Let's a talk about conversion focused web design and how you can really change your online fortunes when it comes to gaining new leads and customers from your organic traffic.
There are so many websites available to online shoppers today, and to beat your competition it's not about who has the sexiest website. In order for a business to be successful online and enjoy a wealth of customers, it really needs to do two things really well:
The average website design is not really set up for success from launch and does not really place an emphasis on lead generation at the core. Instead of your website being a static online brochure, you need your website to guide your visitors towards taking specific actions.
It's important; especially for those who are in the midst of drawing up a business plan or thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, that you have a website to put in front of people whose problems you wish to solve which works for you 24 hours a day, instead of just sitting statically asking people to 'sign up for our newsletter' - this doesn't work, nobody wants newsletters.
For those wanting to build an viable online business, you need systems to build a list of leads and customers to build relationships to provide real, sincere value and promote your products and services in the process.
Why your business should have a conversion focused web design
In terms of aesthetics, a conversion focused website still can look fantastic; depending on the skill of the web developer of course. But instead of having a whole load of on-site clutter and visual distractions such as sliders.
The fact is, many people who land on a website have a fairly high chance of bouncing, which means clicking off and visiting a competitor...or just closing their browser. The idea of a conversion focused website is to capture visitor information to allow you to build trust and allow your leads to become familiar with your brand, and ultimately how you can help them win at life and/or business.
So whether a visitor is highly engaged with your online content, or in a rush with a high chance of bouncing off-site, the opportunity should be there for them to take advantage of an "irresistible offer" to entice visitors into signing up to an email list.
This will then trigger an automated "warm up" email sequence in your autoresponder software which then helps build trust and allows you to position yourself as an authority in your area.
What is a conversion focused web design?
In terms of aesthetics, a conversion focused website still can look fantastic; depending on the skill of the web developer of course. But instead of having a whole load of on-site clutter and visual distractions such as sliders.
The website design should work towards getting more prospects into your list and into your sales funnel.
With a website build for generating leads, the strategy is to create irresistible opportunities on your website which is relevant to your services and their needs; this could be something along the lines of a free ebook, a how-to guide or something with a monetary value such as a discount coupon.
You want your offer to be something which will perk the interest of your visitors which encourages them to exchange their personal details for your offer.
Your website should act as one of the gateways into your sales funnel, so it's imperative that your site is doing all of the right things to assist with lead generation as opposed to presenting static content, instead of directly presenting a problem solving offer right off the bat.
As mentioned above, most of your sales will happen in the backend as most of your customers do not take action up on visiting your site for the first time. So this is why building trust is so important for smaller businesses; via your email signups.
Sooner or later, you want all people who sign up for your free offer to enter your sales funnel and become paying customers/clients.
If you're not doing this, you're leaving money on the table.
From the moment a visitor arrives on your website, you should clearly display a call-to-action on the screen without the having to scroll. The call-to-action should answer your customer's reason for clicking on your link in the Google search results and offer them an opportunity to download or get access to a lead magnet designed to help overcome their problem in exchange for their name and email address.
Then you can direct them towards a thank-you/download page to obtain their lead magnet, you can then use this page to even encourage them to join your Facebook group, or even make a small purchase with a one-time offer which is complimentary to their lead magnet.
Ensure your website design is free of clutter and distractions
You've probably visited many websites which don't seem to get straight to the point, or answer your query quickly but instead offer a plethora of options which distract you from the purpose of your visit.
The last thing a potential customer wants to do is have to go on a quest to find out if you can solve their problem.
It can be easy to find yourself in no-mans land when browsing service based websites, as they are often drowning in distracting elements which can dampen conversion rates; such as sliders and a painful newsletter pop ups.
In truth, your customers really don't care how beautiful your website looks...and a website will definitely not have purchase decision influence.
You want to give your visitors the information they were searching for quickly without making them go on a digital crusade around your website, this is a quick way to annoy people!
Trust and rapport is absolutely vital when it comes to selling more of your products and services, and it's generated via your communication and messaging to your customer list you should be building. The more you message with good, sincere and factual information, the more you will become the GO-TO person in your niche/locale.
While a nice looking website does look more professional, it's definitely not the most important thing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
The mobile browsing experience needs to be on point as well, if the desktop version of your site is messy with popups and sliders, then the mobile experience will be 10X worse.
There is nothing more frustrating that a website that takes ages to load on mobile! 9/10 people give up and visit a competitor, and as more and more people use their phones to conduct searches for services
Your website really needs to be ready for that all important mobile traffic; in both appearance and performance.
A website conversion "best practices" recap
So if you're currently thinking about getting a website for your business and want it to perform well, or perhaps you have an existing website you are considering having redesigned, I hope this article gives you a little something to think about.
Always think about your own online buying experience, think of your frustrations and what made you sign up, get in contact or click off a website when you were looking for a solution to a problem.
It's also worth pointing out that the embeddable checkout can be used in conjunction with any CMS (content management system) - I talk about WordPress because that is the system I use to power all of my websites and landing page. So the embed will work with systems like SquareSpace, Wix, Joomla and even SAAS platforms such as ClickFunnels.
If you committed and made a purchase, what made you buy? was it the beautiful font? the lavish pink colour on the page? or was it that the website resonated with your problem and provided a solution with no fuss, no distractions?
Start turning traffic into Revenue
If your website is not bringing in the leads from your existing website traffic, perhaps you need to make some changes? If you've read this article and it all sounds good, but you have no idea how to build websites, we'd love to have a chat with you and help you get more customers with your website
