This is my blog about the trials and tribulations of setting up our web site.

Friday, March 31, 2006

SEO is good, conversion sucks.

Well on MSN are results are good;

Bean Coffee Shop #1
Bean Coffee # 2
Coffee Shop # 1
Coffee # 90

Although these are still a work in progress, it is getting us good targeted traffic, the customers pages are doing really well for us also. But it is time to concentrate on other aspects as well.

Beancoffeeshop.com has had it's best month ever (almost as much in sales as ALL of last year) but our conversion rate still sucks at about 1 new customer per 200 unique visitors (if you take away the crap accounts). I really need to make this better, I think a shipping calculator would help as well as some more targeted info on certain pages.

I have a test account at "roastmaster@javaroasters.com" with the password "bYr9V", please don't complete transactions, it messes up the accounting, it is a pretty standard checkout. Any ideas would be most appreciated.

9 Comments:

Blogger JavaRoasters said...

Well, no #85 for "coffee" on MSN. Still doesn't solve my conversion problem but that is 5 positions better.

11:30 a.m.

 
Blogger JavaRoasters said...

Just checked and now #80 for coffee. Not too bad for 47,000,000 results.

11:41 a.m.

 
Blogger JavaRoasters said...

Well I made a few page name changes to my site and dropped from #74 to #106 for "coffee" on MSN. In the long run I think it will come back and it is only a minor/temp setback.

Conversion still sucks.

8:22 a.m.

 
Blogger richandzhaoyan said...

Pete,

Firstly, apologies for having taken so long to post on your blog - I have been keeping up with it but have been struggling to find the time to post anywhere at present - due to time spent on the new osC store.

It seems from reading your recent posts that we are both thinking along the same lines if selling a completely different product. Getting people to your site is crucial... after which, converting them into sales becomes important. No point in worrying about conversions if you havent got any visitors!

Sounds like the SEO is paying off:-

best month ever (almost as much in sales as ALL of last year)

You have got to be happy with that - it is some growth!

Would you put the majority of the increase in sales down to an increase in visitors?

With regards to conversion rates, just bare in mind that the more visitors you get, the lower your conversion rate is going to be. It stands to reason that if a genuine coffee lover finds out about your site via a direct reccomendation, you should end up with a sale. If (when!) you reach the coveted number one search engine spot for the term Coffee, you may well recieve a huge number of hits but a lot of these will be totally unrelated. People searching for coffee machines, the history of coffee, coffee origins, coffee suppliers for the uk, coffee flavour chocolate..... Anything at all related to the term coffee. Now, the chances of converting any of them into a sale is of course a lot harder than with a direct recommendation.

Its all totally about numbers and balance. This is where I believe an online storekeeper who has put the time in developing his store will win - the knowledge you gain about not only your site but seo and the likes of converting customers will put you leagues ahead of someone who has simply paid for an online shop to be setup.

The only thing I would suggest with regards to your checkout is taking a look at the combined login/create account page contrib. I have looked/tried on a demo, all the checkout mods I could find and to be honest, this is the only mod that I can see could (possibly) help my customers.

I still believe that far more important than the checkout purchase is the desire to buy! If the price is right or the product is exactly what the customer wants, they will jump through hoops to buy it. If the price is wrong, or the item is not what they want, even a one click checkout aint gonna help!


Again, its all numbers - If you are in amazons league and you are getting thousands of orders/day then increasing your conversions by changing your checkout process may be worthwhile - If you are in my league.... Its just easier to find a few more customers!

Cheers Pete, sorry for waffling but I have been meaning to post for a while so had a few thoughts on my mind. Going by your increase in sales it sounds like what you are doing is working so keep posting to the blog. It keeps me thinking about my site!

Rich

7:10 p.m.

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Nice Blog .When you are getting on with a blog site and choose to use it to network, build networks and link, then it's essential that you make it competent and able so that it can stand the test of time. For a site to be successful it's essential that it does not fade away in SEO training.

7:04 a.m.

 
Anonymous Virtual Server said...

Good post.This one is the blog which I like most,I would like to thanks that master brain who make all this for the readers like me.keep up writing good job.

6:27 a.m.

 
Anonymous Bandwidth Management said...

The Cymphonix Network Composer employs dynamic bandwidth shaping that creates a very efficient Internet connection. Network Composer includes a full suite of bandwidth control tools that allows users to take control of their Internet connection.

6:56 a.m.

 
Anonymous ApxAlarm said...

Yes you are right and this is one of the superb post which having very innovative and informative tips for the readers,keep up blogging continue and stay tune with us.Thanks a lot.........................

6:50 a.m.

 
Anonymous vps hosting64 said...

It's really an informative post.It's my first visit.And i have got a lot of information from this post.Thanks a lot.keep blogging

9:06 a.m.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home