So your website is built, your product page is in fine working order, and your business is poised to skyrocket into the stratosphere of success. But fortune and glory seem to be taking their sweet time. What can you do? Your web design may be missing some key components that help convert visitors, so the customers who so desperately want to buy your product may, in fact, might not believe you are the right business for them. Here are a few simple web design tips for beginners, to start you down the path to better website conversions.
- Keyword Research: Whether you sell shoes, showers, or steam shovels, you have to know not only what your potential clients are searching for, but also the exact words and phrases they use to search for it. Keyword research tools can help you discover the exact words searchers are typing into search fields, so you can begin to include those words in high quality is written content on and throughout your site. Several free tools exist (such as SEOBook and KeywordEye), but it may also be worth your time to invest in the paid services for enhanced results and metrics.
- Social Media: Two-fifths of online consumers begin their buying experience with a search, whittle down the selection to a few final products or businesses, and then finalize their decision by seeing what the social media buzz is about those items. A recent study reported 30% of consumers used social media to help them decide if a product was right for them. Maintaining a positive presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, etc…is vital to your credibility. Encourage your customers to follow you by placing social media icons on your website or embedding live social feeds on your site. It’s also wise to make it worth their while by updating frequently and providing useful, timely, or interesting information, so they can share it with their friends.
- Video Marketing: Few things will make a potential customer leave your website faster than a daunting block of text with no accompanying photos, graphics, videos, or links. Make sure your web design is inviting and practical, but not overwhelming. Video marketing with customer testimonials can be a powerful tool to have on the landing page of your website. In fact, the average visitor spends 10 times longer on a site with video testimonials than one without. But make sure whatever video or multimedia items you include do not significantly slow down the load time of your page. Slow loading pages can turn away customers AND conversions.
Will these website tips teach you overnight how to be a web marketing expert? Probably not. But they can help get you started. Have patience, and when you start to see the benefits of your website conversions, you can start to appreciate the power of online marketing. I hope these website tips and techniques can help you take your business even further.
