Building websites and getting traffic to those websites is just part of the battle. You can have all the traffic in the world but if you never ask that traffic to do something you will never make a dime. Okay maybe you will make some money but it will be far less than the potential money you can make from your online business. The answer lies with increasing conversions and I will go over three ways to increase conversions rates shortly.
First we need to talk about some other things like an online business requires writing copy with intent. That intent is what the goal you hope to achieve after someone reads the article. It can be to post a comment, go to another page on your website, and of course even buy something from you or a sponsor. If you leave that to just chance your readers will become confused and possibly move on while being lost forever. You work hard to make your website. That work should include the intent of each page. The intent includes not only the copy, or written part, but also the design and pictures you have on your page.
Each time you get someone to complete the intent of the page this is a conversion. In the long term the more conversions you get the more money you will make. If your call to action is weak you will have a low conversion rate. If you are insincere, you will have a low conversion rate. If every page of your website is a sales page, you will have a low conversion rate.
Determine Your Conversion Rate
There are several ways to determine your conversion rate. The easiest ways you can come up with your conversion rate is by setting up a goal within Google Analytics and figuring it out yourself. To figure it out yourself you simply need to take the amount of visitors per month and divide it by the amount of sales or actions you wanted to accomplish in your intent. For example if you had 1000 visitors to your squeeze page and you had 450 new subscribers your conversion rate would be 45%. If your conversion rate is 45% you should also be doing a happy dance because you are doing AWESOME!!!
Increasing your conversion rate can greatly impact your overall sales. You may not need to drive more traffic to your website to make more money. Think of it this way:
If you have a website and you have 10,000 visitors a month and have a conversion rate of 2% then you have made 200 sales for that month. If you make $10 per sale, then you have made $2000 for that month. Okay what if you could increase your conversion rate to 3, 4, or even 5%? If you could increase your conversion rate to 5% on the same 10,000 visitors in a month and the same commission you will make $5000. That is a significant increase. I think that outlines the power of increasing your conversion rates.
Increase Your Conversions
You can increase your conversions with simple steps. It normally is not anything drastic. Here are three things to keep in mind or to look at to increase your conversions:
- Make sure your copy is clear.
- Is your Call to Action clear?
- Have you built trust with your reader?
If you make small changes to these three things and then wait a month and adjust you will find that your conversions will increase or decreased based on what you did. Nothing good happens quickly with a business. At least that has been my experience. That is not to say that it is impossible for good things to happen fast, but normally only bad things happen fast. It takes work and patience to build a business.
Making Sure Your Articles Are Clear
If you are an expert in a particular field it is easy to forget that not everyone knows or understands the technical jargon. You want to Keep It Simple Stupid(KISS). That does not mean talk down to someone, but instead explain and show things to your readers so that they can understand without question, what you are talking about. So if I was writing about the latest smart phone I would want to write it in the simplest terms so everyone could understand. Maybe I would say the computing power on the newest model is almost double the previous model instead of stating “this model boasts a 2.4 Ghz processor.” I am in no way an expert in smart phones but I think you understand what I mean. You could combine and compare the models using the processor speed, but you should also put it in every day speaking words. Pretend you are speaking to your friend who doesn’t know anything about your area of expertise.
Make Your Call To Action Clear
Your call to action must be strong, clear and concise. If you can convey emotion in your call to action you will be more successful as well. A call to action is anytime you ask your readers to do something on your website. It can be as simple as leaving a message for you, subscribing to your mail list, going to another page on your website, or even buy something. Don’t beat around the proverbial bush in this call to action.
Build Trust With Your Reader
Maybe someone stumbled onto your website, how do you build trust with them? Well that can be tricky on a brand new site but again it takes time. Write with honesty. Don’t try and sell them something on every single page. Help solve problems for your readers. Give them free advice. Answer all your comments and questions on each page in a timely manner. All of these things build trust with your reader. It might be the first time you have had this visitor but if they see that all of these things are happening on your website trust will grow very quickly.
In Closing
After all of this has been done you should see an increase in your conversions. It takes adjustments and time for you to make sure you have the desired outcome. It is a skill that you can learn with practice. If you really want to know the best way to learn all of this and more please review my top recommendation and there is even a free trail to see what you get. This article was never meant to be an end all be all about increasing conversions, but a start and pointing out some things to look at.
Please leave your questions comments or personal experiences about your conversion rates below. I am always happy to hear from my readers.
So true Marc, one can never be successful by merely getting traffic to your site alone, but is also based on the trust your audience have on you, and how you apply your ‘call to action’ too. Thanks for a wonderful post.
Nnamdi,
Thank you for the comment. Building trust and a relationship with your readers is critical to building a successful online business.
Marc
Hello Marc,
I just came across your site and I love the advice you give here!
I have a website of my own and it is interesting to read how to increase conversion rates on my site.
It is so true that people have to try to write clear! I sometimes write too complicated, because I know what I am talking about, but maybe my readers don’t (that’s why they are on my site).
How to build trust is another great advice! So important.
Thanks for your great article!
Moritz
Moritz,
I think those two subjects are imperative to running a successful online business. Well those as well as being committed.
Thank you for the comment and I wish you the best of luck with your website. Let me know if there is anyway I can help.
Marc