If you are doing business online, you are probably looking for innovative ways to convert your site visitors into customers. Businesses are constantly searching for new techniques that will lead to a higher online conversion rate.
A professionally designed website is the first tool you will need to increase your conversion rate. Your website needs to be designed with SEO in mind; in fact, every detail of your site needs to consider SEO.
Now let's point out four ways to improve your website's conversion rate.
1. Point in the right direction
Once your website has been designed and is up and running, ask yourself, "Where are my links directing my potential customers to?"
Have you made the mistake—and many businesses do—of linking to your homepage instead of to the products and services you provide? To avoid that mistake, ask yourself, "Does this page directly relate to the link my customer clicked on?"
Often, your potential customers will click a link about a specific product (say, a dog leash) from one of your text ads on a search engine results page. Those visitors could become frustrated if they land on a homepage instead of a product page.
Those potential customers won't necessarily care at that point who you are and what your company is about; they simply want to buy a dog leash and leave. So they will leave a site if they need to spend too much time searching.
2. Improve the content on your site
We know that content is king, especially for search engines, but how much information are you providing to your customer? You should provide enough information about your products and services for your customer to make an informed, immediate purchase decision.
Customers hate having to dig around for additional information or having to email you to find out more product details. If you are leaving out product information, you are losing conversions.
Use SEO tactics when creating content for your site. That includes spending time doing keyword research, properly titling and indexing your pages, and providing relevant content on your various site pages. Be sure to include detailed product information and prices, and fees for your services.
If you leave too much to the imagination, you will lose potential customers who cannot be bothered to waste time digging.
3. Place contact information and calls to action in easy-to-find positions
The best placement for your contact information is at the top of the page, above the fold. Use bright, bold text to make your call to action stand out and to ensure it is easy to read.
Your call to action and contact info should be on every landing page so customers don't have to spend time trying to find out how to reach you to make a purchase. Invite your customers to call or email you.
Not asking site visitors to take some form of action could be your biggest downfall.
4. Consider your overall website design
Is your website visually cluttered and overflowing with too much information? Is your website poorly designed with hard-to-read logos or missing relevant data?
What would happen if you went into a local store that was poorly organized with bare shelves and shoddy lighting? Would you stay? Or would you leave and visit a competitor's store? Many of us would leave and head to a store that offered a more pleasant, efficient shopping experience.
The same applies to your website, which is the storefront of your business. You need to make it stand out with a clean, user-friendly layout. Your website should give visitors the feeling that you are a respectable, trustworthy company. If you ensure that it does, you will see an increase in overall conversions.
