Do you want to get better conversions on your Amazon listing?

The quality of your listing will determine the success of your product on Amazon.

You could have the BEST product in the world. However, if you can't convey and communicate the feature and benefits, you will struggle to get sales. 

Amazon is a competitive marketplace. If you want to stand out from the crowd, your Amazon listing needs to rank on the first page.

Keep reading for my Amazon product optimization best practices!

(Click Here To Watch On YouTube)

Are you ready to take your Amazon business to new heights? CLICK HERE to get your Amazon listing optimized with AMZ One Step!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefited from personally. Thank you for your support!

What is Amazon listing optimization?

This is the process of tailoring your product listing so that you rank as high in the search results as possible. An Amazon listing isn't something that you create once and then never improve.

You always want to be testing and optimizing your Amazon listing. When you improve the conversion rate of your listing, you get more sales. Even better, your product will rank better in Amazon's search results. Don't forget Amazon is a search engine like Google and YouTube.

Best Practices For Amazon Product Listing Images

You want to optimize your image so that it grabs people's attention when they are scrolling on Amazon. The goal is to entice them, so much so that they click on your listing.

First I like to type in the primary keyword of my product and browse Amazon listing images.

I'll take a few steps back from my computer. Of the images that appear on my screen, I identify the ones that stand out the most. I want to see how my product image is showing up in comparison to other ones.

Your goal is to also optimize your image so that it stands out from the competition. You want to test and improve your images over time. Doing so will allow you to determine which one will perform the best.

Your product photography helps you communicate to your ideal customer what your product looks like, how it works, its features, and the benefits of using it. Ideally, you're trying to convince your customer of the reasons why your product is better than your competitor's.  

One example of a product photo may be a lifestyle image. This would involve capturing someone using your product in action. You can model yourself using the product. Conversely, you can hire a professional model who represents your ideal customer.

Other examples may be a comparison image, a before and after image, or an infographic. There's a lot that you can do with your product images. Take up all of the available space that Amazon gives you on your listing.

Check out the video above to see some examples of great product listing images using AMZ One Step!

Best Practices For Amazon Product Listing Text

Beyond the image, the second thing that people will see is your product title. When it comes to the title, there are two different approaches that you can take. The first approach is to use up all of the available space that Amazon gives you for the title.

The second approach is to create a shorter title for your Amazon listing. You want to communicate the most important things about your product, one of which will be your primary keyword.

Again, Amazon is a search engine. People go to Amazon and type in keywords into the search bar. If you put the keyword in your title there's a greater likelihood that your listing will show up when people search for that keyword.

Also, you want to think about what the main benefits of your product are. Who is buying your product? What problem does your product solve? 

If you can pinpoint the main features and benefits, you'll speak to your ideal customer. Make sure that you test your title, whether that's playing around with different keywords or experimenting with a long title versus a shorter title. 

I like to make one change to my listing and then I'll run that test for 3o days. During that time, I'll track the number of sales that I get and the amount of traffic that I receive. For another 30 days, I'll test something else.

After that, I'll do a comparison. You don't want to test everything at once. You want one test running at a time so that you can pinpoint what kind of a difference it made for your business. 

Best Practices For Amazon Product Listing Bullet Points & Description

There are two types of buyers – emotional and logical. Emotional buyers see the product and buy it on the spot. Conversely, logical buyers want to read all of the information before they make a decision.

You must optimize your listing for both types of buyers. You want to make sure that your bullets communicate and convey the benefits of your product. Go beyond the features of your product and convey the benefit of each feature. 

Your description is an opportunity for you to elaborate on the benefits that your product provides. This is where great copywriting comes in. Think about adding keywords in your bullet points. You can get ideas from your competitors, but do not copy them. Strive to go above and beyond what they have written.

Here's the great news… there is a company called AMZ One Step that does ALL of the above tasks for you. They offer a wide range of Amazon listing optimization services.

Watch the video above where I walk you through the amazing features of this company and what they can do for you!

