How to Force People To Read Your Website <- That Means More Commissions!
Ol’ Danny boy here!
I wanted to share a very important tip on improving your conversion rates of your websites. I did a webinar the other day with a friend, and while we were reviewing the sites I noticed that EVERYONE had the same problem – they didn’t know how to build a website that is so easy to read that you are basically forced to go through the content.
In other words, their websites were so scatter brained that it was impossible to become engaged in them.
This doesn’t sound like a huge problem – you’re probably thinking ‘oh who cares some people will read it anyway’. I can assure you that if you don’t do this right, you will never make good money online. Your conversions will suffer dramatically, which means you make less money, which means you’ll never be able to compete if you are doing paid traffic at all.
I want to show you a couple examples and tell you what I think is wrong with them.
Exhibit #1
Here are the problems I see:
- Immediately you are bombarded with 6 different text boxes. You don’t even know where to start. What I’ve learned is when people are confused, they leave the site. When you build a website, in most cases its best to layer text like you see in a book. That’s what we are used to – it makes no sense to go against that.
- The navigation bars are too confusing with way too many links. Again, causing confusion
- Needs more images – a very boring site which doesn’t make you feel interested.
Exhibit #2 My Blog
I’m not afraid to acknowledge when I do something wrong, so here is my problem with my blog:
- The wall of text syndrome – you see too much text, and not enough images to keep the average reader interested. Within each post I should include at least one image.
I knew this was a problem all along, I’ve just been too lazy to fix it lol. I also have an advantage over the average website visitor because my traffic I send to my blog is my subscriber base traffic. I have already engaged you from my previous emails and info I send out, so most likely my content is going to be read regardless of how it looks. Although adding more images definitely would improve the read through rate.
This year I’m planning to take my blog mainstream, so I’m going to invest considerable effort into making it a ‘real’ blog instead of just a content portal for my subscribers.
Exhibit #3 <- Website done right
This is a pretty good website. Very clean and engaging. The only thing I would change on it is the sidebar and get rid of some of that extra stuff – I tried but the theme is encoded so they wouldn’t let me edit it out.
This site is good because:
- Images pull you into the text, and entice you to continue scrolling down.
- There’s not much else for you to do but read through the article.
- And it’s a site that is tightly built around a very specific topic
So there you have it!
Any tips, questions, comments? Feel free to leave them below! I always like reading them 🙂
Talk to you tomorrow!
Dan Brock
The Deadbeat Super Affiliate
I guess I have some website fixing to do thanks for the blog post DAN.
By the way thanks to your teachings I was able to make my first $400 dollars with amazon during the last few weeks of december
thanks dude
What theme is the last image it looks like a great landing page. Thanks for the info.
Hey Dan, very sound advice, would love you to look at mine if you a few mo’s could do withthe help
Thanks for the post 🙂
Hey Dan, once again you’ve hit the nail on the head with you are sharing. I’ve often wondered the mindset that design some of the websites. You are the best. Thanks for sharing as always.
Great advice Dan!
I’ve studied layout and agree completely.
I have read that the worst things are to provide too many choices at the same time AND / OR provide such a bland look the visitor loses interest. And graphics can certainly be used to capture a visitor’s attention and get them to take a second or closer look.
I do wonder though if a person comes to a page filled with text, such as your blog or an article on one of the article directories, perhaps with a good headline and an interesting and informative article… maybe people will read it anyway assuming the material matches what they are looking for?
Otherwise, it seems like article marketing would not be very effective.
What do you think?
Anyway, great article!
Very good points, Dan – something I’ve been working on lately with some of my blogs is the readability – especially with the “wall of text”.
You are right? Too confusing equals leave the site. Where are you located? Just curious.
John
I learn something new everytime I read your blog. However this is something I had already picked up from your DSA training.
great tips dan
we are working on this on our sites right now too
cheers
Hey Dan,
Thanks for this, I agree with your points. Ive found since getting into internet marketing and trying out autoblog software – it comes into the most ridiculous formats, that dont engage the reader at all – So other than my main blogs that are all unique anyway, Im editing down the other stuff so make it better 🙂 thanks for your 3 website bonus too – I still have to change your affiliate links to mine LOL…. but they worked great 🙂
best wishes and have a great week, Clare 🙂
Hi Dan:
Of course you’re right on the money here Dan.
