Do you have a website that gets plenty of traffic each and every day but you can’t seem to increase your conversion rate?

For many online business owners, the everyday goal is not only to increase traffic but also improve their conversion rates. The higher the conversion rate, the better the profit is.

However, not every is successful at making conversions and as such; most of the traffic that goes in and out of their site ends up wasted. But what could be causing the failure in conversion?

There are actually several things that could be causing this. One of the most common would be the website’s design. Such a problem could be easily solved by getting a web site designer to help fix the problem or you can do it yourself.

There are, however, some cases wherein the website design isn’t the problem at all. When that happens, what do you do? Well, for starters, you need to assess the problem.

Generally, the best solution here is to do a website conversion rate optimization. Basically, it means that you are optimizing your website to make the most of the traffic it gets, targeting potential clients and eventually converting them into actual clientele.

You might want to change the way you described your business as well as your sales pitch. If you feel like your sales pitch is a little bit too forceful then you might want to tone it down a bit.

Sometimes, it’s these little things that make all the difference. Remember that the better you treat everyone who visits your website, the better these people would view your business.

Since it is an online business, trust is a major issue. If you can get these people to trust you based upon the look, the words and other aspects of your website then you can most certainly increase your conversion rate. So, take a closer look at your website and change the things that need improvement.

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Department stores put thought into their window displays. As the customer walks by they will see attractive window displays of merchandize available for sale in the store. The display as well as a sign advising if they make a purchase from the store today they will receive “30 percent off” of the cost of an item. This entices the customer along with the desirable product in the window to make a purchase. It is no different for online businesses. It is your goal as well to attract customers, draw them in, then make the sale. This online marketing tool is referred to as conversion rate optimization.

What it Does

When businesses uses conversion rate optimization they take into consideration what offer consumers are interested in, what colors attract more customers, and include many of the other online tools used for marketing. Consumers use the internet to research or search for products. Studies have shown a business only has a limited amount of seconds to grab the consumers attention and direct them to the item they are desiring. If not they will move on to another online business with their search.

Conversion rate optimization instructs an online business has to organize their website so it is user friendly and it provides the customer with information pertaining to the product they are desiring quickly so the sale can be completed. If your website is sluggish due to excessive JavaScript or graphics displays you will lose customers. By implementing conversion rate optimization this can be eliminated. Taking time to review your websites’ loading times regularly and fixing the problem immediately if you do notice an increase in the time with the site loading.

Why use Conversion Rate Optimization?

This is a now generation, people want to make their purchases now! The reason they use the internet is to save time and hassles from going out to conventional stores to shop. Doing keyword research and reviews will assist in having you online business displayed high in search engine results display listings. Using specific and relevant keywords will attract new customers when the listing is viewed. This makes it easier for the consumer to click on your website and view the product. Making a quick purchase of the product or service if they desire.

To optimize your use of conversion rate optimization you need to be knowledgeable of the products or services your customer target group desires. Product information and items are updated regularly and so should you website be updated with relevant informative content. Visit message boards or online community for niche customers to see what the interest of the consumers are and follow through this information on your website via a link. The customer can click on your link and have the answer to their question immediately.

Benefits of Conversion Rate Optimization

When a website is arranged using conversion rate optimization it will increase traffic growth and sales revenue. It can also build customer confidence in using your companies website. Customers will repeat their business with your online company because they have had a quick and enjoyable experience.

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What do you do when your website does not attract enough traffic and produces poor conversion rate? Marketing is the answer! The harsh truth is that in this dog eat dog world of ecommerce barely surviving is not enough. To be able to succeed, you always have to be one step ahead of the crowd and that’s only possible when you optimized your resources. Different marketing tools are available to achieve the targeted traffic, better conversion rate and prolific output. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of them and with Volusion template designing you can get the best out of it.