AMZ One Step has photo studios in Canada, the U.S., and China that house over 70 in-house employees, comprised of graphics designers, videographers, copywriters, photographers, and account managers. Essentially, they are a one-stop shop when it comes to optimizing your Amazon listing.

This is how to optimize your Amazon listing for better conversion.

The best way to scale your Amazon business is to find people who are more knowledgeable than you are and hire them to work ON your business.

If you want to learn more about AMZ One Step, you can book a free consultation with them and get a free Amazon listing audit.

I recommend their service, as I believe it will make a difference in your conversions and the overall success of your Amazon business.

Are you ready to take your Amazon business to new heights? CLICK HERE to get your Amazon listing optimized with AMZ One Step!

I know how important a well-crafted lead magnet is for generating more traffic to your website, which is why I invited Marie, a graphic designer, writer and founder of SmartLeadMagnets, to share with you the ultimate guide to creating a conversion-optimized lead magnet for your business. Take it away Marie!

I would like to share with you the ultimate guide to creating a conversion-optimized lead magnet. How you do this is vital because simply offering a lead magnet won’t motivate people enough to subscribe.

As a business owner, the most important thing that you can do is create highly relevant content that your readers value. So much so, that it motivates them to provide you with their email address, which will add to your sales funnel.

Valuable content is the kind that grabs your audience’s attention because it offers them information on how to solve a problem that they are having. The first step is to do your research and find out what your audience’s biggest issue is, and what they can do to overcome it. Here’s how you can go about doing that.

Solid Research Leads to Success

Clearly, you cannot assume that you understand what your audience’s issues are without doing any research. If you try to do this, you will waste a lot of time and money. I once did this and I paid the price.

I tried to build a business, without first making sure that I had a solid enough foundation. Do not make the same mistake that I did.

If you’ve got an email list that you’ve already compiled, send out an email asking the recipients what they are struggling the most with. If you don’t have an email list, you can still move forward by engaging in the following strategies.

1. Use Buzzsumo For Research

Buzzsumo is an amazing tool that allows you to view which content is being shared the most. First, collect the keywords that pertain to your industry and niche. Then enter them in the search box and the posts that are being shared the most will appear. The titles, headings, and keywords will reveal which problems your audience needs solutions for and the issues that most concern them.

2. Search Relevant Forums

You can also search online for the most active forums pertaining to your niche. Look through all the topics that are being discussed and narrow down your search to bring up the posts that are getting the most replies. Search for the most popular ones as well. These posts are a virtual goldmine of the types of questions that your audience wants answers to.

3. Use Quora

Quora is a free platform for pinpointing the major obstacles that are facing your market. It allows you to question others on which challenges they are having the most difficulty with. You can also ask what features they are seeking in a product and/or service. Because there are such a huge number of questions being asked on all different topics, Quora can help you a great deal in coming up with lead generation strategies.

4. Use Analytics to Monitor Traffic

Having a tool like Google Analytics is a great way to to track traffic to your webpages, videos, posts and/or downloads. In assessing the data, make note of the type of content that is getting the most activity and ask yourself what problems or challenges you are helping your readers overcome. What solutions do you offer?

Method of Delivery Makes a Difference

When doing your homework, make note of the most popular manner in which your audience consumes their content. There are many different options: podcasts, courses, webinars, eBooks, blog posts, videos, newsletters, etc.

You need to determine which method will most appeal to your audience in delivering your lead generator or magnet. Do whatever you can to offer valuable, relevant content that resonates with your audience, and deliver it via the medium that they find most useful to garner the results that you want.

Critical Elements of An Effective Lead Magnet

Here is what you can do to make your lead generator so tempting, that it’s nearly impossible for people to resist it!

1. It must provide the solution to a problem.

If you want to convert your audience, you’ve got to deliver on the promise spelled out in your title or headline.

2. The more detailed you are, the better.

In order to get conversions, you must be as specific as possible in explaining or describing your solution.

3. Give them a quick taste of success.

Once your audience has consumed your content in whatever medium you’re presenting it in, he or she should be able to immediately go out and apply what they’ve learned to achieve a tangible result.

