How to get more traffic conversions on your website
Welcome to this no-nonsense guide from Your Content Write, aimed at helping you get more of the right people to your website and ACTUALLY have them convert!
So many business owners jump in ‘feet first’ to having their website designed. And their strategy, once built is to simply cross their fingers and hope people stumble by it. That or they send out an initial post or two on social media, get disheartened because there is little to no response then give up and try other avenues.
According to Data Reportal:
“There were 66.99 million internet users in the United Kingdom in January 2022. The United Kingdom’s internet penetration rate stood at 98.0 percent of the total population at the start of 2022.”
That’s just in the United Kingdom!
Statistica reported there to be 60 million e-commerce users, leaving only a slight minority as face-to-face non-digital buyers.
And Get Accept states:
“Just 16% of B2B sales departments in the UK have a face-to-face team that communicates with buyers in person.”
Based on those statistics I think we can safely agree that your potential clients ARE online. Does it not make sense therefore to have them interact with your flagship website?
It is, after all, the only place on the internet that is totally dedicated to promoting your company as the ideal business to satisfy their needs and generate a healthy profit at the same time.
If the only reason that you haven’t done this so far is because of a lack of knowledge and perhaps a perceived lack of skill then read on, this blog is for you.
Is your current website fit for purpose?
For your website to be your super-powered client-converting machine, it must first be fit for purpose and not just be aesthetically pleasing. I’m going to go through a checklist from which you can judge how well your existing site rises to the challenge.
The lower the bounce rate the higher your conversion potential
There is a metric in your onboard analytics called the ‘bounce rate.’ Generally having a high bounce rate is not a good sign: It means a user has landed on your page and left rather quickly WITHOUT interacting, making a purchase, or performing some other desired action.
There are occasions where someone arriving and then leaving seconds later is not a bad thing – getting a phone number for example, but if you are looking for high website conversions then you want to drive that bounce rate down as much as possible.
According to GoRocket Fuel:
“As a rule of thumb, a bounce rate in the range of 26 to 40 percent is excellent. 41 to 55 percent is roughly average.”
Have a look at your bounce rate. It can be an early indication of how the website visitors you do get are behaving. If you find that you have a high bounce rate, then you may want to fix issues on your site before doing a lot of work to get your ideal clients there.
Some of our client’s had previously tried Google AdWords (sponsored ads) and deemed them a waste of time as they cost a lot and people did not convert when on the site. Very often this is not the fault of the Google ad. Assuming the Ad was targeted right, then Google has done its job and gained you a site visitor. If they fail to convert from there, the fault is within their experience of your site.
Never substitute quantity for quality
As a side note please beware of companies selling links and guaranteeing traffic to your site. You cater to a specific demographic and want to service people with a specific need or desire. If your site were to receive an influx of site visitors and links from irrelevant sources your site is not going to convert and Google tends to take a dim view of this tactic, meaning your chances of ranking well in the search engines is practically impossible.
Technical reasons your site is not converting
There are many technical reasons (such as load time and inline styles) that, unless you are technically minded, are out of your control, but should be straightforward for your web developer to fix. These elements can (and do) affect conversion rate. If you’d like a free, detailed site analysis for all technical and non-technical elements that can be improved on your site give us a shout. We’d be happy to help.
What about those website elements that you DO have control over?
How simple is your website to navigate?
Have you ever been on a site and then left rather quickly because you couldn’t find what you were looking for? If that is the experience that you offer to your potential clients, then you can expect a high bounce rate and low Google ranking.
It’s worth noting at this point that your site should be designed for your potential clients – not for you! Your job is to make sure they can find what they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible. If you can do that then you are on your way to converting more website visitors.
Each page on your website is potentially a homepage
As an SEO consultant and content writer I often encounter many websites that have a fantastic homepage, armed and ready to appeal to and convert those customers. The rest of the site however does not live up to the standard set out by their homepage.
It’s almost as though the other pages were put there because ‘that is what is expected.’
Every page on your website should have an overriding purpose and a call to action pertinent to that purpose.
By designing your site this way you are increasing the number of potential site visitors by giving them multiple reasons to log onto your site. Each page will be focussed upon a specific type of user query. Apple are masters at this, and they expertly blend emotion, with fact. Each page is simple to navigate and has one specific purpose with one call to action. To see how they achieve this feel free to look at a blog I wrote for AWE networking back in 2021 on how to write great sales content like Apple.
