Are you looking to grow your small business this year? Conversion rate optimization is one of the most important things that you can do. But what is conversion rate optimization?
If you’re new to running your own business, sit tight, and keep reading to learn more about your small business’s secret weapon to grow big-time!
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Before we get into conversion rate optimization, let's go back to the basics and talk about conversions and conversion rates.
Conversions are when someone online, like a website viewer or someone searching on Google, does what you want them to do. The most obvious example of a conversion is when someone makes a purchase at your online store.
Conversion Rates are the percentage of conversions out of all of your website’s views. For example, a conversion rate could be 10% of your blog readers subscribing to your newsletter.
Conversion Rate Optimization is fine-tuning your ads, website, content, etc. to drive certain conversions. For example: using a lead magnet to improve the conversion rate of email subscribers.
Why You Should Be Focusing On Conversion Rate Optimization
The most obvious reason that you should be focusing on conversion rate optimization is to convert, You know, get those clickthroughs and make those sales.
But there are a few other reasons why conversion rate optimization is so important for small businesses. Let’s talk about some of the reasons you should be focusing on conversion rate optimization.
Improved User Experience (UX):
Conversion Rate Optimization involves making things simpler for people. But, it’s also a benefit because the better your user experience is, the more likely people are to convert.
High Return On Investment (ROI):
Having better conversion rates lowers your cost of gaining customers. So, that’s a bigger return on your investment. It also means more profit for you.
Long Customer Lifetime Value (CLV):
Customer Lifetime Value is the amount a customer could spend in their time as your customer. When you can convert them, and you can keep them, that number keeps going up.
Better Brand Reputation:
All the improvements you’ve made and your higher conversion rates will promote your brand’s reputation to new customers.
Stronger Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
CRO and SEO have a lot of similar factors. Your conversion rates and improvements will help you rank better on search engines, allowing you to be found more easily.
What Are Conversions In Content Marketing?
Conversion is an umbrella term that covers any action that a viewer, lead, or customer takes that you want. It can be anything from a blog view to a sale.
To narrow it down for you, here are some things that count as conversion in the content marketing world.
Sales (duh)
Clickthroughs on ads
Email opens
Viewer becoming a lead
Form submission
Contact
Content engagement (saves, shares, likes)
Sign-ups
Downloads
Subscriptions
Web Page/Landing Page Views
Blog Viewers
Return Viewers
Social Media Follows
What Are Good Conversion Rates?
What a good conversion rate looks like will depend on your niche and the type of conversion. But, according to Google Ads, the average conversion rate overall is around 4.40%.
The type of conversion in this case is clicking a search ad. To help you find a good conversion rate for your CRO goals, here’s an infographic from Wordstream
How You Can Improve Your Conversion Rates
Improving your conversion rates isn’t difficult. Start by calculating the conversion rates you have now. And with some testing and research, you’ll be able to target where your site needs CRO the most. Here’s some guidance for you.
Calculate Your Conversion Rates
Calculating a conversion rate is a simple 3-step process:
Define your metrics (leads, views, purchases, etc)
Analyze and record data for each metric.
Do the math. Divide the number of conversions by the total number of page views. Then, to get the percentage, multiply that number by 100.
Where You Should Focus Your CRO Efforts:
To start increasing your conversion rates, you need to focus on the pages of your website that are the most likely to see conversions. Here’s where you should be focusing:
Homepage
Product Pages
Landing Pages for contact box, Ads, Links, etc.
Your blog posts.
Services and pricing page.
6 Things You Need To Do To Increase Your Conversion Rates
There are so many things you can do to start driving conversion. But, where do you start? Let’s start with the 6 most important things you need to do!
Use Ads to attract more website viewers.
Create lead magnets to convert your viewers to leads.
Write good content to drive conversion through conversation.
Place strong CTAs in your content.
Improve your website’s overall UX (user experience).
Conduct A/B tests to find out what works for your target audience.
Content Marketing: Your Key To CRO Success!
In the world of the internet, content is king. If you really want to be successful in improving your conversion rates, you’re going to need content that drives conversion.
And for that, you need a good copywriter that knows how to write copy that converts.
Contact me today to learn more about using content marketing as your secret CRO weapon!