A website’s “conversion rate” refers to the percentage of visitors that are “converted” into buyers. As an online business owner, this is one of the most important statistics to concern yourself with; it doesn’t matter if you get ten thousand visitors per month if none of them are buying what you have to sell. Below are a few must-follow tips on increasing your website’s conversion rate.
1. Choose relevant keywords. Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting your website to rank as highly in search results as possible, but even being on Page 1 of Google’s search results doesn’t matter if your customers feel duped into visiting your site. If you’re selling running shoes, don’t optimize your key phrases for hiking shoes, camping boots, or any other type of footwear; focus only on what you’re selling and you will attract visitors who want to buy your products.
3. Honesty is key. No matter how many customers your website attracts, nobody will convert if they don’t trust your site. Make sure that your website not only has essential Privacy Policy, About Us, and Contact Us pages, but that each one contains accurate information. Be up-front about how you collect and use customer information, and remember that most customers don’t like to hear that their e-mail addresses are going to be sold to the highest bidder. In addition, use credibility logos such as this familiar Verisign logo (Credit: www.verisign.com) that show users your site is secure. Using similar logos from Visa, master Card, PayPal, and the Better Business Bureau, also show customers that you are a reputable and trustworthy site. Customers look for these types of logos as an indication of whether or not your site is legitimate, and more customers will shop with you if they feel that they can trust you to handle their private information with care.
By choosing the most relevant keywords for your site, testing those keywords for profitability, and maintaining an open and honest relationship with your customers, you can drastically improve your website’s conversion rate. It may seem like a lot of hard work, but you will soon see the benefits as you watch your profits steadily increase.
Eric Wyatt writes on internet marketing and social media. He particularly focuses on conversion optimization and landing page optimization.
“Sale” image is provided courtesy of Vectorportal.com.
Hey Eric, even where organic search is the primary means of prospects finding a website, SEO is fairly low on the list of items when it comes to conversion rate optimization. In fact, in a way what you’re talking about here is more traffic optimization: making sure that prospects are well qualified when they arrive on the site.
In terms of conversion rate optimization, you want to be looking at four main things:
1. The visual style of the site. Prospects will make an emotional snap-judgment as soon as they see the site, so it’s important that this first reaction be positive. Because it’s a deep-seated reaction, a negative impression will linger and can affect conversion, even when everything else is done right.
2. Orientation elements. Prospects have to be oriented on the site immediately. SEO is important here to make sure that they find themselves where they expect to be, but you also have to clearly convey where they are. A logotype and tagline are critical for this, and navigation and search are of great importance as well.
3. Desirability. Obviously if prospects don’t believe the investment is outweighed by the return, they aren’t going to convert. A strong headline that speaks to what’s on the prospect’s mind when he arrives, that features specificity and implies the helpfulness of the body copy, that conveys a sense of immediacy, that is newsworthy, and that also hints at some entertainment value, is crucial to get prospects interested. Then body copy itself must clearly convey the benefit of converting, in a conversational way.
4. The calls to action. Without a strong call to action, conversions are typically very low. A call to action should reiterate the value of converting, and finish with a large, clear button (orange typically is the best color). The button copy itself should start with a verb, and again refer back to the benefit of converting.
That’s just the basics; if you’re interested, I’ve got a lot of free training videos up at http://www.attentionthievery.info on this very topic.
Kind regards,
Bnonn