4. Offer something of “high-perceived value”.

Your prospect must believe that what you’re offering is extremely valuable to them. The easiest way to do this is by offering something of value for FREE. To establish perceived value, assign a dollar amount to what it is that you’re offering for free, and announce the value of your lead generator or magnet right on your opt-in or landing page.

5. Make it easy to read and comprehend

It doesn’t matter what topic you’re discussing or what medium you’re using to deliver your message, your lead generator must be easy to access, comprehend and digest. People have a short attention span, and they’ll just click out and look someplace else. Keep your audience engaged.

Tips To Convert Visitors Into Buyers

Once you have created high quality content that attracts visitors to your website, now you have to find a way to convert your visitors into buyers. Here are some guidelines for how you can boost your conversion rates to the maximum.

1. Write a compelling eye-catching title or headline.

Point out the specific problem that you are promising to solve and describe the benefit. Just naming the problem or pain point is not enough. They must be clear about how this is going to benefit them or they will not sign up.

2. Write your copy in an active, not passive voice.

This keeps your reader’s attention so that they will actually listen to your message. You want them to feel like you’re speaking right to them, so that you will get their full attention and engagement.

3. Be up front and direct.

When describing the problem that you will solve and how your prospective customer will benefit, do not meander. Ensure that your message is perfectly clear, without being confusing. You want your audience to feel confident enough to quickly sign up, in a matter of seconds.

4. Create a sense of urgency.

Unless your audience feels that there is a level of urgency to act, they will have no reason to decide. Tell your audience that you are only going to offer your eBook, for FREE, for a very limited time.

5. Visually represent your brand with your lead generator or magnet.

You want something this important to be well-designed. If you have the talent and time to do this without compromising quality, then go ahead. However, it might be wise to hire a professional to create this for you.

So, there you have it! That is the ultimate guide to creating a conversion-optimized lead magnet. Have you ever created a lead magnet to build your list? What tips do you have for someone starting out?

Marie is a graphic designer, writer and founder of SmartLeadMagnets, a done-for-you lead magnet service that delivers engaging, high-quality content, without the heavy lifting. Have a burning question about lead generation? Click here to get in touch.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

Let’s talk about online marketing 101: The first rule you MUST know when marketing online.

Online marketing is imperative to the success of an online business. Someone once said, “Ignoring online marketing is like opening a business but not telling anyone.” This statement could not be more true.

It’s no longer a question of “Should I do online marketing?”, but rather, “How do I make sure that I do it effectively?”

With the large amount of information that is available online, consumers have become savvy researchers, who actively engage with content in order to influence their buying decisions.

Research shows that 94% of consumers have done their research online, and have become familiar with your products or services, before they even connect with you.

Are you ready to learn the first rule you MUST know when marketing online? You are one click away from discovering the secret to creating a successful online marketing campaign!

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/567339-plm-473-online-marketing-101-the-first-rule-you-must-know-when-marketing-online.mp3″ background=”default” ]

Do you want to learn how to master your online business? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!

Let’s dive into the basics of online marketing 101. The end goal of any business is to convert traffic into sales. If you aren’t selling your products or services, your business won't survive.

There are countless ways of getting traffic online, whether that’s from Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, guest posting, press releases, or elsewhere.

Once you attract people to you, you want to direct them to a sales page, which promotes the product or service that you are offering. A campaign like this is most effective if the product that you are selling is less than $100.

In terms of pricing your product, it will depend on the niche or market that you are in. If it’s business or marketing, and it’s around a topic that helps people achieve a certain result, you can charge more.

However, it can be challenging to charge more than $100 in other niches, like health, fitness, or self-development, because the product or service isn’t targeted around a specific result. Whether or not your traffic will convert, and who will buy, is dependent on two factors.

The quality of the traffic

There are three different kinds of traffic – cold, warm, and hot. Cold traffic involves somebody who doesn’t even know who you are. Given that the trust hasn’t been developed yet, they haven’t warmed up to you or your product.

Warm traffic is someone who has already consumed some of your content. They recognize your brand and they have received value from you. Hot traffic is someone who has already purchased something from you or has consumed so much of your content that they are really eager to buy.

