7 Tips to Make your Website Convert
A company’ website should not just be ‘nice’; its main purpose is to be ‘useful’. And a website is of most use and the most profitable if it converts visitors into customers.
Accessibility, user-friendliness, web browser compatibility and other issues can have a significant impact on your online traffic and earnings.
User-friendliness
= The ease with which users can complete their chosen tasks on your website.
- Involve an independent test panel throughout the whole design process. Ask for their opinion and thoughts about the steps and choices you are making.
- Do not wait until the end to test out your website, but run tests throughout the design phase.
- Write down what your visitors should to be able to accomplish on your site—and then make sure they can actually do it.
- Ask people to test out your website and observe how they use it and whether they find it easy to use.
Accessibility
= people with disabilities are able to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with websites and tools, and contribute equally without encountering obstacles.
See Accessibility – W3C for an introduction to web accessibility. See accessibility in practice for a Dutch checklist to see how accessible your website is.
Performance and scalability
- A slow website is frustrating for customers, so make sure you optimise your website’s performance.
- Make sure your website can cope with a high number of visitors.
Battle of the browsers
You have very little control over the way websites and creative advertising is presented to visitors (height, width, colour, etc).
- Make your site is compatible with different screen sizes
- There are a lot of browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Google chrome), each with their own way of rendering a website. Test this out by screening your website on every browser or by using Browsercam which makes screenshots for you.
Your homepage
Think carefully about the overall design of your homepage. Here are some tips:
- Clearly explain who you are
- Include a search function
- Constantly provide fresh website content
- Keep your corporate information all in one place
- Use a design that enhances the website
Attractive landing pages
These are the ‘money’ pages where you can convert visitors into customers. Some basic principles include:
- Focus on one objective only
- Use visuals to enhance the user’s focus
- Work above the fold (the part of the screen you can see without scrolling down)
- Use a page layout with a simple design and minimal text
- Create a value proposition; what can the customer expect to gain from their purchase?
- Building customer confidence: Make sure the customer is not disappointed. Use credibility indicators such as awards, privacy policies, certifications and testimonials to foster trust.
Testing conversions
There are two types of testing:
- A/B Testing: test two versions of the landing page: A & B. See which page converts the highest number of visitors into customers.
- Multivariate testing: Test any or all possible combinations and see which works best. (more difficult and time-consuming than AB testing)
TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC
- It is important to have a good search engine optimszation strategy (SEO) as soon as you start building your website. It is much more difficult to change your content later on.
You can combine this with search engine advertising (SEA) where you pay per click. - The only way to convert your visitors into customers is to make sure your content is relevant. Quality is more important than quantity. And please make sure you change your content from time to time—preferably on a regular basis. That way search engines will pick up on the fact that your website is important.
- Highlight important key phrases and use internal and external links.
If you need advice or temporary support regarding building your website, your SEO strategy, online campaigns, etcetera, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sources:
- Eley, B. & Tilley, S. 2009, Online Marketing Inside Out, Sitepoint Pty. Ltd.
- www.w3.org
- www.anysurfer.be
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