For most companies, a company website is about getting someone interested in their product or service, and hopefully, at some point, selling it to them. On the surface, this may seem like an easy task. Set up a website, get people to go to it and watch the money come in.
While, yes, it really is a matter of successfully doing those three things. If you dig a little deeper and you’ll soon realize it takes a bit more concentrated effort. In fact, it takes a real knowledge and understanding of your target market to make your website truly work for you. Even if you do manage to get tons of people to your site, if it doesn’t convert, you’re wasting time, money and energy.
Keep in mind that conversion can be applied to any action you want someone to take while visiting your website. You may only want someone to sign up for your newsletter, or to like your Facebook page. Or, you may want them to actually buy a product. Before you can get people to say “yes” to something, you need to figure out what you want them to say “yes” to.
Once you’ve established the goal of your website, you can turn your attention to making sure it converts. Here are a few tips to help you get more “yes” responses from your visitors.
1. Ask for the “yes”
It may sound incredible simply, but take a look at a number of sites within your industry and see just how many are actually asking the viewer to take an action. You’ll be surprised at the results. Many sites focus on providing all the information, but never actually ask the viewer to take the next step. Don’t make that mistake with your own website and always ask for what you want.
2. Make it super simple
Nothing is more confusing than not knowing what’s expected. You want to make sure that your intentions are clear and upfront. Avoid making things too complicated. For instance, if you ask for too many actions, people will become confused and end up taking no action. If it isn’t clear what they are supposed to do, again, no action will be taken. If there is too much information before they can take an action, they might give up. Your goal is to go over your material to make sure that there is the perfect amount of education about your product or service mixed with the right visuals to prompt the user to take some sort of action.
3. Craft the message or action to your target market
If you ask a cook to sign up for a meal delivery service, you’re probably not going to get as great of a response as you would asking a single, working executive. The point here is to make sure you aren’t working against yourself with your marketing messages. Really think about your ideal customer and what their needs and wants are. Then, craft your marketing messages with them in mind. This will help you get to more people saying yes than no.
4. Be honest and transparent
Now more than ever, honesty has become a business commodity that consumers are willing to purchase. This means making sure you deliver on your promises and generally being a “good” business. This will help spread word of mouth advertising, which will in turn help you cultivate a more targeted visitor base to your website. The more targeted your visitor base is, the less no’s you’ll receive. It pays to be a company with integrity that has the interest of their customers in mind. Not only will you get more people saying “yes” to your initial offer, but chances are you’ll get them for life.
