3 fixes you must make to increase sales on your website

I had a super interesting conversation recently with a fellow small business owner (and one of my besties) Laura  who wanted to know what was wrong with her website and why she was getting a ton of traffic but was desperate to increase sales

I checked out her website  and it was pretty nice, there were just a few small and easy fixes  she needed that would increase her sales conversion rate a ton. So I helped her fix them and she’s going to start seeing those benefits add up real soon. 

So I figured if these were small but important things she was missing then a whole bunch of you are likely to be leaving money on the table in a similar way. 

So I decided I’d share with you guys the 3 things you must fix to increase sales on your website  so you can start selling more.  

So what is the average conversion rate anyway? 

It’s kind of important to know what an average conversion rate is to be honest. If not you could be searching for the moon on a stick trying to increase sales when really you’re actually doing awesome. 

So, it does vary, the average is 2-5% of potential customers landing on your site will make a purchase. 

It tends to be on the  higher side for e-commerce shops, people have usually landed there to buy something, now or in the future, and a little lower for high ticket offers where people usually have a bit more skin in the game and need more persuasion. 

So what if you’re not hitting the average rates, or you’re somewhere near the bottom and want to get higher conversions? 

Well read on to find out the top 3 simple fixes you can make to your website to increase your conversion rate. 

But first let’s talk about three reasons your conversion rate might be a little lower that aren’t related to your website. 

1.Your product or service  just isn’t doing it – I’m not saying it sucks – but maybe the way your explaining the benefits and getting people to understand the value isn’t quite hitting the mark with your ideal customer? If you think that’s the case try checking out the product or offer copy pages from my mentor Carinda Gosling at This is co. Her simple plug and play templates will get you sales page up to scratch in no time. This isnt an ad or affiliate link btw I just love her!

2.The traffic coming to your website is all pretty cold traffic. If you’re getting loads of traffic coming directly from search engines who don’t know anything about you, they may well not be ready to buy….. Yet. Focus on getting them on to your email list so that you can nurture them and entice them to buy in the future. 

3. You dont have enough social proof . I talk endlessly about social proof, and this article What is social proof and 5 ways to use it will tell you everything you need to know so check that out.

But to nail it right down no matter how amazing your website is, if you potential customers dont trust you to deliver they aint buying. No matter how good the offer. So you’ve got to get sprinkling those testimonials, thank you messages and success stories all over that website.

If you’re sure your sales pages are bang on , you’re site is loaded with social proof and you’re getting a lot of traffic from your social media pages then what else can you check on your site? 

Ok here goes with the top 3 fixes I shared with my lovely friend Laura 

 1. Simple Navigation ( That’s your menus, links and buttons)

Remember the old saying KISS Keep it simple stupid?? Not saying your potential customers are stupid ( well not all of them) but we need to make sure your website is easy to get around without needing much thought. I mean we all scroll the web to chill right? So if it’s a minefield with no clear path your potential customer is going to be like nope i’m out and click off your website. 

 So how do we fix it. 

First and easiest tip – check your website menu bar – is it clear what i’m getting when I click those links? The menu is not the time to be cute or witty or have a theme it needs to be direct. Think Services or work with me not “ the enchanted toolbox” or some other BS  name that your customer is going to think WTF does that mean. 

Simple really is the name of the game. 

Next check those call to actions – are they clear and straightforward? Again think book a call or buy here.  And are they at the bottom of all relevant sections where a customer might well think, yep i’m ready to buy?

If they are then so far so good the other easy thing to check is do they lead to your main goal of your website. So if you want visitors in your shop are you call to action  buttons showing your customers where to go to buy from you? 

If you have a whole mishmash of call to actions leading your poor visitor all over the place then  you need to decide where to send them to achieve your main goal ( I mean that’s a sale right? ) and send them there in the easiest quickest and most straightforward way possible. 

Hear me now when I say … dont be getting them all hot to purchase and then sending them off to your about page or blog articles or anywhere but your sales page.

Want to know more about how to design your website to make sure you aren’t losing sales along the way check out our course.

2. Make sure your website loads quickly. 

Look this one is simple – no one wants to wait for ANYTHING any more. We need our food delivered in minutes our movies to start streaming in seconds and our websites to load instantly. 

And if they don’t we move on to the next click down on google. It’s an easy way to lose potential customers in a matter of , well, milliseconds. 

So how to fix it. 

We need to use a couple of plugin – an optimisation plugin and an image compression plugin. 

It’s as easy as that. 

I won’t bore you with the ins and outs… blah blah cache  blah blah but essentially the optimisation plugin that optimises your files and website data bases to make your page load faster. And the image compression plugin works it’s magic by making images smaller and easier to load but without losing any quality. 

There are a whole host of these plugins out there to use  – this article from authority hacker gives a good overview of the best of them. 

And if i’m to be the new influencer of wordpress plugins then i use and recommend WP Rocket and Imagify – add affiliate link (Affiliate link – if you sign up from here i get a small percentage – you’re basically buying me a gin and tonic to say thanks!)

3 Simplify the sales process. 

Like I just said time is the most important and scarce  commodity we have these days. No one wants to spend time filling our every little detail just to buy a product or course, hell what they are buying is probably to save them time so they dont want to waste it. If it gets to in depth then people are more likely to bounce off your site to somewhere its easier and quicker to buy. 

How to fix it

If you are an ecommerce brand this is simple – make your check out process quick quick quick! 

Only ask for the most essential information needed for the purchase and utilise apple pay and amazon pay etc so that people having to go find their wallet doesnt lead them to leave your site and never come back. 

and definitely allow people to check out as a guest, even if they already have an account, aint nobody got time to be resetting passwords when they wanted a quick purchase, just reduce any possible distractions and friction that might stop them from buying. 

If you’re a service based business this might be a bit harder, you probably need another step – like a sales call to check you are the right fit, but again make this easy to schedule and book. Have a good range of times available to book  and allow it to be cancelled or rescheduled easily. 

Then once you get to the sales part the above applies make the process easy and offer payment plans etc where possible. Like an ecommerce business the aim of the game here is to minimise anything that can possibly get in the way of a sale. 

And one last simple top tip … Take your header and footer off your sales page or shop. You dont want any distractions we want them to buy not sign up for your newsletter or something else that can be great but not when we are trying to close the sale. 

Want to know more about how to design your website to make sure you aren’t losing sales along the way check out our course.