Most website owners focus on driving traffic to their site. Few think about converting the visitors they get. Yet this is where the money is. Here are 7 ways you can improve your conversion.
1. Attention Grabbing Headline. One of my websites targets a very clear, specific niche business; self storage. Yet 35% of visitors spend less than 10 seconds on the site and only visit one page before they leave. So one third of my visitors believe they have arrived on the wrong website and leave almost immediately. And that’s a great performance. Before the site was improved over 60% of visitors left in less than 10 seconds. What changes compelled more visitors to stay for longer? The headline is critical. Mine now states exactly what the site is about. This is followed by bullet points that clearly show visitors how they will benefit from our service.
2. Focus On The Buyers, Not The Surfers. Visitors use hundreds and even thousands of different keywords to get to your website. The nearer a visitor is to buying, the more specific their keywords get. For example, someone thinking about buying self storage might start by searching for “self storage”. They’re surfing. Soon they may refine their search to “furniture storage”, before finally searching for “furniture storage in Glasgow”. The visitor searching for “furniture storage in Glasgow” is a buyer. The visitor who searched for “self storage” is a surfer. Who do you want? If the purpose of your website is to get sales, you need to know and focus on the keywords people use when they are about to buy. These are the words to use in your headlines and bullet points.
3. Use Multiple Landing Pages. A friend once described internet surfers as over-active, excited kids, full of caffeine. You have to grab their attention or they’re gone, looking for the next website. So they must land on the most relevant page for their keyword search. Too many websites make the mistake of sending everyone to the same page, usually the home page. It might work for some, but most won’t bother looking for the link to the right page. They’ll leave. And you’ve missed your chance. Suppose someone wants an a black 16GB iPhone and they land on a mobile phone home page and then have to click on Apple iPhones, before finally clicking on 16GB iPhone. With each click you risk losing them. If they’ve searched for “black 16GB iPhone” and land on that page, you greatly increase your chance of getting the sale. So, use multiple landing pages for your most important keywords. And focus your SEO efforts on these pages.
4. Put Yourself In Your Visitors Shoes. Too many websites are poorly written. Instead of immediately engaging with their visitors needs and wants they have a “lets talk about me style”. They fail to engage because they are written from the owner’s perspective and not the visitors. Massive turn-off and massive mistake! Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes and grab their attention. Be inspired by direct response marketers, they are masters of the craft.
5. Don’t Lose Visitors By Making Them Click. Web designers love short web pages. Many hate the idea of visitors having to scroll down a page. They’d much rather visitors clicked for more information. The trouble is that with every click you lose engagement and you lose visitors. Longer copy works. My conversions leapt when I put more, relevant information on the page.
6. Keep It Simple. The moment a visitor is ready to act it must be crystal clear what they need to do next. Don’t make them search for a buy button. Don’t expect them to complete a long order form. Don’t make them search for your contact details. Keep it simple and watch your conversions soar.
7. Test, Test And Test Again. The simple truth is that you will never get your website right first time. And in reality you should always be testing for improvements. Google provides a great tool called website optimiser. It allows you to test 2 versions of the same page. Another version of the tool lets you test even more options at once. Depending on your traffic volumes you will quickly learn which version works best. You can then start another experiment to try and beat your previous best. In this way you can dramatically improve your conversions.
