So you have a free trial, and you're probably thinking—why wouldn’t people sign up, it's free? Well, just because something is free doesn’t mean people are going to take their time to sign up. Even free ebooks, courses, and other freebies need to be optimized in order to get more people to subscribe or download. People won't sign up simply because something is free. It needs to be enticing and something they're interested in.

The five second test. What is it you ask? It’s a test where a visitor takes a really quick look at your site for only five seconds, and then answers an important question: "Are you able to tell what the site is about and what it has to offer?"

A beautifully designed website can create a professional experience that puts you far above your competition because your website design is the foundation of how your business is perceived online. Many businesses along with their web designers put a great deal of focus on how they can best utilize the space they're given to maximize their marketing message and to increase visitor engagement in order to pull prospects deeper into their website.

Have you put some serious thought into how people perceive doing business with you while visiting your website? I mean, it really comes down to perception, doesn't it? Not to mention, your website is the first impression people have of your company when you do business online.

When you were creating your website, were you more focused on the look and feel or did you focus on visitor engagement? Design is usually the first focus when it comes to creating business websites and building an online presence. That's unfortunate because the main goal should be to get visitors to engage with your site. Your website is a fully automated marketing machine that is out there doing all the work for you.

According to Baymard Institute an average of 65% of all shopping carts are abandoned without online shoppers ever completing their transaction. It’s also believed that overall website abandonment is right around 70%-90%. Visitor abandonment is one of the most frustrating obstacles for online merchants. Businesses spend a great deal of time and money building their online presence and bringing in traffic. In fact, the trend of spending more on online marketing continues to rise. This makes it even more discouraging to know that you’ve peaked visitor interest, paid to get them to your site, and persuaded them to add an item to their cart—only to have the cart abandoned and to never hear from the visitor again.

A/B tests are a great way for businesses to squeeze more profits from their site. Small tweaks here and there can improve the customer experience and optimize messaging in a way that has a big impact. This post covers two easy A/B tests every business should run, and both are perfect for beginners and veterans alike.