This is why I’m a big fan of value-added marketing, which involves adding value, upfront, in the form of free videos, articles, a podcast, a guide, or other forms of content. Adding value is one of the most important strategies that you can utilize in order to acquire and retain more customers, increase awareness of your brand, and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Bob Hooey said it best – “If you aren't taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” Adding value is what turns people from cold, to warm, to hot, which will then make them more inclined to buy one of your products or services.

The quality of the sales page

The quality of the sales page comes down to the actual offer and the product itself. Do people perceive your product as valuable? Is it worth the cost? Is it adding more value than what you are charging?

In my experience, if you have quality traffic, then regardless of your sales page people are going to buy from you. The buying process will be even smoother if you already have followers and subscribers on your email list. In this case, you can simply direct them to your sales page because trust has already been established.

They have already decided that there is value in following you; so buying is an easy decision for them to make. The reality is that people do business with people that they know, like, trust and value. You could have the best product on the market, but if you aren’t generating leads, your business won’t grow.

The ability to convert traffic into sales is the first rule you MUST know when marketing online. If you can master this rule, you will master your online business.

Do you want to learn how to master your online business? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!

I would like to share with you how to make money on Amazon in 2019.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Clark, the co-founder of Amazing.com and The Amazing Selling Machine (ASM).  The Amazing Selling Machine is a training program and live event that teaches entrepreneurs how to build real, fast-growth businesses selling physical products by leveraging the power of Amazon.

I interviewed Matt back in 2013, when I was publishing eBooks on Amazon. Since then, Matt has built one of the most popular and successful business-oriented training programs ever created.  He has impacted thousands of peoples' lives, who have now gone on to quit their 9-5 jobs and created the financial freedom they have always dreamed of.

Matt Clark continues to put out a high-quality product, year after year. His consistency and dedication to his customers and his product is amazing.  His work has made a large impact in my life.  Do you want to know how to make money on Amazon in 2019?  If so, there is no better person to learn from than Matt Clark.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/500832-plm-425-how-to-make-money-on-amazon-in-2017-matt-clark-of-amazing-selling-machine.mp3″ background=”default” ]

Do you want to become a successful Amazon seller? CLICK HERE for access to my FREE Amazon training which will help you get started!

How did you get into selling on Amazon and eventually creating your program, The Amazing Selling Machine?

The past four years have flown by. When I was in college, I knew that I wanted to start my own business, but I didn't know what I was going to do.  I worked in the investment banking industry for 7 months, but I soon became miserable. My Dad was running a medical business, so I started to help him with that.  

During that time, I found that he was selling some very high-end health products, which back then, were only sold through doctors’ offices.  They were legal, but I found out that these types of products weren’t being sold online.  I wasn’t a programmer, nor was I savvy about selling online. I just dove in and started learning as much as possible.

Back then, if you wanted to sell physical products, it usually only occurred through setting up your own ecommerce website. I learned everything I could about Google Ads, because that was the main source of traffic, and then SEO, and then I started learning about Amazon.  I started selling some of my products on there.  I had six people in the Philippines working for six weeks, 8 hours a day, adding every product from my ecommerce store to Amazon.  I went from selling 10 products to 11,000 products on Amazon.

I started getting orders coming in on Amazon, but when I would send them to the distributor, they kept saying that they were out of stock.  Amazon doesn’t put up with poor customer service, so I had to take all of my products off their site, and started narrowing down how I could make Amazon work for me. Through a chance encounter, I met a guy that private labeled one of my top products.  Soon thereafter, my margins shot up, and that’s when I really started learning how Amazon worked.

Can you tell us a little more about the concept of private labeling?

You can private label any product, but one of the easiest products to private label is a supplement. Let's take the most basic supplement on the planet – Vitamin C. The contents are the same across every supplier. There are a lot of manufacturers that will take the raw capsules and put them in bottles, with their brand name on the outside.

