Every time I see a button or text link that includes or says “click here,” I pull 10 hairs out of my head.  I have a lot of hair, so the good news is that I won’t go bald anytime soon.  It’s troubling to see that so many sites are still using this language within their calls to action. Using this flimsy phrase makes the call to action weak!

If the call to action is underlined copy, visitors realize…

...continue to read "“Click Here” Makes Me Rip My Hair Out"

If you are a frequent Grokdotcom reader, this will not be the first time you’ve heard FutureNow stress the importance of having a Unique Value Proposition (UVP).  UVPs are critical in grabbing the attention of new visitors. However, the creation of a UVP is not as simple as one would hope.

Recently, I’ve taken on a few new clients who have no UVP at all. And not surprisingly, they’re having a difficult time creating one. (If it were simple to do,…

...continue to read "3 Tips for Creating a Unique Value Proposition"

This post is designed to get your creative juices flowing when it comes to leveraging your Unique Value Proposition (UVP).

For those who aren’t familiar with the phrase, we at FutureNow define Unique Value Proposition as: The brief, memorable phrase that concisely and powerfully describes the value of your business and creates excitement in the prospect.  The value proposition is not a slogan or a phrase designed for advertising, although that is one potential use for it.  Instead, its…

...continue to read "Take Your Unique Value Proposition to the Next Level"

Attracting visitors to your site is similar to the dating scene and wooing your prospective partner. And, like in courting, there are some hard-fast rules of engagement for attracting your prospect.

1. Look Nice – You want to put your best face forward. Your homepage is often the first thing that your visitor sees when they visit your site, so make sure that it is aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eye. Remember, for a vast majority of sites, the homepage has…

...continue to read "5 Ways to Court Your Visitor"

I just finished reading a “prediction” post called 9 Digital Trends for 2010. While some of the predictions were pretty expected (e.g. Facebook will continue to have an impact in 2010), a few of them really made me think.

The #9 prediction was that there would be “more Flash, not less” on websites in 2010.  The authors posit that Flash on websites will experience a resurgence online in 2010 due to increased adoption of broadband, improved track-ability, and new options…

...continue to read "Will You Flash Your Visitors in 2010?"

A lot of people who call us want to know what the average conversion rate is for a particular industry, because they’re trying to assess whether their website could be performing better and could therefore benefit from website optimization.

The problem is that there isn’t a one size fits all answer to this question, even for a particular industry. There are so many factors that could be influencing your conversion rate.

The first step in recovery is admitting there is something wrong.…

...continue to read "There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Conversion Rate"

If you’re selling online, and you’re interested in Optimization, it simply makes sense to spend some time focusing on your shopping cart. It’s a key area of focus for a few reasons:

It’s often where “low-hanging fruit” grows. Conversion obstacles can often be removed quickly, leading to large gains in a short period of time. It’s an area where you’ve already succeeded in persuading the prospect. They are in the Late Stage of their buying process, so a relatively low investment can give you…

...continue to read "Shopping Cart Optimization: Canned vs. Custom"

Because I live in the optimization world, I sometimes assume that certain web site strategies are common sense and obvious. I sometimes forget that the only reason why they are common sense and obvious to me: Because I analyze and optimize web sites all day, every day. That’s a bit of an unfair advantage!

At FutureNow, we work with clients in a variety of industries and business models: e-commerce, lead generation and catalog. Lately, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some…

...continue to read "A Clicks-to-Bricks Site Optimization Checklist"

Generating targeted traffic and conducting website optimization are critical to increasing online sales. Ok, yeah, you already know that

But did you know that traffic generation and website optimization aren’t mutually exclusive? There are tactics that will help you accomplish both goals at the same time, and one FutureNow Partner recently spoke to me about a tactic that’s working well.

Our Partner is a software development firm that specializes in web-based applications and good old web development and design. They are currently gaining leads…

...continue to read "All Aces: Overlapping your Marketing Efforts for Better Results"

Lots of folks have been asking us lately about the connection between site traffic levels and online optimization strategies.  There are definitely some correlations, but there also seem to be some myths or mis-perceptions about those connections.

We often get asked:

How much traffic do I need before I start optimization?

Do I get enough traffic to my site to even consider optimization?

Will my tests take forever to run if I don’t have a lot of traffic?

How fast can I expect to see…

...continue to read "Myths About Site Traffic and Optimization"