So you’ve got a small business website, now what? Plenty of small business owners feel like just launching a website is enough to sustain them. But that’s not really true. Your website is a dynamic thing with the potential to generate new leads for you as well as help you seal the deal on those important sales that keep your company afloat.
Your website is more than a static phone book listing, so it’s imperative that you stop treating it like one. Need some ideas to help you maximize your website’s conversion power? You’ve come to the right place.
Set Conversion Goals
Without goals, it’ll be difficult to get your conversion plan off the ground. To get started, you need to ask yourself some specific questions about what you hope to accomplish with your website:
- What tasks do you want visitors to complete when they visit your site?
- Do you want them to sign up for an email newsletter? Fill out a contact form? Take a survey?
- What percentage of your visitors would you like to see complete each of the tasks you’ve identified?
Tweak Content & Design
Once you have a clear picture of the tasks you want visitors to complete and a goal to shoot for, it’s time to tweak your website’s content and design. Spell it out for your visitors in plain English so they can clearly see what action they should take and why taking that action will benefit them. (The more immediate the benefit, the more likely they are to complete the task.)
Get to the Point Quickly
Waste a customer’s time, and I guarantee you’ll see your conversion rate drop. That’s why it’s so important that you only go after the information you truly need. Think twice about requiring a user’s telephone number and address to submit an online survey, for example. It might be beneficial to you to collect this information at the same time, but every additional question you ask reduces the chances that your visitor will follow through.
Be Trustworthy
There will times when your conversion goal involves collecting private or sensitive information from your customer. If the visitor has any reason to doubt what you’ll do with that information, odds are they won’t complete the task. Use technologies designed to protect consumers wherever possible, and be clear about your privacy policy. Additionally, make sure you make your own contact information easy to find. It can be very reassuring to the consumer to know that if something happens, they’ll be able to get in touch with you for a resolution.
Make Browsing a Pleasant Experience
Finally, test your site’s tools before they go live. Look for any glitches and test for usability on all standard and mobile browsers.
Websites have the power to do so much more than simply act as a phone listing or business card. Through testing and feedback, you can exploit your site’s power to convert visitors to paying customers, newsletter subscribers, survey respondents and more.
What are some of your conversion goals?