It's a way of saying, “Here is my brand name and my branding” (colors, logos, fonts).  When you put the brand name on the bottle, now you have your own brand of that product. For example, if someone else is selling the same product for $4.99, but you add extra value through better marketing, customer service, guides, reports, etc., you can possibly sell the same product for $15.99. Now, you have better margins because you are playing a different game, by providing the highest value possible, whereas your competitors are providing the lowest cost possible.

How have opportunities on Amazon changed in the last few years?  

Since we started teaching ASM, Amazon has doubled in size. If you look at it's growth rate, it’s insane. It grows at 20% a year, and multiple billions of dollars/year. It's doing things that no company in history as every done, especially for physical products.  It’s making buying physical products so simple.  This means the number of opportunities to sell on Amazon has grown exponentially.

Sales on Amazon's international platforms, Germany and Japan in particular, have picked up like crazy. We are so used to buying stuff on Amazon in the U.S. or Canada, we don’t realize that in Europe Amazon is still like it was here five years ago.  One of our customers who took our course was making $40,000 euros last month, and now he’s making $80,000 euros/month, AND he’s only selling in Germany.

If you are into the online marketing world, online retail is still less than 30% of all physical retail, but Amazon’s actual percentage of online retail is getting bigger. The total pie is getting bigger, and Amazon's piece of the pie is increasing. They will soon be doing $500 billion in revenue, without doing anything innovative. It’s just the direction that the company is going.

What I love most about your training is that you teach people how to build a brand that will allow them to have a competitive advantage, long-term. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of building a brand?

When we first started teaching ASM, we advocated for Amazon, but at the end of the day, that mindset and approach isn’t what Amazon wants, and it’s for sure not what customers want.  The reality is that you could be running your business on a beach in Thailand, but a real product will be landing on someone’s door step and they will be experiencing that product in real-time.  The better that experience is, the better your business is going to be, long-term. We recommend that people focus on building a solid brand that people respect and want to buy more from because then everything is simpler.

On a tactical level, say you sell one product on Amazon and it makes you $10,0000/month in profit. Then you want to launch a second product in a different niche. The problem is that you end up managing two brands, two email lists, two social media accounts, etc., so there is no leverage.

If you want to grow your business even more, Amazon will tell you what the next best product is to sell. You can then tap into all of your existing customers on social media, email, etc. and say, “Hey, I’ve got this other product that is great and you should buy it.” Ideally, they go buy your product, leave great reviews, and you can then apply the same marketing cycle to your next product, but make the results even more effective. That is the value of building a brand; it’s about leveraging.

Building a brand isn’t just about selling multiple products under the same name. You should be doing continuous product improvement. There are so many opportunities to make a slightly better product than the ones Amazon creates. It takes a lot of time and money, and it is beyond the scope of what we teach, but there are small things that you can do in order to make your products stand out. The value is that you will have happier customers, less refunds, and you will be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

How has your program, ASM, evolved and changed in the last 18 months?

Our philosophy with ASM has always been, “What can we do to get somebody who is starting from scratch, whereever they are, the best results possible with this program?” We strive to stay current, which is why we chose to close our doors for 18 months.

The business is changing on Amazon, so we needed to make sure that we were evolving as well. We didn’t have enough breathing room to fix anything, but when we did, we decided to re-do our entire strategy. I got so busy managing ASM that I had to get rid of my physical products business because I didn’t have the time to devote to it. I started working on a case study business, and analyzed how it worked from the ground up.

I began discovering some new things that are working very effectively.  For example, I've realized the power of Facebook offers. The more you can align with what Amazon wants, and what customers want, the better your business will do.

We have some people that are doing $20-30 million/year on Amazon, and part of that is about playing the long game, so we are incorporating what is working RIGHT NOW, with regards to product selection.  We have a better and more comprehensive strategy with regards to marketing.  

Our goal is to teach people how to create multiple successful products in their Amazon businesses, and master things like product selection, package inserts, building an email list from day 1, evaluating samples, doing ads on Amazon, getting traffic outside of Amazon, etc. Our new program is laid out sequentially, and it is better than ever.

