5 Ways to Increase Website Conversion Rates

Effective techniques for converting your website visitors into customers

by Brandon Cornett

August 13, 2008

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It seems everyone is talking about search engine optimization these days. At least in a lot of Internet marketing circles. It's SEO this and SEO that. Everyone is obsessed with search engine rankings and visibility.

I get it. These things are important, and I've been known to check my own Google rankings from time to time. Okay, once a week. But I also realize the importance of website conversions (lead and sales generation). This is something a lot of business website owners tend to neglect.

So in this article, I'll explain the importance of traffic conversion and offer ten tips for increasing your conversion rates.

Let's start with a definition, just so we are on the same page. Within the context of Internet marketing, a website conversion takes place when somebody goes from being a casual website visitor to something else. For example, if somebody visits your website and eventually subscribes to your e-newsletter, a website conversion has occurred. The person has "converted" from a casual website visitor to a newsletter subscriber.

There are many kinds of conversions, and they differ from one website to another. It all depends on what you want people to do when they reach your site. If somebody contacts you about your products or services, another type of conversion has taken place (from casual visitor to inquiry). If a person makes an actual purchase, yet another type of conversion has taken place (from website visitor to customer).

Donations, sign-ups, clicks, purchases, downloads -- these are all forms of website conversion. In each of these actions, the visitor has become something more than "just a visitor."

Website traffic is not the ultimate goal of an Internet marketing program. Many people obsess over their traffic levels to the point of neglecting other things (like website conversions). So let me say it once more. Traffic is not your ultimate goal. It is only a stepping-stone toward your ultimate goal. You must convert your traffic into something else.

How do you go about it? Good question! Here are ten ways you can increase your website's conversion rates -- and, by extension, increase your online success.

1. Define Your Conversions in Advance

You would be surprised by how many blank expressions I get whenever I ask a business owner: "What are your top three conversion goals on this website?"

Some will think about it for a moment and say, "To grow my business, I suppose." But that's specific enough, not by a long shot. We all want to leverage the Internet to grow our businesses. It's just not a clearly defined goal for web conversions.

Here's an example of well defined set of conversion goals: "I want my website visitors to do one of the three things when they visit the site. I want them to either (A) download the featured report / white paper from our home page, (B) sign up for our newsletter from the upper-right corner of the site, or (C) contact us directly. Doing two or more would be even better."

This is a good example of clearly defined conversion goals. This hypothetical company knows exactly what they want their visitors to do, and they have put some tools and techniques in place to make it happen. That's much more specific (and therefore more achievable) than the first conversion goal of "growing the business."

You cannot move on to the other conversion techniques mentioned below until you have clearly defined your website conversion goals, and how they will ultimately lead to new business.

Exercise #1 -- Take out a piece of paper and write down your website goals, in terms of lead generation, sales generation, inquiries, etc. Write down three things you want your visitors to do when they reach your website. Identify your "conversion points" where these actions will take place.

2. Increase Your Online Visibility

It's a fair assumption that people cannot contact you or purchase from you if they don't know you exist. So as the business owner, you must work hard to make your business visible to your primary audience. Online visibility is a huge part of this, because nearly everyone uses the Internet these days to research products and services.

Visibility is also key to website conversions (generating leads, sales, subscribers, etc.). With everything else being equal, a greater number of web visitors will lead to a greater number of leads and sales. Of course, you need to have some kind of system in place to convert your traffic, which is the whole point of this article. But it all starts with traffic.

Exercise #2 -- Using a keyword research tool such as WordTracker, Keyword Discovery or Google's keyword tool, come up with a list of 10 - 15 important phrases related to your business. Now plug those phrases into the major search engines and see where your website comes up. Make a note of these rankings and work hard to improve them through search engine optimization (SEO). This will give you

3. Increase Usability and Minimize Distraction

Let's talk briefly about website usability. This term refers to how easy your website is for people to use -- or how hard it is to use. Usability is another factor that goes hand-in-hand with website conversions. On most business websites, the goal is to lead visitors down a certain path. You can't control where people will go or what they will click on, but you can at least offer your preferred path and make it easy to follow. The easier that path is for people to follow, the more likely they will be to use it!

On the flip side of that coin, a person who cannot use your website probably won't become a customer either. They will bail out faster than you can say "back button." Few sales or inquiries will come from that. You don't have the luxury of personally guiding your visitors through your website. They are alone to figure it out for themselves.

Three of the most important concepts within the umbrella of website usability are (1) organization, (2) navigation, and (3) the absence of distraction. If you organize your website logically ... if you use an intuitive navigations system that's easy to follow ... if you minimize distraction across your website ... your conversion rates will go up.

Exercise #3 -- Visit your home page and ask yourself, "What do I want people to do when they reach this page? What is the second most desirable action? From a visual standpoint, are these two paths easy to find and follow? Or do they battle for attention with a dozen other distractions? Conduct the same review for the interior pages of your site, the navigation system, etc. Find what's broken and fix it. Simplify things.

4. State the Value of Each Conversion Point

In terms of website conversions, value and response are proportional. When people see the value in taking a certain action, they will respond. When they don't see the value, they won't respond. And all levels in between. If you want people to take a certain action on your website, you have to convey the value of that action. In other words, tell people what they get out of it.

Note the difference below:

Before: "Click here to join our newsletter"

After: "Join our newsletter for exclusive offers you won't find anywhere else, plus a wealth of monthly tips and advice!"

5. Increase the Prominence of Conversion Points

Once you've defined your conversion points (see item #1 above), you should try to make them visible from every page of your website. Put them into the main menu, right up near the top. Create eye-catching graphics to showcase them. Put them "above the fold" across all of your web pages.

By doing these things, you would increase the prominence of your newsletter signup forms (conversion points) and most likely increase subscription rates as a result.

For best results, combine this with item #4 mentioned above -- the value factor. Instead of just saying "sign up for our newsletter," explain why people should sign up. Take readers to a page that pre-sells the newsletter by listing the high-value information it provides. Provide a link to a current issue of the newsletter, so they can see what they're getting. And make it incredibly easy to subscribe.

See how all of these points come together to increase conversions? Prominence, value, usability, visibility ... they all add up to more website conversions!