In the grand scheme of things, search engine optimization can be explained as a comprehensive phenomenon which makes a website exist as it methodically functions to improve the ranking of any website in search engine results. The achievement of positive results through effective SEO processing can be very interesting but equally challenging at the same time. Stability in search engines is important for increased website traffic and only through SEO you can make your presence felt. When people find what they are looking for in the search engines, they are likely to go to the nearest destination i.e. the top ranked pages. Furthermore, SEO is not only evergreen but also far more functional than any other marketing tool. For example, adverts or pay per click (PPC) only last till they do.

Optimization strategies play a key role in the success of a Volusion based website as they have the means to make it visible. With customized designing of your Volusion template you can constantly incorporate required contents and keep them updated to get optimum SEO results for your business. While, by using an ordinary template you are definitely going to miss the trick which could cause your failure to fulfill the market demands with respect to search engine optimization. The Custom designing of your template also gives you the flexibility to modify and upgrade so as to impress the search engine crawlers at any given time. You can say that only customization for optimization can build good page ranking that will setup your Volusion outlet for life as economically as you can think.

In order to take maximum advantage from template designing, you must focus on website’s contents and structure. Your products should be so described and your services should be so elaborated that people don’t even have to click to find them. SEO is all about getting you found and establish your leadership in the market which you can achieve through custom designing by efficiently building up the contents, menus, product pages and other attractive features on your site. Content building is a sensitive process which can make your SEO campaign successful by intelligently generating page titles, meta keywords and site description. But that’s just not it as it also include other essential elements like internal page linking, site map, and back linking.

By smartly focusing through customization, all the SEO ingredients can be mixed tastefully to optimize your business output. As Volusion template designing alone makes your website SEO friendly, you won’t have to worry a dime to attain good search engine ranking and swift conversion rate.

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The conversion rate describes the percentage of visitors taking action on a website. Usually this action will be making a purchase; but conversion rates can and should be calculated for any action item on a website, e.g. subscribing to a newsletter or filling out an inquiry form.

Conversion science is a hot trend in Internet Marketing that has long been neglected when online marketers primarily focused on the acquisition of traffic through search engine optimization and other online marketing techniques to improve visibility of websites on the Internet.

Research (e.g. by Forrester Research among others) has shown that conversion rates average at about 2% on retail websites.

While it is increasingly difficult to acquire traffic through organic search results, paid traffic remains the only choice for many website operators. Understanding the factors that turn casual visitors into paying customers hence becomes a crucial success factor.

While every business will require a different minimum conversion rate to be viable, here are some of the factors that generally influence the conversion rate:

1. Search Behavior – the more targeted the search or online marketing technique that brought a visitor to your website in the first place, the more likely that she is a qualified potential customer. While we cannot influence the search behavior of our visitors we can create specific content that will attract targeted visitors.

2. Products and Services – even the most sophisticated website will not produce a significant conversion rate if the products and services offered are lame and not in demand.

3. User interface and ease of use – a website, at the end of the day, is a user interface. The success of Google many times has been attributed to the fact that it is one of the world’s easiest-to-use sites. In reality, fine-tuning the user interface of a website usually comes along with company size. Most Internet entrepreneurs would rather go for quantity than quality and rather bash out a new site then optimizing an existing one, which certainly is not the most useful trend that we can see on the Internet.

A lot of research has already been done on usability and there are two schools evolving – Andrew Goodman calls these schools the “Economists” and the “Ideologues”. Economists proclaim the removal of any undue barriers to commerce as the way to increase conversion rates. Ideologues on the other hand highlight the need to convince or persuade potential customers to buy products through sales copy, psychological triggers and other emotional elements. The truth lies, as in so many cases, somewhere in the middle. On the one hand a website has to be fully functional and working smoothly (Economists), on the other hand a site also has to attract and convince (Ideologues).

4. Content – “Content is King” in web design, because content is what search engines rank web sites for. Copywriting is art and beyond the scope of this article, however a common misunderstanding appears to be that the best copy is brief. So, many times we come to a page, hardly any copy and only a web form to fill out. Most people in fact would not fill out that form, because they seek more information before taking action like filling out an inquiry form.

