There’s been a lot of talk lately about using negative press to draw traffic to a website. A lot of that buzz was generated by an article in the New York Times. Basically, there are website owners out there who use negative comments to draw customers to their websites. Google’s algorithms don’t separate positive reviews from negative ones; therefore, negative reviews of a website, product or service can actually bump it to the top of the search engine results pages, or SERP’s. If generating positive press for your site hasn’t been getting you anywhere, you might want to try striving for less-than-positive reviews instead.
Double Your Traffic, Double Your Sales
People are more likely to post links to a website when they feel passionately about it. When a person is extremely agitated or upset about something, they want to broadcast it to the world. Instead of being courteous and friendly to the people who buy things from you, then, do like the business owner in the NYT article and be nasty and unfriendly. Shock people with your careless and callous attitude; get them talking so that the word spreads about your product or service. With any luck, the negative press will work wonders in the search engines. People often click the first handful of links in the search engine results pages – they rarely notice whether those links are positive or negative in nature.
Stand Out and Increase Your Sales
The case in the NYT article is an extreme one, to be sure. Still, if being positive and providing top-notch customer service isn’t working for you, why not switch your strategy up a bit? The key thing here is standing out from other companies in some way. In the online sales game, increasing your traffic typically increases your sales. Until Google figures out a way to separate negative links from positive ones, this tactic could end up paying off for many business owners. As counter-intuitive as it undoubtedly is, providing horrible customer service could be just the strategy that is needed to double your website’s sales in just a few weeks.
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It’s not enough to get people to your website. Once they’re there, you have to make the sale. Every small detail of your website must be tailored toward this express purpose. Read on to discover how you might be squandering your digital space.
1) Link Wording – Conversions happen because people want to click on things. The proper wording makes your links more “clickable.” For instance, “Click here to save on car insurance” is more clickable than “Click here for more information.”
2) Be Different – Look at your competitors’ websites. How are they all the same? People get tired of the same old site over and over. They’ll have a number of windows open after conducting a search for your product. Make sure your website is aesthetically different from everyone else with your search keywords.
3) Get Rid of Adjectives – Nothing kills a sale more than trying too hard. By describing your product as “amazing,” “essential,” “great,” “flabbergastingly undeniably unforgettable,” customers’ bullshit detectors immediately activate. Stick to strong action verbs and precise nouns.
4) Measure and Test Constantly – Every month, make a small change to one of the details in your site. It could be the wording on a button; it could be the placement of a menu. Measure to see if your conversion rates have gone up or down. If they’ve gone up, keep it, if they’ve gone down, try something new. You can purchase and download split testing software if you want to be more efficient with your testing.
5) Add Guarantees – It’s been scientifically shown that websites with satisfaction guarantees, “or your money back” have significantly higher conversion rates than websites without them. Because there are very few people who will actually act on this guarantee, this is effectively a way to put free money in your pocket. This isn’t about lying, this is about taking advantage of typical customer behavior.
6) Don’t Be Obnoxious – Yes, you know what I’m talking about. Don’t force your readers to scroll down a million miles. Don’t “hide” the prices of your items until the customer gets halfway through the buying process. Don’t pretend to be giving away free things if you’re not. Don’t use those “Are you sure you want to leave this page?” pop-ups. Always remember, you can’t force the customer’s hand. She has to come to you of her own free will.
