Some say it takes 9 visits on average before a customer will buy from your website. 9 visits! You might think that’s crazy, but sadly it’s true. People need to feel as though they know and trust you before opening their wallets. If you’re not doing your ‘Bruce Almighty’ to capture their details on their first visit, how are you going to remind them to come back those other eight times? So just how can you increase your website conversions?
Here are some quick and cheap ideas you can implement straight away to help make your website a better marketing tool for your business and hopefully increase website conversions.
Tip #1: Don’t sell. Solve problems instead.
Writing good web content is not easy. It’s way harder than writing for print so unfortunately you can’t just reuse what you did for your last brochure. Your copy needs to be engaging, and emotionally charged. Use the right keywords in the right places and be all about your customers. You need to identify their pains, fears, and concerns then use great copy to clearly assure your customers how you’re going to solve their problems.
Our suggestion for most small businesses is that it’s worth hiring a professional copywriter to do the job right from the outset. Your copy is so important and can be such a mammoth task that it’s worth bringing a professional in, even if it’s only to do a touch-up on what you’ve already written.
Power task: Print out each page on your website and grab a yellow highlighter. Go through and highlight how many times you use the word “we”. Now go and rewrite it so it reads “you” instead. This is a simple way to ensure you’re writing about your customers’ needs instead of your own.
Tip #2: Start an Email Newsletter.
If you think you don’t have time to create and send a monthly newsletter, you could be cutting your nose off to spite your face. It’s the perfect way to stay in touch with prospects and remind them to come back to your website and when compared to traditional forms of advertising, it’s dirt cheap.
If you’ve got a Web123 website, it’s built into your site so you can create an entire campaign in minutes. If not, there are loads of mailout programs out there, like Mailchimp, you can use.
The trick is to get creative with how you present it. Don’t just call it a boring old ‘newsletter’. Who’s going to subscribe to that? Our inboxes are already overloaded with junk mail these days. Instead of saying ‘Join our Newsletter’, try ‘Free Expert Tips & Success Strategies to Make You More Profitable’. And don’t be afraid to add an incentive for signing up by offering something for free.
Offer them something of value. Then deliver just that.
Fact: We changed our newsletter subscription opt-in copy from ‘Join our Newsletter’ to ‘Free Weekly Advice’ and our conversions increased by 3600%. It’s powerful stuff.
Tip #3: Develop a free guide or eBook.
eBooks are a great way to capture leads and provide real, genuine value to your prospects that they’ll appreciate. It will position you as an expert in your industry and help build trust. Not to mention it will help put you in the front of those prospects’ minds when it comes time for them to buy. Think about some of the key questions you get asked all the time; list them then write a short book or guide. It doesn’t have to be an epic, just a few pages will do.
When it comes to the title of your new masterpiece, provide a compelling solution to a problem. Be sure to include a subtitle explaining in more detail what it’s about and, if possible, try to include related keywords. Try to make the title compelling so people absolutely must download it to learn more about your offering.
Here’s an example:
Get Your Free Website Starter Kit
The top 5 critical things you MUST know before spending a cent on the web!
Now here’s the trick. Don’t just throw it up on your site and let anyone download it. Use it in exchange for their name and email address instead. Simply create an opt-in form but remember you don’t want to scare people off, so don’t get too greedy with the fields you put in your form. Just keep it to a minimum until they get to know you better.
Here’s an example of a simple opt-in form:
Tip #4: Calls to Action. Are you telling your visitors where to go?
So you’ve invested time, money, and effort into your new website. You’ve done all the hard yards to attract visitors and through they come. But now what? Don’t just broadcast lots of information about your business, cross your fingers and hope the phone rings. It doesn’t work like that! You need clear ‘calls to action’.
A ‘call to action’ is an active copy that compels a user to take action. Tell the readers what you want them to do. Typically, the action is focused on pushing them somewhere further along your sales pipeline.
Here are some examples of common and effective “call to action” phrases:
- Call now!
- Contact us today for a free report
- Subscribe to receive a $10 gift voucher (on purchases over $100)
- Call now for a free 30-minute consultation
- Act now and receive a FREE gift!
- For a short time only
- Find out how affordable XYZ can be
- Download “The Secret to Being Debt Free in 5 Years”
- Join our member’s club today for exclusive member-only discounts
- Subscribe now for free tips on doing your own taxes
- Get this FREE eBook by joining our eNews now! Click here!
Power task: Look at each and every page of your website and see if you’re actually telling people what you want them to do. It’s good to have at least one ‘call to action’ at the bottom of each page, and more important ones like newsletter opt-ins visible at all times like on a left or right-hand column, depending on your website’s layout.
Tip #5: Spruce up and wipe the dust off your video camera.
Video can be 50 times more effective than text content. 50 times! Not only can it dramatically help your search engine rankings as Google displays video results first in most cases (make sure you use the keywords in the title of your videos), but it can help you move buyers along the sales process much more quickly than normal text and image content ever can.
We recommend buying a little flip camera like this one. They’re so small you can carry them around in your handbag (or manbag); they’re high definition so great quality and they plug straight into your computer. You can use free software to add your logo and web address then upload it to YouTube and embed it onto your website.
Ideas for video content are endless. Here are just a few:
- Write down the top 5 problems your clients face then create a short video for each talking about how to solve these problems. Don’t sell. Just be an expert. It’s what you are! Use it as bait to get people to opt-in e.g., “Free 5-Part Video Series That Solves XYZ in Just 10 days!”
- Interview your top clients and publish video testimonials. Make sure you ask them what life was like before they started doing business with you. This will most often uncover most people’s pains and problems. Then ask them what their life is like now that they’re a client of yours. Remember, when you say it you’re bragging but when you’re clients say it about you, its proof.
- Create ‘How To’ videos to help your prospects solve their problems. These can be short 2-minute videos on all types of topics depending on what business you’re in. And they’re so quick and easy, you could create one a week and publish a video library on your site to encourage people to visit regularly. Remember it takes on average 9 visits before they buy! The more reasons you can give them to return the better.
Tip: If you are going to do a lot of videos, consider starting up your YouTube channel with Web123’s YouTube Design Service. It’ll make you look like a real pro!
So there you have it; 5 sure-fire ways to make your website a better asset for your business. Most of these ideas you can implement yourself with ease and within a relatively short space of time. Just because you’ve launched your site doesn’t mean it’s finished, and as such, your site should be constantly evolving. I hope these five quickies can help you do just that. A few minor tweaks here and there could dramatically increase your website conversions and pay off big time for your bottom line.
Remember, be patient and the rewards will come.
If you want a copy of our printed ‘Pocketbook Guide to Doing Better Business Online’ which features more great tips and hints, then just drop us an email with your postal address and we’ll get one out to you pronto, completely free of charge.