Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello all, I`m new to the community and looking for some help figuring out why my site is getting a reasonable number of visitors, but a very low conversion rate.

The address is http://maddoxoncology.com .

Some background: my business provides products to make cancer treatments more tolerable. My mother had breast cancer several years ago and identified the need for such a business at the time, as no one else was filling the need. My business model is purely e-commerce. I market via PPC and have done enough SEO to also get a good amount of organic traffic. The design is from a template I bought, but I pretty heavily customized it myself. I have had non-technical people use the site and feel like it is reasonably intuitive and bug-free. So I don`t get why my conversion rate is less than 1%.  I would appreciate any help on this.

I think you need to get the overall message to be a little more prominent, and personal .... you have just a brief message about cancer and pain, then go right into your products ... to me, it`s like you`re saying in an off-handed way ....

" This terrible condition exists, SO BUY OUR PRODUCTS TO FEEL BETTER ".

I`m sure that isn`t your intention, but it came across to me that way at first .... and you know about first impressions. You want  the "Your problem / Our solution" message to get sales results, of course, but with this topic, I think a bit more sensitivity to start with might be helpful.

Just my opinion.



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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried to make it brief because I had heard you only have something like 3 seconds to win over new visitors, but I totally see what you`re saying. I`ll come up with some more copy that`s more personal.

I don`t have an "about us" page. Another great suggestion.

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www.searchmarketingsystems.net

I`ll comment on the 4-second impression, and making things brief. It`s NOT that people ONLY view a site for four seconds. :-) Rather, it`s that you have about that time to *catch their interest!*

If you have a well-organized, interesting site, people will look at it, giving you the normal 4 seconds. THEN they`ll start reading, moving around, browsing and checking things out.

In other words, don`t get so caught up in the short initial look-see that you lose sight of the fact that people always are hoping to be interested in something, some place, or some one.

Viewing your site from an editorial perspective, I`d suggest that you first develop a rapport with your target market---cancer survivors. Take note of some of these radio commercials for debt consolidation or debt relief and settlements. The first thing they do is to establish that "you`re not alone."

Do you have any personal experience with cancer and the harsh side effects? If not, then connect with someone in real life who does, and work out an understanding that you can translate into written content. You`re trying to offer quality of life, but that means a great deal more than lack of pain.

Also look at some of the oncological products on TV, seeing how they focus on wellness, health, enjoyment, longevity, and all the opposing aspects of being smashed in the face with such a deadly disease. See how they establish that rapport as quickly as possible.

Thanks for all the great feedback googleguy. Your insight as someone with personal cancer experience is greatly appreciated.

Cancer has impacted several of my close relatives and friends, so I assure you my intentions are to help. I have focused on profit because I feel like that is how I can grow the business and therefore reach more people who need the products. I can totally see how that would be seen as me trying to get rich. Your suggestions are well taken. 

The picture of the couple at the top was an attempt at implementing a suggestion I received elsewhere, that the site should be "upbeat" and "personable" to try to connect with people and lift their spirits. Perhaps the image I chose was a poor choice, but I feel like the idea of having pictures of happy people in general is a good one. Do other people agree with that?

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I`m going to work through the site with my mother this weekend to give the site more of the patient`s perspective.

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www.searchmarketingsystems.net

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Mindy Weiss Bridal Collection
Mom Agenda desktop planner & organizer