5. Credibility of your website – we can pretend to be anyone on the Web, therefore we sometimes call the Internet the “great equalizer”. The flip side is how to generate credibility. Stanford research has come up with a long list of how to create credible websites. Among highest ranking items on the list is a physical address, a contact telephone number, professional design, testimonials and incoming links. In fact, anything that renders “the intangible more tangible” will add to a site’s credibility.

There are arguably hundreds of factors influencing the conversion rate, many of which are not even fully controllable or even contradictory. We will never know what the conversion rate of our site will be unless we launch our site and start receiving traffic. And this is where the probably most practicable recommendation comes in: Build a website with a clear goal in mind – What do you want your visitors to do on your website?

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Network marketing is not genuinely successful if you do not have increased rate of conversions and sales. Conversions and sales are significant therefore to earn from marketing. How to boost your conversion rate and generate more sign ups and sales is an aspect that Internet marketers should learn in order to generate massive income online.

How do you boost your conversion rates?

Conversion rate is the rate by which visitors are “converted “to subscribers or buyers of your product. They reflect how successful your marketing strategy is. Even if you have huge traffic coming to your site if only few visitor convert then, it is not effective marketing. Your conversion rates should increase to indicate that you have successfully convinced the visitor to buy. There are several ways to do this:

Maximize the landing page

Your landing or squeeze pages or website will act as the first encounter of your visitor with your product. Create catchy and interesting titles or headlines.

Your first lines should immediately compel the visitor to read on and explore the other features that you offer.

The graphics or photos should be about the superb benefits the visitor could derive from the product.

The page should be user friendly and easily navigated.

Be sure to have your buttons easily accessible.

Design the content, graphics, and the layout of the page to make visitors feel at home, stay, and convert.

Conversion rate optimization tools

If you want to employ the services of experts, then there are applications and optimization tools that could help you attain this objective. Determine which tool suits your preferences best and then utilize it to increase more sign up and sales.

Your online earnings hinge on the conversion of visitors to subscribe, sign-up, or purchase. The increase in your conversion rate will definitely increase your earnings also, more sign up, and sales are expected.

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One of the quickest and easiest ways to increase your landing page conversion rate is to figure out where your traffic is coming from (segment it), then speak to those who are actively seeking to make a purchase now.

Following is why this method is so effective and some tips for making it work for you.

Landing Page Optimization: Why Segmenting Your Traffic Works

Many times, landing pages are written and optimized from a “one-size-fits-all approach.” As in, when visitors land on the site, you want them all to respond to your call-to-action. So for example, if your landing page is written primarily to generate leads, it may be turning off your visitors who are ready to “buy now.”

Hence, by doing away with “conversion road blocks,” you can pretty easily increase your conversion rate.

How to Segment Your Visitor Traffic

The simplest way to figure out what stage potential prospects are in the buying process is to mine keyword data. As research has proven, the more specific prospects are in their searches, the more serious they tend to be about making a purchase. So focus on your long-tail keyword searches and see what you can glean.

For example, are prospects searching by brand? This could mean that they’ve made up their mind about needing a particular product/service. Now, they’re simply looking for the brand they want.

Are prospects searching by product? This could signal that a prospect is looking to see if you indeed sell what they need so they can do the final stages of their comparison shopping before making the purchase.

Once you’ve made some educated guesses about your “ready to buy” prospects, then it’s time to test some calls-to-action to move them further along the sales funnel.

No matter how this test pans out, you will glean a lot of insight into your customers’ behavior, which you can use to improve your overall online marketing strategy.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say you’re right – your landing page ROI improves significantly. Now’s no time to become complacent. It’s time to dig deeper to maximize your results because not all prospects will respond to your first call to action – no matter how great it panned out for you.

What about those “ready to buy” prospects who didn’t respond? Will they respond to a different call to action? The only way to find out is to test it and see.

And this is what landing page optimization is all about – constantly mining customer data to better give them what they want.

