The number one frustration I hear from webmasters and ecommerce site owners is that they have lots of traffic, but they make no money. The conversion rates can be dismal in the internet world. Without a good website and powerful SEM program, the typical conversion rate is 1% hit the website, and 1 – 5% of those buy.

This means that for every 100 000 visitors, 1000 will visit the website. Of these, 1 – 5 will make a purchase. It can take a long time for a Do-It-Yourself Internet Marketer to build a web marketing campaign that brings 100 000 organic visitors to a website.

There are several ways to improve conversion rates. The important thing is to remember that reputation and branding are vital aspects of the conversion process. Free scripts are good, but their graphic interfaces are poor quality.

Image is everything. Web shoppers are wary of phishing websites, scam offers, and unencrypted shopping carts. The best way to build credibility is to use the same services used by the best websites.

Select the Right SLL Certificate

The most important conversion tool is a SLL certificate. The most trusted one is Verisign. The $400 invested into a Verisign certificate will be the best investment into conversion a webmaster can make. The Verisgin logo appears on Overstock.com, Ebay.com, Paypal.com. Your company will be considered ‘credible by association.’

If you cannot afford a Verisign certificate, then try one of the services offered by godaddy.com .

Pick the Best Shopping Cart

A shopping cart should be built to sell – nothing more. One of the biggest mistakes is collecting marketing information before the check out

purpose. Most online purchases are impulse buys. Asking for personal information is intrusive, and results in a high number of shopping carts.

Chose a Good Payment Gateway

Taking the visitor ‘off site’ without informing them is one of the common reasons for abandoned shopping carts. If a website does use a third party service, such as Paypal.com then include a message that you are using the service to increase security, and make check out easier for clients.

Very few small business websites can afford a Merchant Account, the credit card processing fees, SLL certificate, and a good shopping cart. The use of payment gateways such as Paypal are vital to small business start up.

How to Improve Conversion Rates

These three tools are the basic elements needed to improve conversion rates. They need to be in place, before web design or content are optimized for shoppers.