Lead Website Visitors To Water AND Make Them Drink
1. How To Lead Website Visitors To Water AND Make Them Drink The Complimentary Relationship of SEO and CRO
2. Agenda Intro to SEO and CRO The Buying Cycle The Four Personalities How Personas and The Buying Cycle Influence Search Keywords Five Pillars of Conversion Optimization Continually Improving Your Website
3. Great Websites Are Like Great Sales People Websites are not Marketing. Traditional Sales & Marketing Roles Marketing Drives Traffic (Search Engine Optimization) Sales Converts Traffic (Conversion Rate Optimization) Websites are Sales How do Great Sales People really work? Figure out who they’re talking to. Make them feel Comfortable Discovers their needs & motivations Help Them (Provide Information & Options) Asks the Buying Question (When its most effective). What does she do with Marketing Collateral?
4. Doing things to get your website as high as possible in the search results Pay Per Click Pay Per Click seOverflow Client Organic Results What Is Search Engine Optimization?
5. What Is Conversion Rate and CRO? The percentage of visitors that take a desired action. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the process of increasing that percentage. If your website does not convert well, the money you spend on generating traffic is wasted. SEO Affiliates Content Marketing Paid Search, Display It is cheaper to increase conversions on existing traffic than to buy more traffic
6. The Financial Impact of Conversion Rate Optimization Moving from 2% to 3% conversion rate equals almost $500,000 more in annual revenue! Average website order size = $200
7. Why Do SEO And CRO Work Well Together? Organic traffic tends to be “good” traffic with higher rates of “intention”. SEO can be expensive, and CRO ensures that ROI is maximized. With recent changes to Google (Panda), some conversion rate factors are now search ranking factors.
10. 4 Personality Types Competitive Why are you the best? What can you do for me? Spontaneous How can I get what I need fast? Can you help me narrow down my choices? Humanistic Who uses your products? Who are you? Methodical How does it work? What proof do you have? Quick Vs. Slow Logical vs. Emotional
13. Keywords Are The Foundation Of SEO Keyword research Keyword and site architecture planning Keyword rich content Keyword rich links
14. 80/20 Rule For Keywords 80% of keywords are Informational searching involves looking for a specific fact or topic 10% of keywords are Navigational searcher seeks to locate a specific web site 10% of keywords are Transactional searcher looks for information related to buying a particular product or service http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030645730700163X - Penn State Study
16. A Google Study On Converting Keywords Source: http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/ads/techb2b_news.pdf
17. When Creating Your Keyword Strategy Use keywords relevant to various stages of the buying cycle A user captured early in the buying cycle can be nurtured into a sale – most likely Informational type keywords. Make sure the ‘intent’ of the target keyword is represented in your content
19. The Secret To Increasing Conversions Reduce “Friction” Answer the Basics FIRST Who are you? What do you do? What does it mean to you. Make the Website a Sales Person
20. The 5 Pillars of Conversion Optimization Usability Persuasion Design Navigation and Information Architecture Content
21. Usability 10 Usability Questions for EVERY Page From a User’s Perspective Does it load quickly? Is the purpose clear? What does the user call it? Is it consistent? Is it standard? Do I have a good reason for straying from the standard? Does it work? Are elements displayed in priority order? Is there a clear call to action? Is it confusing?
22. Avoid common pitfalls Pogo sticking Visitors can’t find what they need; they return to the home page to try again Linkitus Visitors don’t know where the links lead; they click around to find what they need Windows a plenty Visitors get lost with too many separate windows Roach motels Visitors get frustrated with dead end pages with no way to go back (PDFs)
23. Does content display? Before you optimize content, do cross browser testing to make sure people can see it Great resource: http://crossbrowsertesting.com/
24. Do pages load quickly? Even tiny lifts in page load times impact conversion Amazon sales fell by 1% for every 100 millisecond increase Great resource: http://www.webpagetest.org/compare
25. Form Usability 12% of people try to submit “Site Type” without selecting an option 25% of “Dropped Forms” occur at “Site Type” 40% of submits are without a utility. 202% lift form leads Their next ¼ results
26. Persuasion Persuasion is a “Conversation” between the website and the visitor that convinces them to take action. Website.com– “Register for a 30-Day Trial of our Software” Visitor – “I get a lot of SPAM. Why should I give up personal info? How hard is it to set up?” Website.com– “Simple to Install & Configure with Full Trial Support. Used by 2000 small & medium sized businesses. View our Privacy Policy”.
