You built your business with hard work, great skill, and maybe some luck. You also know your website has to be a vital part of your company’s growth, but want to operate safely. The answer to sustainable growth is conversion centered design.
Isn’t It All About Building Links and Driving Traffic?
Yes, building valuable (safe) links to rank higher in the search engines is still a factor in growing traffic. On the other hand, if you think that sending more traffic to your website is the only thing to worry about, your wrong.
There is no shortage of crooks and people who are trying to get you to use their ‘proven’ strategies- but that’s not your largest problem.
Well, What Is the Problem?
Glad you asked. The largest problem you have may be the design of your site. What value is all the traffic in Google if you can’t get your message across to visitors?
Conversion centered design is the technique of leading visitors to complete a specific task, through influential psychological techniques. A website that doesn’t have a conversion centered design can have many problematic features including:
Poor Design
When a visitor comes to your site, and instantly notices blinking ads and various forms of content; you leave them to figure out their next step. Focusing your message helps, but we’ll go over that in a minute.
Poor Copywriting
The website looks great, your products and services are top notch, but the words on the page remind your visitor of hitting the snooze button. Don’t believe the myth that good products sell themselves. Your design has to make them want to move down the page until they finish the task you planned for them.
Poor Conversion Rate
This is the best indicator that you have a problem. If your conversion rate is lower than the industry standard, then you have either poor design or content. Your traffic came to your site for a reason, and if you don’t show them what they are looking for in seconds, they’re gone.
Poor Design + Poor Copywriting = Poor Conversion Rate
But does this affect getting traffic (e.g. building links)? Yes!
The Bigger Picture of Conversion Centered Design
Conversions are all about sales. To move traffic down the funnel you must have a series having steps for them to pass through. If properly done, it will help potential buyers determine if you are right for their needs and helps you build trust with them. Along the journey down your funnel, they will be greeted with opportunities to share your insights via social media, subscribe to your useful newsletter, and leave comments on your incredible blog posts.
These are the things that Google likes. Other people see that too. Being clear and helpful on top of a safe SEO strategy will take your business to the next level regarding traffic.
There have to be different stages to send your valuable traffic through. Things like:
- Giving you their email address
- Scheduling a free consultation
- Filling out a quick survey
- Registering for a webinar
- Downloading an eBook, free course, or guide
- Buying your product
Now that you know what you want from them, it is time to clean up your act. Look at each page of your website and think about what stage the majority of traffic will be at when they arrive. Then figure out what is the most important action you want them to take. Look at the following example:
Example 1: Homepage- New Visitor- Goal: For them to subscribe to your email list.
If this is what you come up with, do you need to try and sell a $1000 product to someone who just showed up at your front door?
Example 2: Blog Post- Subscriber- Goal: For them to download a Free Course.
After they have given you their email, you can offer a high-value free course that just happens to mention your ultimate value paid course.
Ready to Start Yet?
If this post isn’t enough to get you to stop ignoring conversion centered design, then you probably shouldn’t own a website. Maybe not even a computer. Just teasing!
Always take a good look at how your website’s design will affect the future of your business. Evaluate how your visitors are reacting to each of your pages and ask yourself “What Do I Want Them to Do?”