Your comparison between the 2 sites you went over with Hitesh and G15 Keyboard Review “best of breed” are clear.
G15 Keyboard Review is so much easier on the eyes. The problem is how to achieve this effect easily & consistently in WordPress?
Kudos to you and Hitesh for showing us what is wrong with our sites.
What we need help with now is the bare bones basics of how to consistently set up sites in an easy on the eyes style…..(that you advocate)
i.e. how to grab images, insert them properly and efficiently and what the “ideal” spacing rules should be between text and images to get the “pro” look.
Thanks again for your website review with Hitesh. It was a truly useful webinar from beginning to end.
Best wishes,
PV
This is a great point. I don’t think most people think about this when they build a site or a blog. Bounce rate will be at 100% if you don’t figure out how to make a site at least look good. I’ve always obsessed over design and spent more time on the design than the content sometimes. Then I figured out the effectiveness of a lot of whitespace, and I quit worrying about it so much.
One image per post is a solid rule of thumb though.
Not to be an ass- but if I may critique one thing… you should have a logo made for this blog. The “Dan the Internet Man” in that plain text could be replaced with a clean-looking logo and it would instantly transform how this whole blog looks.
I’m sure you’re planning on that already with the re-design you mentioned in the post though…
People overload their blog all the time which is really discouraging when you land on them because you’re like “ummm, okay, what do I do?!”
You have to get into the mindset that you’re there to convert a person when they land – either turn them into a subscriber, have them read your content, share your post and any other action you want.
If you bombard people right from the beginning, you’re screwed.
Hi Dan, I agree that with #1 I get lost too and #2 is another boring block of text. Sorry about that Dan. I typically only read those when I really want to know about the subject matter. Number 3 gets my vote from the standpoint of visual interest.
I’ve been endeavoring to do the same with my 1st affiliate site, URL provided. Unfortunately, I chose a really competitive market. More research before hand would have been beneficial. Anyway, it’s a work in progress & realize that it needs more content and backlinks etc. I have since decided to develop a couple of other sites in different directions altogether. Any thoughts from you or from your other readers here will be considered.
Thanks for the post.
Steve
I was on that webinar and you reviewed my site. I made the changes you suggested, so go check it out and tell me what you think. Thanks by the way for a great webinar!
http://www.clarisonicskincarereviews.com
Create points Dan! Thanks for the insight!
Hi,
I’m working om a site for Amazon through following your
Deadbeat course. I was wanting to know if I can change the theme after all the addons have been included. Will the adons stay in the new theme. I think my theme is too busy and cluttered.
Would you mind replying. I guess you can’t do that on here.
Oh well it is good to read your tips here anyway. I needed to be reminded to keep it simple.
Excellent advice Dan.
Will now take fresh look at my layout as what you said has actually been on my mind, so will take action now you have confirmed my thoughts.
It is always good to see things from a different perspective.
The visitors I get to my blogs are blog groupies. They are only there to leave their link. You see the same persons leaving the same comments on all my blogs. They do not know though that it are my blogs :-). Some leave about 60 comments on one blog. I do not think that they give the website look any thought. They are checking for the possibility to leave a comment and that is it. How do you get people in the buying mood to a blog?
I am going to proceed with my deadbeat course to check how to improve my sites or build different sites.
Hey Dan,
Nice post. We all need to put ourselves into our traffics shoes! Ive been using your deadbeat system and I have to say it works quite well. In 2 weeks one of my sites is #4 on page one of google! People its awesome. Use the information Dan gives you and apply it.
Thanks again Dan,
Daniel
@Cher,
Nice work on the site – a bit cluttered though. The header with the flower is a major distraction. Sidebar has A LOT of stuff in there. Maybe considering trimming it down a little?
You always deliver with great information ..thanks for the tip bro
Really cool stuff. It is very simple fact always ignored. Thanks Dan
I agree with the one logo or banner per text article, great advice.
Thanks for the webinar, allot of good info.
I have been working to input all the advice you gave that night.
If you have the time would you please review my sites and give me your hash critisism I can take it.
Thanks in advance
Dale
http://topaffiliatesecrets.net/
http://www.millionaires-notebook.com/
I thought of changing the Title to a more appropriate key word but could not come up with any yet. Any thoughts there?
Hi Dan
Great tip. Yes, I agree with you. Whenever I see a website that’s too cluttered with ads, I quickly run away. It gives me the impression that the blog owner just “WAnt to make money from me”.
