Stop leaving money on the table

This photo is courtesy of wikimedia.

This photo is courtesy of wikimedia.

When people think of online marketing, we immediately default to traffic and size of the audience we can build. These two things are very important but, most small businesses (and even agencies) are leaving a sizable amount of revenue on the table when it comes to their digital marketing strategies.

You see, digital marketing is much more than just attraction. It’s about conversion. Conversion occurs when we take nameless/faceless hits on our websites and turn them into customers that can be identified and valued. Conversion is where the whole argument of “digital cannot be tracked well” falls apart. It’s where a company’s revenue goes from being mediocre to amazing.

When we do CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) at BBG we focus on a dozen or so different elements that will encourage website visitors to become leads and/or clients. But there are a few things that DIYers (Do It Yourselfer’s) can do to increase their conversion rates and drive their revenues themselves.

  1. Simplify your navigation
    Most people leave a site in a matter of seconds if they cannot find what they are looking for on the home page. As a general rule of thumb, we like to see a visitor be able to get anywhere on the site within two clicks of landing on the homepage. Whether that is achievable through the main menu, sidebar list or even a search box, thinking through your website flow from the visitor’s perspective will give your audience a better user experience which will increase your conversion numbers.
  2. Use CTAs for your core offers
    CTAs (or Calls To Actions) are excerpts of texts or images on your site that encourage visitors to take a look at what you are promoting. Using a graphic in your header or sidebar that draws the attention of the visitor can help you direct traffic on your site to the offers that you know you can convert on. Don’t leave your visitors to wonder aimlessly on your site! They don’t like to think too much about what they are supposed to do. Show them!
  3. Landing pages are your best friends
    CTAs are just the tip of the iceberg. Once you have their attention, you want to send the visitor to a page that is focused on informing and converting them. Landing pages give you the elements you need to entice a visitor to take you up on your offer. (Landing page elements are too deep to go into here, but check BBG’s post on the anatomy of a landing page here) Building strong landing pages will make the difference between a strong or weak promotion or launch.
  4. Always be testing
    Never take for granted that your CTAs or landing pages are as good as they are going to get. A/B and Multi-varient testing are core tasks that every website owner should be preforming regularly to make sure they are optimizing their conversion elements. Don’t be lazy about this! Your competitors would be more than happy to catch your overflow and convert them for themselves. Ensuring that you have given your visitors the environment they need to feel comfortable about making a decision will greatly affect your bottom line.

Conversion Rate Optimization is not a simple task by any means but, it is critical to growing your revenue online. We have worked with businesses from a variety of industries to improve their rates and have seen amazing results because we keep one thing in mind: When it comes to CRO, it’s all about the details. The big picture will make you complacent. It’s the little things that count and drive revenue.

What do you think about this post? We would love to hear from you. You can leave your comment below or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.

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