Secret #7 - Webpage Conversion - Engage the Visitor

Any webpage you create will eventually get some traffic, assuming it is not blocked or impossible to find. Most people focus on getting traffic and forget that traffic does not pay the bills, unless you are just worried about advertising revenue for views.

Conversion is a webpage’s effectiveness at getting the visitor to take action. Ideally, your website will have conversions for people at different stages of the sales cycle. Each page should clearly have one or more calls to action and careful thought must be taken on what can help convert the various types of visitors. Here is a list of potential visitor mindsets that you should consider when trying to optimize the conversion on your website.

How did I get here? – Stumbled onto the site via search engine or link.
Just Looking – Just beginning to explore the topic and collect information.
Price Shopping – Looking for the best product for the best price.
Self Training – Cannot afford the service but trying to learn it on their own.
Competitor – They want to mimic you and steal your ideas, so what are you going to do about it?
Shopper – Want to purchase. Yours to loose if sales process is not clear.

How did I get here? – Profile

Conversion: Educate

This person stumbled upon your website. They do not know what you do or even the broad theme or industry of your website. Every page should give clear hints and guidance to what you do, such as the “Stand Out on the Web” motto of every page of our website. Short, but quickly communicates what we do.

Just Looking - Profile

Conversion: Free Information

The web is a great tool to do research before making a buy decision. If someone somes to your website hoping to find out more, offer them a well-branded memento to take with them. It could be an eBook, a worksheet an eNewsletter sign up. They key is to get them to remember you, and ideally give you some information so that you can follow up.

Price Shopping – Profile

Conversion: Purchase Item or Understand Benefits

A price shopper may purchase something from you if they have already looked around at other sites and you make a compelling argument and have competitive pricing. If they are not ready to purchase, they need to quickly understand if the pricing is in their range and what the benefits are of your product or service and what makes you different.

Self Training – Profile

Conversion: Long term relationship with possible future purchase

Self Training visitors are people you want to create a relationship with via eNewsletters, eBooks, Blogs and other interactive tools. These types of visitors may not be able to afford you yet, and are looking for information to do it themselves. However, long term they may want to buy your product or service because we all know that DIY outside of your specialty is difficult and can be dangerous.

Consider the lost opportunities if you have a poorly designed website or a lack of clarity. You may actually be probably sales and damaging your reputation when someone looks at the website. A business owner may do legal contracts with templated forms, but any lawyer can tell you that it is not the safest way to go and if the business owner is successful, they will eventually start using an attorney and stop doing it themselves.

Find a way to create relationships and become a resource for these self trainers and you will be putting opportunities in your pipeline for further down the road.

Competition – Profile

Conversion: Intimidate or hire talent.

We all do it. We check out our competitors online and assess how we are doing based on how we perceive they are doing. If your competition is checking you out, what are they seeing? You should keep in mind that there is a goal, even with your competition. It may be to intimidate them. Sell your success on your website, and you will not only help with other conversions, but you could demoralize your competition.

Another possible conversion is to target your competitor’s employees and try to hire them away. Consider the effect this can have: “Looking for a better web programming job? Work with North East Ohio’s Premiere Web Marketing Agency and work with clients world-wide in an exciting, fast paced environment that rewards employees.”

If I am the owner of a competing firm, I am worried my employees may see it. If I am an employee, I am very curious to find out more.

Shopper – Profile

Conversion: Purchase goods or services

At this point, you think it is easy, but are you sure? Many shopping carts get abandoned with orders unfulfilled. If I am ready to purchase something from your website and I have to jump through hoops, I may just move on to another website.

Is it obvious how to purchase? Are the charges clear up front? Do I have to set up a paypal account?

It is critical that the shopping process be obvious, easy and inspires confidence. The shopping should be integrated into your website and take as little effort as possible. These strategies vary based on the complexity and price of the sale and taking the time to understand the sales process of your target customers is essential for your online success.