Small Business Tax Center
Small Business Ideas, Grants &
Plans to Start & Run a Business:

Small Business Grants
CyberSchmooz
Network in Cyberschmooz Community Ask Questions Questions and Answers Share Tips Small Business Ideas List Your Business Business Advice from Idea Cafe Experts Coffee Talk with Experts Starting A Business Business Plan Biz Planning | Sample Plans Small Business Ideas Idea Name Your Biz Name Plan Your Biz Plan Financing $ Starting a Business Do It! Running your Business Marketing Tips Promotional Merchandise Marketing Tips Marketing | Sales | Customers Human Resources HR | Employees | Contractors Legal Forms & Tax Information Legal | Biz Forms Managing a Business Managing | Operations
Financing Resources Financing Your Business E Commerce & Webhosting eCommerce Take Out Info Trade Publications FREE Trade Publications Business Books Biz Books Your Own Business Small Business News Small Biz News Gen X Biz Gen X Biz Work at Home Work @ Home Business Information The Fridge - Biz Info on Ice Destress Send Awards Send Awards & Greetings Yoga At Your Desk Yoga @ Your Desk Fun Guide Guide to Find FUN Online About Idea Cafe Press Idea Cafe has received Idea Cafe in the News Idea Cafe's Kudos Kudos for Idea Cafe Advertise on Idea Cafe Advertise on Idea Cafe Privacy Policy Privacy Policy Contact Idea Cafe Contact Idea Cafe Link to Idea Cafe Link to/from Idea Cafe Join Idea Cafe
Search Idea Cafe Site Directory Site Map Online directory to business resources Biz Web Guide



Expert Answers to Biz Questions

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

color business bar

How To Improve Your Website's Conversion Rate

If you use a website for marketing or to sell your products or services, you know that conversion rates are the vital signs of your website. They tell you how well your website is performing at converting prospects to leads, leads to opportunities, and opportunities to customers. When the conversion rates are up, and your website is getting decent traffic, you don't have to worry.

But when your website fails to convert, you can't take that lightly. It shouldn't take a sharp drop to alarm you that there's something wrong, and even a slow and steady decline of conversion rates will affect the bottom line. And it's best that you act as soon as you notice it's happening.

Take a Good, Long Look at Conversion Rate Data

The way you diagnose problems with a website's conversion rate is by looking at all the related data. Not that you should wait for a noticeable drop in conversation rate to start monitoring data — it's something you should be doing all the time. But if you're looking to find out the reasons why your conversion rate is weak, data will let you know.

Some of the things you can find during conversion rate data analysis include that some segments of website visitors are more likely to convert than others. Maybe the younger users, or the users who arrive at the website by clicking on ads, or the users who use desktop computers to access the website. You can use those insights to focus your marketing efforts and go after the types of visitors that are more likely to convert.

Analytics can also help you discover if there's something wrong with the website. Maybe your visitors aren't converting because the forms on your website are just too long. They also might have trouble finding what they need on your website. Maybe the checkout procedure is too lengthy or complicated, leading to high abandonment rates. Analytics will help you discover the trouble spots and why they are there.

Make the Design and Copy Work for You

Graphic design can have a large impact on how your website performs. The same goes for the copy on your website. The visual and textual elements on your website need to work together to help the visitors on their way through the stages they pass on their way to becoming a customer.

When visitors land on your website, they don't necessarily have a clear purchase intent. They can be just learning about what you offer and how it could help them. This is the awareness stage, and at this stage, you should get the visitors acquainted with your offer, and how it might help them or solve a problem.

Once they're aware of what your offer, the visitors will start considering it. At this stage, it's important that your design and your copy demonstrate how valuable and beneficial your offer can be. At the next stage, the visitors will make a decision, and at that point, you need to provide all the relevant information about your offer.

The design and the copy should be developed in a way that removes the barriers to sale. People won't convert if they don't trust your website. They won't convert if they don't need to or don't want to. They won't convert if they need to pay and they don't have the money. And they're less likely to convert if they don't feel they have to hurry to do it. Your copy and design elements can help with most, if not all, of those barriers.

Make Sure There's Enough Traffic

A high volume of traffic will not, by itself, increase your website's conversion rates. If your conversion rates are 9%, that means that nine out a hundred visitors perform an action. If you simply increase the number of visitors, it doesn't guarantee that a higher percentage of them will convert. And that's the number one reason why traffic improvements aren't usually found in lists of tips for conversion rates improvement.

But it's important to remember that good conversion rates and healthy traffic come together to affect the bottom line. You can convert nine out of ten visitors and have a conversion rate of 90%, but if you need to convert a hundred visitors each month and you only get ten of them — the high conversion rate doesn't help. So, while you're working on improving your conversion rates, make sure that your website traffic is at a healthy volume. There are plenty of ways you can do it, and you can always hire companies such as those that provide SEO services to help you with it.

 

Google      

Small Business Tax CenterIdea Cafe HomeSign UpBiz Grant CenterCyberSchmoozCoffee Talk with ExpertsPeople in Biz ProfilesStarting Your BizBiz PlanningRunning Your BizFREE Trade PublicationsMarketingFinancing Your BizHuman ResourcesLegal & Biz FormsManaging Your BizeCommerceYou and Your BizGen XWork@HomeThe FridgeDe-StressSend an AwardSend an eGreetingYoga @ Your DeskWeb GuideIdea Cafe in the NewsAbout Idea CafeAdvertise on Idea CafeContact UsPrivacy PolicySite MapSmall Biz News

Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc.

DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages.

TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business™, CyberSchmooz™, and BizCafe™.