P.O.V.: You’ve just hit publish on the website of your dreams- or so you think. It has everything you think it needs to attract your ideal client, including beauty, style, and that nifty little bar at the bottom that displays your latest I.G. posts. You’re anticipating that your newly designed site will increase conversion for your business the minute you send it out to the world…
But then, one month down the road, you pop in to check your analytics, and it turns out that your website isn’t converting the way you’d hoped it would. Yeah, it has traffic flowing and getting in front of an audience. But your calendar is still glaring with white space, and you, my friend, are left feeling stumped.
If this is the case, you’ll want to stick around because we’re bringing you 14 simple ways to increase conversion on your website!
14 ways to increase conversion on your website
Like everything else in the online business world, it pays to have a strategy for your website. It’s important to establish a baseline for your website:
What do you need it to achieve?
How does it fit within your larger marketing goals?
How will you measure success?
In particular, consider your user journey. Where are people coming from when they land on your website, who are they, and where are they dropping off?
If you have mostly organic traffic, for example, you’ll want to focus on generating leads from blog posts and articles that are seeing the most traffic.
If you get a lot of traffic from social media, you’re probably dealing with a warmer audience so focus on getting them in front your offers more quickly and creating urgency.
If you have a mish mash of traffic, well, you’ll want to appeal to users at all stages of the customer journey.
Before you can improve your website’s conversions, you need to know what’s currently happening. Grab a baseline from your site’s analytics, and make sure to have some tracking in place so you can compare your data as you go.
Don’t be shy about checking in with your site analytics regularly to get the defined scoop on the conversion on your website.
Key metrics you should focus on include:
Heatmaps are another helpful tool to guide you in identifying where visitors are clicking on your site. They can help you determine how to decrease the frequency of cart abandonments, improve your call to action, and see if any website elements need a good refresh to serve your audience better.
You don’t actually need to talk to everyone or appeal to everyone. Instead, try imagining just ONE person AKA your core audience. Create copy that speaks just to them.
If you’re not sure (or if you’re making assumptions about what your one person is looking for, as we all do), here are some ways to dig into those assumptions and get a fuller sense of how to serve your audience well on your site:
Review social media, wherever you’re showing up. Look at comments, DMs, and any other engagement to your content. Review your top posts: are there themes you can identify in what types of content is getting the most engagement?
Poll your audience through your social stories or by email (if you have an established list). You can also drop short surveys on your website that ask about their goals and wants.
Or my favorite: Schedule a quick live interview to talk about their experiences with your product (better yet, have an objective 3rd party like me do it for you).
Your website is a standalone sales funnel, with users coming in from various entry points and exiting from a specific conversion point (i.e., they made a purchase or booked a call with you).
When considering their journey from Point A (the entry) to Point C (the exit) on your website, map out your funnel’s beginning, middle, and end.
Point A: Who are you, what do you do, and is this the right place to get help?
Point B: Tell me how your offers will help me.
Point C: I like what I see… let’s talk.
To see what’s working in your industry (and what’s not), run a thorough competitor analysis so you can determine any gaps in your site. Visit your competitors’ websites and sift through their:
A.K.A. The thing that makes you stand out from the rest.
We all have one!
The internet is filled with hustle and bustle, and getting lost in a sea of competition is easy. However, identifying your differentiator will give you a leg up in your marketing strategy to help you increase conversion on your website!
Your offers are 100% worth the investment (& you know it), but converting your audience into paying clients often takes a relationship built on trust.
Use your website as a platform to introduce yourself as THE expert in your field with intentional copy that shows off your skills along with social proof to really drive the point home. And just like Rome (how cliche), these relationships aren’t always built in a day.
Pumping out consistent content that shows a sprinkle of your personality, along with a plethora of handy information, will help guide your audience through the know/like/trust phases that ultimately lead them to convert.
Aside from delivering value through your content, do a quick copy audit on your website homepage to see if it’s in alignment with those relationships you’re aiming to build.
Site navigation can throw a potential conversion off track if they can steer far away from the exit point on your page (peek back at #4 for more information on this) or if the visitor is confused by the layout.
To create a streamlined UX (user experience) that effectively improves the conversion rate of your website, ask yourself these questions in regards to your navigation menu:
Additionally, pay attention to your homepage design and layout so users are mesmerized by your brand when they land on your page.
If you’ve ever hopped over to a site that took more than a few seconds to load, then you know exactly how quickly an interested lead can turn into a ghost.
Review your website for any sticky spots that may be holding your visitors back from enjoying their stay, such as:
There are customer hesitations in every industry. Identify what yours are, and address them before your customer gets a chance to do so!
Develop an FAQ. section on your service pages that include the questions that are often coming up on your social media or discovery calls. Provide thorough answers so users can see that you are already one step ahead of them, truly understand the root of their hesitations, and can solve their transformation woes despite what’s holding them back.
While the first thing that may come to mind when you hear the word ‘conversion’ is making a sale, there’s other metrics you can use to measure a conversion that don’t always include that ka-ching as the end result. After all, conversions are all about building and continuing relationships with leads until they ultimately commit to a paid offer or service.
This may feel like Branding 101, but it’s actually easy to ignore! So many people think of branding as logos and color palettes, but it’s so much more.
Your voice, positioning, and messaging all tie into your branding, so it’s key to carry all those components across your social media platforms, email lists, and website!
When users land on your website from your social media (because they just love your spark and personality), they want to revel in knowing that you’re the same person on all corners of your online presence.
Copy punch ups put the “fun” in “functional copy” 😆. When you’re reading through a website, you want to be entertained while gaining tons of value. But how do you deliver both aspects to your target audience without losing balance?
Entrepreneurs who’ve been in business for 2+ have typically gone through multiple versions of their website, and for good reason. It’s all about testing, learning and adjusting your site strategy accordingly to yield a happy conversion rate.
A/B Testing: This split-testing strategy will show different users different versions of web pages to determine which one will drive conversions.
Heatmaps: These help you understand user behavior, such as where users frequently click to see where conversion gaps lie. It can also show you small but mighty things, like which FAQs your readers care about:
Regular Review of Site Analytics & Traffic: Check in regularly with your site analytics to determine if your testing is paying off. Pay attention to metrics such as page views, visit duration, bounce rate, traffic sources, new visitor sessions, repeat visitor sessions, and conversion rates.
Onsite User Experience Surveys: Use an on-page survey to collect feedback from users so you can meet their needs and ultimately increase conversions on your website.
The only way to know what’s going to work and what’s going to end up on the “never again” list is to test, test & test again!
Resources for planning, writing, and optimizing your website
You need a game plan, friend! Grab my top resources for tapping into your audience and designing a website that converts.
Write website copy that converts.
Your website doesn’t live in a vacuum. Set your site up for conversion success with the right SEO, conversion funnel, and marketing strategy.
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