So you have a website, but your conversion rate sucks. Sad times, right? Well, thankfully you can do something about it. In this post, I share with you 14 actionable tips you can implement right now to help you structure your web content for improved conversions.
The competition in the online business industry is becoming tough with each passing day.
With hundreds of thousands of competitor sites and reduced attention span; getting a second attention from your customer is extremely difficult.
The first impression that your website makes on a visitor, however, determines whether they are going to be your customer or not.
Now, there are several factors that determine this first important impression, such as your website's design and layout, color scheme, content, loading speed, etc.
Your website should be top-notch in all of these areas to attract customers.
Quite tough! wouldn't you say?
Well, it doesn't have to be.
In fact, there are many online businesses out there that have successfully done it and there’s no reason why you can't do the same.
All you need is a bit of guidance, some persistence and a good knowledge of your customer's behavior.
So without further adieu, let's look at some effective ways to structure your web content to improve your conversion rate.
Let's get stuck in.
1. Keep it simple - No one likes to put too much effort into understanding what to do on a website.
So, if a user is visiting your website for the first time, they want to know about the features, its usability, what it has to offer them, etc. without doing much analysis.
With that said, make sure the design of your website is flat and simple, to begin with.
The more simple your website is the more chances you will have at converting your visitors, it’s that simple!
When you simplify your design, the most important areas of your conversion elements becomes highlighted.
2. Boldly describe your value propositions - What value do you provide to your users? This is the most important factor that would decide whether your website would be a success or a failure.
If your users get to know in the first instance as to what they can expect from your site, they are more likely to scroll through your site and content and perform the desired action.
Whatever your website has to offer, make it loud and clear to your visitors what it is.
3. Test your CTA - Call-to-actions help users to take the desired action that you want them to undertake.
However, most of the time companies have CTAs that are either irrelevant or not interesting enough for users to click on them.
As such, it’s absolutely necessary that you not only design great looking and clickworthy CTAs, but test your CTAs as well.
For instance, run a CTA button for few days or weeks and see its outcome, if the results are not as expected then do change it as per your need.
Here are some quick tips on how to create an effective CTA -
Read this post to learn more about creating conversion focused CTA buttons.
4. Logical layout and navigation flow - There is a certain event that every user expects should happen when they click on a button. If the intended result does not happen then the user might not continue further on your site.
As such, you need to have a logical layout for your website where an intended click brings the desired result.
A website’s navigation should be such that anyone visiting the site easily knows what to do next, or where they'd like to go.
When you design a website, the navigation flow should be as simple and user-friendly as possible.
It might also be a good idea to offer fewer options in your navigation. If there are fewer options, again, your conversion area becomes highlighted.
5. Short Forms - I'm sure that you have come across sites that ask for too much 'useless' information, especially sites where you are required to fill in a form or create an account.
Most of the time, this process leads to users leaving a website. Now, no one wants a customer of theirs to just turn away, right?
As such, make the experience of filling forms easy by not overcomplicating matters for your users.
Take a look at your own web forms and see whether you can improve them by removing certain and unnecessary fields.
6. Test your Headlines - A headline is the first thing that a user sees when they visit your website, right?
Remember that on average only 2 out of 10 people reading your headline will actually go any further.
So while a catchy headline can help users to take the desired action, a headline with no clear meaning often makes users leave the site completely.
[clickToTweet tweet="A headline with no clear meaning often makes users leave the site completely." quote="A headline with no clear meaning often makes users leave the site completely."]
Just take a look at how MailChimp easily explains with a single line what it’s customers can expect from them.
Make sure that you too describe your business in a line or two, to make your message loud and clear.
7. Select the right color scheme for your site - Colors have long been associated to affect the mood and response that a user has towards a website.
Like most of the social networking sites have blue as their main color, as blue is a calming and relaxing color that promotes interaction. Therefore, choosing a right color scheme for your site can help you to better retain your target audience.
8. Ensure your website contains relevant and appropriate content - I know what you're thinking, how generic is this piece of advice, right?
Well, you'd be surprised as to how many businesses actually get this completely wrong with their websites.
There is a certain expectation that people have when they visit your site. If your site does not have the content as per their expectation, then you can expect your bounce rate to be quite high.
This would not only result in 'potentially' being penalized by Google but would also cause you to lose valuable customers.
9. Card layout optimised for mobile - More and more people are using mobile to browse websites.
In fact, research suggests that by 2018, mobile devices will account for 27% of all US retail e-commerce sales.
That's up from 19% in 2017. So, it’s extremely important that your website is fully optimized for mobile devices.
In a card-layout style interface design, there are several cards that are brought together to make a complete webpage that fits both desktop and mobile screens.
Take a look at the image example below.
10. Value Communication - There are hundreds of websites and blogs from which a user can buy the same product from, so what is that special thing that would make them buy from your website?
Well, there is something called Value Communication.
Do not confuse VC with only providing the product at lower cost than your competitors. Value communication is when you describe the product in detail and leave nothing out.
For example, you provide information on availability, delivery time, returns and refunds, and other associated information.
Make sure that the information you provide is so complete that your customers need not contact you or your customer support team for further assistance.
11. Improve Trust - Users tend to buy from companies they have placed their trust on. And, trust is something that you have to build over time.
For an online business, this trust can be built using several methods, such as providing 'quick support' on the website itself, showing the reviews given by customers, maintaining an active social media account, providing incentives, etc.
12. Simple buying process - There are companies that make the buying process so difficult that the user gets discouraged to complete the shopping process entirely.
Can you, as an online consumer, relate to this experience?
This is something that your website must NOT do.
Starting with the customer's initial process of searching for a product to adding it to their basket, to making the final payment, the whole process should be as smooth and as user-friendly as possible.
Amazon, the global e-commerce giant success, can be greatly related to the ease that users find while shopping on their site, be it their search functionality or the one-step checkout process.
13. No distraction - Placing relevant and targeted ads on your website can be a great way to increase your online business income.
However, what if these ads are distracting your users and they end up NOT completing the purchase process on your website? This is something you must take into consideration.
Look into things that might sway away users and potential customers.
It might not only be your ads but also be irrelevant images, big headers, external links, etc. that could be responsible for distracting your users.
Make sure that nothing comes in between your users and the product they are about to purchase on your site.
14. Add incentives - Giving away a discount 'just like that' is too mainstream and chances are your users might not even notice it.
Therefore, what I would suggest is that you give incentives in such a way that it generates a sense of urgency amongst your users.
They must feel that if they do not avail it now, they are surely going to miss it. So, make the content, presentation, offers, etc. appealing to users to help them make a purchase.
So as you can see, having a well-structured website is so important for your online business success.
You can follow the steps above in order to improve the conversion rate of your website all-round.
Just keep in mind that the more simple it is for your users to find what they are looking for, the more chance you'll have at seeing them convert into real paying customers, OK?
Best of luck.
About the author
Alice Jackson is a business consultant, blogger, social media enthusiast, online market analyst, amateur designer and an avid author at Designhill. She has written on several topics including social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, startup strategies and e-commerce. When she’s not writing, she loves spending her time reading romantic novels, creating new t-shirt designs. Connect with her on Twitter: @jackson_alice1
