To all entrepreneurs who are looking for the best way to increase their conversions starting this year, there is good news and bad news.
The bad news is that less-than-enough expertise in online sales could easily drive your business down a road called “the 20 percent that close down in their first year.” Unfortunately, that percentage just keeps going up as the years accumulate. If the cap fits, don’t panic. You can solve this yourself.
Now, the good news is that with enough effort, anyone can learn, implement, and test the best practices for online growth. But before taking this step, you must learn what they are, and why they make a difference.
Website optimization
Your brand’s website is where it’s at. All of your complimentary social media accounts are ramifications of this business powerhouse. All the bios and links should lead customers there.
A website is where you can fully describe your service, sell, and showcase your products without limitations. Again, you must use the best strategies the right way.
An appealing design
Pre-designed and standard layouts have no place here. If your brand is unique, so should be your design. The Orlando web design company is a perfect example of affordable services that use professional web design strategies to get you noticed online amid rapidly growing competition.
Web-friendly content
Having your website optimized by outsourcing SEO services (if you’re not an expert yourself) will help your site be seen first on the search engines your prospects use the most. Besides, have you ever heard about “words that sell?” That’s the whole concept of online-friendly copywriting. Applying it to your homepage copy, calls-to-action, and even blog posts can increase your conversions.
Mobile responsiveness
40 percent of people only use their mobile for searches. If your site doesn’t have a mobile version, provide it as soon as possible, and make sure it loads in under 3 seconds so prospects are less likely to abandon it.
Checkout methods
You are the perfect example for this one. How many times have you left items in your cart simply because you were scared to waste your money buying something you don’t need?
That’s why you need killer copy throughout your sales page, and most importantly, testimonials. When adding the opinion of real customers at the end of your page, it adds to the product’s logical benefits and ensures prospective customers that they can (and should) complete their purchase.
Online presence
The more people can see your brand in more than one platform, the better. Whether that means listing your business on white pages or other online information sites used by many, boosting Facebook ads, or engaging social media pages, your web presence shouldn’t simply be there —it should be frequent and well thought-out.
Yes, it can be hard to keep tabs on multiple profiles at once. Consider downloading automation apps that can help you manage all of your accounts from one portal, and keep all of your media updated without the hassle.
Targeting
Do you know your audience like you know yourself? It can be hard to, and that could take you weeks to years. That’s why many marketing agencies create buyer personas, or a “customer archetype” so they can remember their prospects are real people in need of real solutions.
Keep track of your social media demographics. What’s the average age of people who visit your pages? What’s the percentage of men and women? Where are they from? Thankfully, you don’t necessarily need to pay to see your demographics, as many platforms have them built-in.
There’s really no point in coming up with an elaborate ad campaign if it doesn’t come across those who would buy your product. Get to know them as you would a partner, then advertise the right message to the right people, and you’ll do well.
Testing
These tasks aren’t exactly brain surgery, but you could still ruin your chances of selling more if you miss a crucial step: testing.
Calculating your marketing ROI and performing A to B testing on your sales pages, for instance, can tell you how much return your efforts are giving you. By monitoring the efficacy of your investments, you’ll know which strategies to keep, which ones to ditch, and best of all, save yourself time and money.
