Troubleshooting — My website isn’t converting visitors
Running a business and standing out from the crowd is tough. Chances are you’ve hit a few roadblocks along the way when it comes to showcasing your brand in a positive light and increasing awareness. With this in mind, our all-new Contentworks Medium series is all about troubleshooting issues.
Today’s topic: Help! My website isn’t converting visitors. Let’s take a closer look.
Issue 1: Your Website Isn’t SEO Optimised
Writing a website that converts visitors takes more than stringing together a few words on a page. For your website to attract attention it must be Search Engine Optimised (SEO) with keywords relevant to your target audience. Essentially, you need to research what your consumers may type into web search engines such as Google.
As a content marketing agency, for example, we know that people look for ‘content marketing,’ ‘financial services marketing,’ ‘content marketing agency’ and so on. It’s therefore essential that these terms are weaved into our content to prove our relevancy. Your website will have a really difficult time ranking for key searchable terms if you don’t think about your wording.
Issue 2: You’re Not Adapting to Modern Search
SEO is now based largely on relevancy. While keywords remain important as they show search engines what you’re all about, you must also think of topics relevant to your business and create comprehensive content around them. Having a cluster of topics all related to a main idea helps to build authenticity in the eyes of search engines and followers. SEO largely revolves around providing content in response to the intent of the searcher. You need to provide deeper coverage across a range of core topic areas.
How can you do this?
Taking web SEO and content marketing to the next level in order to convert visitors can be a challenge but there are ways to nail it. Top tip — make the most of keyword research tools. HubSpot’s Content Strategy Tool, for instance, will allow you to choose and focus on a specific pillar keyword — a broad keyword you want your business to rank for. Ideally, you’ll already have a web page in mind — or already built out — that will act as the main “hub” for this topic. Your pillar topic can be validated by checking out monthly search volumes. You can then think about sub-topics. These should link to your main idea but help to bring more keyword ideas into your strategy.
#3 Broken Links and Slow Downloads
We live in an impatient world. If your website is taking ages to download or is full of broken links, consumers can and will jump ship. In fact, 40% will abandon a page that takes three or more seconds to load. A slow loading website does not make a good impression and can reflect badly on the services you offer. Even if your business idea is actually on point.
Walmart is an example of how improving speeds can improve web success.
When considering load speeds, you must also think about mobile landing pages. After all:
Here are a few ways to minimise slow speeds and improve conversion:
Minimise HTTP requests
According to a Yahoo study, 80% of a web page’s load time is spent downloading the different elements including images, stylesheets and scripts. Reducing the number of irrelevant requests — perhaps by combining files and minimising unnecessary pieces of code — can speed things up significantly. If you use Chrome you can use the browser’s Developer Tools to see how many HTTP requests your site makes.
Reduce image sizes
Large images can take a long time to load. By compressing files, you can dramatically improve load speeds. Indeed, one test showed how resizing 22MB of images down to 300KB resulted in a 70% reduction in time to interact, or the amount of time a user needs to wait before they can interact with a site. Make sure all images are optimised for web use too.
Top tip: Don’t remove images altogether. Studies show that 66% of consumers want to see at least 3 product images before buying. Removing images could therefore be detrimental to the success of your site.
#4 Consumers Don’t Understand the Value of your Brand
Infobesity is a real issue in today’s society. In order to succeed online you need to stand out from the crowd. To communicate the value of your brand you have to work on your reputation within the industry. Why should people visit your site?
Before any kind of self-promotion, however, make sure your website:
· Loads quickly
· Is beautifully presented — first impressions count
· Is broken down into easy-to-reach sections
· Has a blog or a content hub
· Includes imagery representing your product
· Has embedded video to explain services and concepts
· Is informative and relevant to the market you’ll target
· Has all the relevant team/about us information
· Has all the relevant contact details
Once these things are in place you can start to promote yourself in places where your audience hangs out. This can be social media, blogging platforms and so on. Well-placed PR with a link to your website can also help to convert visitors as can competitions, promotions and such like. Don’t be afraid to create branded videos on social with a link back to your site. If people like what they see, they’ll hopefully convert through to your site and learn more.
It’s all about creating a great first impression that can’t be ignored. And maintaining high standards thereafter to maintain retention.
Need help with your content marketing ? contact our team today.
