Research suggests that 88% of customers will not return to a website after one bad experience. A common misconception is that ‘bad experience’ refers to the website design alone.
But, there is more to securing conversions than just beautiful websites. While a great design is indeed essential for generating sales and other desired actions, it cannot guarantee online success.
So what are the essential elements, alongside website design, that are necessary to drive conversions?
Read on for our guide to ensuring maximum conversions thanks to a dynamic business website.
On-Site SEO
In addition to website design, on-site SEO is an important method of increasing conversions. Both on-site and off-site SEO strategies increase the number of website visitors.
If we imagine that 1 in 10 website visitors will result in a conversion, with more visitors, more conversions are inevitable.
Thus, copy is a further important element of on-site SEO. By using the right volume of keywords, and the all-important metadata tags, a business’s website copy can help with Google search engine rankings. What’s more, there is no need to sacrifice website design at the cost of SEO.
Google rewards websites that demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (the EAT principle). There is a multitude of techniques that should be used to rise in Google’s search results:
- Valuable content in the form of articles and videos.
- Links to websites with good reputations.
- Ratings, reviews, and information about the business.
But, the on-site SEO strategies are just one side of the coin. Keep reading as we explore the other aspect of SEO.
Off-Site SEO
An off-site SEO campaign is also needed to ensure a business’s website ranks highly in search engine results. As discussed, this leads to greater visibility, and thus more visitors and conversions.
This is a worthwhile aspect of digital marketing that requires patience. Unlike other techniques, a business will not feel the impact of off-site SEO work overnight. But, over time the positioning and referencing of a business’s site on other highly-rated websites will reap rewards.
Our team at VujaDay can help businesses establish a range of backlinks, natural links, and self-created links across the internet, leading to their website.
Other elements that assist with off-site SEO, and also help drive conversions, are social media marketing, guest blogging, and influencer marketing.
Use of Images
A business could host a beautiful website design, with a modern interface and sophisticated color scheme. Yet this encouraging design can be counteracted by a relatively simple component of the website. The images.
There are certain best practices businesses should adopt when looking to retain visitors’ attention. The first is not to use stock photos. While being a cheaper option, these lend a low-quality perception to the website. Investing in good-quality and original images is well worth the additional effort.
Non-stock images have been proven to increase the conversion rate as well as website clicks.
But, it’s also important that websites do not compromise on load speeds. Don’t opt for large images in high resolution if they won’t load instantly. Making the visitor wait should be avoided at all costs when it comes to winning conversions.
Don’t Forget Calls to Action
As we’re beginning to see, having a beautiful website is only one part of driving conversions. While it is of course necessary, another key aspect is the calls to action (CTAs).
These are what direct the website visitor to their next steps. We often think of conversions in terms of sales, but it should be remembered that there are other useful events to push for. Depending on the size and success of a business, conversions might be adding a product to the shopping cart, signing up for a newsletter, or starting a free trial.
Thus, the CTAs should make it clear what the visitor should do next. Do not provide too many options, and use clear text formatting to ensure a smooth user journey.
Make Sure It’s Mobile Friendly
When thinking about web design, we cannot limit ourselves to laptops and computers. The average American is spending more and more time browsing on their phone. 51% of people check their phone at least several times an hour.
A business’s website must adapt to this trend and perform well on any screen size.
Consider the content layout. How easy is it to navigate on a computer vs a phone?
Our web designers at VujaDay understand the importance of quick navigation across all devices. We are constantly looking for new ways to bring the best possible experience to a business’s online visitors.
Take a Closer Look at the Metrics
A final point to remember when looking at website conversions is the metrics. Once the web designs have been finalized, the work does not stop.
Some of the biggest learning curves are gleaned thanks to website analysis. In addition to A/B testing, there are several key pieces of data that will inform a business how they can improve their website design.
What is the bounce rate? Has this changed since the latest tweaks to the landing page? How many average interactions are there per visit? And what are the most common exit pages?
Website analytics are key to finding the weak points of a business’s website. This reveals much more about how well a website is operating than a glance at the design. Crucially, this will also highlight how to increase conversions.
That’s Why Beautiful Websites Alone Don’t Cut It
Having discussed the crucial factors needed to drive conversions, we have seen that there is more to online success for businesses than an efficient layout and aesthetic color scheme. Of course, beautiful websites are still necessary, but they cannot be relied upon alone to win conversions.
Entrusting a digital marketing agency to assist with these other factors is a great way to ensure every box is ticked. At VujaDay, we can optimize your SEO, website design, and content marketing to put your business in the best possible position to secure conversions.
For more information about how we can help put together a personalized plan to meet your needs, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Hi Vince, I find your content really useful but can you please share some of the free SEO tools that I can use as a beginner 🙂
Have a good day!
Sure thing, Lucy. Shoot me an email via the contact form or directly at vincent@vujadaydigtial.com and I’ll share a few based on your goals. I’ll have my team work on a post to help as well.
There are so many factors that are very important for a website like, how effective the logo is, and how user-friendly it s, etc. I appreciate the way you describe everything in detail, it is very useful, and it will definitely gonna help me to create a better website. Keep sharing more content like this.
Will do, Thanks Elena!