Conversion optimisation is the art and science of optimising your website to increase the chances of visitors taking a desired action.
This desired action could include any of the following:
* Getting the visitor to buy what you’re selling
* Getting the visitor to make contact
* Getting the visitor to register/sign up/become a member of your online group or forum
* Getting the visitor to join a mailing list/subscribe
At the end of the day, most people have a website for a very specific reason, and with specific goals in mind. Conversion optimisation is all about ensuring that every aspect of the website is focused on achieving these goals.
Conversion Optimisation vs Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is focused on the search engines, such as Google; conversion optimisation is focused on the human visitor, the person you actually want to influence.
SEO attracts visitors by influencing your website’s placement on the search engines pages for certain keyword phrases. No one can argue that on the Internet it’s important to draw as much traffic as you can but remember, once your SEO efforts have succeeded in attracting visitors, it’s up to your website and your product to close the deal.
Conversion optimisation focuses on driving the visitors that land on your website to take whatever action it is you desire of them. Once SEO has done it’s part and attracted potential leads, it falls to your website’s conversion optimisation to get the job done and close the deal.
How To Optimise For Conversion
It is important to make every visitor to your website feel at home. Make the site comfortable and user friendly. People aren’t going to buy from you unless they feel they can trust you, and the initial impression your website gives visitors can go a long way towards making or breaking that trust.
Consider some of the following steps in the conversion optimisation of your website:
* Stop thinking like a business. Set aside your sales mindset, take a step back and look at your website through the eyes of the user. What will the user’s initial impression of the website be? How will the user feel about it?
* Critically analyse the navigation. If you’d had no involvement in the construction and development of the website, would you know what to do when arriving at it? Would you know how to buy/sign up/subscribe? Navigation should be clear and the visitor should be able to get where you want them to be with as few clicks as possible.
* Streamline the website. Are there any features on your website that aren’t absolutely necessary, anything that might confuse visitors or cause them to leave the website before taking action? Don’t be afraid to cut the unnecessary out.
* Keep the visuals subtle and pleasant. Don’t overdo the graphics on the website, people don’t want their eyes to feel assaulted, they want an image that fits your product/service and gives them an idea of the kind of business you are.
* Keep an eye on the competition. Never be afraid to watch what your competitors are doing, you might be surprised at what ideas you might be able to use.
Take Every Opportunity To Optimise For Conversion
Never pass up a chance to give your visitors more opportunity to buy. This might sound obvious, but it cannot be overemphasised that you should make it as easy as possible for users to spend money or take the action you want them to.
In the case of a business website which you are using to sell products, always help your users to find other products, not just the one they may originally be interested in. The more products you introduce visitors to, the more sales you’re likely to make.
A few examples of how to introduce your visitors to as many products as possible are:
* Popular Products/Top Sellers.
* Featured Products. This is for specific products you want your visitors to know about.
* Items purchased by those who bought this item. Similar interest products.
* Accessories that go with that product.
Conversion Optimisation Is An Ongoing Process
Marketing firms, such as SEO Results, who engage in conversion optimisation activities employ a full and dedicated staff to constantly monitor and tweak their conversion optimisation efforts.
Poring over website analytics reports, measuring bounce rates, conversion rates, visitor paths and other activities, these professionals are constantly putting all this information together to help increase the conversion rates of the websites they work on.
Conversion optimisation has to regularly adjust to meet the needs of the market, some of these changes are successful, while others aren’t. At the end of the day, it’s the numbers that speak. If your website isn’t converting someone has to find out why.
And fix it.