Content Development

How I Increased My Customers’ Conversion Rate X4

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If you’re in the marketing space you’re probably familiar with SEO.  Well today, I want to talk about SEO’s counterpart, CRO — and what makes CRO an acronym to remember in your digital marketing strategy.

What Is CRO?

CRO, or conversion rate optimization is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take profitable action on your website. Some examples of CRO include:

  • Purchasing a product
  • Filling out a form
  • Signing up for newsletters

In short, SEO drives visitors to your website while CRO takes a user one step closer to becoming a paying customers. SEO and CRO are two intermingled parts that should work seamlessly together in your digital marketing strategy.

My Clients’ Conversion Rates Skyrocketed

So how did I quadruple my customers website conversions rates? By focusing primarily on these 8 steps.

1. Know your target market

Begin thinking about the audience you want to attract. Before the web design process even begins, compile a list of specific search queries and Q&As that summarizes your understanding for the audience you serve. Think like your site visitor. Don’t get into technical terms and industry-related words that are not commonly used by the average consumer you want to attract.

2. Think small

Yup, that’s right … think small! Rather than creating a website for a broad audience, limit your focus to the audience that matters most to your business. You will want your copy concise, your menu options direct and free from clutter.

3. Define your value proposition

Determine your quantified value and differentiation to an online user. Your value proposition communicates to a user the benefits they receive from your services. It also defines why a customer should buy from you and not a competitor. Make your message concise and to the point. A good value proposition can include a good headline, 2 or 3 highlights and a strong supporting visual.

add value proposition

4. Revise your website copy

Have you taken a good look at your website copy lately? Does it convey the right tone and deliver a message that directly speaks to your online users?

Crafting your content with clarity and utilizing strong calls-to-action is essential to converting your website. Don’t fixate on keyword volume. Strategically place keywords within content without the overload. Nothing turns a user off more than reading content designed for a Google Spider, and not a  human.

5. Create a professional web design

Design is not dead; it matters. A visually appealing website helps you stand out from among the competition. It’s a mark of your professionalism and helps to strengthen your brand and establish trust with an online user.

custom web design for gym

Have you ever visited a website that looks like it was built in 2000?

The odds are pretty high you may have left that site and taken action someplace else — on a website that looks more professional. Your web design is a foundational piece to online business. Design a website with strong, relevant visuals and content that is digestible and easy to read.

6. Provide Social proof

I have always told my clients that “what others have to say about you is more significant that what you have to say about yourself.”  There are many ways to display social proof. One simple example is testimonials. Simple recommendations from happy clients.

Video testimonials are great for any content strategy. Video is reported to improve conversion rates on landing pages by about 80%.

For text-based testimonials, don’t forget to add the customers picture, name, company and role to create a more personalized experience with the user.

Do you have a person of influence who uses your product or services? Having your business endorsed by people of influence is bound to grab attention.

professional mma ufc ben askren

7. Don’t neglect other media channels.

The common goal behind all media platforms is communication. You want customers to be engaged with your brand. Open up your communication to customers by leveraging other social platforms and tools.

Ask yourself this question, “Where can I find my ideal audience”?  Don’t overcommit to solutions where clients aren’t socially present. Rather, work with media platforms where clients actually spend their time.

Let’s take my client, Chris at crossfitfunky.com for example.

Since Chris had a large Facebook community, I integrated a live chat tool on his website that connects directly to his FaceBook Messenger.  Leads generated from the website’s live chat automatically syncs with FaceBook. It provides automated responses to commonly asked questions from his customers.

Since the client actively uses FaceBook, his availability to customers is high and his responses are prompt. This solution on its own multiplied his online conversions.

improve conversion facebook gym

While this example may or may not be the right solution for your business, there are many other tools you can use to improve your CRO:

  • Online quizzes or surveys using free tools like SurveyMonkey
  • Reviews and Recommendations on social platforms such as Linkedin
  • Newsletter Signup tools such as Hellobar

Test your market, find out what tools best integrate within your content strategy and take a stab at it.

8. Analyze, tweak…repeat

Without a benchmark, it’s impossible to improve your conversion rate. Google analytics is essential to website performance regularly; check your data regularly.  Google Analytics keeps you informed on what’s working and not working. Data analytics provides opportunity to improve conversions on low-performing pages.

