You already know that a “conversion” is when a website visitor takes an action and becomes a paying customer. You also know that leading a visitor from initial “looker” to “paying customer” takes time.

What you may not know is that your website has about five seconds from the time a visitor lands on your website to convince him to stay (and possibly become a paying customer) or go (and be gone forever). That’s right – five!

Five seconds is what, two blinks and a twitch?

So you’ve got that much time to attract a visitor’s interest. But how can you know whether your web page design is good or bad?

How can you tell if your web page design will keep a visitor on your site for more than five seconds?

Unfortunately, there’s no easy-to-follow formula you can apply to the problem. But, there is a cool new (free) tool that will give you some insight into how effective or ineffective your webpage design is.

You’re an affiliate marketer. So of course, when a visitor lands on your home page, you want him to be impressed. You want him to see your site as totally professional and absolutely trustworthy. We all want that.

The problem, though, that many affiliate marketers create for themselves is “home page overload.” In an effort to please and impress potential customers, maybe you’ve made the mistake of believing that “if a little is a good thing, a lot would be a better thing.”

It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the main purpose of your home page is to get people OFF your home page.

The idea is to get visitors to click a link and go BUY something. You should think of your home page more as an advertisement or a signpost than as the main attraction.

Information Overload

There’s lots of “stuff” that you might consider important enough to merit space on your home page; products, partnership announcements, press releases, job opportunities, marketing copy, positioning statements, sales or special offers, etc. Some of these elements ARE important, but some are simply distracting.

Visual Overload

Some of the most common home page “overkill” elements are wild background colors, huge graphical billboards, over-the-top headlines and buttons, flashing signs that focus attention on parts of the page that have nothing to do with converting the visitor, and useless animation or video.

Take an objective look at your home page and remember this basic principle of advertising:

If you emphasize everything, then nothing will be important.

Your home page has an objective. You want it to convince your website visitor to make a purchase. But it’s a pretty good bet that your visitor isn’t going to buy one of every product you represent. You must CHOOSE. You must narrow the focus of your home page and concentrate on convincing a visitor to buy ONE product.

Anything on your home page that doesn’t directly relate to converting a website visitor into a paying customer should be removed. No exceptions!