Conversion Rate Optimisation VS SEO

by | Apr 27, 2013 | Unassigned

There has been an endless amount of hype on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of late, however many seem to be overlooking the importance of Conversation Rate Optimisation (CRO). Of course getting visitors to your website is an essential ingredient for online success, however, you could save so much time and money by focusing on more important aspects, such as your conversion rate.

You would be doing great if you could convert 5% of your online traffic. This means that you only need 100 visitors to make 5 conversions. If your website only converts 0.5% of visitors, you will need 10 times as many visitors to make the same number of sales.

As you can appreciate, it’s a lot easier to increase your conversion rate than to attract more website visitors. Here are some tips to increase your conversion rates:

1.Throw The Bait

It’s essential to entice your audience immediately. Make it very easy and simple for the website visitor to understand what benefits are included within your proposition. Think of it like an elevator pitch, If you don’t engage the user within 7 seconds you have lost the sale.

2. Call To Action

Give the visitor a reason to act there and then. It’s very costly to let website visitors slip through your fingers. You need to either capture their contact details or push for a sale. If the product or service you are selling costs under £100 there is a good chance that you could convert immediately. In most cases it’s likely that you will need to build rapport with the customer before they buy from you. This is when you will need to capture their contact details before pursuing the sale.

3. Make It Clear

It’s vital that you make your message very clear and instruct the user where they need to go and what they need to do. Don’t assume that they know what you want them to do.

4. Enhance The Relevance

It’s unbelievable how many web pages rank highly for terms that are irrelevant to the page itself. This is extremely common for those that do not consider CRO. Many website owners invest their resources into SEO and completely neglect how relevant that page is to the search term they are targeting. Ineffective marketing causes disappointment for both the user and website owner.

5. Remove The Risk

Customers are hesitant when parting with their money, especially online, so ensure that your web page covers all likely questions that a prospect would have. Money back guarantees and FAQ sections are a great solution to reduce customer risk.

6. Information Overload

This is a common pitfall for many websites. Most web design companies have no team members from an Internet marketing background. This causes the website to function fine however, it’s unlikely that you will make many sales.

Most web designers don’t have a clue when it comes to marketing. They focus on cramming all of these functions into a page, that they forget the whole purpose of the exercise:

  • Social feeds
  • Social icons
  • 5 Different promotions
  • Videos
  • News
  • Testimonials
  • Pop Ups
  • Images
  • Banners flashing
  • Adverts

It’s actually a very common mistake for website owners to overload a page full of pointless information and content that the end user literally is left without a clue on what you are offering, how you can help and how to order. Keep each page simple with one clear call to action.

I hope that you enjoyed this article and it helps you understand the importance of conversion rate optimisation.