If you’re new to Google analytics, there are two recommendations I would make.

  1. Setup Goals in analytics to better track conversions
  2. Start simple by tracking performance on your Landing Pages [Behavior → Site Content → Landing Pages].
    • Look for pages with high bounce rates
    • Identify areas of the site where users commonly exit
    • Seek small ways to tweak and improve performance on your landing pages.

analyze website with google

In addition to this, use A/B testing tools to further refine your content strategy for improving engagement.

A Few Things to Note About Conversions

Before I conclude this article, there are a few key items to keep in mind as you optimize your website for more conversions.

  • A convert doesn’t conclude a sale. Creating highly focused, well-optimized pages can improve lead quality, increase your conversions and impact your bottom line.
  • Conversion rates vary significantly across all industries. Statistics state that the average median conversion rate hovers around 4%, while some businesses can be as high as 15 – 20%. Seek new ways to improve conversions that push you beyond the average 4% conversion rate bucket.
  • Use remarketing to capture users who showed intent but didn’t convert. 96% of first-time users don’t visit with the intent to buy. Create a lead nurturing strategy tailored specifically to users who have taken intentional action on your website.
  • Don’t ignore your Customer Acquisition Cost. You can improve your conversions in a number of ways with organic and paid traffic. However, one of the most important metrics that often gets overlooked in a strategy is your CAC. View your lead conversions within the context of the final sale conversion rate.

Conclusion

Conversion Rate Optimization and SEO are complementary to building the right audience that takes the desired actions on your website to produce a sale.

There are a variety of creative and strategic ways to build a well-optimized website. Utilizing these techniques with diligent testing and experimenting can improve your search and website performance.

Are you taking the necessary steps to ensure your website design is as optimized as it can be? If not, I am here to help. Contact me today to learn more about how you can take your digital marketing to the next level.

18 Proven Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Website

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Any business owner will tell you that if there was one thing they probably desire most for business, it’s to get more customers.  More traffic to a website may not guarantee an immediate return with each visit. However, statistics show that inbound marketing remains one of the most cost-efficient ways for businesses to generate leads, and ultimately new customers.

In today’s article, I am going to share several ways you can boost website traffic including many ways that  are for FREE!

1. Search Engine Optimization

With 93% of online experiences beginning with a search engine, SEO remains one of the most cost-efficient ways of driving targeted and relevant traffic to your website. In fact, statistics show that the average traffic share generated by sites listed on the first page of Google search results is a whopping 91.5%.  SEO is essential for online success.

If you’re a business who has not yet taken advantage of SEO, consider learning my very basics to getting you on the right track today!

2. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is far from dead! Build relationships naturally with other businesses of similar interest and contribute to their blog. The more authoritative the blog — the better. Guest blogging provides opportunity to gain exposure,  build authority and direct traffic back to your website. What you’re essentially doing is having a business of influence vouch for your business.

3. Communities

An online community is a central place that allows users to subscribe, follow and share common interests & goals. It’s a great way to connect people, build fellowship and of course drive traffic to your business. There are lots of paid as well free community platforms available – some of which you’re probably already familiar with. Take FaceBook as one simple example. You could setup a FaceBook Group page that drives focused attention and engages users to take action towards your business.

4. Get Social

Social media channels like FaceBook, Linkedin & Instagram are great ways to engage users and share content.  You can take it a step further by actively partaking in discussions within your social community. After all, social media was designed to interact with users and fans.

5. Email Marketing

Yes! The traditional methods of email marketing still work. With engaging subject lines, valuable content and great bargains – email marketing remains a powerful tool for automation and driving profitable action to your website.

6. Join The Conversation

If you frequently visit websites or social platforms related to your business, be certain to share your voice. You can make a name for yourself by simply providing thought-provoking comments and valuable resources to online users. Subsequently, a rising interest from engaged users will naturally result in more visits to your website.

