Solely having a website isn’t enough anymore. If your website isn’t working for you (as in actually driving people to call you, order your product, or fill out a web form) then you aren’t utilizing your site to its fullest potential. While conversions can be measured in different ways for different sites, it’s important to know the best ways to increase website conversions on your site in order for your business to flourish.
Read on to find out more, but if you want to take a shortcut, give us a call at Full Circle SEM for a free consultation. We have offices in Rochester, NY and Fort Lauderdale, FL, but the beauty of our business is we can work for your business from literally anywhere.
K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple Stupid. This may seem like common sense, but you wouldn’t believe how common it is for us to talk to someone wondering why no one is calling them and when we go to their site, there is no call-to-action – at all. Finding their phone number on the site is like finding Waldo.
- Make it abundantly clear what you want your customer to do. If you want them to call, make it simple for them to call you using click-to-call, or make sure your phone number is displayed clearly on each and every page. More than that, make sure that your text specifically instructs them to call. Again, this may seem like common sense, but people want to be told what to do when they are looking for the next step. In addition, make sure that you check your page using different browsers to ensure that your call-to-action shows up clearly for everyone.
- Include as few fields as possible for forms. Would it be nice to know all of the demographics of your leads/customers? Sure! But do you really need to know which state someone is in for a simple newsletter sign up? No. Besides, that’s what Google Analytics is for.
- Make sure the number of steps isn’t too long. Again, if you are looking for a newsletter signup, you shouldn’t be using a 5 step process. If the process is too long for what you want your customers to do, they are going to get distracted and/or annoyed and go away, AKA not convert.
- Remove distractions on your page. Keep your landing page simple and to the point. Don’t include information on anything that is going to make a person click away from what you want them to do.
Test. Test. Test.
It’s crucial that you do a/b testing. What should you be testing?
- Overall landing page design
- Call-to-action text
- Product image size and placement
- Forms
- Headlines
- Contact form location
- Different videos or images
- Page layout and/or navigation
Testing variations of your landing pages will give you insight into what works and what doesn’t work. If you want more specific details, you can utilize a heatmap tracker to find out exactly where users are clicking. If they aren’t clicking where you want them to, it’s time to make some changes.
Provide Value, Credibility and a Guarantee
Going again with making things abundantly clear, it’s imperative that you make your value proposition compelling and clear. If a person comes to your site and doesn’t know immediately what you can do for them, you’ve lost their interest and therefore their business. Most people are not going to go searching around your site for reasons to contact you. Make it simple for someone to know WHY they should be choosing you for what you do or provide.
When it comes to credibility, there are a few things to do. Including testimonials is a great way to build your business’s credibility. Asking for specific result-driven testimonials is a great way to boost your credibility.
An added layer of credibility comes with your PPC to landing page comparison. No one wants to be searching for one thing but get results for another. What we mean here is that you should not use text in your PPC ads for one thing and then use a landing page for something completely different. Bait and switch rarely work for PPC. Moreover, your ad will not be shown as often as you would like because your quality score will be low. Make sure that you match your PPC ad text to your landing page. Not verbatim, but the topic should be consistent.
Adding a guarantee is another way to increase website conversion rates especially when it comes to e-commerce. If you have a guarantee for your products or services, don’t be afraid to display that. Some (many) buyers want a guarantee for items they are purchasing sight unseen. If you have some kind of warranty or guarantee, definitely make it known.
Contact a Professional to Increase Website Conversions
When in doubt, hire it out. What would you rather be doing? Playing around with your website or serving your customers? If you want your business to grow, you need to be making sure your customers are happy and if you are spending your time constantly making changes to your website in order to maximize your website conversions, you are neglecting your customers. Instead, contact the professionals at Full Circle SEM for a free consultation.
