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"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!
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Tips by Jim Daniels, owner of
bizweb2000.com.
Did you like this lesson? Then you'll love Jim's new web guide called
Make A Living Online.
* Article by Jim Daniels of
JDD Publishing. Jim's site has helped 1000's of regular folks profit
online. Visit http://bizweb2000.com
for FREE "how-to" cybermarketing assistance, software, manuals, web
services and more. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to Jim's Free,
weekly BizWeb E-Gazette:
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