These days, the internet has become our go-to way for obtaining any kind of information, so it’s easy to see why digital marketing and all of its nuances will keep having increasing clout in the business world.
Sure, TV and print media will always have their place under the mainstream spotlight but the recent stats indicate that an average user spends six hours and 41 minutes (almost half of the waking hours) online. That puts a lot of pressure on your digital marketing strategies to deliver.
The best way to ensure that is the case is to put everything you are doing on solid foundations. In terms of this specific branch of marketing, that would be your business website. Let us take a look then at some of the essential features this asset needs to have to boost your conversion rates.
Leverage functional and appealing design
The websites that are not easy to navigate and present information in a convoluted manner are the first that are abandoned. This not only limits the number of conversions you will be able to make but also destroys whatever SEO strategies you have in place. Do your best then to use new technologies like Web3 and follow good design practices like:
- Keep pages consistent
- Illustrate the topics with appealing imagery
- Make the layout and information hierarchy logical and easy to navigate
- Make all parts of the site accessible at any time
- Always keep the navigation menus at the top left corner
- Use recognizable symbols and contextual responses
- Always keep contact info at the bottom
- Keep the search bar always accessible
- Use readable fonts and leverage bullet points to make the text scan-able
Optimize the site for speed and accessibility
For better or for worse, mobile devices have become our preferred devices for interacting with the global web. A recent article published by CNBC indicates that as much as three-quarters of all total users access the internet exclusively through their phones. So, you need to make your website appealing to this audience. You need to make all the elements scalable and easy to read from smaller 18:9 aspect ratios. Also, put the priority on speed. Try to limit the number of HTTP requests, remove unnecessary scripts, don’t host videos locally, and compress the images to make this problem go away.
Tap into the power of SEO
Keeping in mind that a great number of web experiences start with a search engine and that very few users ever bother to check what’s going on past the first page SERP, it’s easy to see why optimizing your website to rank higher makes it an absolutely critical task. So, be sure to look for experienced link-building services to lay down this infrastructure for you. As for your side, you should think about the types of content that will increase the authority of your brand and turn your website into a valuable source of knowledge. All this time keep your target audience’s preferences as a guiding light.
Use effective calls to action
This umbrella term discovers all interactive elements of your website that encourage users to take some action that will eventually lead to conversion. We are talking about form submissions, read more buttons, share buttons, inquiry buttons, and similar assets. In order to make this concept work, you should make CTA’s clear and concise, help them stand out from the rest of the page elements, and add some value and associated urgency that will incline visitors to make a click. Tying these elements to social media CTAs can create a very powerful synergy and invite even more people in.
Inspire loyalty with social proofs
People naturally have a tendency to put more trust in the opinions of their peers than the marketing messages of some distant faceless agencies. That is why you should absolutely need to make some sort of social proof like reviews, ratings, and testimonials a part of your website. Moving past this core concept, user reviews also give you opportunities to learn more about your customers’ pain points as well as help your workers engage in a higher level of brand advocacy. But, in its simplest form, this is a great way to foster stronger brand loyalty, inspire confidence, and stand out from the rest.
Keep things simple with a versatile payment system
The e-commerce market is blowing through the roof. According to reputable outlet Forbes, the current number of retail purchases taking place online sits at 20.8%. By the year 2026, that number should grow to 24%. Be sure then not only to keep this commerce element in-house instead of outsourcing it but turn it into one of your most effective conversion tools. So, keep the commerce process as streamlined as possible, ensure data protection and privacy, and leverage different payment options without required user registration. Throwing in digital currencies will make all these efforts even more effective.
Well, we hope these six mentions will give you a better idea about all the features and website elements that can make your online presentation even more effective and encourage a higher number of future conversions. Of course, these few mentions are not the whole store and as time goes by you can consider adding social log-ins, whitelists, promo pop-ups, and similar features as well. But, all these strategies need some form of foundation and sense of direction. Focusing, at least for the time being to elements we listed above will definitely nudge you in the right direction.