We also found out how important a community is to someone’s success. Oftentimes, you are building a business on your own and you don’t have a support system. You need a network that you can tap into for additional strategies and tactics. We know that there will be individual losses that happen in your business that we can’t predict.

We have people who we call, “the mentors”, who have done really well in their businesses after taking our ASM course, and who want to help people in the community. They are there to make sure that if you have any sort of issue in your business, they will help you resolve it. Things like account issues, supplier issues, marketing, product set-up, etc.

Another big thing we are doing with our new course is we are including a private resource vault, which is a collection of resources to speed up your success and remove any extra costs or time in running your business. For example, we provide you with our personal freight forwarder contacts so that things run more smoothly for you, photographer contacts to get great pictures of your products, etc. We also do weekly coaching calls so that you can get the best results possible with our program.

Any words of advice for someone that is thinking about taking a leap of faith and starting an Amazon business?

Like anything else in life, the big thing is taking the first step, and we try to make the first step as easy as possible, which is why we provide free Amazon training to get you started. At the end of the day, it’s about entrepreneurship. You have to take some level of risk. We do our job to minimize as much risk as we can.

A lot of people think that the risky thing is starting the business, but I think it’s about making your entire financial livelihood dependent on someone else. Yes, it can feel safe to have a 9-5 job, but on any day, your boss could wake up, decide on a new business strategy, and let you go, at a drop of a dime.

If you want freedom in your life, you need to learn how to run a business the right way.  Ride on Amazon’s coat tails to get yourself started, because they have built-in traffic, built-in support and an infrastructure. We can still say, with no reservations, that if you are going to build a business an Amazon business is the one to build.

For someone that has zero experience, I see no other opportunity like it. You can build it as big as you want. We have the full spectrum, from people making $5-10,000/month to those that have sold their businesses for $10 million.  It's the same model, it just depends on what you want at the end of the day. It’s the path to freedom and living whatever kind of life that you want, and this is the best opportunity in order to make it your reality.

I’m so grateful that I was able to share with you how to make money on Amazon in 2019. I hope Matt's story motivates you to build a successful Amazon business. Take advantage of his free Amazon training!  It has changed the lives of so many people, including myself.  In the words of Tony Gaskins Jr., “If you don't build your dream, someone will hire you to build theirs.”  Financial freedom is yours for the taking!

Do you want to become a successful Amazon seller? CLICK HERE for access to my FREE Amazon training which will help you get started!

I understand the importance of increasing your blog's conversation rate in order to grow your business.

That is why I wanted to invite Rick Riddle, the head content manager at SmartPaperHelp.com, and an up-and-coming blogger, to write a guest post about the 7 essential blog fixes that you can make in order to drive up more conversions to your blog.

Take it away, Rick!

Did you know that for every $92 spent garnering new customers; only $1 is spent converting them? Did you also know that 52% of B2B marketers say that conversion rates are the most effective metrics of measuring the performance of landing pages?

Well, I thought you should know. I bet you can now agree with me when I insist on the importance of conversion rates. They are not only expensive for your company, but also very crucial. All businesses, engaging in any form of online marketing, need not take this issue lightly.

Every visitor to your website is a potential customer.  We only need to harness this potential by making it easy for them to sign-up or take the next step. Of course, we all want them to become subscribers, leads, and eventual customers, but how do we do it exactly? It might not be a walk in the park but I’m not saying it’s hard either.

Just sit tight and go through these 9 fixes to make on your blog in order to improve your conversions.

Low blog speeds

Do you know how important your blog speed is? Amazon reported a 1% revenue increase after a 100millisecond improvement to their site speed. A different report from the Aberdeen Group showed that site delay by just a second yielded a 7% conversion rate loss.

If it takes too long for your customers to get to your blog, then most of them will quit before even getting there. If you want to know the importance of site speed, here it is; your users are obsessed with it, so is Google. Actually, speed is one of the factors used to rank sites by Google (although not as much as its content).

That being the case, how do you go about improving your site speeds? There are probably more than five ways to do this. You could start by reducing the redirects on your page, reduce the number of plugins, optimize the images and the CSS delivery.

