Search Engine Marketing is only 50% complete when you start getting visitors to your website in volume due to successfully achieving high rankings for your targeted keywords. You now have visitors … now you need buyers.
No one knows on day one what will convert visitors to buyers. We know that the first objective is to get the attention of the buyer within a few seconds because that is all the time you have to “grab” the visitor. Website visitors have a short attention span and an even shorter level of patience to find what they are looking for. After all, they are just one click away from looking for someone else.
Clearly you must begin with your landing page which is usually your home page. Regardless of your landing page, it must be exactly relevant to the keyword that the page was found for. The content must be right on target.
You must have a “conversion funnel” … the path you wish the searcher to take to result in a conversion. Not everyone will follow this conversion funnel because everyone is different. However, creating a logical chain of information and process steps are key to maximizing interaction and minimizing frustration.
Throughout the conversion funnel, beginning with the landing page, there must be a readily identifiable and easy to see “CALL TO ACTION.” This is simply an invitation to the visitor to click or directly enter information whether it is a direct purchase, request for information or phone call, or filling in a lead or contact form. Everyone is different as I stated and the call to action needs to be consistent and easily accessible at all stops along the conversion funnel. Some will convert at the beginning of the funnel and some at the end and some in between.
However, the best laid plans often do not work as expected. This is why it is essential for constant analysis of the stats of the website. What are the entry pages? Keywords used? Exit Pages? How much time is being spent on all of the pages? What pages seem to get the most exits? Where do people spend the most and least amount of time?
The answers to these questions opens the way for testing of different page strategies with varying placement of text and visuals as well as dozens of other variables that may or may not prove successful. However, this A/B style testing done on a consistent basis will provide the data necessary to provide conclusive results telling you which of the tests work the best and under what circumstances. For instance, one of our clients, after achieving excellent search engine rankings for many important keywords were getting conversion rates we felt were below what we would expect. We started A/B testing for several variations of the landing pages and before long started to see a very distinguishable pattern. In this case, those landing pages with the placement of images in a certain configuration with the form on the right side of the page yielded the best results. While we will continue testing as part of our SEO process, we have seen a 700% increase in conversions within the past 60 days. Another client saw a “run rate” of orders within the first 60 days subsequent to changes in the ecommerce section yielding unit and sales volume TEN TIMES the results before the A/B testing was implemented.
Keep in mind that all industries and all businesses are different. Add to this that trends are ever changing. This is why there isn’t one formula that fits all. However, the process remains the same. Testing conversion strategies and monitoring the stats very closely along with the necessary adjustments are the keys to conversion optimization which is the ultimate measure of success for any Search Engine Marketing program.
