Today I'm going to talk about how to get more sales with the same amount of traffic.

Many online marketers don't realize is an improvement in your conversions means any additional revenue from your sales is 100% profit.

This is an important point when you consider the common misconception that in order to get more sales, you have to buy more traffic. The fact is, you should always focus on making your website do a better job before spending more on traffic generation.

Well, I'm going to reveal how you can do just that…

Tip 1: Get into your customer's mind

Thorough market research is the foundation, upon which you build your entire sales and marketing campaign.

• It's used to test the viability of a product
• It's necessary for discovering where to find your target market
• It's needed for writing compelling ad copy
• It's critical for future product development

So, how do you get into the mind of your market? Try and put yourself in your customer's shoes.

Are people already buying similar products? Who are they buying from? List the top 25 websites and retailers.

Find out why they purchased these products. What problem, question, challenge or desire were they addressing when they ordered this product?

Find out what they liked and what they didn't like about the products. Check out some reviews.

What websites do your target prospects frequent online? You can learn a lot about your prospects by reading blogs, forums and participating in online discussions.

With a deep market research you will be able to understand the core motivations of your target market. You'll know exactly how to solve their problems and how to tap into their emotions.

Tip 2: Get a copywriter or become a good one

Sales copy is such an important part of your conversion and monetization strategy, that almost goes without saying. In your copy is where all your market research is going to come into full expression, in the form of ads and sales mesages, that compel your target market to click, opt-in and ultimately, to buy from you.

Basically you have two choices. Either learn how to write good copy or find someone who can. In my opinion, you must learn, at least, the basics of copywriting; so, even if younever write your own copy, you can at least recognize good copy from the bad copy. Copywriting is the most valuable skill, and that's why it can be so costly to hire it out.

Where do you find and hire copywriters?

You can find them on industry forums and websites. There are sites called Getafreelancer.com and Directresponsejobs.com, where you can post jobs and hire copywriters.

Tip 3: Track everything

When advertising you MUST measure the effectiveness of your ads. You can't improve what you can't measure, and you can't measure anything if you don't track.

Advertising should be a scientific process, whereby you test adverstising sources and copy with as little risk as possible.

What is it you should be tracking exactly?

You should be tracking absolutely everything. Tracking begins with your first ad exposure and continues through your entire sales process. Track the source of your ad, how many exposures before a click, how many clicks for a lead, how many clicks for a sale and how many leads for a sale.

From this information, you can calculate your baseline metrics, such as your conversion ratios, cost per click, cost per lead and cost per sale. Of course, you can also figure out your value per click, lead value and initial customer value.

I recommend Google analytics for on site tracking. Just paste a tiny code into your web pages and the software will calculate your metrics for you along with other data that will be useful in optimizing your sales process.

Tip 4: Test, test and test

You should be testing your ads, landing pages, sales letters, order pages, upsell offers, product prices and even your autoresponder messages. Split-testing is the key to making more money with the same amount of traffic.

If you could increase your capture page conversions to X%, you would increase that to more leads and more sales, from $XXX to $X,XXX with the same amount of traffic.

Without doubt, split-testing is one of the most powerful methods for increasing sales, reducing your adversting costs and widening the gap between you and your competitors.

Tip 5: Use testimonials

Testimonials are PROVEN to increase conversions. If you can add the element of social proof to your landing pages, sales pages and even order pages, you will almost always see a noticeable difference in your results.

Without getting in depth into testimonials, I'll give you a few pointers.

First of all, you want your testimonials to specifically address the benefits of your product or service. In other words, how did your widget save them time or money?

How long did it take to drop how much weight using your magic diet juice?

Second, do what you can to get those who give you testimonials to make them personal. Real pictures and full names are always best.

Finally, if you can, try to get audio and video testimonials. These are extremely effective, and they aren't hard to create.

Regardless of what format you use for testimonials, it always helps to "coach" your customers on exactly what you're looking for.

Tip 6: Use video and audio

Many people find that the addition of media, on landing, sales and order pages, increases the conversions, considerably.

Creating video and audio is not as difficult as most people think; and, depending on what quality you need for your given product or service, in your market, you may be able to use just a cheap camera, and your computer, to create high-quality videos.

Just like with copywriting, what you say is extremely important; but, because people can see and hear you, it adds a whole new dynamic. So, it's not just what you say, now you have to take into consideration how you say it, and how you look when your're saying it.

Here are some tips:

• Make yourself presentable
• Prepare for your shoot in advance (write scripts, set up teleprompter or cue cards)
• Shoot in a clean environment
• Make sure there's plenty of light
• Be genuine and try not to sound scripted
• Give a very specific call to action

Audio is even easier to create than video; and in many cases, can be done right from your computer with only a microphone.

Remember, credibility is important, and the more ways you can ease buyer resistance, the better. Multimedia, used properly, is a great way to add life and personality to your sales messages.

Tip 7: Remove unnecessary friction points from your sales process

If you have one product, you may have several "paths" that lead to the sale. For instance, maybe you have a landing page that collects visitor contact information, which then leads to a product sales page, which then leads to a order page, etc.

Even before your analytics data comes back, you should be able to identify potential friction points yourself or with the help of friends and family. Try to approach your website as if you were a first time visitor. Place an order on your site and try to step into the mind of your first time visitor.

What questions do people have about your product or service that aren't answered on your site? What are the "hot buttons?" Why do people exit your page without buying? Where are the hang-ups, unnecessary steps, or missing elements that might increase your conversions? How quickly does your website load?

Your goal should be to de anything and everything you can to remove resistance and simplify your sales process to make it less confusing.

Tip 9: Add more products!

Your goal should be to create a complete sales funnel that offers more of what your customers want. If you don't offer more products for your customers, I guarantee your competitors will, and your customers will buy from them.

Your goal should be to continuously add products to your sales funnel. The ideal sales funnel will have one or more entry level priced products or services, and offer additional options in the form of up-sells and additional back-end products.

In short, you want to make it fun and easy to buy form you over and over again, and you can do this by offering more of what people have already bought from you.

Tip 10: Use Surveys!

Survey's are probably one of the most valuable market research tools available.
They can help you increase conversions and sell more stuff in so many ways. For example:

Don't know what additional products to offer? Ask.

Don't know what to charge for your continuity program? Ask.

Don't know why people aren't buying from you? Ask.

Want to discover why people are cancelling, returning or refunding? Ask.

I could go on and on, but let me just say this...

The absolute best place to get marketing intelligence is to ask your prospects and customers. After all, they're the ones with the credit cards.

Surveys are easy to set up, and you have many options for doing so. There are paid services like SurveyMonkey.com and AskDatabase.com, and there are free alternatives as well such as LimeSurvey.org, an open source software that allows you to host and set up surveys on your own website very quickly.


By Francisco
International Networker