27.
28.
29.
30. Design (Look & Feel) Look and Feel relates to the overall visual impression people have of our website. People judge books by their covers. We have a few seconds after they land on our website. Five Elements of Look and Feel Design Color Graphics & Photos Layout Sound & Motion
31.
32.
33. Navigation& Information Architecture Navigation relates to all the buttons and links people use to find information on the website. Greatest source of “Friction” Improve Navigation by Asking These Questions Can I tell if it’s “hot”? Is it clear what I will find if I click? Is navigation consistent across pages? Does my navigation use my target audience’s words? Is my navigation persuasive? Do people know where they are on the website? Do I have important & relevant information when its being looked for?
34.
35.
36. Content Orient, Inform, Satisfy then Sell. Is copy scan-able and skim-able? Is grammar & spelling correct? Does copy address my target personas’ needs and questions? Does copy lead through the buying process? Does copy incorporate SEO keywords? Do links create interest and pull people through my site? Are calls to action relevant and clear & well placed? Does copy match the brand & marketing message? Does copy focus on benefits instead of features? Does copy “we we” all over itself? Jargon much?
37. Other Conversion Optimization Assets Chat Reviews Forms Cart Testimonial Videos Live Demos Recorded Webinars White Papers Data Sheets Case Studies Customer Service
38. Use Hindsight As A Super Power ! Quantitative Analytics Heat-maps CRMs Qualitative User Testing Surveys Screen Recordings
39. Start with bigger impact items Reduce clutter Make headlines more relevant Strengthen copy that appears closest to images Try a more compelling offer Test trust factors (e.g., testimonials, awards, security badges, phone numbers, etc.) Ensure calls to actions follow best practices (i.e., copy, placement, contrast and color) Use more engaging imagery
40. Start With ‘Entry’ Pages Start with Bounce Rate of top 3 entry pages. Need to answer 3 questions is 3 seconds: Who are you? What do you do? What does it mean to me? Watch the fold, but don’t be afraid of it. 15% Bounce Rate & the majority of clicks are below the fold.
42. Bottom-up Approach 20% When Cart/Form Conversions Look Bad The Straw effect? When Cart/Form Conversions Look Good Weeded success? 65%
43. Continuous Improvement Conversion Optimization is good, performed on a continuous basis, it is better! Seeks "incremental" improvement over time. Site user experience is constantly evaluated and improved.
44. Continuous Optimization con’t Avoids Crisis (Good, Fast & Cheap) Shows an immediate benefit Doesn’t disrupt customers Costs less with cost spread over time. Tested & optimized along the way. Agile & flexible
45. Continuous Improvement Case Study Organic Search Conversion Rate Increase: 167% Overall Conversion Rate Increase: 63%
46. Continuous Improvement Case Study Conversion Rate Increase: 129% Cost Per Acquisition Reduced: 48% Homepage Bounce Rate Reduced To: 15.62%
People rationalize buying decisions with facts but make decisions to buy based on feelingsFlip side of selling process but operates in tandem with selling processThe series of steps visitors go through consciously or subconsciouslyA website must present opportunities for the visitor to satisfy each step
Need – critical to necessary to luxuryKnowledge – what does one need to know in order to be able to buy your product, remove confusion and friction
Low hanging fruit first, then bottom up approach
You’ve got a low site conversion rate, what is the problem….Look at the cart… If conversions through the cart are bad, thing is, your cart maybe pretty goodBut… the experience was so bad b4 the cart, and that one little issue with the cart was the straw that broke the camels back…Let’s take another scenartio where the conversion rate through the cart is good, but Remember that your conversion rate is still low… Only the most determined visitors are making to the cart so of course they convert wellOnce you improve the experience before the cart, more people will get in the cart but may not convert as wellNow the cart needs to be optimized for less motivated people