Reducing the server response time would also go a long way in improving the speed of your site. Imagine the number of potential clients you lose every day by having a slow website.

Cluttered site

Remember the power of first impressions? They’re pretty powerful, right? If your site has a lot of texts, images, videos and CTA’s, it might not be appealing as you think it does. Actually, it might just push a potential lead away. Ever heard the phrase “less is more”? I bet you have. Sometimes, simplicity is just the way to go.

Adopt a simple dressing, simple lifestyle, and definitely a simple site. When it comes to content creation, you need to strategize. Don’t just paste walls of text in your blog.

Simplify your texts and make sure the keywords are just enough in order to get you better rankings. Make better use of image formats such as JPEG. Images are important, yes, but they should never outdo the content/ the solutions you provide. Use them sparingly, crop them to the right sizes, and you could always reduce the depths for better speed.

Improper image/video use

Content creation has more to do with just plain text. You could always have some images, video, infographics, memes, and so much more. These are not only exciting, but they also reduce the monotony of doing things. Images need to be informative, yet appealing to a visitor.

However, it should complement the message of the site and offer value to the visitor. Nowadays, memes and infographics are widely being incorporated into many sites. When it comes to infographics, always have a qualified graphic designer to do it for you. Memes may not need professional or special skills, but just make sure they’re good enough.

The same goes for other images. They need to be crisp, high-quality images. Some editing should be done when using the image for a mobile site. Scale them down, but make sure the value/ quality is not altered/ lowered. A video of your Chief Operations Officer won’t do you any harm.

Poor navigation

Easy to navigate pages attract more visitors and make it easy for your users to get to the CTA’s. Why take so much time looking for some link in a certain site while they can make use of search options? Both the menu bar and the navigation bar should be easily visible and accessible.

Make good use of contrast to make these important details visible. Navigation is especially important when it comes to mobile devices. Other important details such as CTA’s, contact information, and product information should be accessible to all the visitors into the site.

CTA’s should be well situated and have some bright colors (for clarity). They should be precise and not just some general, unspecific information. For example, tell your customers to “download a brochure”, “start your free trial” or “request for today’s quote”, instead of “buy now” and so on. Also, use CTA’s sparingly on your blog. After all, it’s not the number that matters, but rather the effects of their use.

Lack of mobile designs

Mobile searches surpassed their desktop counterparts in 2015. This is a very interesting discovery for all marketers out there. As smartphones are widely being adopted in developed and developing countries, most people conduct mobile searches than they do on desktops.

That being the case, we need to create mobile-based designs. These should be mobile responsive and fast enough not to bore the users. It’s time we understood that mobile and desktop traffic are two different things.

Each needs its own content, ads, and so on. John Hiemstra argues that real friction in mobile sites is the actual reason why mobile conversion is lower than on a desktop. This is against the common belief that responsive design is mobile conversion optimization.

Lack of clear customer testimonials

The world is full of doubting Thomases. We need to see proof to believe in something. Having some customer testimonials eliminates any doubts that may have arisen along the way. The same is the effect we achieve by posting some customer testimonials. We all hate to be fooled. Why give your customer the thought, while you can post some genuine/ verified purchaser reviews for them to see?

Complicated forms

Have you ever attempted signing into a site and thousands of questions popped up? What was your next move? I bet you did what I normally do. I back off immediately! This is not good for your business. We want our visitors to sign up easily and fast enough.  At times, we complain of having low conversions, yet we’re the sole purpose of why this is happening.

Keep it simple from now on and you’ll be surprised at the influence that this has on your site. There you go. You don’t have to adopt all of these tactics. Whether you choose to simplify your forms, develop some mobile sites, or simplify your site; invest your best on your choices.

Rick Riddle is a head content manager at SmartPaperHelp.com and an up-and-coming blogger whose articles aim to help people with digital marketing, blogging, entrepreneurship, and career. Feel free to follow Rick on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Last month I saw Clay Collins of LeadPages speak at an internet marketing party in San Diego and during his speech he revealed 5 conversion tips that can help any online business owner get more sales.  Clay Collins is the founder of LeadPages, which is the world's easiest landing page generator.  I use LeadPages in all of my online businesses, as it helps me to easily create landing pages and squeeze pages with ease, along with customizing them in any way that I want.

