In this post, you’re going to discover the first important steps you need to take before tweaking your website to improve your conversion rates. I’ll also reveal some information on how you can get access to my free Ultimate Website Conversion Rate Optimization Video Guide, so keep reading.

One of the most frustrating things you can experience as a blogger, marketer, or as an online business owner, is poor conversion rates.

I mean, how much does it suck to see all of your hard work NOT pay off?

It really does, doesn’t it?

Well, to be honest, you’re not alone there.

In fact, we’re all in pretty much the same boat, more or less.

We’re all after that one critical thing when it comes to our websites and blogs, more conversions, more signups and leads, more sales, and all the rest of it.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking;

All you really need is a professional looking website with some awesome content thrown in and some hot products that people would give their right arm for. Then the leads and sales are bound to come rolling through with flying colors, right?

Well, I wish it worked like that, but no, not exactly.

Website design, layout, traffic, and all those other pretty little things that go with it, are just the start of it all.

Having a great looking, polished, and modern website design simply isn’t enough these days.

Hey, having a great looking website WITH great content AND lots of traffic isn’t enough either.

Sure, it’s a great start by all means, but it’s not where you should be stopping at and expecting great results.

Bryan Eisenberg said…

Most websites don’t have a traffic problem, however, every website has a conversion problem. (Source)

[clickToTweet tweet=”Most websites don’t have a traffic problem, however, every website has a conversion problem.” quote=”Most websites don’t have a traffic problem, however, every website has a conversion problem.”]

So what should you really be focusing on?

Come on Fabz, tell us…

Conversion rate optimization, obviously.

Conversion rate optimization

I’m sure you know what conversion rate optimization is.

The question is –

What the heck are you doing about it?

If you are optimizing your pages, your content, web forms, contact forms, sales pages, lead pages, incentives, and everything else in between, then that’s great.

Now, let me ask you another question.

Are you optimizing all of these areas based on the current best conversion marketing practices, or are you optimizing based on all the tests, case-studies and research that you have done for your website?

I think I can safely bet what your answer would be.

Here’s the thing.

Before you can do any sort of website conversion rate optimization, there are four things you need to do first –

1. Reassess your conversion goals.
2. Figure out what the problem is (by data gathering).
3. Test and analyze, over and over again, and again.
4. Fix the problem or problems.

Now, let’s take a closer look at some of these in greater detail, shall we?

1. Reassess your conversion goals

Before you do any testing or tweaking, first make sure you fully understand what your business or blog conversion goals and USPs are.

You need to understand why your blog, website or business exists. Redefine your purpose.

Then think about your audience, users, customers. Who are you trying to target?

2. Figure out what the problem is (by data gathering)

Next is to start doing some data gathering.

You see, the best strategy is not to go tweaking your website design based on intuition, but moreover, based on real data and information that you have about your website and visitor behavior.

So where do you start with this?

The (first) best place to start looking is your Google Analytics reports.

Check it to see if you can identify any problems that might be affecting your conversion rates.

Here’s a mini checklist –

• Check to see which pages are being viewed the most, and which pages have the most time spent on them.
• Check the bounce rate of these pages too.
• Look at your top traffic sources. Are you getting enough traffic from search engines?
• Check which pages are they exiting on, etc.
• Check mobile usage vs desktop. Is your website mobile ready? (responsive).
• Check the demographics. Are you targeting the right audience, to begin with?

Just get a better understanding of your website and what it is your visitors are actually doing when they visit your website.

Hopefully, your content doesn’t suck, because if it does, then this should partly explain why your average visitor time-on-site and bounce rate sucks too.

But, it could also be caused by other things as well.

Maybe your site load time is too slow!

If that’s the case, then you’re in more trouble than you think.

ConversionXL wrote that 47% of people expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less. (Source)

I don’t want to bombard you with questions and statistics here because whatever is causing your conversions to suck badly, you need to start by gathering as much data and information as you can first.

Oh and another thing, don’t keep all of this information and data stored up inside your head. Lay everything out in front of you so that you can build a better mental map of what’s really going on with your website and your visitors.

3. Test and analyze

Once you have sufficient information about your website and visitor behavior, you can then start testing and measuring.

Are you currently doing any testing for your website?

Here are some of the things you can do –

1. Make copies of your sales landing pages and test them against each other.
2. Duplicate and split-test variations of your email opt-in forms and pop-ups.
3. Replicate and split-test variations of your custom homepage.
4. Install click-tracking scripts for your sidebar links, banners, and other elements.
5. Consider using other analytical tools such as HotJar click heat maps to learn more about where your visitors journey on your site.
6. Set various types of conversion goals in Google Analytics.
7. Set up feedback polls to learn more about your visitor’s needs and goals.
8. Check your website/pages loading times.

The more tests, split-tests you can do with your website and visitors, the more information you’ll have to analyze.

According to a statistic shared on the Impactbnd blog, 44% of companies use split testing software.

Without using software, apps, and various available services, conversion rate optimization becomes more challenging.

Here is a list of tools I recommend using for conversion, split-testing, analyzing and optimizing –

1. Thrive Leads – Email opt-in form design and A/B split testing with conversion reports.
2. HotJar – For click heat maps analytics, visitor recording and adding feedback polls.
3. Pingdom – For testing your website and page load speed times.
4. SurveyMonkey – For doing market research and audience surveying.

Thrive Leads A/B Test Conversion Reports

4. Fix the problems

Once you have all the information, data, statistics, conversion reports and graphs at your fingertips, you can then begin the process of fixing your website, or better worded, doing conversion optimization to meet your conversion goals.

Once again, this is a far better approach to website conversion rate optimization rather than just going in blind as a bat, tweaking your website based on the latest tactics and hoping for the best results, it simply won’t happen.

There are tons of great tools out there you can use to help you fix your conversion rate problems, but all of them are useless to you if you don’t fully understand why your conversion rates suck in the first place.

Website conversion optimization video tutorial and checklist

OK, so at the start of this post, I said I would share some information with you about my awesome website conversion optimization video tutorial and checklist.

Well, I want to give you FREE access to this video tutorial and checklist.

Are you excited?

Well, you should be.

Here’s what’s included –

• A 54-point page/content conversion optimization checklist.
• A 25-minute video guide and tutorial.
• Practical tips and advice for creating a conversion focused website and content.
• Links to useful tools and resources to help you boost your conversion rate even more.
• Interesting facts, statistics, and marketing data about conversion optimization you need to know about.

If you’re interested in this video guide, click here to get started right away. Or simply use the opt-in form below this post.

Wrapping up

OK, that’s it from me, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post.

Please do leave me a comment below as always, ask me anything you want and I’ll try to be as helpful as always 🙂

Or if you’d like a chat with me privately, you can email me here and let me know what’s on your mind.

Best if luck.

Stop screwing around with your website, click here to learn more about how I can help you build a beautiful, conversion focused website for your business.