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Our last post, The Art of SEO: Conversion Rate Optimization, spoke to the relationship between driving traffic to your site and converting existing traffic. The argument is, why continue to drive new traffic in excess to your website if you can’t convert any of the existing traffic. Getting people to your site is great, but if they visit your homepage, stay for 15 seconds and leave, what have you accomplished?

One theory behind conversion optimization is creating and optimizing dynamic content on your site, like images, video and other multimedia, that visitors can interact with. Search engines do not read images or flash files, as such, it is imperative to properly tag and optimize the images. Below are six (stern) suggestions on how to optimize images and video.

A Rose is a Rose by Any Other Name

Give your image a name. Make your image name descriptive. You do yourself no favors by just assigning it an encrypted number and letter sequence. Use keywords! It doesn’t have to be terribly long or terribly descriptive, but it has to make sense and give your visitors an insight as to what they are viewing. To note, while it’s debatable as to how you should separate multi-word-named images, we personally like to use hyphens for aesthetic reasons only.

Monetize Your Metadata

It is debatable as to whether search engines pay attention to image metadata, we say they do. So for those who aren’t savvy photographers, make sure that your image is in a JPEG or PNG file. Right click the image, view properties, and choose the “details” tab (this is in Windows only) then add Title, description, comments, author etc. As most of you know, search engines, particularly Google, places more emphasis on content above the fold of the page, which is where the meta data for images live.

Spruce up the Title and ALT Text

All images should be linked one of two ways, either display an image without linking it or with link functionality.

Whichever you choose, use the title=”" section to either place your keyword or a keyword-rich description of the image. The alt=”" text is what loads in place of your image instead of a red ‘x’ if the link is broken or if it doesn’t load immediately. Even if a visitor never sees that text, spiders will so make sure to utilize them!

Where Does Your Image Live?

It is true, the location of an image effects search engine rankings. For instance, if you are writing a post or creating a gallery about landing pages, create a directory called landing-pages-that-convert and place all images in that gallery/folder. This helps visitors and search engines understand the navigation and content associated with the URL.

Sometimes Bigger Isn’t Better

A best practice is to make your images as small as possible where file-size is concerned. The smaller the image size, the faster the load time (which Google has confirmed plays a part in ranking). If your thumbnails rank instead of full-sized images, that is perfectly fine.

You Can Build Links Through Images, Who Knew?

Since link building is by far the most arduous facet of SEO, you might want to consult with your SEO firm to jumpstart the process. The tips above are for on-page optimization. If you want your images to rank for specific keywords, then build links to them using the keywords you want them to rank for as anchor text!

Keep in mind, there is no one silver bullet that pushes your images, web pages or website to the top of SERPs. These are just a couple best practices our SEO team uses to compliment other SEO and CRO efforts as well. Are you doing
something different? Is it working? Let us know!

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While most marketers are beginning to understand the critical importance of maximizing conversion rates, few are tracking or working to maximize another critical measurement of website effectiveness.

Visitor value…

Visitor value is simply a representation of how much money you make per visitor to your website.

You can calculate visitor value by multiplying your number of sales over a given time by your average price per sale and then dividing by the number of unique visitors you received over the same time period.

(# of sales x price) / (# of unique visitors) = visitor value

For example, if your website made 1,000 sales last month at an average order size of $100 and received 50,000 unique visitors, your visitor value is $2.

(1,000 sales x $100) / (50,000) = $2.00

When split testing modifications to your website, it is important to understand the effect these changes have on visitor value, not just conversion rates.

This is particularly important when testing different price points or working to improve your average order size.

By focusing only on conversion rates when testing different prices, you run the risk of selecting a price point that may convert best, yet produce a lower overall visitor value and profit.

For example, in a recent split testing campaign I conducted for one of my coaching clients we tested three different price points, $17, $27 and $47.

The $17 price generated a conversion rate of 3.4%, the $27 price actually converted the highest with 3.65% and the $47 price point converted at only 3.18%.

