Ranking OK - sales dropped

[leeds1]

Hmm - tricking one this. OK we had a Worldpay outage over here in the UK this week so I know that has had an effect.

BUT

I am ranking very well for my secondary KWs (#1s coming thru also) in the UK and get loads of visitors but I've noticed this week that sales are down so would you take a look (as I have been tinkering a bit so I guess I have screwed up something)

http://www.teneric.co.uk

It's a business planning/ marketing site - I want people to buy the business plan writer etc etc

Can you let me know if the sales technique is OK, you found the right place OK (ie: navigation) and for you brave souls have a look at the shopping cart/ checkout process (you can go up to the Worldpay screen/ paypal) that's OK it's all logged anyhow and wont affect anything

Thanks for your help one and all

Leeds

[Old Welsh Guy]

hi Leeds, no need to get hung up on it. I know this might seem daft but the answer is simple.
Put the old site back up and check sales. Then if they go back up, you know it is the site changes. I do this every time with clients who come to me with this problem. If you don't do it, then you are going to struggle.

[SEbasic]

I don't know OWG... You are probabally right, but Ireally liked this site... I didn't see the old one so can't really compare, however...



The navigation was easy to use and straight forward. The testimonials all seemed really genuine. The shopping cart was really easy to use. The SEO package page was great - It showed examples of your SEO in a practical way and you were also really up front about what your selling. I really liked the information you provided on each item and the detail you used to explain it. The design was easy going and not too oppresive.

I really liked the site.

But if your sales have fallen after you have put a new site online I would take the advice of OWG. It would make sense...

[leeds1]

Thanks for looking

You know when you are deep in your own site sometimes you miss things

I'm going to leave it for another week and see what the story is.

[T0PS3O]

All seems fine to me but if it's the business plan writer you really want to push then you could perhaps make it stand out more on the homepage (if that is the general landing page). I had to scan the entire page and only then I found it. The current colour combination allow for one more colour that stands out and draws attention even more IMO. Try that and see if you get more hits to the BPW page.

Another note: the conversion page bplanx seems to me (although looking fantastic) like all those 'get rich fast' e-book download pages. One miles long schpiel where you have to scroll for miles on end. Yes it will give you the build up to the final order link but if I associate it with those 'not so professional' e-book pages, others might do as well. Maybe design another bplany page or something with a different approach of laying out the pitch. Perhaps seperate the testimonials so thepage will be shorter. Perhaps people are held back because of the length. You'll only know if you try. Run both pages for a week and monitor conversion.

Just my ideas... Keep us posted!

[leeds1]

Hi Tops

I have two main streams - sample business plans and the business plan writer

The first is in my headline as they sell the most - the second is the second headline

I've productised the second one now so will test that for a weeks and see what happens - believe it or not, long sales letters DO work - I can't believe it but they do..

[T0PS3O]

I see.

I know they work because they have converted myself once or twice. But a short cut option to cut right trough to the end gives people who don't like it (if there are any) the chance to have it their preferred way. On the existing page you could have a few anchor links to the bottom after each bit saying > proceed to ordering right away! > or something.

In general, I can recommend Dan Pena's book 'Your first 100 million'. You will get some valuable ideas out of that. See http://www.theguthriegroup.co.uk and http://www.danpena.com . After reading that book you can get any business off the ground, secure any loan and get any deal done if you have the right attitude.

[Lever]

Just from a visual perspective - would an additional, brighter colour or two to your pallette help out? Your scheme is similar to the Manta site in my sig and, ever-the-self-critic, I think it may benefit from that little extra something else? Maybe it would liven people up...?

I just flicked thru' a dusty copy of Steve Krug's "Don't make me think" here on my desk - I should go back over it again and re-aquaint myself with some of his more visual stuff...

Just thinking out loud, hope that helps :)