In order to get your visitors to convert once they arrive, you need to make sure they have a clear path to conversion from landing page. The simpler path, better--a winding road might lose some potential customers. This conversion path could be as simple as a "buy now" button or a contact form, or as complex as a multi-step shopping cart with required registration with required email confirmation to scare away those who are not truly devoted buyers.

Targeting your traffic What you show visitors who arrive at your site is only half equation. The visitors themselves are other. As with everything in life, you can't convert a sow's ear into a silk purse. In this case, sow's ear is paid traffic that is not targeted, or is coming from popunders or other forced viewing, or is just plain faked (there is software specifically designed to emulate human visitors so fraudsters can sell "traffic").

Even in best of cases, some traffic converts better than others. Generally speaking, visitors who are looking for you are likeliest to convert, so conversion rates tend to be highest from advertising on search engines. Conversion rates tend to be lower from advertising on websites (so-called "content" or "contextual" advertising).

Conversion rates are lower still on advertising on website popups, and lowest of all on so-called adware (programs that display popups on a user's computer; people who sell this advertising often label it "targeted traffic"). Sending emails that consist of nothing but your advertisement, even if you've skirted legal definition of spam, is not worth bad will and damage to your brand.

Preaching to non-converting online advertising traffic A significant percentage of visitors, maybe a majority, will never just click "buy now." How do you reach them?

Many people simply will never make a purchase without speaking to a salesperson first. For them, provide a convenient contact form, as well as a live chat option--if you can afford time and expense--your email, and a telephone number. A telephone number is especially important since there are some visitors who will never convert without hearing voice of someone on your end.

For visitors who are not ready to convert immediately, you should have informational articles, "about us" pages or FAQs ready to help them make up their minds.

For visitors who simply will not be ready to convert today, give a reason to bookmark your page. Good articles. A special offer. A newsletter to sign up for. Free advice.

Just make sure you don't place these alternative non-converting options in too prominent a position, or you'll risk distracting prospective customers. A few paragraphs up from very bottom of page is a good place to catch people who are interested in you enough to read entire page, but still haven't converted. The very bottom of page should be reserved for a conversion option for all prospective customers accustomed to scrolling to bottom of page to get a quick overview.

After all, if you want your visitors from online advertising traffic to convert into customers, shouldn't you at least make it easy for them?

Of course, Flash can be used as a way to present content—words, both printed and recorded, and pictures that actually illustrate something. But more often, it is used to impress. And most often, it ends up annoying. Who wants to spend better part of a minute waiting for a rotation of generic pictures of smiling models?

Special Effect that Bombs Number 2: Splash Screens You type in duracell.com expecting information on batteries—which you will find, if you have patience not to hit “back” button while site shows a picture of a battery revolving painfully slowly. On www.mcdonalds.com you're met with pictures of happy children playing with Ronald McDonald and a menu to select what country you're from. Johnson's and Johnson's web site shows a logo before automatically redirecting you to main page—that is if it doesn't crash your browser first (which happened when author tried to access page on May 2, 2004 ).

Another way big consumer corporations' web sites from Schick to Mercedes-Benz to Thomas Cooke waste your time with splash pages is by making you choose what country you're visiting from. This could have been detected automatically, or at least, useful worldwide content could have been placed on homepage, with an option to choose a country prominently displayed.

Splash pages are internet equivalent of making patrons wait in line out front before letting them inside. Unless a site belongs to a night club or a professional services firm with too much business, this can't be a good idea. On web, where “back” button and URL bars loom temptingly, making people wait is business suicide.

Special Effect that Bombs Number 3: Overbuilt or Badly Built “Dynamic” Functionality Every web surfer has a story about a shopping cart that malfunctioned just when they were about to click “purchase” on something they really wanted. Or a detailed form that lost all information after “submit” button was pressed. When there are so many good “dynamic” sites out there, why are there still so many bad ones? Part of problem may be overbuilding and needless custom design. There are already excellent Open Source databases out there, which can be endlessly customized and updated by any skilled designer. Yet many companies prefer to spend their money reinventing wheel so they can have their own proprietary technology, even if it doesn't work.

Sometimes, dynamic content can distort way an entire site presents itself. If dynamic content is so complex that it presents problems for many users, it is unlikely dynamic content is worth it. On disney.com, your first greeting is a message that your computer is sufficiently up-to-date (or not) to handle site. Is that really magical and fun impression you want to give visitors?