Without looking at the visitor value, many marketers would select the $27 price point. However, after calculating the visitor values for each price point, we discovered that the $27 price produced a visitor value of $0.98. But the $47 price produced a visitor value of $1.49.

Even though the $47 price had the lowest conversion rate, because of the higher visitor value it was over 50% more profitable than the highest converting price point.

Once I explain the power and importance of improving visitor value to my clients I am often asked…

“How can I improve my visitor value?”

There are only three basic ways to increase your visitor value.

First, you can improve your sales conversion rates. As long as your boost in conversion rates doesn’t come at the expense of price or average order size, improving conversion will also improve your visitor value.

Second, as I have already demonstrated, by testing different price points for your products, you can often find the “sweet spot” where your visitor value is maximized.

The third way to maximize visitor value is by working to increase your average order size. Using tactics such as up-selling, cross-selling and bundling you can quickly boost the average amount your visitors spend per sale.

While my clients and readers all know how passionate I am about maximizing conversion rates, when it comes to changes or split tests on your website that involve pricing or average order size, visitor value is the metric that you want to maximize.

By consistently measuring the impact your conversion rate optimization efforts have on visitor value, you can ensure that your site is living up to its most profitable potential.

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What Exactly Is a Website Conversion or a Website Conversion Rate?

Let’s first get some definitions out of the way. A website conversion can be defined as a website visitor performing a desired action. Now, conversion rate, per se, is the percentage of visitors who take such a desired action. For purposes of this article I will designate two distinct types of website conversions. Level one conversions or “revenue conversions” and level two conversions or “rain check conversions.” Revenue conversions are actions that are designated as the final goal of the website creators. Revenue conversions turn visitors into clients or customers. Rain check conversions, on the other hand, are actions that are used to facilitate a revenue conversion sometime in the future. A revenue conversion in its most common form is known as a simple sale that translates into an online transaction. Familiar rain check conversions include newsletter opt-ins, form submissions, membership sign-ups, catalog requests, e-mails to customer service, or a call to your awaiting sales department. If nurtured correctly these rain check conversions germinate into full fledge revenue conversions at a later date.

Understanding Your Business and Optimal Visitor Actions

Clearly defining goals for your business is not enough to beat your evolving online competition. You must have clear objectives and an understanding of your customer for your internet presence to work for you effectively. Before hiring a web designer or database programmer to build your site, you must have a solid comprehension of what it is you want your website to do. More precisely, you must have an understanding of what you want your visitors to do within your site. Is your product too complex to offer a real-time e-commerce solution? If so, a phone call might be a better desired action. Are your products too inexpensive to warrant paying for a customer service department? If so, e-commerce may be the better choice. Are you receiving dozens of unqualified phone calls on your voicemail system? You might consider creating a form that both filters and qualifies potential customers. Are your buyers educated enough to fully understand what your service provides? A prominent phone number might help to attract clients to engage you over the phone. Is your target customer executive MBA students from The Wharton School of business? If so, you might want to write copy that speaks their language.

Off-Site Conversion Factors

The most common error in conversion analysis is neglecting factors not contained within the framework of your existing website. Off-site elements affect the quality of the traffic entering your website. All things held equal, a high quality visitor converts at a higher frequency than a low quality visitor. It is commonly held that surfers originating from a Google search are considered a higher quality visitor than your average web surfer. An individual clicking on an organic or natural search engine listing is also considered a higher quality visitor than one who clicks on a pay per click advertisement. A “direct access” visitor, one who simply types in your company url as the first step in the conversion process, or a returning visitor, typically also is considered a higher quality visitor. If someone knows you by name or actively decides to come back for a second visit, the odds of a desired action increase. To the contrary, visitors arriving to your site from affiliate programs, banner advertisements, e-mail campaigns, or blogs, are usually considered lower quality visitors as their actions are less reliable.

