Finding out why you are not getting the results you imagined is the first step to fixing the problem. So – what is holding your website back?
Traffic?
Perhaps you feel you are not getting enough site visits? It can be pretty dispiriting if you are just not getting found on Google. The key to attracting more visitors to your site is getting found. That seems like an obvious statement but, for the most part, visitors will only come if they know you are there. If it is site visitors you are after – there are a few ways you can go about trying to increase traffic.
- Advertise – if you are a new business with a new website – online advertising could perhaps offer a traffic boost whilst you start to build on your organic search engine ranking. This could be especially helpful if you are entering a crowded marketplace where some larger companies have search dominance. Pay per click advertising on Google can be very effective at delivering site visitors when you are starting out.
- Email – if you have an email mailing list, email can be a great way of getting visitors on to your website. If you are making some kind of offer or incentive, be sure to create a landing page which is specific to that offer. Although it seems like old hat, email can be a very effective, low cost method of attracting site visitors.
- Social Media – promote your site on social media – either using paid or unpaid means. You can use social media channels to promote site content as well as highlight specific products or services. For businesses with access to good images, Instagram and Pinterest are a good fit – if you are a B2B company you may be better off with Twitter or Linkedin.
- On Page Optimisation – Paying attention to page titles, page descriptions and alt image text can all help with SEO. This on page information helps to let search engines know what the content of the page is. Internal page linking between pages on your site is also a good idea.
- Keywords and content – Pay attention to your site content in terms of keywords. Search engines use the keywords in your website copy to determine whether to display it as a search result. If you haven’t optimised your site for the keywords and key phrases you want to be found for, this will affect your organic search traffic. Keyword research will help you to identify the search intent of your target audience. Use this research to create well optimised site content. For more information on writing SEO positive content see ‘How do you write SEO friendly web copy?’
Bounce?
If traffic is not your problem, rather a lack of engagement from visitors once they have arrived on your site – you need to be looking more at your actual site content and conversion paths. A high bounce rate may mean that people are not landing on a page which fulfils their original search intent or the information they find when they get there is not what they are expecting or what they need.
Trying to look at your own website objectively is difficult but you have to try to imagine you are arriving there for the first time as a potential customer. Your site analytics can tell you what visitors are searching for to end up on a particular page of your website. Look at what they find when they get there and ask yourself if that fulfils their original search intent.
The content on your site needs to be written and optimised with your ideal visitor in mind. Have a look at our website for more information on the basics of inbound marketing and content. If you have not already undertaken a persona exercise, have a look at our blog post about personas – ‘Working with buyers personas’ and download our free persona guide. Make sure it is completely obvious to visitors what you are offering. If you are using online advertising think about creating specific landing pages which offer your visitors a solution to the problem they are trying to solve and a clear path to that solution.
Conversions?
If a lack of action is your problem, you need to think about how you can maximise conversions. Making sure that people know how to move forward when they get to your site is a key conversion strategy. Offering visitors a clear path to conversion with concise information and compelling call to action points is vital to success.
Simple navigation which does not overwhelm your visitors with choice can help to keep things focussed on your ultimate goal of conversions. Use calls to action with action orientated language designed to motivate your visitor to do the thing you want them to do. These CTA’s should then lead your visitor through to a specific landing page which reinforces the action. Strategies like split testing can be useful to refine your messaging and work out what resonates best with your site visits – see ‘Split Testing - What is it and why should I do it?’ for some more specific information on split tests.
Whether you are looking for registrations, email sign-up’s, visitors or actual product sales doesn’t matter, the basic principles are the same. You can find more information about landing pages and conversions on our blog – ‘what makes a landing page which converts ?’
For more detailed, site specific advice and recommendations on how you can boost your website’s effectiveness and start to realise its full potential, contact us for your free website health check and SEO audit.