It is one thing to get people onto your website but a completely different thing to get them to stay. The metric for when people visit your website and leave immediately is called a bounce rate. You want a low bounce rate, meaning people are staying, engaging and exploring the website for longer. The longer people stay, the more likely they are to convert to customers. Here are seven ways to turn your visits into conversions and lower your bounce rate.
1. An Informative Homepage
When visitors land on your home page, they need to immediately know who your business is and what services you offer. Feature a catchy and engaging tagline immediately on the page as well as a short paragraph explaining your company. You should include a large visual on the home page as well to draw customers in. Failure to clearly establish your business on the homepage will cause visitors to get frustrated and leave.
2. Simple Navigation
If you want people to explore your website, offer easy navigation! Let visitors find what they are looking for easily with a straightforward, immediate, and intuitive navigation. Put yourself in the mind of the visitor. What are they trying to find? What do they need? How can you help them? Answering these questions will assist you in creating the most user friendly, intuitive and yet logical navigation. Experienced web designers are a great resource to help you come up with intuitive website navigation.
3. Add Call to Actions
Want visitors to stay on your page and convert to becoming customers? Tell them to do it! Including a prominent call to action gives customers a clear direction of what to do next and act. Use urgent, non-aggressive language to persuade the customer to follow that call to action. Offering incentives will increase your chance of a call to action being followed.
4. Social Media Options
Offering social media on the main page of the website shows your brand’s expanse across the digital space. Customers will trust your brand and will be willing to explore if they see social media integration. There are a few ways to do this, such as embedding widgets, showcasing social buttons, or asking people to follow you on your social platforms.
5. Video Integration
By 2017, video will account for 69% of online consumer traffic. Get ahead of the curve by embedding videos on your website. You benefit by supplying customers with a great deal of information about your business. The customer benefits by satisfying their desire for entertainment and information.
If you do add a video, try to create one with viral components. This means your video should be:
- Engaging
- Encourage video sharing
- Informative
When you add these qualities to a video, you increase the chance of your video reaching new audiences who will learn about your product or services.
6. An Excellent Blog
Blogs are no longer optional if you want to establish your brand reputation and expertise online. Creating a well executed website design and high quality blog helps convert your traffic and build a long lasting relationship with customers. You want the information to be compelling and easy to find. Make sure you include an easy way back to other aspects of your website so visitors can explore and learn more about your brand. Try to post at least once a week to keep your audience engaged.
7. Customer Testimonials
Many customers read testimonials from other customers before deciding to buy a product. You save them that step by showcasing testimonials so they trust your service immediately. Before you share testimonials, ask customers if it is okay to use their feedback on your website. On social media, you can share any positive comments customers have made on your own profiles without asking permission. If you want to make your customer testimonial even more prominent, use the power of video we mentioned earlier and create a customer testimonial video.
No matter what tactics you use to attempt to convert website visitors into customers, make sure you always keep their needs in mind. Customers want to know who you are, how to reach you, and proof your product is valuable. Give them all this information on your website and engage with them through additional avenues, such as a blog or social media. Customers also want to know the next steps to take, so guide them through your website with clear call to actions.
This article was contributed by Magicdust, Australian web designers providing professional website and online marketing solutions for small business.
