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It seems each January that many small businesses (especially online businesses) sigh as they wonder why their company is not producing and what to do about the situation. This year, take the time to find out exactly what your business is missing. When you do, you'll know exactly what to do to move up to the next level.

Here are several resources that will prove helpful in your search for answers. Give ample consideration to these fr.ee and low-cost products and services. Each one is worth its weight in gold.

ACTION STEP 1 Find Out What Your Visitors Really Want

It still befuddles me. Why do people guess about what their customers want? Why do they waste their time and money by making changes without knowing whether their changes will have any positive impact?

By simply conducting a survey and asking your visitors some strategic questions, you can have the answers in a matter of days.

One invaluable tool is Survey Monkey (surveymonkey.com). This company offers easy-to-use, Web-based software for developing and conducting online surveys. Just input the questions you want to ask, then post a link on your site or email it to your list.

It costs only $20 per month for the pro version. Only need it for one month? Just cancel when you're finished with your survey. There is also a limited-use fr.ee version.

ACTION STEP 2 Test, Test, Test

Once you know what your customers want, you need to test everything you offer them. There's no better way than with Duncan Carver's fr.ee split-testing script.

The Internet Marketing Assistant (http://marketing-strategy.org/) is a powerful program that allows you to test several pieces of copy all at once by equally dividing the visitors to your site between different copy elements that you want to test. That means you can have one headline on sales letter #1 and another headline on sales letter #2. As visitors filter through your site, you'll be able to see which headline draws the most sales.

This works for any section of your copy (headline, offer, guarantee, price)' the whole piece of copy' or even entire sites.

ACTION STEP 3 Find Out What Your Visitors Think... NOW

Tired of not knowing why people leave your site without making a purchase? Here's a great way to find out at no cost to you! Visit http://www.24spy.com for a nifty little tool that's easy to install. Don't let the name fool you. It's not spyware! It IS a quick way to find out what your visitors think so you can make any necessary changes before more sales are lost.

Stop struggling with your conversion rate. Make this the best year ever by analyzing your site, collecting vital information and making the necessary changes that will help your conversion rate soar!

Copyright 2005 Diane Hughes