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Guest post by: Karen Scharf Become an Author

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Sure, you might be getting tons of traffic, but what are your visitors doing once they land on your website? Lots of traffic doesn't necessarily mean lots of subscribers, lots of leads or lots of sales. If you don't take a very objective look at each of the pages on your site, you might be flushing your valuable traffic-building efforts down the drain.

If you designed and/or built your own site, it could be hard to look at it objectively. And even if you didn't build it yourself, it may still be difficult to take an unbiased view. Many small business owners "fall in love" with their websites, they grow fond of seeing their logos prominently displayed, they get used to the color scheme and page layout and they can't even imagine that anything can be done to improve their beautiful site.

If that sounds familiar, it's time to take off the rose-colored glasses. Here are 4 questions to ask yourself - and to answer honestly - about your website:

1. Does My Site Grab My Visitor's Attention?

You might think your site looks gorgeous, and you might enjoy looking longingly at it for hours on end. But your visitors won't. In fact, studies show that if your visitor can't figure your site out in 3 seconds or less, he'll simply click away and go elsewhere.

If you can't be objective, try this little trick... Open your website in your browser. Close your eyes as your site is loading. Now open your eyes, look at your site and count to 3. Now close your eyes.

What did you see in those 3 seconds? What were the things that stood out the most? Was it apparent what path you should take on the page? Was the purpose of your site obvious in those 3 seconds? If not, you need to make some serious changes.

2. Do My Visitors Know What To Do Here?

If your site has passed the 3 second test, does the visitor know what you're offering? Sometimes small business owners get so caught up in being cute and clever on their websites that they sacrifice clear and concise. Your message, your offer, your benefits must be extremely obvious and understandable. Sure, the dancing monkey flash video might be adorable, but a simple benefits-laden headline will probably convert at a much higher rate.

3. Am I Getting Carried Away With Myself?

Just because you offer blue widgets and red widgets and purple gadgets and green gadgets polka-dotted whatsits doesn't mean you have to present each and every one of them on your page. Limiting the options on any one page can actually improve conversions. Use your traffic logs and study visitor paths to determine which options to offer at which stage of the site visit.

4. Do My Visitors Know What I'm Talking About?

This one is a tough one for many small business owners who are writing their own web copy. It's important that you avoid any industry-insider terminology or trade-specific phrases that your site visitor might not know. When you're an expert in your field, it can be difficult to put yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn't know as much as you do about your topic. But if you want to maximize your traffic, it's imperative that you be honest with yourself about the phrases you choose to use.

As a small business owner, it's important that you honestly look at your website through the eyes of your site visitors. By taking an objective view of your site and making the necessary improvements, you'll be able to maximize your site traffic and increase your conversions.

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