I prefer to find blogs that provide value. Build trusts and I will be more than willing to buy things from them and let them earn their money.
Cheers
Making Money On Line
Damn- now the logo is there. You act fast- lol.
You must have already had that ready to go. It looks great.
Great post and I too have discovered that “less is more” when it comes to the construction of your website. I also like the idea of more pics which is what I need to be doing…just make sure those alt tags have your keyword in them! =)
Great advice Dan. I’ve followed Hitesh for a while now, and think you two make a good combination…the thing you seem to have most in common is “honesty”…a rare thing to find in this hype-filled IM industry…
About halfway through the webinar replay, but have already picked up useful tactics for my http://kindleaustralia.net.au website…
Thanks,
Mike
I’m using the Flexibility Theme3 which provides the option to make a full width page, eliminating the side bars altogether which I’ve done on several of my sites.
I’ve just created a new site , http://danbrocksproducts.com on which to promote the deadbeat super affiliate and any other products Dan comes out with later, and was thinking only this morning of creating full width pages especially for reviews.
Your post has just reiterated my own thoughts so I’m going to do that probably tomorrow.
Visitor’s first impression is normally the main logo on the top of the page.
A well designed logo will give it a professional look and sustain eyeballs.
Great tips, Will do it on my amazon site, and I hope can improve my earnings. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Dan:
I really enjoyed your Webinar with Hitesh. It offered some fantastic information. The best info I have ever seen on a Webinar and not trying to sell anything. I emailed you earlier today. Hope you get time to read my email. I would appreciate. Would also appreciate you taking a look at my site and tell me what you think. Pros and Cons. Thanks
http://www.blogforinternetcash.com
Hi Dan
Grat tips. I am working on my websites for a couple of weeks now and will try to implement you advice straigh away. Thanks for sharing.
I love discussions about web design. I used to do a lot of it actually until I discovered WordPress. There are a lot of great web usability guides that talk about what you mention here. My favorite is “Web Pages That Suck” 🙂 But anyway, great post about usability!
Thanks for the cool stuff, you are my favorite IM’er at the moment!
I can see you already made some changes to your Blog, added a header and changed the homepage to grid layout.
Dan, check Matt Carters blog for some great ideas.
Hi Guys
I have only just started internet marketing and only just opened a wordpress account, does anyone have any suggestions where I could find something for “wordpress for dummie” as my first blog does not look good.
Hi Dan,
I create my blog by inspiring your design only. but mine is little bit fancy.
I am using Fazyvo 1.6 theme. Its so simple and with so many option.
Thanks for your great advice.
Thanks Dan for the Advise ,did not have time to view the whole webmina, but pretty good info about the model number domain name, i will try to improve my site according to your recommendations in this blog , thanks again.
Hey Dan,
Awesome post, by the way. I fully agree with your first example – it is very disengaging to the reader. Too much clutter with no step by step direction. Probably you would end up skimping through the various blocks of text without actually finding anything of interest and click away.
Regarding your second example to your blog it isn’t that bad as at least there is an image on the right which breaks up the monotony, even though it is for a subscription (lead – email capture) purpose. But again I agree, an extra image or two, even if they are 200×200, will not hurt and probably will keep the reader more engaged. (Pictures speak a hundred words – they say!)
About the third example of your review site for the G15 keyboard I assume you were trying to get it more looking like a static site without right side bar. This can be achieved with some simple hard-coding to your blog template.
You can visit one of my own money site blogs, which looks like a normal site with top menu navigation bar, all leading to different pages. Most pages are designed without the WP theme side bar. The site I’m referring to is http://www.DiagnosticOBD2Scanner.com. Have a quick peek and see if that is the design (look) you want to achieve.
If that is what you’re after you can quickly go through the free video tutorials I found online to get your blog looking like a website. (You can choose if you want to use certain pages with the side bar too). In a nutshell, all that you’ll be doing is creating another page template to choose from using a dropdown menu in your WP BackOffice under Pages (not Posts):- example: Default or No Side Bars.
You can still keep your current theme as all you are doing is adding some php code to your theme. The link for this setup video tutorial is: http://www.Expand2Web.com/blog/custom-page-template-wordpress/. If you have any trouble, contact me via email. I’ll be glad to help you out.
Hope this helped you find the solution you were looking for.
Dan
Either you’re being a bit slow, or you’re warming up the market nicely.
