Have you ever looked to see which search terms your visitors are using whilst on your site?

Using Google Analytics can ensure that you know what people are looking for whilst on your site.

Perhaps you sell a product or brand that is hard to spell, or is know by what it does as well as a specific brand or model. Think about generic terms, such as Hoover, Sellotape, Post It Notes, Kleenex, Band Aid and the many others.

What about sizes, quantities or colours? What about model names, or equivalents?

Ensuring that you know what your visitors are looking for will help you to have the right products or information available, and how else you can meet the needs of your target audience.

The well known car lover and presenter Jeremy Clarkson once went to a boat show in order to buy a boat.  He was bombarded with information,  specifications and prices, as well as pushy sales people trying to impress.

He commented that it must be how people who aren’t “into” cars feel when they go to buy a car.

I was thinking, that it could apply to websites too.  If you’re wondering how visitors feel when they’re trying to buy from your site, why not try buying products or services that you know nothing about from a site that you find in the search engine results.

For example:

If you sell cars, why not try buying a boat or a caravan?

If you sell clothes, why not try buying sports equipment?

If you sell insurance, then choose an architect, or a solicitor

If you sell computers, why not buy a bike, or fishing tackle.

By having to choose something that you know nothing about, you”ll have to do some research, and ask around, in the same way that your potential customers do.  You’ll be finding that every other word is jargon, and you’re expected to know what it means.  You might not know the difference between 2 fishing rods, or what size frame your bike should be, or whether your can tow the caravan you’re interested in.

You’ll be able to learn lots from this sort of activity, and  make your site easier to use, and more approachable for people who don’t know what they want, or how to choose what they want.

If you find looking for fishing tackle hard, and there are lots of options, and essential accessories you need, and brands to choose from, as well as fishing bags, reels, bait and waders, how do think a first time computer buyer feels when looking on your website?  Not everyone knows about hard drives, broadband, RAM, graphics cards and so on.  People don’t want to buy a laptop, they want to be able to use websites.  They’re  probably not bothered about bus speeds, they want to know if there’s a web camera, or how easy it is to install a printer, and how many songs or videos the computer can hold.

If you find a fishing tackle site, with a “rod finder” guide, that asks lots of questions about what you’re fishing for, where you’re fishing, and how much you want to spend, you’re much more likely to be able to find your perfect fishing rod.

If you stumble across a website for a firm of solicitors that puts you at ease, then how could you make your insurance, or financial advice site as easy to use and reassuring?

What aspects of the various sites you look at could you use? What made you click on them in the first place? Did  you just look at sites or brands you already knew? Were the results what you expected?

What aspects of customer service, or the delivery details did you like? How much attention did you pay to the About Us or Mission Statement pages, and why?  What affect did the colours or fonts have on you.  What about navigation? What about the tone of the copy? What about images and  logos? Would having videos describing how to use your products, or what to look for when buying your products be beneficial to your customers? Would your customers benefit from being able to discuss their purchases or hobbies with a forum?

There are many things that you can take from this sort of activity, and by seeing things from your potential visitors and customers point of view, and understanding that not everyone shares your passion for power drills, or is as keen on koi carp as you are, you’ll be able to make your website easier to use, and the  buying experience much better.

Why not give it a try?

When thinking about who uses your site, remember to think about how and where they use it too.

Remember that not everyone will be sat at a desktop computer with a 22″ monitor.  Nowadays people will browse shopping sites, and use Facebook and Twitter on a laptop in front of the TV.   They will also be using their phone too.

If your site is for a venue, such as a restaurant, or a theatre, or maybe a theme park, or a car dealer, or even an electrical store on an out of town retail park, it’s essential that your site will work properly on a phone.

Don’t underestimate the importance of being able to find your site whilst on the move.  Think about the sort of people who will be looking for your site, and the situations they will be in.

A mother might be looking for an all night chemist with a poorly baby in the car.  A family lost on their way to a theme park after a long and hot drive on a bank holiday might need to know how to get there avoiding the motorway.  Somebody looking for a museum, or a zoo, a football ground or a stately home or an art gallery might need to check opening hours, or where the best car parks are.

If your site does give directions, then make them useful.  Not everybody knows road names or numbers, and just because the road name is listed on the map, it doesn’t mean that there is a street name sign at the junction.

Why not think about using local landmarks, or prominent buildings.  It’s much easier to suggest that drivers follow signs to Somewhere, and then take the turning after the Pub, than it is to tell them to follow the A123 for 2.3 miles, and then take the B456 for approximately 1 mile.

If you’re located directly opposite the Supermarket, or behind the church, or next to the post office, then why not tell people.  Not everyone is local, and so it’s easier if they have a landamark to look out for.  In addition, if they need to ask for directions, they’ll know what to ask for.

Don’t forget to put your post code prominently on your site,  so that those using satellite navigation can quickly get directions.

Why not make sure that you have your opening hours or entrance prices clearly visible on your site?