On-Site Conversion Factors

Usability is the term used to define the efficiency of a user interface. Websites are a form of interface where human beings interact with a host computer housing a particular website. Usability is important for us because it impacts conversion rate. Your website must be efficient. Visitors must be able to perform their tasks quickly. Long forms, excessive steps in an e-commerce order process, complex account creating protocol, or an extended webpage load time can bottleneck a visitor’s desired action. The action must also be easily understood the first time the visitor enters the website. You’ve got one chance and a brief stint of time to teach your visitors and limit frustration before they move to the next site. If you do happen to get a return visitor, can they remember how to navigate the site the second time around? Your interface must therefore be memorable. Lastly, are you leaving your visitors satisfied? Does the color scheme, text font, or images in relation to website content leave your eyes hurting? A visually unappealing site can and will lead to a mass exodus of potential conversions.

Trust Us- Won’t You?

Trustworthiness is also a significant on-site factor leading to higher conversions. What however, comprises a trustworthy website? Clearly defined privacy policies, frequently asked questions, shipping instructions, order protocol, and prominently displayed terms of use can be a means to that end. Industry affiliations, awards, or memberships also give the visitor reason to believe they are doing business with a reliable corporation. Eliminating broken links, misspellings, broken images, coding or design errors can also serve to minimize visitor skepticism.

Persuasive Website Writing

Individuals tend to read newspapers, magazines, or books, while internet users scan web page content. They scan to grasp bits of information and quickly move on from page to page, topic to topic. Quick and efficient delivery of your message is a necessity to improve the stickiness of any website. Headlines should be used frequently with crisp, eye-catching, and prominent wording to give your web surfers the main idea and objective promptly. Your core topic areas should be displayed above the secondary or tertiary subject matter. The flow of content within a website’s inner pages should be intuitive and easily accessible. Websites that are content rich should have pages that are easily downloadable in pdf format or offer printable versions. Fonts, colors, and themes should be consistent throughout the website. Examples of fonts that are easiest to read are Verdana and Arial, while Times New Roman tends to be the most difficult.

Calls To Action

A call to action in a website sense refers to the active copy that compels or persuades a user to take action. This call to action can lead to either a revenue conversion or a rain check conversion. The key to calls to action are treading the line between pushing and persuading. A prominent “Act Now!” button might be too openly aggressive for the average web surfer’s taste, while an indiscreet “click here” might be too gentle to nudge your visitor towards the desired destination. A happy medium typically yields the most favorable results. Subtly pulling your visitors to your end goal is more effective than attempting to bully them around. After all, they decide what, where, and when they click on any given link to a deeper page within your site. Descriptive text links can and should be used at the end of every text paragraph to help persuade a visitor to make the desired move. The clearer the description within the link, the easier it is for the surfer to make up his or her mind.

When In Doubt- Test, Track, and Analyze

Having the ability to track your website visitors in real-time is essential in understanding what your website is doing right and what your website is doing wrong. Click path analysis, or exposing the travel patterns of your visitors as they click from one page to another is critical. Uncovering the common pages that visitors are leaving from will offer clues as to where your potential conversions are escaping. When testing different pages it is however, vital that you drive enough traffic to the site in order to make a sound decision on what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be tempted to jump the gun by changing a particular page that only received half a dozen hits or unique visitors. See how the pages perform over a longer period of time to ensure you have a critical mass of data to analyze.

Conversion Rates Still Got You Down?

Here are some miscellaneous points to consider before throwing in the conversion towel. Make sure that your website supports all major browsers (Explorer, Firefox, Navigator). Make sure you know what pages within the website you are directing visitors to. Conversions can be improved by directing visitors to the most relevant pages within your site, not just the home page. The closer the visitor is to the desired action, the less steps available to convolute the conversion process. Rain check conversions can be improved by giving away valuable information. Giving your readers something they need or want is an effective way to persuade a return visit at a future date for a future action. Make your e-commerce shopping cart linear, intuitive, and easy to use. Utilize “one click” technology to make repeat shopping attractive for your users to return. Not only should the site be memorable, but the domain name too- keep it catchy and easy to remember, and odds are your visitors will come back for seconds to convert another day.

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