conversion optimisation - WebConsulting | Website Optimisation, SEO & Design

Whenever a visitor arrives at your website it should be very clear what their next step should be. If they start to think “What do I do now?” then you have probably failed, and there is a very good chance that you will have lost the sale, lead or enquiry.

The Call to Action for your site should reflect your overall business goals for the website. i.e. what are you wanting to achieve? Your call to action may be to provide contact details , to buy a product, or to give you a call, but whatever it is, your website should be focused on achieving that goal.

That’s not to say that a website can not necessarily have multiple calls to action (for different types of users for example), however it should fairly quickly funnel the user to the area of the site that meets their specific needs, and should make it as easy as possible for them to achieve what they have come to your site to do. From your visitors perspective it needs to be clear and obvious where they need to click on your page to get them closer to their goal. If they have to spend time deciding where to look and what to do, they’ll most likely get frustrated and leave your site.

Is your Call To Action Clear?

If your call-to-action is not obvious, your website is not working properly and you are probably losing money. If your visitors can’t tell almost immediately what your page is about and how to get to their goal, you will undoubtedly lose conversions.

Here are four steps on how you can keep your landing page intent clear:

Clear headline – Each page on your website must be about something. It must have a clear purpose, which must be spelled out in a headline that spans the top of the page.
Clear “action block” – There should be a single place for the visitor to interact with your page, which should be visually separate from the rest of the page. This action block should draw the eye towards the desired activity on the page. The rest of the page should be plain and visually restrained.
Action block Headline – The intent of the action block must be clearly stated, with an obvious and descriptive headline.
Clear call-to-action – Within the action block, you must provide a single clear call-to-action. The call-to-action should describe what happens next and what the visitor can expect once they click on the button. Avoid general or generic buttons like the “Continue” or “Submit”. The wording of the call-to-action must be from the visitor’s viewpoint, and not your own”.
Remove distractions – Take a look at the content and navigation on the rest of the page, and remove as many other “clickable” options as possible. This may even include the removal of the normal menu navigation for specific Call to Action pages on your site. Ideally, the only clickable options on your Call to Action Page, are to either proceed with the conversion, or return to the previous page.

By keeping your call to action clear, ensuring it is the most prominent thing on the page, placed above the fold, and written in words that reflect your visitor’s perspective, you maximise the likelihood of your visitors completing the conversion.

If you don’t believe that your website is achieving as many conversions as it should or could, and would like advice about website conversion optimisation, please feel free to contact WebConsulting SEO.

Precisely what Is Conversion Optimization?

Simply speaking, Conversion Optimization is the process of making it easier for your consumers to buy from you (or undertake whatever other conversion goal you have). However beginning to increase the conversion rate of your site is almost certainly less complicated than you imagine. Here are a number of steps in the process and how they can integrate with your search marketing campaigns and strategy.

Make improvements to Usability

Before anyone will want to buy from you, they need to feel comfortable with your web site. Here are some quick tips to help improve the usability of your website:

Think like a user. Take a look at your site through your users eyes…how would the user feel about this site?

How would a new user rate your navigation? Is it Useful? Intuitive? Easy or Difficult to navigate? Your sites navigation is one of the fundamental elements of usability so spend some time making this work for site visitors. You should aim at ensuring that users can get to your primary conversion goals in 3 clicks or less.

Remove barriers. Is there anything in your site that makes it awkward or difficult for users to get to either your conversion goal or the information that they need? If so, fix it.

Are the visuals pleasant and relevant or do they distract or annoy?

Look at your competitor sites or those with similar functionality. Identify functionality that you like or features that you could be using.

Use Search Engine and User Friendly URL’s so visitors can bookmark pages they like and come back.

Like SEO – Conversion Optimisation is an ongoing process, not a one off activity. To get the best out of your site, you should keep working through the conversion optimisation process throughout the life of your site, and with each cycle, it will improve (and so will your sales).