Just had to ask...

[newguyintown]

I have received great ideas on SEO in the past from the great minds that wander this forum, so I thought I'd post another general call for information. This one is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, though I would be interested in what you have to say!

I am trying to convert more "Hits" into "Visits" and (more importantly) more "Visits" into "Orders". Any ideas?

I have created a ten-fold growth in the number of visitors to our main store (http://www.farmlandtractor.com) since I started here and our new site (http://www.aidiesel.com) seems to be gaining popularity. The thing I can't understand is ... (drumroll please) ... why aren't more people buying product on our site? True, we have received many calls from interest generated by the site, but why aren't those people, and more, becoming online shoppers at our site?

Alright - let me have it. This may seem like whining to some, but I am truly curious as to what others have done to improve the monetary success of their stores.

Thanks for your time!

[Mark Simon]

Hi newguyintown,

There are 3 big factors online visitors primarily judge a site by that ultimately determines if they will buy from the site.

1. Look and Feel (site design)
2. Trustworthiness (usually based off of #1)
3. Ease of Use

The first two go hand in hand because many people will not purchase from a site they do not trust. Trust is usually built by reputation (i.e. most people trust amazon.com or walmart.com because they have a good reputation). When no rapport exists with the site people rely on how the site looks and use thier own judgement. Another big factor is how easy the site is to use and does it work. Something to keep in mind is every site and niche/industry is a little different so just like SEO testing is a good idea. Here are a few suggestion I think will help you convert more visitors into customers:

1. Install Google Analytics and look at Exit Pages under the Content report. Exit pages are the last page some one saw on your site before they left. Go to the pages and make sure everything works on the page (links, buttons, forms, etc...).

2. Add pictures - a picture is worth a thousand words and pictures sell. I would recommend you start with pictures on your category & subcategory pages and eventually try to get a picture up for as many products as possible.

3. Add price to products - I had a hard time finding products and when I did for price it had "Please call 877-928-1646 or email for price.". If you want people to purchase online they need to be able to purchase right when they are ready without picking up the phone.

4. Add direct links to popular products to your home page (might want to test this but it has worked on every site I have ever marketed).

5. A/B test a new design - you can use Google Website Optimizer which is part of Google Analytics or search google for A/B testing. Try to send 5-20% of your visitors to the new site and the rest to your original site and see if the new site design does better.

Just a few side notes, I found both sites a little difficult to use because I kept clicking on subcategories (3 or more) before getting to a product. There were many categories with no products after going 3 or more categories deep. I would say right now your sites serves more of an information resource and lead generation for offline sales purpose than it does e-commerce sales. Nothing wrong with that if the purpose is to provide information and generate leads.

Useful links:
Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/)
Google Website Optimizer (http://extranet.mivamerchant.com/forums/services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/)
Installing Google Analytics for Miva Merchant (http://www.mvcmadness.com/content/tracking-miva-merchant-traffic-and-sales-using-google-analytics)

Hope this helps.

To your success,

Mark

[leslienord]

When I shop online, shipping charges are a biggy for me.

2 things on your site, I had to go through the order process to find out what it would cost to ship, then I had to pull down to find the cheapest rate. Bill Weiland has a couple modules that can help with both of those - his Mini Basket module and his sort shipping.

[leslienord]

Oh and you have Visa & Mastercard twice in your payment list ;)

[Pete McNamara]

You aren't going to beat advice like that. Nice Leslie. :)

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Alright - let me have it. This may seem like whining to some, but I am truly curious as to what others have done to improve the monetary success of their stores.

Thanks for your time!

I've always said that its better to invest in increasing conversion than SEO...cause in the end, the better your conversion, the more results you get for your SEO investment. That being said, here are some thoughts:

General: Home page doesn't really compel me to stay.

The about us, should be condensed into a single sentence and placed at the top of the page.

The main navigation buttons are hard to read.

