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Why pay for advertising that does not generate sales? Before you part with your cold hard cash, consider various ways to increase and maximize your conversions. The term "conversion" simply represents the number of website visitors that take the action that the web publisher desires. In most cases, conversion refers to an individual browsing a website and then purchasing the products or services being sold. Webmasters measure conversions in order to judge the effectiveness of Pay-Per-Click advertising and other advertising campaigns.

In order to track the ROI (Return On Investment) of any advertising campaign, effective conversion tracking must be deployed. Webmasters commonly use unique URLs, scripting, log analysis, and/or cookies in an attempt to track the number of visitors that make a purchase as a result of specific advertising campaigns. By evaluating log files and tracking systems, webmasters are able to track a website visitor's behavior and actions within a site, and this helps webmasters determine what advertising is the most effective. After all, the goal is to make more money than is spent! Typically, log file analysis alone is not sufficient to effectively analyze each individual visitor's actions and behaviors.

It is difficult to predict what advertising and advertising mediums will increase sales and return the highest ROI. Before you to begin advertising, you should analyze web data. If you typically have a low conversion rate on downloads-to-sales, spending money on advertising may not produce significant results or a high ROI. So before you part with your hard earned money, take a look at how to maximize your sales.

Before you begin advertising, you should analyze...

1. Download-To-Sales Ratios
Prior to purchasing any advertising, take a good look at your download-to-sales ratio, and see how well your existing website converts. At minimum, you should be seeing a 1% conversion rate on software downloads. Some vertical-market products can achieve conversion rates as high as 20% or even 40%, but they have a far more targeted audience. Regardless, the conversion ratio should be optimized prior to purchasing any advertising.

2. Customer FeedBack
Listen to your customers, and solicit pre-sale and post-sale user feedback. Often, customer comments will lead to small changes that will have a positive impact on sales. Customers can be a captive audience -- listen to what they are saying, and make adjustments when similar comment patterns emerge.

3. Uninstall Survey
Include an uninstall survey in your software to get a better sense of why your customers are uninstalling your product instead of purchasing it. This information can also lead to product changes that will result in increased sales.

When you have assessed and maximized your conversion ratio, its time to look at advertising options. Keep in mind that the more you are able to target your advertising, the higher your conversion rate is likely to be. Statistics clearly show that if you know your audience, and you target your advertising to your audience, the advertising will convert at a much higher rate than non-targeted advertising.

Do not be afraid to experiment. Try unusual mediums, and test customer reactions to split-testing. As a webmaster, you have a whole host of tools that allow you to track the actions that your visitors take. Use these tools to analyze and test theories that relate to conversions.

Webmasters should employ the following tracking methods to evaluate customer actions...

1. Logs
When determining areas of low conversion, evaluate weblogs. Look at the abandon rate by viewing single access web pages.

2. Web Cookies
Use cookies to track the actions that visitors take on a website; do they return and purchase at a later date?

3. Javascript
Many webmasters track customer actions using javascript that is embedded in the webpages.

4. Landing Pages
Unique URLs or special landing pages can be instrumental in tracking the success of an advertising campaign. They are also helpful when you conduct split-testing. sending users to different web pages, and then tracking the result for each.

5. A/B Split-Testing
When in doubt, conduct an A/B Split test, which will allow you to determine what text, graphics, or promotional advertisement is most effective in closing the sale. A/B split-tests typically alternate between offering website visitors a different presentation of the same material. After a number of impressions, the split-test should indicate which presentation closed the sale more often.

It is no secret that you have to spend money to make money. But before you do, make sure that you will get the most bang for your buck by maximizing your conversion rate.

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