7. The “Skyscraper” Technique

What is the Skyscraper Technique? It’s a system created by Backlinko’s Brian Dean that includes researching existing content developed on popular topics and trends; content already well-received by online users. What you will do is take the existing content and find new, unique ways to communicate your voice in a similar message with more engaging medium, updated statistics and more. Once you’ve completed the improved piece of content, reach out to blog authors who have referenced articles  similarly related to your content. Ask the blog author to consider referencing your content in a link instead. If the author agrees to link your content, if provides an open door for more traffic to visit your website. This strategy of building ‘backlinks’ is a great way to improve your SEO results as well.

8. Write on Medium

Medium is a great resource that is flexible and easy to create and manage content. With a high volume of daily traffic, Medium provides opportunity to drive new users to your website. You can posts exclusively for Medium, or you can repurpose existing content from your original blog and repost it on Medium. For SEOs, no worries on duplicating your website content with repurposed blogs. Medium boasts an easy-to-use import tool that automatically creates canonical URLs whenever you import your originally published blog post. With a canonical URL, you retain all your link equity from your original blog post, and reap the benefits of putting your writing before a new audience.

9. Repurpose Content

With so many creative ways for developing content, go beyond traditional blogging in your content marketing efforts. For ex. if you have a noteworthy piece of content, why not repurpose it and present it in different ways. Here are a few ways you can repurpose content:

  • Turn posts into podcasts. In a recent report, 32% of the US population listen to podcasts each month.
  • Turn quotes and statistics into graphics. Readers tend to skim articles where bold image graphics can grab attention.
  • Turn Testimonials into case studies. Support your brand by sharing a perspective that comes from your experience with your client.
  • Turn blog posts into videos. Stats state that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands and businesses they support.
  • Turn videos into blog posts.
  • Create infographics from blog posts. Visual content delivers results and is 30 times more likely to be read than a text article.
  • Combine your best content into a roundup post. Take your cornerstone articles and supporting content and provide readers with new content of the best of the best.

10. Get listed on Directories

Another easy and free way t increase website traffic is getting listed with online directories and review sites. Actively updating these listings and keeping your business details consist not only helps helps increase your inbound traffic, but it promotes your local SEO efforts as well. A great starting point for building directories include:

  • Google My Business
  • Yelp
  • Bing
  • Yahoo Local
  • Superpages
  • YP
  • Apple Maps

11. Attend Local Conferences & Meetups

I always recommend getting outside the 4 walls of your office space and getting involved in local meetups and events that are relative to your business. If time commitment is a factor, be selective with your options. Attending events or conferences is always a good idea – leading a meetup event is even better. It’s a great way to show influence and build relationships with other business owners.

12. Don’t Ignore Your Web Analytics

Google analytics is an extremely valuable tool that surprisingly gets little attention among many small and new businesses. Geoffrey Moore said it best, “without data, you are blind and deaf and in the middle of a freeway”.  It’s a mistake to ignore analytics.  Pay attention to what pages are proving most popular to your target audience, and learn where your site traffic is coming from. With analytics, you can new and meaningful ways to driving  more traffic with your content strategy.

13. Invite others to Contribute to Your Blog

Guest blogging goes both ways. Be open to inviting others who are in your niche to blogging on your own website. It’s highly likely the guest author will share your link of their post to their own media channels. This presents your website to a new set of users.  However, emphasize quality over quantity. Be selective with who your guest bloggers are, and keep away from spammy, low-quality content that can negatively impact your results.

14. Be Active on Linkedin

Linkedin is a valuable platform for posting content. By regularly posting and writing articles, you can improve your profile visibility and boost traffic back to your website. I like to mix it up a bit by writing short summaries of featured articles on my website. Avoid repurposing any original blog content from your website in Linkedin articles. Since Linkedin is most likely to have a much higher domain authority, Google will credit any SEO value you’re hoping to obtain from your website post – to the Linkedin article.

16. Answer Questions on Quora

Quora is a Q&A platform where anyone can ask or answer a question. This means you have an opportunity to establish authority and generate traffic to your business by responding to questions in your niche. Seek out good, user-generated content and be sure to be resourceful when answering the questions.

17. Submit Content to Aggregator Sites (with Caution)

I emphasize the words ‘with caution’. Users are far more savvy today than they have been in the past. They will sniff out any attempts at being spammy with links. Be a legitimate contributor to communities like Reddit. Occasionally submit a link only if you feel it’s a direct and genuinely helpful response to a challenge your audience may be facing.

