Get more leads with conversion optimisation
According to Statista, 2015 saw $60 billion spent on digital marketing in the US alone, a number predicted to grow to about $115 billion by 2020. These numbers are massive, and show that digital marketing is a vital investment in the growth of your business to remain competitive in a global market now and into the future.
However, we get that the term “digital marketing” can seem a bit vague, and the concept more than a little daunting when you’re first starting out. In this series of blog posts, we will be covering some basics that serve as a great foundation when starting out your digital marketing learning!
Today, we’ll be focusing on converting your website visitors into leads. You can have all the visitors your website can handle but if those visitors don’t like what they see you are not going to generate business from them. The business of getting more and more sales or leads out of a website is known as conversion optimisation.
Target the right visitors
It’s obvious there is no point in attempting to appeal to everyone using the word ‘paint’ in a search if you are actually selling artists acrylic paints and other artists’ supplies. Those visitors might be searching for exterior house paint or some fence paint, anything but your artists’ supplies. Be specific with the language used on your web pages and you can attract very targeted visitors who convert easily. A professional copywriter can work with you to make sure your website content is on point for your target market.
Know what your potential customers are looking for
You might be in a niche where clients want lots of information or specifications before they are comfortable making a purchase or picking up the phone. Optimise conversions by giving them the information they need and make it easy to find so they consider your site the go-to resource. Position yourself as a leading expert in your field by harnessing the power of blogging to add value and promote your services by showing potential clients you know your stuff!
Know your point of difference
The chances are you are not the only supplier available to your prospects and they are checking out several of your competitors websites too, so try to stand out from the competition by identifying your point of difference in your industry. Maybe you can offer a better guarantee, better product support or better package deals? Try to provide something that makes you a little different to the others.
Design matters
A cheap looking website with sparse info and poor quality images is not going to instill confidence in your visitors. Catch their attention and give them a good experience on your site. Make your information easy to understand through layout and graphics, and use high-quality photographs for visual impact. Good web design helps turn visitors into clients.
Easily accessible contact info
These days your website is arguably the best marketing tool at your disposal, and making sure you are easily contactable for potential customers is vital. Having your contact information on every page means that you don’t miss out on any leads because a visitor couldn’t easily get in touch – add your mobile number at the top of your page so that when browsing on their phones your visitors can simply tap to call. Include your phone number and email address in your website footer, and even consider adding a contact form into your sidebar. This lets potential clients type a quick message and send, and you can capture their contact details for later use.
Add testimonials and social proof
They say some of the best marketing is word of mouth, and recommendations from your other happy clients are worth their weight in gold. Add a testimonials page to your site, or even a rotating testimonial carousel to the bottom of your page. You could even ask some of your customers to add reviews to Google+ or your Facebook page.
Make your website mobile-friendly
Recently Google made a major update to its ranking algorithm, meaning that websites that are not optimised for mobile are now penalised in search results. With so many people now browsing the web on their smartphones, your business can’t afford to not pop up in a Google search. The other benefit of having a mobile responsive website that adapts fluidly to different devices is that your website will be easy to browse, and as mentioned above, on a smartphone your potential customers can just click to call – how easy is that!
Add value
An often overlooked but fundamental factor in conversion optimisation is whether the potential customer perceives value in your offer. Just showing them products or services on a website is not enough as your prospects are most probably looking at your competitors’ websites too. What can you offer to add value, that will set you apart from other businesses in the same market? An accounting firm could offer free resources such as a tax time checklist, or an eCommerce store could offer free shipping if the customer spends over a certain amount, or free returns.
Tell them what to do
Possibly the most important factor of them all but so many websites don’t prompt the visitor to take the desired action. If you want your visitors to call you then say it clearly and boldly “Call Us Now!”, if you want them to order your products then give them an unmissable “Order Now” button. If you want to you can inject a little urgency to maximise the customer actions made e.g. “Order Now – 10% off for limited time”. A strong call to action spurs visitors to get in touch with you, offering the opportunity to turn a lead into a conversion for your business.
