Conversion Rate Optimisation: What you need to know
Conversion rate optimisation is such a broad subject that it's sometimes hard to know where to begin. Most website owners understand that CRO is the process of optimising a website to encourage visitors into performing a desired action that will benefit them – purchasing a product, subscribing to a newsletter, bookmarking a blog, offering a donation etc. The problem arises when changes need to be made to a website to encourage conversions; where do you begin? Might you need to change the text on the webpage, the colour of the toolbar, the position of a logo, the images you are using, the location of links on the page, maybe all these thing need to be changed to covert more prospects into buyers. This is where search marketing agencies excel – particularly those with dedicated CRO experts. They can help you locate and implement an effective conversion rate optimization strategy that could greatly improve how efficient your website is. By this, I mean more than just thinking of a website solely as a money making device – but effective CRO can also improve brand visibility through attracting more social media interaction, and it can improve brand association as well as improving a websites financial proficiency. In this blog I'll cover a few essentials about conversion rate optimisation, how to implement it and how it could holistically improve your business.
The Benefits of Conversion Rate Optimisation
As more and more businesses rely on their website for the majority of their trade, the need to have a fully optimised website is now more important than ever. If you own a high-street shop, you'd want every person to leave having made a purchase, and this philosophy needs to be replicated online. Here is a list of broader
benefits that can arise from implementing effective CRO: • The generation of more leads for a sales team • Increased Mailing list • Improved engagement with you customers • Lower customer acquisition costs • Improved online visibility • Increases in sales, revenue and profit • More effective
online reputation management • Permanent increase to conversion rates 
Some of the inclusions on the above list might seem unconnected to CRO, effective online reputation management, for example. However, the experience that visitors have on a website is often reflected in how they think of that business in general – so, if they trust the website then they are likely to trust the
efficiency of the services that business offers. Building trust with your website visitors is a by-product of effective CRO and one that should not be underestimated.
Conversion Rate Optimisation best practices
The first thing that needs to be covered in conversion rate optimisation is the design of the webpage. This is the first thing the user notices when they visit your website, and something as simple as slow page load speed or a poorly placed advert could cause them to click the 'back' button before they've even read a snippet of your content. The best webpage designs are free of any errors – spelling errors, technical errors, coding errors, broken links and content deficiencies, essentially, anything that could detract from a top quality user experience. This mistake-free sheen has to be backed up by attractive aesthetic appearance, and that is often helped by a professionally designed logo and page layout amongst other things. Another factor that can contribute to efficient CRO is the ease with which the user can navigate around the website. It is important they can get from the entry page, to the place where they can complete the conversion in as few clicks as possible – this also includes filling out forms, if required. Sitemaps and a website with flat architecture should help optimise the process the visitors have to undergo from entrance to conversion. One of the most crucial aspects of CRO that directly affects the website user is the content – this can mean the text on logos, headlines and especially any product or service descriptions that are explaining to the user why they should be making a conversion with you, and not with your competitors. With text, everything matters from the location on the page to the content itself. For example, the most important content on the webpage – that is, the content that explains why user should convert with you – should always be placed in an optimal position where the site visitors are almost forced to read it. In an eyetracking study conducted by Jakob Nielsen in 2006, he found that web users scan a webpage, starting at the top left of the screen, then moving across and down in an F-shaped pattern. Experimenting with the layout of content could really affect the rate of conversions on your website. As mentioned, the style that the content on your website is written in can also be hugely influential in attaining more converters. If your content is written in a dry corporate tone, laced with technical jargon and reads more like a legal document that a product description, then you can expect to alienate more readers than you convert. It should grab their attention, and clearly explain to them why they should convert with you by highlighting all benefits that you can offer in a friendly, yet persuasive tone. If you have any further questions about conversion rate optimisation or any other search marketing services then please feel free to leave a comment. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a series of blogs I'm preparing relating to CRO.