18. Update Old Content

If you have a piece of resourceful content that’s dated, maybe it’s time to repay it a visit. All fresh content eventually degrades over time. Take an old blog post and revise it with newer resources, statistics and up-to-date subject matter. Sometimes refreshing old content can be a more useful way of investing your time than trying to write new content to boost your organic visibility and leads.

Conclusion

As an experienced web designer in Austin, I’ve listed only a few of the many proven ways to boost traffic to your website for FREE. All it takes is a little time and commitment.  If you have strategies of your own for driving more traffic to your business, I would love to hear about it.

Please share your tips in the comments below!

 

5 Features of Results-Driven, Creative Content

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We all know we need to develop quality, creative content. It creates traffic, conversions and ultimately, sales. However, knowing content is necessary and understanding the type of content that drives results are very different. As the owner of an SEO company, I get that results-driven content creation isn’t always instinctive. By integrating a few basic features, you can produce the kind of content that will help your business grow and thrive.

1. Strong, Compelling Headlines

The adage “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” rings true with content as much as it does with face-to-face meetings. What is your first impression? Your headline, of course. This is your one and only chance to let your audience know what you have to say and why they need to listen.

power of words web design

A few simple principles will help you create attention-grabbing headlines. First, keep it short and sweet. Today’s attention span is even shorter than it was when that adage was first coined. Second, make it catchy with power words that invoke the reader’s curiosity. This can be formatted in many ways, some examples include:

  • Posing a question remains one of the best ways to engage a reader
  • Adding benefits to your headlines – make an emotional appeal
  • Eliciting feelings that help prompt decisions
  • Quotes from a speech or interview that provides a great introduction to good content

Finally, avoid sensationalism at all costs – the age of yellow journalism is over, and readers are looking for authentic, honest content stuffed with usable information.

2. Readable, Shareable Content

Quality content is easy to read. It is straightforward, interesting and even humorous when appropriate. Your reader should get to the end of your article without putting forth an exorbitant amount of effort to understand what is written. The best content has a personality that allows the reader to engage directly – as if they were enjoying a conversation in a local coffee shop with an expert on a topic.

Readable content performs well. Even better – readable content is more likely to get shared. Shared content expands its reach, gets seen and earns results.

creative content analysis

3. Unique, Useful Information

The digital age has brought a myriad of information to our fingertips. Some content is helpful – other content, not so much. If you want to stand out from all the online noise, you need to provide information that is both unique and useful. Hook readers in the first paragraph by stating what your content is about and why they should care. This is no time for fluff, so keep your content relevant, interesting and valuable.

One of the best ways to help your content stand out from the crowd is to become a master storyteller. Gone are the days where an audience just wants to absorb facts. Today, the reader is looking for a way to engage with everything they read. Open with a problem your reader can relate to and then lay out your solution. This formula for creative content is simple but highly effective.

4. Visually Appealing Imagery

No matter how good your content might be, if your audience sees nothing more than words on a page, it is unlikely to get read. In a world where GIFs and infographics rein, content’s kingdom has expanded considerably. Stop thinking of content as just text and expand your horizons to visuals designed to get and keep attention.

Visuals are a proven way to improve the performance of your content. When images are inserted about every 75-100 words, content is twice as likely to get shared. Videos are another valuable resource, increasing organic traffic, shares and time spent on a website.

5. Targeted to the Right Audience

Good content won’t get you results until it gets to the right audience. Think about what the purpose of your searches should be:

  • Navigational: Searchers are on the hunt for a specific site to get information about the company. This is a website a user and wants to visit directly.
    navigtional search query
  • Informational: Searchers are looking for websites that offer specific information around a certain subject matter. For example, step-by-step instructions to complete a task or basic facts about a medical condition.
    informational search queries
  • Transactional: Searchers want to perform some type of function, such as to receive rates or purchase an item.
    transactional search query

Knowing the intent of your audience will help you pinpoint your content to your precise target. Not only will you attract those that are interested in your business, but you will also find the audience most likely to take the appropriate action.

Great content development does more than showcase your business – it gets results. Whether you are crafting blogs, e-commerce or social media posts, when your content drives traffic and increases your conversions, it is worth every word.

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