Perhaps your website is pleasing to the eye, but fails to live up to your objectives and expectations? You invested time, effort, and money into building your site, but your return on investment is either nominal or non-existant. Let's take a look at some common causes associated with this enigmatic problem, and see if we can figure out a solution.

Common Cause #1: Not enough traffic

Having an effective strategy for capturing clicks from potential visitors is an absolutely essential ingredient to successfully promoting your website. There are many ways of driving traffic to your website, for example:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Advertising (e.g. Google AdWords)
• Social Networking
• Link Exchanges
• Joint Ventures & Affiliates
• Viral Marketing Campaigns
• Word of Mouth
• etc...

But which one is right for you? That is the right question to be asking, especially when you know how quickly the Internet is changing. Each one of the above items has features that make it suitable for a vast range of applications. Truth be told, you could go out and implement each and every one of them. But exercise caution: you could just as easily fall victim to the indecisive voice of reason hidden inside every business owner’s mind; crippling your website’s ability to reach its full potential.

Common Cause #2: Lack of rich, engaging content

A 2008 survey by Deloitte & Touche recently pointed out that more than 80% of your customers value other customer's opinions more than yours. Does that number shock you? I hope it does, because the Internet has made shopping an interactive experience. Buyers' needs have changed: they are no longer satisfied with the product information you provide, and now want to communicate with YOUR customers. Think: customer testimonials, product reviews, blogs, discussion forums, etc...

Common Cause #3: Your sales engine is broke

In the online world, you have to keep any eye on everything you do, and luckily, we have the technology today to make this possible. Track your website visitors: learn who they are. Track your website sales process: find out where you're losing customers. Switch things out regularly: you should always be testing, testing, testing! Your objective is simple: continually improve your website until it can run itself. Using tracking technology gives you x-ray vision into the engine running your website.

Common Cause #4: You’re attracting the wrong type of traffic

If you’re not targeting the right traffic, you’ll get visitors who leave your website before buying anything. Buyers think though a 7 step process when making a decision to buy, and each stage occurs at a different time. Learning this cycle is key to understanding your traffic and converting those visitors into your customers.

Common Cause #5: Visitors get lost on your website

Depending on you get people to your website, they may enter from many different directions. Consider how you capture new visitors and guide them through your products or services. Here are some questions to ponder:

• Does each of your sales pages have a call to action?
• Do you have a way of capturing exit traffic?
• How easy is it to buy something from you?

This brief list should give you an idea of what’s needed to keep your website healthy. If you haven’t already, head on over to the Ativio Vault and get yourself a copy of our popular whitepaper: The 7 Habits of Successful Websites. If you're ready to go, start off by picking one of Ativio's Solutions below. Or if you prefer, give us a call at (317) 833-0378.