. I remember getting the internet when I was in 6th grade and it seemed like such a huge deal. I was “excited” to wait a few minutes for a page to load.
It really is a game now to keep people’s attention. The more you interest them, the longer you keep their eyes on your page. I might have to check this out, because I have a few blogs I would like to get more traffic to.
ReplyWow, lot’s of people online lol.
Reply1st step= provide value to customers
2nd step= drive traffic
3rd step= monetize that traffic
YOU are truly blessed if you already got the first two on lock down. MOnetizing the traffic is the easy and fun part…take care.
ReplyThe Whole AD business just seems like a scam. It’s really sad sometimes.
ReplyI believe that Tim is on the right track.
ReplyThe little things make all the difference.
Thank you for your informative blog.
ReplyThis does seem a bit like an advertisement. But it seems like you believe in him, so I might keep him in mind.
ReplyGreat advice about having a good landing page. Many sites would get much more traffic with a revamp.
ReplySounds like Tim really knows what he’s doing, conversion is the hardest part in owning a website these days. I will keep him in mind.
ReplyThis is why you need to have a legitimate business website. Too many people have been scammed by Get-rich-quick schemes. The whole foot-in-the-door thing doesn’t apply to online offers.
ReplyThis is some really great advice! Many people would truly benefit from this information. I am planning to take some tips from this and apply it to my situation! Thanks!
ReplyThese are some good ideas.Thank you for the article.
ReplyIt seems people know exactly what they are seeing these days. I think it is clever to incorporate usable content with a friendly design to draw the readers in and not make them think you are just trying to sell them something. Great ideas by the way.
ReplyIsn’t it crazy how making a few changes can increase hits and revenue so dramatically in such a short time? Go Tim Go!
Reply@Dasdream: I agree that IS a lot of money to spend, but I wonder how much dk will get back? Probably a lot more if he is putting that much money into it it better have a return on investment. Tim seems to really know what he is talking about, a lot of the advice people give never makes much sense to me, mostly because it is a whole bunch of nonsense. But this I can understand.
ReplyWhat @zacjohnson said. Where is the case study for your 5K ad spend? How did it do before and after Tim’s advice?
Reply