A website that does not make conversions is a website that serves no business function. So let's talk about:
What a website conversion is and how you can increase conversions across your business website.
By way of definition, an "onsite conversion" takes place when somebody goes from being a website visitor to something else as well. For example, if a person visits your website and signs up for your email newsletter, an onsite conversion has taken place. The person has "converted" from a casual website visitor to a newsletter subscriber.
There are many kinds of conversions, and they differ from one website to another, and from one organization to the next:
• A non-profit website might seek donations or volunteer registrations. Those conversions are valuable to them.
• A service-related business like financing or consulting might seek website conversions of a different nature. Maybe they want people to sign up for a newsletter list or call to learn more. Those are valuable conversions for their business models.
• A product-based website like Amazon.com seeks one type of conversion above all else. They want people to purchase products, plain and simple. So that's the most important type of conversion for them.
Watch the “Website Conversion Analysis” Video
http://5star-inet.com/bbotrafficclub/sp/index.html
Increasing Conversions Across Your Website
So we have talked about the importance of onsite conversions, and how they are the end-product of your online marketing efforts. Now let's look at some of the ways you improve your onsite conversions to help grow your business.
1. Define Your Conversions in Advance
This might seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised by how many deer-in-the-headlight expressions I get when I ask a business owner, "What are your top three conversion goals on this website?"
Some will scratch their heads and say, "To get customers, I guess." That's not a specific goal for website conversion. It's the end-goal of all marketing efforts, sure. But it's not a clearly defined conversion goal.
Other business owners have it figured out better. For example, they might say something like, "I want my visitors to do one of three things ... download our featured report from the home page, click on the chat button to get in touch with a representative, or contact us by phone or email."
Now we are getting somewhere! Before you can increase your conversion rates, you have to know what they are to begin with. And everyone in your organization who has a role in supporting those conversions needs to know what they are too (such as customer service folks).
2. Be Visible Online
People cannot contact you (or purchase your products, etc.) if they don't know you exist. So you must strive to make your business visible, online and off. Internet visibility is a big part of this. After all, the more visible you are online, the more likely people will be to find you.
But there are other ways to increase your visibility as well. You can publish articles in your local newspaper, syndicate articles and press releases online, be active in your community, conduct free seminars, and many other aspects of PR. Visibility and awareness are the first steps to generating website leads and sales.
3. Increase Usability Across Your Website
Website usability is crucial to making onsite conversions. The two concepts are inseparable, because if a person can't use your website, you have no chance to connect with them or to make a sale. You don't have the luxury of personally guiding them through your website -- they are completely on their own.
Site menus and organization are two key areas where many websites falter. A poorly organized website is a website that will always suffer from low conversion rates. And the opposite is true as well. A well organized website with sensible navigation is a fundamental step toward stronger conversions.
4. Minimize Distractions Across Your Website
This is another element of website usability, but it deserves special focus. On a business website, the goal is usually to lead visitors down a certain path. You can't control where people will go or what they will click on, but you can at least offer your preferred path and make it easy to follow.
But when you overload your web pages with too many items, you end up dividing the reader's attention, creating unneeded distraction, and increasing the likelihood visitors will leave your website altogether.
Visit your home page and ask yourself, what is the most desirable action you want people to take? What is the second most desirable action? From a visual standpoint, does the placement and prominence of these two paths support their importance? Or do they battle for attention with a dozen other distractions?
5. State (and Restate) the Value of Each Conversion Point
In marketing, there is a direct correlation between value and response. If you want people to take a certain action on your website, you have to convey the value of that action. In other words, tell people what they get out of it. It's a simple rule to remember. If you want action, you have to explain the reason and value behind the action.
Instead of saying, "Click here to join our newsletter," say something like this: "Join our newsletter for exclusive offers you won't find anywhere else, plus a wealth of monthly tips and advice!"
Watch the “Website Conversion Analysis” Video
http://5star-inet.com/bbotrafficclub/sp/index.html
6. Increase Traffic to Website Conversion Points
Want the opportunity to convert more visitors into customers? Then just increase the amount of website visitors you get. Once you have some lead-generation and sales-generation techniques in place, you want to get as much qualified traffic to those conversion points as possible.
The first step is to increase your overall website traffic. The second step is to increase your traffic to specific pages of your website (your purchase page, your download page, your contact page ... in short, your conversion pages). You can do this by making your conversion points / pages more prominent and easy to find. See the following items for tips on doing this!
7. Increase the Prominence of Conversion Points
Once you've defined your conversion points (see item #1 above), you should try to make them visible from every page of your website. Put them into the main menu, right up near the top. Create eye-catching graphics to showcase them. Put them "above the fold" across all of your web pages.
8. Minimize Website Attrition
Marketing attrition refers to the number of people who do not take the actions you want them to take along the path to conversion. At each step in the marketing process, you stand to lose some people. You could also refer to this as "drop-off." The higher the attrition rates, the less successful the marketing program.
The good news is, each point of attrition can be improved -- that is, you can minimize the number of people who "drop off" at each step of the way. For example, by improving your website's usability and content, you can minimize the number of people who leave your site due to not finding what they're after. This is just one of many ways you could reduce the level of attrition in this particular marketing scenario.
My goal here is simply to get you thinking about marketing attrition and the various ways you might reduce it on your business website and blog. Less attrition equals more business. How's that for motivation?
9. Increase the Interactivity of Your Website
The more ways people have to interact with your website, the better your chances of converting them into customers. You can increase interactivity in a number of ways. And these days, there are all kinds of software products to make it extremely easy for you!
Here are a few examples of interactivity you could build into your website:
• Business blogs work great because readers can leave comments on ehe various blog posts. That's a form of interaction, and it's also the start of a dialogue that could lead to a sale.
• You could create some kind of Q&A forum on your website and grow your own Internet community. Forum software programs like VBulletin and phpBB make it achievable.
• You can also buy and install programs to help you create an interactive FAQ section of your website (also known as a "Knowledge Base"). Interspire's "Active KB" and Omnistar's "KBase" are two such programs.
• If you have customer support personnel, you could install a chat program on your website to encourage the all-important first contact from site visitors.
10. Overcome Skepticism / Encourage Trust
We are all naturally skeptical online. The reasons for this are obvious. The Internet can be an anonymous and scary place, used for deceitful purposes by everyone from con artists to pedophiles. Yikes!
Of course, these shady characters represent the minority (or so I'd like to believe). But it still poses a challenge you must consider in your online marketing program.
Take a look at your own website right now. What have you done to make the visitor comfortable in who you are? How have you demonstrated integrity? How have you encouraged trust and confidence?
Better yet, why not ask a half-dozen friends or colleagues to visit your website and navigate around like a potential customer would. Have them jot down on paper anything that makes them uncomfortable, uncertain, or just plain confused. Correct these things immediately, and keep them in mind through all of your Internet marketing endeavors
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