The fact is that at the heart of every ecommerce website is someone whose job is to increase revenue. As there is an increased pressure on online retailers to generate more sales, these sites are trying to figure out ways to convert more of their traffic into actual consumers, which is why it is crucial to focus on conversion rates. Data tracked by Invesp Consulting, a marketing optimization company, indicates that online conversion rates have been on a steady decline for the last 6 years. Fireclick index, which provides an objective comparison of key metrics across a variety of segments, reported that ecommerce website reported an average conversion rate of 6 percent in the year 2000, but by 2007, most ecommerce sites are reporting an average less than 2 percent.

Surprisingly, these rates have not always been this low. Ecommerce sites used to experience more sales because of limited competition. They were not required to be optimized nor designed with users in mind. But with the boom in e-retailing sites, competition is fierce. Sites are turning to conversion optimization methods with one goal in mind: trying to figure out the best way to increase online conversions.

And companies should be concerned with conversions since there are more users than ever online. Users are picky, if the site does not capture their attention because of the lack of optimization and focus, they will click out within seconds. That translates into hundreds of dollars in lost sales.

For an ecommerce site driving 50,000 visitors a day, a 2 percent conversion rate may suffice. But, conversion rate doesn't have to stop at that low number. Ayat Shukairy, a managing partner at Invesp Consulting (http://www.invesp.com), says, "if you've already invested hundreds of thousands into your online platform, you are getting tens of thousands of visitors to your site every day. Increasing your website conversion rate can mean getting 1,000 orders instead of 500 orders. Our clients are reporting an average of 11 percent conversion rate. That translates into 321 percent increase in revenue. If companies do not fix the problem with their website, then they are simply leaving money on the table for competitors to take."

But there is hope for ecommerce sites; an online presence has a lot to offer. Increasing online Conversion rate via conversion optimization consulting is the solution for sites ready to see improvements. Optimized sites report tremendous increases in their conversion rates.

Online marketing and selling has always been a challenge because of the anonymity of the customer. However, with great online marketing tools and analytics, this data is no longer inaccessible. Ayat Shukairy adds: "Understanding your online visitor/customer is the first hurdle ecommerce companies must overcome in order to see a jump in conversion rates in sales. Once the customer is tacit, the process to improving rates and getting more from your online ROI begins."

An upcoming company in the conversion optimization space, Invesp has a unique and successful methodology in terms of increasing conversion rate. The approach has been developed as a result of years of experience within the industry and the collaboration of a unique team of experts. They have developed a framework that will assist ecommerce sites to see their customers from a different perspective. Once the consumer is understood and accounted for, the site is built upon that knowledge which will lead to higher conversion rates.

Khalid Hajsaleh, CEO at Invesp, concurs: "Many companies try to solve the problem of low conversion rates by testing thousands of variations of your pages and determining what works best. That is an expensive and in many times an ineffective way to solve the problem. Our approach involves starting from the ground up. We understand your market, develop personas, develop the page, and then test a few calculated variations. This method has proven to get better results."