Website Conversion

Converting Website Visits to Leads, and Online Leads to Sales

Website conversion refers to the percentage of visitors to your website that reach a desired goal. This goal may be to make a reservation, fill out a ‘contact us’ form, place an order, or make a telephone call. In a perfect world, every visitor to your website would become a customer, but website conversions are never 100%, nor are they automatic. For this reason we build custom websites that are targeted towards our clients’ niche markets so that the web traffic we generate has the highest probability of converting into leads and sales.

Website conversion should be the over-arching goal of web design and website development. Search engine marketing is essential because it allows a website to be found online for targeted keyword search phrases, but site conversion is also very important. The typical web surfer spends an average of just 56 seconds on a website, but visitors to the websites we build stay, on average, for over 3 minutes. The more time a consumer spends on a website, the more opportunity we have to effectively market to him or her. Therefore, those two extra minutes make a significant difference in web conversion rates for our clients.

Factors that Affect Web Conversion Rates

Calls to Action: Failure to request specific action from your visitors can lead to apathy and a quick departure from your site, significantly reducing site conversions. It is important to clearly and frequently communicate how you would like visitors to proceed in order to become customers. Remember that a website is not read like a book – page by page, chapter by chapter. It is highly unlikely that a surfer reviews each page of a website, so it is important to make repeated calls to action on all pages.

Usability: User-friendly navigation (the way a web-user finds the information they are seeking) is crucial to converting online leads. The Internet is a fiercely competitive space, and if a site makes it too difficult to find what consumers are seeking, frustrated surfers simply abandon the site and look for one that is more user-friendly. Similarly, it is important to have web pages that load quickly; there is nothing more frustrating to a website surfer than waiting 5 to 10 seconds for pages to load! Again, they get impatient quickly and will choose to leave a website if this is the type of experience offered.

Content: Purposeful, intelligently written, and concise content is extremely important. A visually-appealing website entices visitors to read more about the exciting products and services you have offer, but inaccurate or poorly written content will quickly deter potential clients. We have all caught ourselves thinking something like this: “If this company doesn’t care about the details on their website, why would I assume that they would care about the details of the product or service they are offering me? I think I’ll look for a company that is more detail-oriented.” Lesson – sweat the details…they matter immensely.

“Stickiness”: Another key element of site conversion is to make a website as relevant as possible for the type of customer you are targeting. When we correlate highly targeted visitors to well-designed websites, we find that potential customers stay longer, significantly increasing the odds that they become a leads or actual customers. As visitors feel comfortable browsing a website, and the duration of their stay increases, they become more motivated to take the next steps toward initiating business with you, thereby increasing your website conversion rate.

Confidence: Reputability and trust are critical to website conversions, which is why The Web Guys provides you with ways to enhance your reputation through trusted third-party resources like consumer reviews from Customer Lobby and the VeriSign Trust Seal.

Analytics: Which pages do people view, which don’t they view and where do they leave your site? How many visitors were there last week? Last month? How many were new visitors versus returning visitors? How long did they stay on the site, on average, and how many pages did they view before leaving? This type of information is very important to assess periodically, as valuable lessons can be learned as to highlights or flaws in the website’s design. Proper analytical assessment of this data provides insights into areas that need enhancement. This information allows webmasters and designers to make positive changes to your website, and why the dedicated account management that The Web Guys provide to our clients is so crucial. Monthly performance updates and phone calls help our clients stay informed about their website’s performance and progress.

The Web Guys, located in Carmel Indiana, specializes in website design, web development, search marketing, and search engine optimization. Contact us today to learn more about how our services can improve your website conversion rates!