You managed to entice your email reader or web surfer to click your link or your ad. In today’s cluttered web marketing world, that’s quite an accomplishment. But don’t start celebrating yet. It’s what happens after the click that determines the success of your campaign.

And unfortunately, according to a recent SilverPop study, up to 50% of visitors leave your landing page within the first 8 seconds. So, what can you do to increase your conversions after the click?

First, don’t panic, and don’t feel too bad. A MarketingSherpa survey revealed that conversion rates for email campaigns average only 5.67 percent (11.31 percent for free offers). So you’re definitely not alone in less than optimal campaign results. But if your conversions are significantly below these averages, you may want to take some time and implement a few of these changes:

Ensure that the text and promotional copy on your landing page match the text and promotional copy of your email campaign. Often times, the email message is written by a copywriter and the landing page is created by a web developer and the two messages are not in sync. One of the quickest fixes is to use the same headline on your landing page as you used in your email message.

Create a dedicated landing page for your campaign. If you are offering a widget on sale for $14, take the readers to the widget page. Do not dump them on your home page and expect them to crawl around looking for your widget.

Use the same look and feel in your email message or display ad that you use in your landing page. Landing pages that do not match the original ad end up confusing the visitors. They think they are in the wrong place and they end up clicking away from the page altogether.

Reduce your form fields as much as possible. Forms that require more than 10 fields result in significantly reduced conversions.

Eliminate navigation bars or other linking elements that might distract the visitor and cause him to click away.

Request a copy of my FREE report Discover The Secret To Generating More Leads With Your Free PDF Reports! for more information on coordinating your ad with your landing page. You can download a copy here: http://www.modernimage.com/freereports/pdfs.htm

Time to implement: The most successful landing pages are actually the simplest to create, so you will probably save time by implementing this tactic. You can reuse text, reuse graphics, and simply your page template to cut your campaign creation time in half.

It seems as if everyone is using overly-gushy guarantees on their web sites lately. How often have you seen wording like “Absolutely, Positively, No Questions Asked, Better Than Money Back 100% Satisfaction Guarantee”? Sometimes the guarantee takes up almost half of the sales page itself! But do these overly-energetic guarantees really increase sales?

In a recent survey, respondents reported that concrete, in-depth information on how to take advantage of the guarantee was more of a sales persuader than the wording of the guarantee itself. No need for fluff, just facts.

So, here’s an easy-to-implement Successful Site Secret for you: add a page to your web site telling your customers exactly what they need to do if they are unhappy with your product. Spell out your guarantee policy in its entirety. Does the customer need to call a special phone number? Write to a certain email address? Return the product within a set amount of time? What exactly will you do to make the customer happy? How long will it take to get a refund?

Giving specific information makes your guarantee come to life, which increases your credibility. And, as you know, increased credibility leads to increased sales.

Add More Weight to Your Guarantees

Instead of using overly gushy text, you can increase your site conversions by adding more “weight” to your guarantee with the use of visuals. Studies show that conversions go up as visitor anxiety goes down. A proven way of reducing visitor anxiety is by making your guarantee seem more “real” by associating it with a graphic. Simply adding a starburst or other type of call-out ext to your stated guarantee has been shown to increase conversions by a much as 22%.

Be sure to place your guarantee in close proximity to the call to action. And don’t confuse your visitor by using vastly different wording in your text and your graphic.

Need Some Images?

I’ve assembled a package of “guarantee images” that you may download freely and use at your own website.  Click here to grab the free images and have them up on your site in no time.

Time to implement: Creating a new page that specifically outlines your guarantee should take approximately 45 minutes. If you use one of the pre-made images mentioned above, you’ll be able to add your chosen graphic to your site in approximately 20 minutes.

With all the other steps you have to take in order to grow your business, you probably don’t have time for a complete website overhaul. And yet, with competition entering the playing field daily, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your site is in tip-top shape and getting adequate traffic.

A great way to draw the attention of the search engine spiders and to provide incentive for visitors to keep coming back to your site is by adding new and fresh content. But who has extra time to devote to content creation? You do - if you utilize these three super simple content creation strategies that you can easily implement in under an hour.

Start a blog.
A web log (blog for short) is akin to an online journal and it usually incorporates lots of links and comments from readers. Using a blog platform makes updates and delivery a breeze. Don’t make your blog a sales pitch. Instead, offer tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc.

The one downfall to blogs is that the large majority (over 90% according to one study) are abandoned soon after they’re started. Abandoning your blog can actually hurt your business’s credibility instead of enhancing it. If you’re concerned about your ability to maintain your efforts throughout the year, I suggest you create a “themed” blog and let your readers know it will only run during a certain season, for a particular sale, or some other pre-determined time frame. You can offer creative suggestions for using your products as gifts, unique ideas for your services, anything that relates to your website.

Incorporate RSS feeds.
Really Simple Syndications (RSS) allows you to add news and information from other web sources onto your own site. Visitors can also subscribe to your RSS feed (you’ve probably seen the little orange icons throughout the web) and be notified whenever you update your site’s content. You can notify visitors when you announce a sale, when your stock changes, when your shipping deadline is drawing near, and so on.

Use polls and surveys.
People like to share their views and learn more about other people’s views. Surveys provide instant gratification on both counts, since the results are generally displayed immediately. The most effective polls are short and easy. Ask readers to choose their favorite among several offered items. Ask them to vote on the best Christmas gift for a 6 year old boy. Not only do polls and surveys increase your visitor interaction, but the information you collect can be extremely valuable to your future marketing efforts.

Survey Monkey is a tool that allows you to create polls and surveys that are hosted online. You develop your survey on the Survey Monkey site then copy and paste the link into your website. No coding experience or database support is needed.

Ask your readers to contribute.
You might be surprised at how many readers are willing to contribute content to your website just for the glory of seeing their name in print. You can also take advantage of article directories as long you follow the publishing guidelines. Just make sure all the user generated content you include is relevant to your site and to your visitors.

Keeping your website content updated doesn’t have to be time consuming and doesn’t have to be expensive. Tools like blogs, RSS, surveys and user-generated content allow you to keep your site fresh and interesting.

Be sure to keep it quick and simple. When you’re busy “running your business” you don’t always have time to try out innovative features and learn new technologies. Use proven tools that are readily available and your visitors are sure to return again and again. And your search engine rankings will improve as a result!

Time to implement: Each of the above tactics can be implemented on your site in approximately one hour. Start with the one you’re most interested in and incorporate a new tactic each day.