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Building a great website is the first step toward success in the world of online retail. You need a slick website that is going to attract plenty of customers, but even if you manage that, you aren’t guaranteed success just yet. Getting people to come to the website is the first challenge but that’s only half the story. You also need to convince them to buy something while they’re there. This is the most common problem that new online businesses have. They’re getting plenty of visitors but they aren’t converting them into customers. In some cases, it might just be that your product isn’t good enough or you haven’t priced it properly. A bit of market research will tell you if that’s the case. If you’ve had a good response to the product and people think that it’s priced fairly, but you still aren’t making any sales, you could be making one of these other mistakes on your website.

Slow Loading Times

How long are you willing to wait for a website to load before you give up and look elsewhere? I bet it’s no more than a couple of seconds and most people would agree with you. That’s why a slow loading website is going to kill any potential sales immediately. There are quite a few different reasons for a slow loading website but usually, it’s to do with the hosting service that you’re using. Different websites have different needs which is why you should be using a hosting service that’s specifically aimed at businesses. Look at these business hosting packages and see which one works best for you. As well as loading times, you also need to find a service that offers good support, preferably with a live chat option. That way, if there is a problem with the site, you can get it sorted and get things up and running again quickly before you lose too many potential sales.

Not Using An Email List

Most people don’t buy the first time they go to your site. They’ll have a browse through your products and then go away and think about it for a while before coming back. The problem is, people often forget all about it and never come back to make a purchase, so you just need to give them a little reminder. Getting people to sign up to an email list and then sending them good marketing emails to encourage them to come back is one of the best ways to increase your online sales.

Annoying Checkout Process

A bad checkout page on a website is like the online equivalent of a huge queue in a store. A lot of people are going to change their minds and not bother. If they have to fill out loads of information and go through multiple pages, you’re just giving them more time to decide that they don’t want to make a purchase after all. That’s why you’ve got to make it as easy as possible for them.

Make these 3 simple changes to your site and you should see a big increase in sales in no time.