While I was looking over the notes I took during the Traffic & Conversion Summit, I came across the notes I took from Clay Collins and thought that I'd share them in a video blog.  Below are the 5 conversion tips that I learned from Clay Collins.

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

1. A Two-Step Optin Process Converts Better

On most websites or landing pages, you'll see it ask you for your name and e-mail address, and then click a submit button.  An example of that would be the e-mail optin form that I use here currently on ProjectLifeMastery.com.  You'll see that I'm offering to give away my “Life Mastery Toolkit” and ask you to enter your e-mail address and click the “Get Instant Access” button.

Well, what Clay Collins has discovered from LeadPages is that a two-step optin process actually converts better.  With a two-step optin process, you wouldn't see the name and e-mail fields.  Instead, you'd just see the “Get Instant Access” button.  When you click on the “Get Instant Access” button, a pop-up would appear that then asks you for your name or e-mail address to proceed.

With all of the data that Clay Collins and his team has been collecting from LeadPages, this two-step opt-in process converts the best out of anything they've seen so far.  It's actually increased conversions up to 60% on most landing pages.

In my new version of ProjectLifeMastery.com (which is currently being redesigned right now), I am moving over to the two-step optin process on everything.  But, for an example of what a LeadPage looks like using the two-step optin process, go to this landing page that I have by clicking here.

2. The Best Days To E-mail Your List

Have you ever wondered what the best days and times are to e-mail your list?

Clay Collins and his team shared their data on this as well.  They've discovered that the best days to e-mail your list are: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  During these days of the week, you will get the highest open rates and click-through rates.  The best times during those days are: 4:00 AM to 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

I found this data interesting and useful, as it will now help me get the most from the e-mails that I send out to my followers and customers.

3. Raw Photos Outperform Professional Photos

This conversion tip is somewhat counter-intuitive.

Do you know those professional looking photos that people use of themselves on their blogs or websites?  Well, it turns out that those don't convert as well as a raw photo does.  A raw photo would be a casual picture of you.  You wouldn't using a picture of you wearing a suit and tie or have a professional photographer take the picture.  Instead, it would be a picture of you wearing a t-shirt or just looking like a regular person.

It turns out this is more REAL for people and people are able to relate to this more.

4. Download MY Report Converts Better Than YOUR Report

Here's another interesting split test conversion tip.  On your website or landing page, if you say something like “Get Your Report Here!”, it doesn't convert as well as saying “Get My Report Here!”  The reason for this is because when people READ it, their brain understands “My Report” as actually being THEIR report.  When you say, “Get Your Report”, the data shows that they have a disconnect with that and it doesn't convert as highly.

Isn't it amazing how these LITTLE things make such a big difference?  That's the power of split-testing your websites and landing pages, as those little things that you wouldn't notice can make a big difference to conversions.  That's why I love LeadPages too, because all of their templates are highly tested to convert as high as possible.

5. Use Lead Boxes In Blog Posts

This is a conversion tip that I learned recently that I've been experimenting with in all of my blog posts.  LeadBoxes is something that was uniquely created by Clay Collins, which allows you to use the two-step optin process throughout text or any image.  For example, if you click here, you will see what I mean.

LeadBoxes is a sneaky trick that I'll be using a lot more, which helps get more subscribers to your e-mail list fairly easily.    The cool thing is, when people click on these links they aren't expecting to be asked for their e-mail address, which catches them by surprise while they don't have a “guard up” on things.  Very cool.

Those are the 5 conversion tips that I wanted to share with you today.  I absolutely love LeadPages and how easy it is to use – it's definitely helped me build my online business and I'll be incorporating more of their templates and features into this blog soon enough.  If you're looking for something to use to easily create landing pages, squeeze pages, or webpages then I highly recommend LeadPages.