Re: Strange and annoying

From: Jim Stiles <jwstiles_at_winbatch.com>
Date: Mon 12 Feb 2001 08:48:24 -0600

How to get more business from your site with 10,000 hits a day, but
just 4 sales per month (a conversion rate of .000013 or .0013%?.

First, your conversion rate isn't that bad. Your site is loaded
with thumbnails that count as "hits" but not as unique visits.
You need to get a handle on this. Get your ISP to record referrer
fields in your log files. Then sort through the logs to get
information on your site. Start by looking at a day's activity
in Excel. Once you gain perspective from actually seeing the data,
you can move up to a Web log analysis tool. I use WebTrends Log
Analyzer. It gets the essentials out and in formats you
can use.

Use your log files to profile visitors, analyze search engine
search words and track activity; all this comes from those
referrer fields ISPs are prone to leave out of your logs simply
because you didn't ask for them.

To start improving results, think about benchmarks. Are there some
numbers you can improve on? The best must be some ratio you like that
connects site visits directly to sales.

You asked for suggestions. I won't make any. I'm simply not
qualified, even though I did check your site. The simplest way to
improve is to find a site somewhere that does make a buck, and copy
it. A big step up is to bribe a small group, customers or friends,
to serve as a focus group.

Use the focus group to root out bad design and function. When you
add something new, your group, and your log file analysis software,
can provide a path to profitability.

With your marketing research program in place, why not check the
Web for "information architecture? Here is one book: Information
Architecture for the World Wide Web by Louis Rosenfeld, Peter
Morville (Paperback - March 1998) . This article makes sense to me
(and probably at least one other person, the author):
http://webword.com/interviews/rosenfeld.html

Information architeture is all about finding what it is you want.
In your case, can they find the art? Is it displayed like it would
be in a home or office? Can people without much visual imagination
put the art into their lives?

Marketing is tough. Just pleasing the customer is much more
difficult than getting a Nobel prize (IMHO). Just by posting
your open-ended request you seem to be on the right track.
Good luck.

Jim Stiles




Received on Mon Feb 12 2001 - 08:48:24 CST