On-Page SEO, ADA Compliant Websites, and Other Tricks of the Trade to Implement This Fall
The holidays are right around the corner, which means many businesses start to pivot away from brand awareness and go all-in on tactics that increase conversions. In autumn, the proverbial iron starts to heat up among consumers, which means figuring out the most effective ways to strike while it’s hot.
In the digital age, your website is often the first point of contact between your business and potential customers. Converting these visitors into paying customers is crucial for your success.
So, how can you do it?
What’s the secret ingredient that turns casual visitors into loyal fans of your brand?
There are numerous tips and best practices you can implement to boost your website’s conversion rate. Website optimizations are necessary to help you reach your goals.
Understanding Website Conversion Rate
Before we can dig into optimizations, you first must understand conversion rate. Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who took the intended action versus the total number of visitors. For example, if 10 visitors completed a purchase on your website out of the total 100 visitors for the day, that equates to a 10% conversion rate.
However, conversion rate isn’t limited to purchases. Depending on your goals, a conversion can be signing up for a newsletter, downloading your company’s most recent industry report, or booking an appointment for a free consultation. When discussing website optimizations, it’s best to think of them in terms of how they can best facilitate the action you most want your visitors to make.
To determine whether your website is performing as best as it can, compare your conversion rate to the average global one: 3.7%. Keep in mind that this benchmark includes websites across all industries, and your optimal conversion rate may be different.
With the right website optimizations in place, it’s possible to hit your desired conversion rate benchmark. The following are some of the top website optimizations you can make that should positively influence conversion rate.
Optimize Your Website’s User Experience (UX)
If you’re not familiar with UX by now, it’s high time you study up on it. As the name implies, user experience is the experience website visitors have when using your website or application. A well-structured and visually appealing website encourages visitors to stay longer and engage with your content. Conversely, a website that is slow to load, poorly designed, and is difficult to navigate is an example of bad UX.
First impressions matter. Ensure your website is user-friendly, with clear navigation, easy-to-read content, and a mobile-responsive design. And don’t forget about page load speed. If your site isn’t lightning fast, you run the risk of visitors jumping ship. The easier and more engaging you can make things for the user, the better it is for your conversion rate.
Pro tip: The Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design dictates that websites must be accessible for those with disabilities. Be sure that you have an ADA compliant website. Not doing so can result in excluding potential customers and being subject to lawsuits.
Craft Compelling Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Although “Learn More” and “Buy Now” are straight to the point in terms of what they mean, they are also incredibly overused as CTAs. You will have to get a little more creative with your CTAs if you want to boost your conversion numbers.
For example, using “Get Deal” as a CTA button implies that you’re running a limited time offer or selling your product for a discounted amount, which makes it a little more tantalizing than the generic “Buy Now” button.
Effective CTAs prompt visitors to take action. Use action-oriented language and strategically placed CTAs throughout your site. Make sure they stand out within your website design, so your site visitor’s next step is clear.
Create High-Quality Content
Listing a bunch of products and expecting them to sell won’t bode well for your marketing strategy. Although it’s been more than 25 years since Bill Gates famously shared the quote, “Content is king,” the message remains relevant in today’s digital landscape.
Your website should have content that educates, informs, entertains, and delivers value to your users. Create insightful blog posts, engaging videos, and eye candy imagery that resonates with your audience.
If your website is a house, your content is all the furniture, art, fixtures, and aesthetics that make it an interesting place to visit. Give your users plenty of reasons for them to stop in and stay awhile.
Pro tip: Optimizing your website for SEO is a long game, but it pays off down the line when you begin ranking for competitive search terms and phrases. Be sure to invest some quality time with your blog and create content that provides an engaging read while adhering to all the current search engine best practices for ranking. If you can’t make the time to do this, consider hiring an SEO agency near you with expertise in creating longform blog content.
Polish Your Search Engine Optimization
SEO is so much more than crafting contagious content. You’ll also need to master the technical side and ensure your website meets the mark. Without completing every aspect of SEO, you’re unlikely to rise through the ranks and land on the first page of search engine results.
Don’t forget to write meta descriptions that use keywords you’ve identified during your research phase. You’ll also want to ensure your URL slugs are SEO-friendly.
Use a website crawler tool to find any issues that could be affecting how search engines crawl your website. These tools can help you find unexpected errors, including the dreaded 404, and broken outbound links.
Streamline the Checkout Process
If there’s one thing that customers hate, it’s doing data entry. The last thing you want is to lose hundreds of sales because you’re making your visitors do a bunch of admin work just to buy your product.
If you’re an e-commerce business, simplify the checkout process as much as possible. Although you probably can’t implement Amazon’s all-too-easy one-click checkout method, you can eliminate unnecessary steps, offer guest checkout options, allow for auto-population in required fields, and ensure a secure payment process to reduce cart abandonment.
Kick Off Your Website Optimizations Before the Holiday Rush
Those who are aiming to make the most out of the holiday sales season should make their website optimizations sooner rather than later. The process of updating your website to make it more user friendly and full of enticing content is heavy work. Further, some of the tactics mentioned in this blog take months before you’ll see the needle move, such as SEO blogging.
Businesses that require a helping hand should reach out to an agency that specializes in website optimizations and search engine marketing in Kansas City. By outsourcing this very important part of your business, it gives you more time to focus on your customer and other aspects of your business. You will also get the added benefit of working with marketing professionals who know how to boost website conversion rates.
Brandon Tietz is a senior digital copywriter at iFocus Marketing with close to a decade of marketing experience. He has written for clients in retail, real estate, automotive, education, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer goods, and several other spaces. In addition to copywriting, he has authored books, published short stories, written for several online and print publications, and was named “Best Local Writer” by The Pitch for his debut novel. He’s currently living the dream in the ‘burbs with his wonderful wife and their two dogs, Dr. Croutons and Professor Pickles.