The About Us page
The about us page is a bit of a misnomer as successful well performing sites DO NOT use this page to simply show off. If its name was more indicative of its purpose It should read:
About us – in as much as it will help you (the customer) achieve your goals.
For more information on how to write an about us page here’s a short video I made earlier:
Your clients already have website expectations – don’t disappoint them.
“From furniture to websites, your brain has a template for how things should look and feel.”
Imagine going into a shop to buy a sandwich and the shop owner has decided to change things up a bit. When you walk in there is a brick wall – the idea being you find the loose brick, push it in and the wall disappears revealing seven dimly lit corridors, with a puzzle to complete to progress forward. Only one corridor will lead to a sandwich.
When you eventually get to the counter you must write a few sentences about your shopping experience BEORE you are permitted to pay and then leave.
The whole process takes around 30 minutes.
Whilst there may be people who wish to go once for the novelty aspect, most will not want to spend their entire lunch break trying to rethink a process that till now has been automatic for the sandwich-buying public.
Yet some people design their websites just like this. Don’t substitute novelty or aesthetic beauty for the expected user experience.
Unlike the shop example below, web users on average take only 50 milliseconds to decide whether they are going to stay on a site. If it doesn’t meet with their own preconceptions (conscious and subconscious) on what a site like yours ‘should’ look like, the chances are they will leave as fast as they arrived.
As much as YOU love your website your web visitor’s whole day is not focussed around admiring your site. They have a problem that needs to be solved. If your content can provide a quick and easy answer, together with a compelling reason to buy, then you are on the right track and that visitor may well convert.
As outlined by searchengineland.com:
Navigation can make or break your website’s overall performance when it comes to retaining visitors, keeping them engaged and driving them through the conversion funnel.
A very simple way to find out how your website should look is to type relevant search terms into Google that you should be ranking for. Look at the first two or three listings i.e., Sites that offer the same product or service as you and are already converting well.
Here you are looking at general design and structure which you can adapt and use.
How important are spelling and grammar on your website?
I’ve been asked this so many times. If you land on a page and the copy reads:
Naturally, it should read ‘find out more.’
How confident would you be using their service if they can’t even get their own sales copy right?
Even if you don’t consciously see the error, on a subconscious level you have seen it, noticed it, and added it to your internal and automatic ‘reason to log off and go somewhere else’ list.
Google knows it too and will not reward a site with poor grammar and punctuation with ranking points. The site that the above image came from was on page ten of Google. Bear in mind that most of the traffic goes to page one of Google, with over 50% of search queries going to positions one and two. By the time you get to the very top of page two, you are left with around 2% of the traffic for that search term. You can imagine how many people actually visit page 10.
Is your website full of technical jargon?
Nothing wrong with that, it makes you sound clever which will give your clients more confidence in hiring you – right?
Wrong!
The late Steve Jobs once commented that if you can’t explain your product in simple terms then you either don’t understand your clients or your product well enough. And we can’t argue with that philosophy when we look at the success of Apple.
According to hcamag.com:
“As well as lack of trust, overuse of jargon can mean people disconnect from your message, feel isolated and ultimately lead to miscommunication.”
Who would have thought that using a stream of big, impressive words could be seen as condescending, and alienating?
Speak to your customers on their level. If you stand on a metaphorical platform and speak down to them, they won’t thank you for it.
“Ultimately, avoiding jargon not only shows customers that you care but helps you build lasting relationships built on clear communication.”
I’m going to add a caveat here:
Every industry has its own language and if you are appealing to clients who expect and want technical jargon, then, by all means, use it. Just bear in mind – because a service provider communicates in a specific language does not necessarily mean that their client base will.
A little while ago I was asked to proofread an eBook written by financial advisors for their potential clients. They were concerned because the company conversion rate was very low. My feedback was very simple:
“This reads like it was written by financial advisors FOR financial advisors.”
I rewrote their eBook to focus on their client’s wants and needs. I also dropped most of the jargon, and their conversion rate went up to 76% in a week.
Is your website Smartphone friendly?
Many internet users spend more time on their smartphones and tablets than on a stand-alone desktop computer.
“Mobile-friendly websites boost your sales and conversions because there is an ease of accessibility that surrounds this website design.”
