Tweak your Home Page for Instant Results
by Jim Daniels
I've recently phased in some changes at my bizweb2000.com
home page and the results have been fantastic. Not only am I
receiving almost twice the number of new subscribers to my
BizWeb eGazette, I've seen an increase in first-time customers
as well.
Today I'll share each new component of my new page so that
you may consider similar changes at your site...
For starters, take a quick peek at the old and the new:
Old
Home Page
New
Home Page
As you can see, visually, the pages are quite different. But
the changes go deeper than looks. Here's a breakdown of the
stuff "behind the scenes" and the instant results
yielded...
Component #1: Speed
You'll notice right away that the new page is "less
busy". Not only is it cleaner and fresher, it loads in
half the time it took the old one to load. I made the mistake
of being "married" to that old page for far too long.
The fact is, that bloated graphic (top right) took far too long
to load and was costing me visitors. Internet surfers are an
impatient lot. I know that all too well, I've clicked away from
many a slow-loading web page in my web travels.
Component #2: Text at the top
See the yellow text at the top of the new home page? Adding
that text resulted in better search engine ranking within two
weeks. I've seen a clear increase in the number of visitors
coming from google.com and a handful of other engines. Even
Yahoo! has added a new listing for my site under "Internet
Marketing". That may not be related to the new text, but
it's quite a coincidence that it happened after four years.
But perhaps the best part of the text is that it loads
immediately and lets visitors know why they should stick
around. And they are!
Component #3: Direct Links to my best products
People love a deal, so give them one right away! Too many
sites hide even their best products and services too deep into
their site. If you're not displaying at least one of your best
products prominently on your entry page, you're losing sales -
guaranteed.
Component #4: Smart links
See the links on the left side of the new page? Those text
links take visitors to important destinations at my site. It
makes navigation easier and lets me get visitors to key areas
of site quickly.
But it's the icons under my BizWeb2000 logo that get clicked
on the most. I did a little research and learned that this
particular area of any home page is where the eyes of most
visitors go first. A clean and simple navigation system there
puts a visitor in the right frame of mind and makes them feel
comfortable with your site. Snazzy icons connected to your best
links should be right there.
Component #5: Oh no, a PopUp?
Yes, I finally tried a popup and frankly I'm sorry I waited
this long. I resisted for more than a year because I didn't
want to annoy my visitors. So far I've received zero complaints
and a even handful of compliments.
More importantly, I am now receiving nearly double the
amount of new subscribers to my BizWeb eGazette every single
day. Before the Popup I average 60 new subscribers a day and
after the Popup was implemented I went right to an average of
105 a day.
The popup screen gives away my free book and gazette
subscriptions. Here are a few things that make it work better
than the average popup...
It comes up on exit so visitors are not immediately hit with
it. And it is also controlled with a cookie so that visitors
get it just once within any single day, no matter how many
times they exit the page. If you're going to add a popup to
your site to try and get more opt-in subscribers, I highly
suggest you set it up like that. Otherwise popups can be
aggravating and counterproductive.
As far as setting it up, it took me an hour or so. I'm no
expert on javascript so luckily one of my regulars at my Cybermarketing
Infoboard, Paul Austin of austinsgroup.com had just set one
up and he gave me a hand. Thanks Paul!
There you have it. Proof that settling in with any one look
for too long is counterproductive. If you have not made any
changes to your home page in a long time, consider trying one
of those components. I'm sure you'll see immediate results!
Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing. Jim's site has
helped 1000's of regular folks profit online. Visit http://www.bizweb2000.com/new/d9078
for FREE "how-to" cybermarketing assistance,
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