Every website must have a goal e.g. increase online purchases, increase newsletter subscribers, increase online registration in community based websites etc. If you do not set a goal for your website, there is no way you can gauge the performance of your website. In terms of gauging the effectiveness you must focus on the conversion rate of your website. In the simplest of terms, the conversion rate of your website is the average number of times (in percentages) that the goal of your website is met in relation to the total number of visitors that came to your website within a given period of time.

How can you improve the conversion rate of your website? Here are some simple steps you can take, which if properly implemented can help you achieve results almost immediately.

• Identify the goal of your website. Once identified, make sure you design (or redesign your website where necessary) your website around that specific goal.
• Update the page title, headings, images, labels, and text of each web page. Correctly explain the topic, product or service that the page is discussing. This will help improve the performance of your website in search engines where people are looking for a particular product or service.
• Maintains the same design, look and feel throughout. Sadly some website owners often go overboard with all the bells and whistles they add to enhance their website thereby confusing visitors. As far as website design is concerned your main watch ward is to keep it simple. Also let all your online and offline marketing collaterals maintain the same design, look and feel to aid your brand recognition.
• Make your website easy to navigate. Clearly highlighting all the menu items and navigation bar. Also include a sitemap and online search feature that is accessible from every webpage as this will help your website visitors to know where they are at all times and find what they need quickly.
• Use website analytics tools (Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, ClickTale, etc). Use it to identify and remove irrelevant or obsolete content. If your analytics report shows that a particular web page has hardly received any visitors for a long time, delete that page from your website.
• Create a custom 404 error pages. This is helpful incase a visitor clicks a link to a webpage on your website that is no longer available, your custom error page can contain useful information that will help to redirect the visitor to other useful content on your website.
• Put your best foot forward. Create a good first impression by identifying all the key content and elements of your website that can aid your website visitors in carrying out your desired goals and place it on your home page or landing page. At the same time, make sure your home page is not overcrowded and it loads fast. Remember that website visitors are often in a hurry and you have only few seconds to capture their attention and keep them from visiting your competitors.

By implementing all of the above you are bound to see a significant increase in the conversion rate of your website. If you need help feel free to contact us (using the form on this page). We would be glad to help.

Did you find the post useful? Then please use any of the buttons below to share it with your friend. Subscribe to our newsletter and get all the latest tips and tools straight into your inbox. I’ll really appreciate that. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment and I will answer you. Until next time.