For any blog or website with commercial intent, one of the biggest goals is to improve website conversions. Many bloggers and marketers focus almost exclusively on strategies for getting more website traffic as the primary means to increase revenue through the site, but increasing conversions is just as important. Below are five ways you can improve your conversions and make more money per visitor to your site. The focus here is on WordPress websites and blogs, but many of the concepts can apply to other websites as well.
1. Speed up your site
Google officially announced last year that page load time was in fact a ranking factor for SEO purposes because slow websites create a poor experience for users. In fact, stats show that most people will leave a website within about three seconds if the page hasn’t loaded yet. So if your WordPress website takes a long time to load each page, you are losing visitors and losing potential conversions and may want to look into some website speed optimizations.
Here are three quick tips for speeding up your website.
Caching
One way to speed up your site and hold visitors’ attention is by using cached pages. A cached page is basically a recent snapshot of your page that is stored by search engines for quick retrieval. This is perfect for websites which contain a lot of evergreen content that doesn’t need to be updated frequently. The WordPress plugin WP Super Cache is an excellent choice or creating cached pages.
CDN
Making use of a content distribution network (CDN) can also increase site speed. Your WordPress blog or site is hosted on a server owned by your web hosting service in a central location. Whenever a reader accesses your website, the signal must travel back and forth from the reader’s physical location and this server location.
But when your website content is stored in a CDN, copies of your content are stored on multiple servers around the world, so readers in other countries can read your content with faster page loading times, since the CDN likely has a server closer to their geographical location.
Image optimization
High-definition images (HD) can also slow down page load times, but these image files can be compressed to allow for faster delivery when someone is reading your blog. This feature is essential for photographers or bloggers who upload multiple images per post, but it also has major benefits for ecommerce websites with tons of product photos.
2. Rewrite Content
Along with speeding up your site, one of the most important factors impacting conversion is the content itself. Content that is poorly written, is boring or is irrelevant to the reader will not convert well into ad clicks, leads and sales. Consider these three tips for creating web content that converts.
Use copywriting techniques
Your content needs to be high quality. If it is written by a non-native writer, contains typos, grammatical errors and punctuation problems, then that is going to be a big turnoff for your readers. So either write excellent copy yourself or hire a professional writer.
Target your ideal customer
One of the most important factors in conversion rate optimization (CRO) is creating content that is highly targeted to your ideal customer. It doesn’t matter how interesting and informative your content is if it doesn’t directly address your ideal customers’ pain points. So make sure your content fits your brand and speaks to your target clients’ needs.
Add more empathy
From a commercial standpoint, the general purpose of your content is to influence your visitors to make a purchase. It has been estimated that 90 percent of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously. Consumers often buy for emotional reasons and then think up logical reasons to justify their purchase. For this reason, content that can make an emotional connection with your readers can influence them positively toward becoming customers.
3. Rework Your Website Design and Branding
Your branding also sends messages to your visitors on an emotional and sometimes subconscious level. Brand recognition can influence people to make purchases, so it’s vital that your branding is consistent across all of your platforms, both online and offline.
But the elements of your WordPress website design and branding can also directly have an impact on your conversion rate.
Integrate new graphics, headers, colors, and more
You need to perform split testing to know how the visual elements of your site influence conversion. You should try experimenting with different colors, graphic styles, headers, sidebars and banners. Make one change at a time and test the response by carefully analyzing your traffic and click-through stats before changing another design element.
Experiment with layout, content, style and functionality
The user experience (UI) is another important factor, and it is largely affected by your page layouts, internal linking and navigation menus. It shouldn’t be difficult for visitors to find the information, products or services that they are looking for. Make it easy for them, and your conversion rates will improve.
4. Test calls to action and value propositions
Your calls to action (CTA) and unique value propositions should also be tested. Subtle variations in the wording of a statement — or even the font and color used — can make a difference. Again, make one change and measure the results using A/B split testing methodologies. Then make another change and test that, and so on.
5. Add evidence
Many customers are becoming more web savvy today, and this is a good thing. They realize that anyone can say anything on the internet, but they want to do business with brands that they can trust. Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, service provider or a blogger, your conversion rate can benefit by earning your readers’ trust. And one of the best ways to build trust is to provide evidence to back up your claims.
Case studies, testimonials, reviews, and videos
Link to sources. Provide hard data backed by scientific studies. Perform case studies to show how your services are benefiting your clients. Include client testimonials. Create high-quality videos that present your evidence in an easily digestible and persuasive format. All of these tactics are great ways to boost your authority and credibility in the eyes of your customers and potential customers.
The goal for more traffic on your WordPress website
Getting more traffic to your site is important, and it’s something that you will always need to focus on to grow your business. But influencing those website visitors to become customers once they arrive on your site is equally important. Follow these strategies to improve website conversions for your company website and see what a difference it can make in your profit potential.
Photograph by StockSnap