Again, we can take a lead from Google which base a lot of its rules around human behaviour: If your website is not mobile friendly then you are not accessible to most internet users and therefore will not be rewarded with ranking points.
It all comes down to your user journey. If a potential client logs on to your website using their mobile device and has a bad experience, then you will not convert that visitor into a customer.
We have already exceeded 62.3 million mobile internet users in the UK and according to Cyber Crew are expected to hit over 65 million active users by 2026
Also according to Cyber Crew, of all the time UK residents spent online 71% was on a smartphone.
If your website is not mobile phone friendly, stop everything and put that right as a matter of urgency!
Does graphic design impact your website conversion potential?
The short answer is yes, but that is a whole other blog. I’ve been back and forth on how much to put in this guide because, unless you are a graphic designer then you are at the mercy of your web design team.
I will say this though: Certain colours, combinations and even whitespace can be very effective in helping a web user feel specific emotions, follow a certain path, and ultimately make a purchase.
The yellow ‘M’ that signifies the Mcdonald’s logo, for example, is that colour because the use of yellow is often used to incite feelings of hunger and a desire to eat. Imagine the ‘M’ as dark blue – would you still have that craving for a ‘Big Tasty’ meal?
As a business owner you might have a penchant for a colour combination to create the desired aesthetic but, as highlighted by vw.com:
“…in the long run, it can be disastrous for the business goals unless backed with the right research.”
With web design, like all other elements in your website, simplicity is best. If you give the end user too much to look at and process, they will become distracted from their expected journey and are very likely to leave your website and go elsewhere.
Digital marketing and client conversions
Okay, you’ve taken everything above to heart and made necessary changes and now your business website looks great and is fit for purpose. All you need now is a steady influx of the right type of person who needs exactly what it is that you provide.
It is not enough to build an aesthetically pleasing and functional site and then just sit and wait for droves of potential clients to come along. It simply won’t happen.
Luckily, Your Content Write is backed up by twenty years of digital marketing experience so we can offer you a few fundamentals that should help create an impact:
To start you need to know:
- Who your clients are
- Where your clients are
- What your clients want
- And why they would benefit from using you over another company
This is basic marketing and the answers to the ‘who, what and why’ questions would have instructed your website content already. Now that you have your design complete it is time to revisit those questions and add ‘where’ into the mix.
You will also be wanting to have a sales funnel ready to go – that is, exactly what is the process from the potential clients being unaware of you, to be both aware and purchasing your product to then coming back for more or referring another potentially interested party.
Again, the sales funnel process is a whole other blog, and the link above should help you get started.
Where are your potential customers?
Based on all the research above the simple answer is:
Your potential customers are online.
It’s impossible to get detailed without knowing your specific market sector but given Google’s market share we can assume that, like most of the UK population, your potential clients are on Google searching for answers to their problems.
If you know what they are typing in, then you can create content that answers their specific queries. The most cost-effective and popular way of doing this is by blogging. Blogs are a super effective way of creating and nurturing a trusted bond between your brand and your potential customer.
The theory is simple:
If your clients know, like and trust you then they are more likely to see you as the ‘expert’ in your chosen field and therefore make a purchase. They are also more likely to recommend others.
Blogging has been proven to increase quality website traffic and customer conversions. If you’d like more information on business blogging, click here
What happens once your clients have read your blog?
They convert right away and become lifelong advocates of you and everything you do?
That WOULD be nice, wouldn’t it?
Happily, the truth is not a million miles away from that:
Substitute the words ‘right away’ to after they have consumed 3 to 5 pieces of valuable content, perhaps over a few weeks and you will be closer to the truth:
- Potential clients enter their search queries into Google
- Your blog shows up on the first page and they click on it, finding it to be the breath of fresh air that they desperately needed.
- Your blog becomes the platform from which you can truly connect with your consumers, and they can connect with you.
- You consistently show up and give them what they want for FREE.
- They begin to know, like and trust you.
- They see you as the ‘expert’ in your chosen field and subscribe to your email list because they want to take their contact with you to the next level.
- You can now give them free content, tailored more specifically to their wants, and needs.
- You can also sell your products or services as they are more likely to be of interest.
Are your website and blog showing up on page one of Google?
Assuming you are on the first page of Google that is a lot of user searches coming your way.
And it works well if your blog ranks on the first page of Google for those key search terms that your clients are typing in but… what if your website is NOT on the first page of Google?
