In the past, business owners used tactics like sign placement to encourage more people to buy from them. Physical advertising was an essential part of the marketing realm.
While this still matters, being visible online is even more important today, with most consumers going online to find something before shopping in person. Because of this, it is important to create a conversion rate optimization plan and implement it.
However, before you can start seeing the sales roll in, there are a few things to understand. Keep reading to learn more about the essential marketing components and how to optimize your site for conversionsv.
Web Marketing Components
The strategies used by modern marketing companies haven’t changed; however, the tactics need to be updated.
It is possible to break down marketing into four components. These include the following:
- Location: website or web presence
- Brand awareness: search engine optimization
- Visitors: visibility and traffic generation tactics
- Transactions: conversion rate
Even with a web presence, there is no way to know if someone will find you. That’s why you have to invest in search engine optimization.
Even if your site ranks well in SERPs, there is no guarantee that people will visit your website, which is why you need traffic generation.
Even if your site gets plenty of traffic, there is no guarantee that visiting people will make a purchase, which is why you need conversion rate optimization.
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
To understand conversion rate optimization, you have to break it down.
- Conversion: Having someone do something you want them to do.
- Conversion rate: How many people are doing the thing you want them to versus how many don’t.
- Conversion rate optimization: Implementing changes to your website to help grow your conversion rate.
There’s a common misconception that CRO is actually sales or lead generation; however, this is not the case.
CRO is a process that tests and analyzes your website to help generate additional sales or leads.
Your Guide to Optimizing for Conversions
You can look at CRO like this – you don’t know what people will do on your website until you observe their reactions. You also have certain goals but may not have a clear roadmap about how to get there.
With CRO, you can create tests to achieve a higher percentage of people doing the action you want them to. This includes things like clicking on another page, making a purchase, or filling out a form.
However, there’s another part of CRO to understand. This is getting the right type of people to take the action you want them to. It is possible to create tactics that let you maximize your conversions. You can also create tactics to find all the leads that are most likely to convert.
CRO makes it possible to do all this – and more. You can analyze the results your site gets to feel confident that the site you have created will help you get the most leads and the most conversions.
Reasons to Start Tracking CRO
There are a few reasons that you need to begin tracking CRO for your website, which include the following:
The Strategic Reason
You must change your attitude about how things look. Your opinion on the matter is unimportant. You need to know what your website is (or isn’t) encouraging visitors to do. If you achieve the desired conversion, but your website doesn’t have the specific design elements you want, you should consider what may be wrong with your chosen design.
The Tactical Reason
Several methods can be used to track conversions when they occur online. A simple method is also minimally intrusive to users – using the conversion goals through Google Analytics. With this, you can create specific goals, like completing a sale or filling out a contact form. This conversion can be linked to the first action a consumer takes. It also lets you create custom conversion funnels that track traffic from a certain landing page to completion.
How to Set Conversion Goals Using Google Analytics
If you want to create conversion goals through Google Analytics, you can use the following steps:
- Goals are set on your profile level. Begin with Admin.
- Choose the name of the account, property name, then Goals. Choose +New Goal.
- Select a template or make a custom Conversion Goal Type template that lets you track the actions you want your users to take. The Goal Types are not the same as pages per visit, URL destination, event, or visit duration.
- You can assign monetary values to the goals you have listed. An example of this is if the average user spends a specific amount of money on each transaction. With the monetary value assigned, you can see how much money you make for each conversion or transaction.
- The process to complete this is simple. After each step, choose Continue, which saves what you have done and allows you to move to the next step.
- Choose Save when you are done.
Once you have saved the conversion goal you create, Google Analytics will track data. It is possible to see what your conversion would have looked like for the past seven days.
You can also access the Visitor Flow feature. This lets you know exactly where customers leave your conversion funnel. You can adjust your landing or promotional pages as needed with this information.
Why Does Conversion Rate Optimization Matter?
Now that you know more about conversion rate optimization, you may wonder why it matters or how investing in this SEO tactic will benefit you.
Some of the reasons this is a smart way to use your marketing budget include the following:
Pay Per Click Costs are Rising Steadily
It is probably no big secret that Google AdWords costs are increasing considerably.
With a higher demand for this platform than ever before, it makes sense that costs would go up. While this may be the case, it doesn’t mean your marketing budget has increased.
In the past, PPC was an effective way for small businesses to garner attention while their SEO efforts got to work. However, with cost increases like are going on now, it is not as much of an option – especially if all the clicks aren’t turning into sales.
Online retailers have noticed that their PPC ad spending is increasing while conversions are decreasing.
This is one way that conversion rate optimization can be beneficial. It will ensure that you make the most of each click that comes your way. When done properly, every click you get will essentially pay for itself.
Increased Competition Online
Today, there are more retailers online competing for customers than ever before. Large retailers (think Amazon) are killing smaller retailers.
If you want to ensure that someone who visits your page becomes a customer, you must create an easy-to-use website with an automatic funnel that takes visitors toward the actions you want them to take. As competition increases, your competitiveness should, too.
Again, CRO will help you stay ahead of your competition.
Increased Cost of Digital Marketing
PPC isn’t the only thing that is going up in price. Almost any type of digital marketing is more expensive now than it has been in the past.
Marketing aims to get people to come to your website or store. However, you need to ensure they will buy something when they get there to make your marketing spend worthwhile. This is another area where CRO is invaluable.
When you increase the total number of page visitors making purchases, it improves your conversion rate. This allows you to fight the increased cost of digital marketing.
Social Media Impact
Social media is a great venue for marketing and connecting with people. You can easily reach out to current and potential customers, build loyalty and increase your authority.
While social media has been an important part of increasing total page views, it has also given consumers a much shorter attention span. This means you must capture and leverage customer interest once you get it.
While having something listed on your site for sale is great, it’s not enough on its own. You must take steps to show how you are unique from the competition. This requires a unique story that is tied to what you offer.
Reduced Consumer Attention Span
This is not a myth. Countless studies have shown how consumers’ attention spans are shortening.
If you are trying to sell something online, you must ensure that someone who lands on your page can find it quickly. If not, they will leave.
With CRO, you can combat this. You will have the chance to get and serve these customers.
Improving Conversion Rate Optimization Just Makes Sense
Selling online today is more difficult than it has ever been. You may be confused and overwhelmed by all the changes that have occurred.
If you need help improving your site’s CRO, Small Business SEO is here. We can evaluate your current efforts and help you improve what is already there. Call today for an initial consultation.