The Please choose a brand is confusing...Why do i need to choose. Why are they different colors (and don't appear to be links).

Categories are cryptic (maybe cause i aint a farmer...but just in case): New Products|Gleaner|C ? Why New Products...do you have old/used? I understand Gleaner is probably a MFG but what is C?

Nothing about policies, shipping, returns, etc.

[koala]

Rex,

You're faced with similar challenges that we're faced with... you sell products that many consumers do not want to purchase online via a shopping cart.

Although we do process many web orders, the vast majority of our online shoppers browse our website and then call in their order... too many variables/questions/concerns with what we sell.

If I could suggest one thing it would be to try and streamline the experience as much as possible. If people are going to buy online, they'll want to find exactly what they're looking for as quickly as they can, and they'll want as much information as possible to ensure they're making a good buying decision.

Make sure you're testing your pages, especially the check-out process. I've probably gone through my own checkout process 200 or 300 times to try and figure out new ways to improve it.

You'll also want pages explaining your shipping policies, return policies, etc...

[Biffy]

I have to agree with Bruce. It's actually very easy to attract low quality traffic. It takes a more sophisticated approach to develop high quality traffic and make it profitable. More traffic doesn't mean more money, it just means more traffic.

In short, you're focusing on the wrong statistics for making money. Ignore the traffic figures and focus on the money statistics. I'd rather make money on a thousand visitors than lose money on a million visitors.

[newguyintown]

First off, thank you for the insightful replies. Great information and I appreciate the honesty. I am working on a policies page as well as a blog-type entry that should provide greater trust level for customers as well as information more people will come back for once they find us. I do have some questions and comments about the feedback received and would appreciate further details.

Mark - thanks for all the info - I now have Analytics running on both sites and it will be great to learn what's happening in detail. I do have pictures on almost every product online. Those that don't currently have one get updated as soon as we have a good product pic to supply. The price thing is a problem. Some items just have to be a "call" tag as they fluctuate - others I may be waiting to hear what our adjustments are prior to entering prices. True, though, that it is frustrating to get the "call" tag when someone wants to buy. As for the popular item links - we are working on a "monthly specials" or "featured items" content area and will have something up shortly. Also, in response to:
I found both sites a little difficult to use because I kept clicking on subcategories (3 or more) before getting to a product.I agree, but this is how the boss wants it set up. We go brand, then model, then desired part, then specific part. It's similar to other sites in the industry, so I am told that's the way to run it. I am cleaning up the "dead-ends" as I know that's frustrating.

Leslie - Good points on the checkout process - I'm looking into Bill's modules. I've thought about the mini-basket off and on for a while and I think it would look good above the featured items section we're going to add. Where would I look for the duplicate Visa and Mastercard code to fix that? I searched the OPAY and OSEL pages and didn't see anything that seemed like duplicate options. Just not sure what to look for.

Bruce - Yes, the categories do seem cryptic to those not in the industry. To answer your question, yes - Gleaner is a manufacturer and "C" is the model. Think "Ford" and "Mustang". As far as that layout goes, it's setup how the boss wants it - how "people in the industry" will understand it. That leaves us out, but if customers get it, that's all that matters. The color-coding is also a request to have the brand names the actual color of the machines they represent. The underlining is back in place for links, so that should help. I CSS'd them out for style, but it does make it a guessing game as to which are the links and which aren't. You said the nav buttons are hard to read - both sites, or just one? Being a self-proclaimed non-farmer, what would compel YOU to stay on my site if you found yourself there?

Streamlining the site is definately a tricky deal due to the nature of this business. Maybe a one-page "Choose the brand/model/part type layout with drop-down menues or something? I'll have to play with that one. Thank you all again for your responses - always helpful and appreciated.

Take care!

[koala]

Usually you have duplicate payment methods if you have more than one module handling payment processing... check your payment modules to see if you have two selected that do essentially the same thing.

[newguyintown]

That was it, koala - thanks!