1. Keep it Relevant - The funny thing about relevance is that once it's pointed out, it seems so obvious. Simplicity is its own trap. When we regard something as simple, we pay less attention to it. If it seems obvious, pay more attention to it and get it right. Are you thinking of every hyperlink in your email or on your site as an implicit question requiring a relevant answer?

2. Anticipate Needs - Do you have a list of every possible reason someone might want to buy your product or service? Invest the time to match your prospects' buying processes to your sales process. If you've invested your time wisely, you should be in a position to start creating decision trees. Decision trees based on every personality type may be more ambitious than your resources allow. Nevertheless, you can still divide the logical and emotional arguments for buying your product or service. Then, you can propel prospects through your site armed with the reasoning that makes them comfortable enough to buy.

3. Know Your Audience, But Write to One - You must understand the people who come to your site - how they speak, what matters to them, how they prefer to make decisions - and your copy must empathetically address the differing needs of your various visitors. However, you should present every piece of copy as if you were having a conversation with one individual.

4. Win the Heart, the Mind Will Follow - Trust, credibility, security, safety and privacy are not objective facts. They are what you want your customers to feel. Confidence is what sells, and without confidence, nobody is willing to buy anything. Persuasion is impossible without appealing to a person's emotions. No decision, no matter how logically justified, is made without emotions. Even the most logical decision is a source of pride, satisfaction, happiness and/or beauty to the decision-maker. At a 2001 scientific conference, Dr. Dean Shibata presented a study based on brain activity imaging that reveals emotions are inextricably a part of the decision-making process.

5. Keep It Simply Simple - Even mediocre copy that targets the relevance of taking action will outperform stellar, high-brow copywriting. Write in words your visitor understands and uses, and craft your copy so its visual presentation leads your visitor persuasively onward.

6. Don't Leave SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Up To Your IT Department - If you want to make your search engine listings more relevant so they will get higher CTRs (Click-Through Rates), you may want to focus on and edit your page titles. It's shocking to see how many sites still have a company name, "Insert the page title here," or even "Homepage" as a title.

7. PPC Target Intent - With the pay-per-click (PPC) engines, you possess the ability to easily update information in your listings. This feature is underused. A PPC listing can be so generic it can become irrelevant. A home furnishings client bid a significant sum for a specific keyword (the name of an upscale plumbing fixture manufacturer). However, one of the client's accompanying listings was generic in that it only mentioned their website. Guess what? The listing that included the manufacturer's name generated higher click-throughs.

8. On the Buttons - Buttons can be a wonderful call to action. All you have to do is to decide where to put them, what color they'll be, what size and shape, and what they will say. Here's a tip that will boost click-throughs fairly quickly: Whenever you call for an action with a button, it should say what action you want people to take (e.g., "add to cart," "subscribe," "register").

9. Don't Settle for Average Conversion Rates - Your prospects are online. They arrive at your site because they recognize a need, problem or opportunity. They want you to provide a solution. Eventually, they will find that solution. I'm only impressed by conversion rates greater than 10 percent. They're not unheard of, and some major sites report conversion rates from the low teens to over 30 percent. Failing to convert most of your traffic is largely accepted as good enough. What would happen to your conversion rate if you looked at every visitor who didn't convert as an error that needs to be corrected?

10. Create Top 10 Lists - Apply the Pareto principal (the 80/20 rule) and display the "vital few" products or services you offer by making them easy for your visitors to find. Book bestseller lists, music top 40 charts, TV ratings and Hollywood box-office receipts are not merely a barometer of popular culture. They're important marketing tools. A book that makes it to the top of The New York Times' bestseller list can proudly display "#1 New York Times Bestseller" on its book jacket. The publisher hopes you will see the book in a bookstore and think, "If everyone else is reading it and buying it, I will, too." Do you think "The Amazon.com 100" was created for some other reason?