Get a programmer to modify an existing Theme, and sell it to your database.
And cut me in!
Cheers
Pete
Yes, excellent as always! Thank you, Dan!
I also want to let people know that all the FLASH stuff on websites is totally not cool, for the most part, that is. Use it very sparingly.
I visit a site that has great information on it. About a year ago, the site owner decided to have her site professionally redone so it could be monetized. Now there are flash ads everywhere! I can hardly stand visiting her site anymore. I only go there once in a while now, just because she does have great info.
Don’t drive your customers away by doing what she did. Sigh…
I’m pretty sure my sites suffer in the same way. I badly over word and under picture my sites.
Thanks Dano
I think the visual star rating system that you tuaght helps too when reviewing several products.
I’m going right over to my site and look at it with a different eye – Thank you so much – I enjoy you really helpful insight. 🙂
Thanks this is great info.
But I think the content is crucial too, also use CTA with mentioning the discount % proven to convert better.
What is the theme of the last website?
Cheers,
Shin
I am in the exact same boat as you Dan, because the majority of the traffic does come from my list to my blog hence the reason I JVs hardly no graphics! But I will be looking to change that very soon!
Although on reflection it may seem obvious, it is all too easy to get carried away pushing it additional content widget’s etc.
It’s when you read something like this that it makes you step back, then have a more analytical look at what you have been doing with your site/blog.
Checking back just now to one of my sites http://thesourceofsuccesses.com, tells me I should really either drop the sidebar from the blog page or have a re-think and tidy up (not one of my strong points:-).
Nice one Dan
Dan- As always, right on target- great advice and I have some editing to do to my website- sometimes less is more is a better way to go. People like images and not just text.
Hello all,anyway, Dan I need help with the correct way to set up wordpress. Do you think I can use WP direct?
I would really like your honest opinion. Because I am thinking of becoming a member and I will have to
sacrifice some things just to afford the extra expense at the moment. Also ,do you recommend against it for
use with Amazon review sites?
Good stuff. Thanks!
Thanks for the tips Dan. Very helpful information on creating a clear eye path and not giving the reader too many choices, which as you state, lead to confusion and no action.
I am enjoying your Deadbeat Affiliate Course and have a question I didn’t find answered anywhere in the course material.
>> Do you leave the comment boxes up on your review pages? None of the videos I watched show that far down on the page.
Thanks again.
It’s definitely good advice to mix up your content with images and other formatting like bullets to draw the read in and avoid the Wall of Text syndrome.
I know lots of people advocate removing the sidebar altogether – but the problem with that is you then end up with lines of text that are over 900 pixels wide – and that in itself becomes difficult to read.
I’ve created my own theme for my Amazon reviews with a sidebar that I can edit on a review by review basis so that I can include in the sidebar nothing but an image and buy button for the product and the commission disclosure as required by the FTC/OFT.
Hey Dan,
I’ve missed that webinar and hoping to get the chance you guys can check my site. I bought your Deadbeat product and very fortunate to learn from your stuffs. So I came up creating a website that I never thought that it’ll be a huge work for me alone. But anyways, maybe you can have some time to take a look. Thanks for this great information and advices.
Dan
You’ve done it again.
It seems like a small thing but didnt a great man once say that its the little foxes that spoil the vine.
will be reviewing my mini and maxi sites and applying some change.
thanks
Thanks Dan for the tips. I too have a lot of fixing to do and it does make sense. I know when I’m surfing the net, I have a short attention span when trying to find what I am looking for. Adding pictures or video definitely helps to keep my interest.
Hi, Dan and others,
Your advice is terrific, Dan. I sort of got your message when I was writing HyperCard stacks (HyperCard was sort of an object oriented programming language; I was trying to write some educational software for my community college class.) This was for the original Mac and the screen was very small about 9″ I think. So screen space had to be carefully planned. One of the things I discovered was not to have too much text; leave some white space. I am sort of trying to do that with web pages; don’t know how successful I’ve been.
If you have a chance, I’d love to get your opinion on the website I listed; don’t want to do something forbidden by asking this. The URL is: http://www.biologyofpain.com I am interested in setting up some sites relating to pain. I am also working on your Amazon site plan.Too many things going on; I need to concentrate a little. It is fun, tho, I like planning and making web sites.
So, thanks for excellent posts (all of them).
Dorothy