That doesn’t mean it can’t get there, but what it does mean is that you must dedicate a lot of your time in the early stages to create a good amount of relevant blog content for ongoing monthly recurring revenue in the future.
Business blogging success tips:
- Write with your customers in mind and don’t make your content overly formal or jargon infested.
- Give consumers the information and help that they WANT more than what they NEED… People NEED to save their money and buy an inexpensive basic phone. People WANT an iPhone 14 or a Samsung Flip Phone (you have an iPhone or a flip phone, don’t you?).
- Make sure your content is a decent length minimum of 1,200 words.
- Use pictures and videos to break up your content and make it more appealing and digestible.
- Think about the phrases people will be typing into Google to find your content and try to include those phrases and variations of those phrases in your copy – keep it sounding natural or people won’t connect.
- Don’t copy content from other sources unless you are quoting. Google is not daft and will not give you ranking points for someone else’s content.
- Be consistent. People are habitual so if they are enjoying your content then make sure you stick to the same structure, tone of voice and format for each blog post.
- Post regularly – at the very least once per week. Four times per week can give you results 3x faster.
- I mentioned it above but make sure your grammar and spelling are on point.
Work hard in the early stages and reap the rewards in monthly recurring revenue thereafter!
Share your business content on social media
TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Clubhouse … I could go on.
- By 2025, the number of active users is projected to increase to 4.4 billion
- People spend an average of 144 minutes per day on their social media accounts
Social media is the place your clients probably spend most of their time. They use these platforms to connect with others, and according to research they go on for one (or all) of three reasons:
- To be educated.
- To be inspired.
- To be entertained.
They don’t log on to be sold to.
So, as well as sharing your blog content on your social media platforms, produce regular well-timed posts to appeal to your potential clients. Whilst it is not always a good idea to try and sell your products on social media, if you can entice them to sign up to your email list then your chances of conversion are greatly increased.
Which social media platform should you use to promote your business?
If everyone behaved the same and their preferences were much the same too then there would probably be only one global social media platform. We are a diverse species though, which means there are a variety of social media platforms each with their own unique twist on sharing specific types of content for specific types of people.
With that in mind, please do your homework before posting on social media to select the right platform (i.e. the ones your clients frequent) and at the times they are most likely to react (analytics will tell you how well your posts perform according to type and time of day).
Break down your blog posts into smaller bite-sized chunks of information
It would be amazing if your potential clients woke up and wanted nothing more than to read your content, again and again. However, they have busy lives and may not even have the time to read a full blog post even once.
For these busy individuals, you can extract key elements from your blog and make smaller more digestible chunks of information, or infographic, audio, or video (perhaps with a link to the long-form article).
Give your blog posts to your strategic partners to share
No person is an island and businesses will always work better if they work together. Given that, take a look at your customer base and come up with other business individuals or companies that share the same client base that you can partner up with for a mutual benefit.
For instance, a photographer may want to connect with a wedding planner and a wedding cake maker. The chances are, if a client is using one of those services, that same client will also need help from the other two.
If you are operating to the mutual benefit of your strategic partners, then see if they will share your blog posts in their own social media/email channels. You return the favour in kind and reach a whole new audience!
And teaming up with other companies can really work:
Shopify generated approximately $50 billion for its partners in 2020.
And
95% of Microsoft’s revenue flows through its partners
Thank you crossbeam.com for those statistics.
You need a business email list
Some entrepreneurs refer to the email list as their ‘licence to print money.’
Whilst selling directly on social media and on blogs is often frowned upon, it is expected and keenly encouraged once a prospective client has subscribed to your email list.
It is their endorsement of you and is them saying that they WANT to hear more from you.
According to campaignmonitor.com:
“Email lists are important because email marketing is the best way to connect with customers vs. social media. In fact, you are 6x more likely to get higher click-through rates through emails instead of tweets. Also, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter”
In conclusion…
I could have gone on as we live and breathe this stuff over here but that’s probably enough information for now. If you’d like to receive more tips and tricks and strategies to help your digital marketing efforts, then click here and sign up for our VIP list.
If you have the time to do it then the advice above should make a significant difference to your brand awareness, Google ranking, client conversions and your bottom line.
If on the other hand you are pushed for time get in touch and let’s work together to make your digital marketing efforts make a difference!