Why not make sure that visitors can find out where the branch of your shop is in Anytown? If people are searching for Your Company Name in Town, does the relevant page come up showing them the directions, address and phone number? Is the top result a complaint about your company?

It’s worth making sure that you perform searches like these, so that you know what results your potential visitors and customers will get.

How else can you make it easier for those people on the move to find you?

Thanks to Boagworld Podcast 211, at http://www.boagworld.com for inspiration and the nudge.

When you’re writing sales copy, you’ll want to use emotional words, calls to action, and make sure that your reader is involved.  You’ll want to ask questions of the reader, and make them visualise scenes, or evoke memories.

Doing this will enable your reader to understand what your product or service does and why they need it.

Think about the difference between:

“these headache pills contain abc123 which is more effective than xyz321″

and something like:

Remember the last time you had a headache? Remember how much it hurt, and how you struggled to see properly,  and to concentrate?  How long did it take you to find the headache pills?  If you don’t normally get headaches, and don’t know where to find the pills, or you were at work, or in the car and didn’t have any to hand, what did you do?  The new family sized pack of Superpills is slim enough to keep in your wallet or purse, so you’ve always got them with you, and thanks to new ingredients, they’re even quicker at getting rid of pain, and so allowing you to get on with your day.

Although it’s more text,  it puts the product in context, and plays on real feelings and experiences.  Nobody cares about the ingredients, or the new formula, they just want what the product does, and in most cases, now!  As mentioned before, in the Product Placement blog post, nobody wants to buy a drill, they want a hole!

When was the last time that you checked out your forms?  Really?  By checking that your forms work properly, and that they are easy to use, and provide the information that both your visitors and you want .

Forms are an essential way for your visitors to find the information they want, and for you to to get the information you need too.

Every drop down box, radio button, and check box, as well as free text area is an annoyance for visitors.  Especially on ecommerce sites.  If your visitors are ready to buy, then they want to buy now.  The more questions you ask them, the more barriers you put up, and so the more likely they are to go elsewhere.

Whilst some questions have to be asked, such as size or colour, and delivery and payment details, do you need any more information?

If visitors are signing up for your newsletter, then surely all you need is their name and email address.  If visitors are enquiring about your service, then why not ring them back and find out what you need to know.  People are much more likely to tell you what you want to know over the phone, than by a series of check boxes, or from a drop down list.

Why not consider making your site even easier to use, by allowing purchases to be made using Google Checkout or PayPal? What about using Facebook Connect to register?  Do visitors really need to register at all?  Although it might be a great data capture method, what are you going to do with all the animus and email addresses?

Perhaps you will make the time to look at your forms, and the way you direct visitors to your site, and how easy you make it to find the information or products they want.  Remember, they’re doing you a favour by visiting your site, make it a pleasant experience!

If you have an ecommerce site, then you’ll want to make the most of it, and encourage visitors to become customers, and customers to buy more.

As well as making it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for, via your website navigation and search facility, you’ll also want to make sure that you cross sell and upsell

Cross selling promotes the additional extras that go with a product, such as batteries, or a carry case, or peripherals. If you were selling TVs, you might want to cross sell cables, DVD players, stands, home cinema systems, and games consoles.

Upselling involves promoting slightly higher priced, but "better" products. So going back to the TVs, you might promote a TV with a slighter larger screen, for another £50, or for £100, you could get a far better TV with a much better picture. Upselling will make visitors wonder if they are getting the best value for money, and encourage them to spend more with you.

Done well, using plenty of calls to action, and persuasive text, cross selling and upselling can prove to be very successful, and increase your revenue.

How can you introduce, or improve your cross selling and upselling? How can you promote your products with the biggest margins, or that customers will need? How could you help customers get the products they really want?

When you’ve designed your website, and everything looks great, and works asa it should, you might be tempted to put it live, sit back, and watch visitors flock to your site, and become customers.

In reality, this won’t happen unless you use calls to action in order to persuade your visitors to buy from you.As well as Search Engine Optimisation and Usability, you need to think about tempting your visitors.

In your Meta Description tags, don’t for get to use persuasive text so that searchers become visitors. Give reasons for people to click on your link.

Here are some examples

• Contact Us To Find Out More
• Call Us Now
• Subscribe Today
• See How We Can Help You
• Download A Brochure Today
• Add To Basket
• Buy Now
• Join Online
• See Our Complete Range
• Click Here
• Send To A Friend
• Buy Now While Stocks Last
• Only 5 Left
• Offer Ends Iin 4 Days
• For Less Than The Price Of A Coffee A Day, You Can …
• Must End On Monday

These are all examples of calls to action that can be used in your Meta descriptions, as well as in your content.

Remember that you will need to tell your visitors what you want them to do next. Don’t assume that they will know what to do.

Once visitors have heeded your call to action, you need to ensure that the process of signing up to your newsletter, or buying from you is quick and easy, so that they are not tempted to abandon part way through.

What Calls To Action can you think of that will encourage visitors to become customers? What ways can you find of making your product descriptions more tempting? What effects will time limiting your special offers, or saying how much stock you have left have on your sales?