16 Ways To Convert More Web Traffic
Posted on Apr 20, 2012
SEO, SEM, internet marketing, inbound marketing and social media marketing are all terms used to describe the methods by which you drive internet traffic back to your website. The pursuit of more internet traffic has become big business, with the web awash with specialist SEO companies offering to demonstrate how websites can be written and designed to bring in even MORE traffic. Many businesses focus solely on attracting traffic to their websites and tend to forget the more important aspect of converting the traffic that they are already receiving. After all, what's the point in spending thousands on adwords, SEO or social media marketing if visitors hit your site, have a bad experience and are never to be seen again? As an analogy, consider if you had a bricks and mortar business which, like a website, is there to sell products or services to the public. While a website uses copy, images, offers, calls to action, video and other elements to help sell to the prospective customer, a store employs staff whose job it is to assist the client, direct them to products and answer any queries that they may have. If they do a good job, offer the right products at the right price and sell the benefits of the product, it's more likely that a sale will result. But what happens if the staff is poor at communicating with customers, do not know much about the products that they are trying to sell, fail to present themselves effectively or do not live up to the customers' expectation of competence? Of course, the customer walks out and never returns. It also results in no word-of-mouth marketing for your business, repeat sales or customer retention. Many websites have the exact same problem; people visit their virtual store and never return. So as a website owner, how can you increase your conversion rate so that more customers actually buy from you? Below you will find 16 simple site modifications that take very little effort, yet combined can have a major effect, not only on your conversions but also on your credibility. 1. Add Contact Information - Clearly this should be taken as read, yet many fail to get even this right! Make sure that your pages include your contact number/s and full business address. This small and seemingly obvious measure massively adds to the weight of trust that a prospective customer will be prepared to have in your online business. 2. Testimonials - These are extremely important, since users want to see that other people have had the same problem and that your product or service has solved it. Testimonials should be clear, succinct and ideally placed along every step of the conversion process. Also, if possible, add an image of the user making the testimonial as this adds weight. 3. Affiliation Information - If your business is affiliated to a governing body or is regulated in some way, make sure you make it clear to your visitors. By doing this, you assure users that if they experience any problems they will be protected. 4. Guarantees - If you are offering a money back, life time or any other type of guarantee, let your users know about it. Make terms and conditions clear and ensure that you post that information at every point of the buying process. 5. Call to Action - A website without calls to action is a wasted opportunity, but you need to be specific about what it is that you want your user to do. Do you want them to click on a hyperlink, fill in a form, request a quote or simply contact you? A call to action is your chance to attract your visitors to use your business. 6. Page Copy/Readability - Nobody appreciates poor grammar, illegible fonts or rambling text that is difficult to comprehend. First of all, make sure your content is thoroughly proofread and checked for grammatical and spelling errors. You must also pay attention to line spacing, as well spaced copy is easier to read. Make sure that text and background colour contrasts well, since this will help visitors to read your website. When posting blogs and other articles always remember to use short paragraphs, sub-headings and - wherever possible - break the text up with images, since this will make your site more user-friendly. 7. Strap line - 8 second rule - It's said that you have approximately 8 seconds to convince a user to stay on your site. By placing a strap line placed near the top of your site (preferably immediately underneath or next to your logo) your visitors will know exactly what you do and what you offer within the first few seconds of reaching your site. A good example might be "XYZ Ltd - Accounting, book-keeping and tax services for small businesses in London" Short and sweet with no ambiguity. 8. Image of Yourself/Your Staff - By adding an image of yourself, your CEO or your staff, you enforce credibility and trust and show your visitors that you are not some faceless corporation; rather, you are a well respected and trusted individual/company with nothing to hide. 9. Speak About Features and Benefits to the Customer - Remember, it's features and benefits that really sell your product or service to the customer. Make sure that you always speak their language about its benefits and the problems it can solve for them. 10. Its Not About You! - We, we we. You see this quite a lot on websites that are not customer focused. They speak about themselves all the time "we are this", or "we provide this", or "we have been doing this". It's not about you, the customer is not interested in you, they want to know what it is that you are offering and how it is going to make THEIR lives easier. Use YOU not WE. 11. Keep It Brief - Time is of the essence. The cost of living is rising and people are working more hours and therefore have less time. Using 2,000 words of text when you could sum it up in 200 is just plain crazy; brevity is all. 12. Clearly Display Your UVP - Knowing your Unique Value Proposition is crucial. If you do not know what it is that you offer that is different to all your other competitors, how are you going to sell your product to your visitors? Make sure you know exactly what it is that you offer and that you are transmitting this message clearly and precisely. 13. Remove Unwanted Distractions - Your landing pages need to be distraction free. What this means is that you need to remove any navigation or elements that are not a part of the conversion process. By removing unwanted elements that may distract your visitor, you help them to complete the sales process or take the necessary action. 14. Add Video and Images - Websites that contain only reams of text are dull to say the least. Try adding colour, images and video to bring your site to life and provide your visitors with a more enjoyable experience. 15. Remove Unwanted Form Fields - One of the biggest conversion stumbling blocks is adding too many unnecessary fields to your forms. It's important to ascertain what information is actually vital now and what information can be extracted from the visitor at a later stage in your sales process. Keep your form fields to an absolute minimum and get the other information via email or telephone if it is needed. 16. Improve Your Site Navigation - Site navigation is extremely important. If users can't find what they are looking for, you can guarantee that they will be leaving your site very quickly. Make sure that navigation is clear and that the site is well constructed with a defined and logical URL structure. Think about adding breadcrumb trails to help users to know where they are at any given moment. Users do not always land on the home page, so give them a clue as to where they are within the site and they are more likely to be able to find their way around. At Redline Company we not only help you to attract more visitors to your site, but also assist you in helping to convert more visitors into loyal customers. Contact us today to find out more.