There’s a popular line from a movie which has been used in reference to websites: if you build it, they will come. Many people have used this to point out the fact that building a website is no guarantee that you will get traffic to the site. But what if you do manage to pull some traffic to your site? How good are your conversion rates?
Conversion rates are basically the rates at which the blog visitor converts to your desired call-to-action. And by call-to-action or CTA we mean, words that urge your reader or blog visitor to do that thing which you want them to. It could be buy a product, register for a seminar or class, vote for a candidate etc.
So, now that you know what these mean, how about we get to the real business, and show you very quickly how to convert those visits into money as you double your conversion rates.
Choose a simple call-to-action
The problem with most people who understand what a call-to-action is, that, they tend to crowd the blog with so many of them. The trend has been to leave the blog post on the left and crowd the side bar on the right with so many CTAs, the reader is dazzled.
You need to focus your blog on improving your conversion rate, strip away the excess trim, and let the reader focus on the one task you want them to. “Follow us”, “Download eBook here!”, “You may also like this article XXX”, swamping the side bar would not achieve as much as a single, “Purchase eBook here”. A simple task will improve your blog conversion rates and convert a visitor to a constant subscriber.
And it also makes it easier for you to track your achievements. With fewer rather than more calls-to-action we can track the effects of our efforts and by subtle adjustments, ensure maximum blog conversion rates our reality.
Sanitize your landing page, sir!
Simply put, unless you are pulling in an hourly traffic in the thousands, you do not need a lot of ads. Those Google served ads on your sidebar and footer, are not doing a whole deal for you, besides confusing your visitor, and derailing them from what you want them to do. The average time a user spends on a webpage is usually 20 seconds, unless there is something worthwhile to read or buy, and with the garish ad display on your screen, your viewer might immediately click out without bothering to even read your post or check your call-to-action. And your conversion rates just keep shuffling backwards.
Cut down your ads, or cut them out together. And while you are at it, cut down that sidebar!
Our sidebars have become the dumping ground for practically anything that interests us. A site like Medium.com has shown that the zero-sidebar blog post has a lot more effect than the crowded, everything-must-be-crammed-in-here sort we see now. This will sanitize your landing page, make it a lot more attractive, create space where you can put in your actual and meaningful calls-to-action, and see you smiling at the stats of your conversion rates.
And it’s not just the sidebars; you need to reduce the footer clutter too!
Your footer is not a dumping ground for all the widgets you can’t show up at the sidebar! It is common practice to find the footer clogged with links to posts, ads, more links to posts, ads, ads and ads. Clear out those ads; create space to include a CTA. The footer is an excellent place for you to include social proof. This is where you show your readers the famous or popular companies who have partnered and endorse your brand. Everyone likes validation and this would go a long way in building trust for your brand before the would-be customer and improve your conversion rates.
Create in-line CTAs
The main purpose readers come to your site is to see what you have to offer. If you run a blog, then they are interested in reading what you’ve written. Half the time, the reader may not even glance at the CTA instructions at the sides of the post, so what better place to catch his attention than inside the post itself. Matching your inline calls-to-action with keywords such as with “Available offers could include:” which links to a page where the viewer may see and select and purchase from the available offers, is on call-to-action that is sure to work and double your conversion rates.
If your blog or website is about online retail services, the pressure is even greater on you to ensure the conversion from viewer to customer. Most experts advice that you use a Sign-up form. However, handled wrongly, this could even worsen your rates.
But then, that is why we are here, to show you how to do that right.
Don’t ask for too much info
The most sacrosanct rule here is; do not ask for too much personal information. Privacy is huge deal in the internet world and potential subscribers are already assailed by a mass of spam mails, texts and salesmen calling at odd hours, irrespective of time-zones. Asking them to hand over their details to you would be expecting too much. You need their emails for the usual correspondence, and most times it is easy enough for most customers to part with that, but phone numbers are another issue entirely. So if you do not need phone numbers, then do not ask for them.
You need to shorten your sign-up form. Unnecessary fields such as “Mother’s maiden name”, “Address of family doctor” etc., are not necessary except as a password check, and as such should not be included on the form. The chances that a customer would complete a sign-up form and transaction increase with every field removed from the form and vice versa.
Basically all you need is a first name and an email address. If you choose to ask for additional info, let your potential subscribers know why you are including that field. If you sell physical goods, then you will need a mailing address for shipping in which case, the customers are usually happy to oblige.
Add security and trust symbols
Readers are more likely to subscribe to a site that is not only secure with an SSL certificate, but that announces it boldly and proudly. Posting the SSL certificate on your website and order pages for customers to see, assures them of security and boosts their confidence in you. Ergo; nice looking bumps on the conversion stats.
A simple revamp of your landing page and a few additional details is all you need to control your traffic and navigate it to the more beneficial area of constant subscription. (Article comes from agstechnologies.com)
