Before you even seriously think about spending money on Google AdWords or Facebook ads to send traffic to your website, your priority needs to be finding ways to improve conversion rates.
And, before, we even start talking about ways to improve your conversion rate on your website, let’s talk about improving your conversion rates in the organic search engine results, on social media, and via email. After all, getting ranked, noticed, opened, etc. is only half the battle of driving traffic to your site … you still need to convince them to click!
Here are tips to improve conversion rates in the organic search engine results:
1. Take the time to write great title tags.
The title tags of your web pages and blog posts are clickable and bolded in your search engine result, so they are one of the first things a searcher will see in the search engine results. Try using a headline analyzer to improve yours. You might also take notice the next time YOU are doing a Google search and ask yourself why you decide to click on a particular search result. What was it about their title tag that made you take notice?
2. Make sure your descriptions are compelling.
Your meta descriptions are shown under the headline (title tag) in the search results and should further describe what your page is about and why someone should visit it. Feel free to use a call-to-action such as “click here to find out how” or other teasers. Again, pay attention the next time you are searching in Google, and you will start to understand what makes one description better than another.
3. Use descriptive URLs.
Finally, the third thing in your control in the search engine results are your URLs. Using descriptive URLs with keywords can further convince a searcher that your listing is worth clicking. Many in the SEO industry agree that http://www.yourwebsite.com/category-keyword/subcategory-keyword/primary-keyword-phrase is the ideal format to use.
Here are tips to improve conversion rates on social media:
1. Format your post(s) for the platform you are using.
For example, on Twitter, it is recommended that you use 2-3 hashtags and it is acceptable to ask for retweets. Understanding that long-form posts perform better on Google+, that image or video and shorter posts perform better on Facebook and knowing when to tag people or what hashtags to use can make all the difference in how your posts perform on social media.
2. Add value. (period)
When it comes to social media, the best advice we can give you is to add value. That means that every post that you share should either: 1) entertain, 2) educate, 3) inform, or 4) inspire. Very rarely, you can 5) promote, but this should be the exception and not the norm. Yes, we get it that you just want to scream “buy my stuff, buy my stuff” … but that won’t work. Adding value will keep people coming back again and again … and, yes, they will buy from you when they are ready.
3. Ask for what you want.
Sometimes you simply need to tell people to “click here” or “RT” … be careful on Facebook; however, as they do penalize posts that ask for likes, comments, or shares. The best way around it is to get a bit more creative. For example, we do work for watch company that has trained the audience through YouTube videos that “wrist check” means show what watch you are wearing. On Facebook, we often do a call-to-action that is simply “Wrist check! Show us what you are wearing!” and it gets lots of comments that include photos of watches that the users are wearing.
Here are tips to improve conversion rates via email:
1. You need a great subject line.
Getting people to open the email is half the battle (actually, it is probably more than half the battle!). Across all industries, the average open rate for the second quarter of 2016 was 25%, according to Experian’s benchmark report; however, it can vary greatly depending upon your industry. Of course, there is more to open rates than just having a great subject line, but it is one place to start working towards improving them.
2. Send emails on a regular basis.
If you send emails once every blue moon, the chances are that the person receiving it may not even remember who you are. While we don’t advocate sending emails every day (OMG we hate those people), you do need a regular schedule. Bi-weekly, weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, or even quarterly are good as long as you are consistent and that you add value to every email that you send.
3. Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly.
Make sure your emails are mobile optimized. Research shows that 43% of the 70 million US consumers who access email through their mobile device check it at least four times per day, so chances are, your emails are going to be read on a mobile device.
Here are tips to improve conversion rates on your website:
1. Make sure you appear trustworthy.
Before a visitor is going to hand over their information to you, they need some reassurance that your business is worth their trust. While many factors determine whether or not your site is “trustworthy,” the basics are to:
- ensure that your contact information is clearly visible on your site
- to use SSL, especially on your shopping cart
- that you have reviews or testimonials, etc.
The more trust factors your website has, the better.
2. Make sure you have calls to action and that they are clear and compelling.
A call to action might be “click here;” however, you can do better. A clear and compelling call to action might be “click here to download your free report.” Do you see the difference? Which do you think you would be more likely to click?
3. K.I.S.S. and only require the minimum amount of information.
“Keep it stupid simple” to sign up, check out, etc. Don’t make your visitors jump through hoops or they will give up. Also, keep your forms short and sweet. If you present your visitors with longer forms than necessary, such as requiring an address when all you need is an email, the more likely they will not convert.
4. Two words: Free Shipping.
A study conducted by Econsultancy found that free shipping was the most popular motivation for purchasing for 80% of U.S. consumers and 82% of UK consumers.
5. Get rid of the distractions.
One common reason that many websites do not convert well is that there are too many options and distractions. Your most important “conversion pages” should be as distraction-free as possible, which may mean removing your sidebar, outbound links, and even your menu.
Once you have mastered getting traffic to your website by improving your conversions in organic search, on social media, and via email … and, once you have proved that your website can convert, then you can put out the welcome mat and do some online advertising! (And, we recommend that you do a little A/B testing on those ads to find out how to improve conversion rates for your ads!)
If you are ready to start advertising on Google AdWords or Facebook, but aren’t quite ready to DIY, please fill out the form below to request more information.
