A term you will hear more and more is “Conversion Rate Optimization”, or CRO. This addresses what happens after you get the visitor to your site. CRO deals with more than writing – it deals with such things as arrangement of modules on a page; like headlines, intro paragraphs, bullet lists, testimonials, calls to action, and forms to name a few.
It is setting up your page messaging for success and may involve testing one layout against another. Tests, called A/B tests, of the layouts may include things such as headlines, offers, content wording and length, navigation, button language and placement, etc.
Basically, effective internet marketing comes down to three things:
- creating and implementing an optimization strategy for your site (SEO)
- getting traffic to your site (SEM and PPC Advertising)
- converting visitors into customers (CRO)
Preparing your site and driving traffic to your site is vital. But the next steps are very important to your return on investment.
- Once a visitor arrives, are you a good host?
- Have you given them the information they seek?
- Do you have a mobile responsive website for those searching on a smartphone?
- Have you given them your Unique Selling Proposition?
- Have you given them a reason to look around?
- How about a easy way to contact you?
Those are all things that I take into consideration when optimizing your site, and writing your content or landing pages for PPC advertising.
More Conversions Means More Profit
Two things are important in conversion optimization:
- Truly think through the user experience, and
- Test alternative situations that might improve conversions of visitors into customers
You can see that it makes sense to allocate budget to do initial A/B testing in Google advertising to see if you can increase conversions. That is something you can’t do in traditional advertising without spending a lot of money. But we can do it in PPC advertising.
Small businesses have increased their conversion rate by over 50% with such simple things as changing their sign up language from:
“Free Trial” to “Start My Free 30 Day Trial”
Identify What the Client Needs to Know
The question to ask: What do potential clients unfamiliar with our company, or even our industry, need to know about me/us to feel comfortable calling or hiring us?
A good website structure / content answers the questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Just like a well-written news story, a website answers these unspoken questions that visitors have. Our job is to answer those questions for them to be comfortable that you are the right choice for them.
Who?
People generally like to do business with people who are comfortable with. So, it is good to let them know some basic things about yourself or your business.
“We have a light-hearted staff that enjoys what they do, but are professional enough to get the job done right”.
Or more factual in nature: “We are a small business made up of 2 management positions, 2 sales people and 3 staff members.” Or we can tell them how long you have been in business, what your focus is on, or why you got into the business you are in and what you like about it.
What?
For the “what”, we want to tell them a little bit about what you have to offer. For example, what are your products or services and what makes them unique. They found your web site by typing keywords we implemented into search engines, now we want to grab their attention quickly and get them to take action.
“We make the longest lasting widgets in our Denver factory” or “Our Denver web professionals are able to provide Colorado consumers with the best quality sites at a moderate price point.”
When?
“Our Colorado factory operates 24/7 so typically you can expect to get your project within 5 business days” or “Projects are phased in yearly increments over a five year period”. For an event web site, people need to know:
- the time of day
- the day of the week
- and the month and year of the event(s)
Where?
This could be where you are located, or where you offer your services – your service area.
“Our service area includes all of Denver and most of Colorado” or “We offer the best pie in Colorado at our Denver location at 155 Lowry” or “Our delivery area is 20 miles from zip code 80230” or “We offer the best SEO, to Denver and beyond”.
Why?
This question should answer why the customer should use YOU or buy products from you, and not a competitor. Some good things we will want to list:
- any awards you have won
- client testimonials
- good reviews you have received
No awards? The star of this question can also be your “benefits”. List any and all benefits to using your services or buying your products. These can be experienced based, or cost based, or quality based. I can help you be imaginative as well as being factual.
Often times we forget to mention things we have long known about our small businesses. As an outsider, I can be a valuable resource looking at your business as a member of the public.
How?
The how can be a quality-type statement such as “We focus on customer service to give you the best experience when ordering your website”.
Or, your ‘how’ can focus on the technical, such as “By incorporating AI into our assembly line operation we have honed the process of building widgets to eliminate all errors”.
We can also answer how you can be contacted, or how someone can buy from you. “It is best to call us to discuss your project so we can explain our process in terms of your specific needs”.
A good approach to writing a website is to make it so easy a child could understand it
Answer Questions That People Always Ask
These are referred to as FAQ (frequently asked questions) or we can use Q & A. One of the nice things about a website is that we can use it to ease the burden on staff for the basic questions all customers seem to ask.
FAQ is not for every site; if your business is one where it is essential that you speak with the client from step-one, FAQs may not be the way to go. I’ll help you with that analysis.
Ready to Get Started?
Call Jon at 720-520-0639 for a free, no obligation, analysis of your website or digital advertising