The problem is, most marketers are still focused on "optimizing" their site for the search engines... but not for sales.



What good is a top-ten listing for "internet marketing" if 400 visitors come to your web site from the search engines and buy nothing?

Sure, you can build your list. But again, if you're thinking "I must optimize my site to get a higher listing" instead of putting your highest priority into squeezing the most possible money from each visitor that arrives to your site... you're wasting your effort.

Even in the case of a list-building name squeeze landing page, you need to put your focus on "optimizing" your page to get the most amount of visitors possible to sign up and get on your list!

Here are five excellent techniques you can deploy right now to begin maximizing your conversions for more and better visitors, leads and sales:

1. Make your visitors feel like they're dealing with a professional - And no, this doesn't mean your site has to look like the next Amazon.com... in fact, the more simple, clean and straightforward your site looks and feels, the better your visitor feels. Your site is most often the only impression your visitor gets of you... If your site looks ugly, badly formatted and unprofessional... guess how your visitor feels about you? No fancy graphics are needed. Just keep it clean and clear.

2. Your sales copy will make or break your visitors' buying decision. Get creative. Some people talk better than they write, and others write better than they talk... so try both. Use a timeless writing method called "freewriting" to get over the creativity-killer known as "Writer's Block." Open a blank document or get out a piece of paper and start writing the first thing that comes to mind... even if it's "I don't know what to write. I still don't know what to write... it's coming soon, but not yet... coming... I'm thinking of... something... ahh... here it comes!"

Believe it. You will absolutely begin writing something and whether or not it makes sense at first - keep writing.

Understand this. Writing is a two-step process. Most people fail to grasp this concept and then give up because they "can't write."

The two parts of writing are:

A) The Creative Step

B) The Editorial Step

Don't overlook this point. It can transform you into a copywriting virtuoso almost overnight if you can get this concept.

Step one, the Creative Step is when you freewrite. Don't use the backspace key, no matter how bad your judgmental mind wants you to. Just keep writing. Nothing has to be spelled right... nothing has to be in order. Just write and know you're in the creative process.

Step two, is the Editorial Step. In this step, you go back over the content you've just written and you move paragraphs and sentences around to flow better... you use spell-check or a dictionary to get everything spelled correctly and in an acceptable format... this is why you never hit the backspace key while in Step One - because you save it for the second step! Do this and your writing skills will soar.

Another "trick" is to call your best friend on the phone and sell your offer to him or her. Record the call and have it transcribed.

You'll have the best parts of your copy already written!

Now, go find the last web site you bought from.

Something in that copy made you want whatever they were selling.

And you bought it.

But why?... Study this and you'll learn the art of compelling people to take action using words alone. This is about the most powerful skill you can ever possess, as it literally gives you the ability to create money from thin-air whenever you want, and wherever you so choose.

Master copywriter Brian Keith-Voiles once mentioned his "secret weapon" technique for writing truly killer copy on demand... Find a master copywriter's work, take a pen and piece of paper and literally write the entire copy from start to finish on that paper. There's something that happens kinetically when you do this and you actually begin to feel what the writer was feeling and thinking when he wrote the copy!

Once you're done, you will feel like you've just been through a 13-week intensive course on copywriting mastery... guaranteed.

3. Offer "early-bird" bonuses and special gifts for those who take action before everyone else - You'd be surprised how much faster a product sells when early-bird bonuses are introduced into the equation. Take a few products with Resell Rights or Private Label Rights, write up a single paragraph of compelling copy for them, put a dollar value on them and label them Early-Bird Bonuses...

Offer them to your first xx number of fast-acting customers. After xx have been sold, keep the copy but insert a "SOLD OUT" or "EARLY-BIRD BONUS IS NOW REMOVED!" on the page to let your visitors know you mean business. They'll take you seriously from that point onward. Buyers love this and you can scope them out quickly just by using this invaluable selling technique.

4. Split-test every action you want to increase - Actions mean number of click-thrus, number of visitors, number of sign ups, number of sales... any "action" you want your visitor to take can easily be increased and if you're patient, can go as high as you want.

The average online web site sales conversion is just under 1%. That's less than one out of every 100 visitors buy the product... yikes.

When I write copy, I never get less than 5%-10% sales conversion right out of the box. It's a skill that took me six years to master, and about 24 hours to learn the right way to do it. It's psychology on paper... salesmanship in print... it's persuasion with words alone.

Regardless of what your skill is to write killer copy, you can always make it ten times better if you want. It just takes a little patience and some split-testing software. For the sake of being clear, I'll give you a simple example...

Did you know Google Adwords has an automatic built in split-testing feature? It's true. Instead of writing just one ad, write two.

Google's software automatically rotates both ads evenly and sends the same amount of visitors to each. This is a GREAT way to split-test your classified and Top Sponsor ads to see which gets the best response before you go out and place ads in ezines and newspapers!

5. Here's a powerful conversion technique to increase sales... limit them. This may sound crazy at first, but you get several advantages you wouldn't normally have by using this technique...

For instance, you're selling a digital info-product for $67... think of something you'd like to buy with the money you're about to make from this promotion... say, it's a brand new HD enabled big-screen TV. The cost is $1,594. Instead of selling your info-product directly, you sell access to it from a password-protected members area. This could be as simple as a hidden web page on your site.

You do the math and figure you need 24 sales at $67 per sale to buy the TV outright... so, you limit "access" to the info-product and make it available for the first 25 members only. This creates high demand through scarcity. If you give a good reason for limiting access (i.e. because you're doing this promotion for that big-screen TV) it'll skyrocket your conversion because you're giving a reason "why."

This satisfies the customer and quiets the mind's critical nature... "why is he selling access to only 25 members?"... because you want a TV!

The greatest thing about limiting access is that you can "re-open" the doors for another promotion anytime you want something else. Your prospects who didn't buy before see you're serious, and you'll get even more sales the next time around...

These conversion techniques are powerful ways to squeeze the maximum amount of money from every visitor you get to your web site. It's never about quantity, it's about the quality of each visitor you have now.