Website conversion killers? Really? Okay, so you have done a great job creating your website, you’ve optimized it, creating all sorts of learning devices like infographics, video, free reports and super blog articles. You are getting traffic and you have moved up in Google Search Engine Land, but something isn’t right. In fact something is really wrong. The visitors come onto your site and hop off faster than fleas coming in contact with flea prevention medicine. What?
Barry Feldman in his article and infographic, The Top 10 Leading Website Conversion Killers (which he later turns into 11), has some things to say about this phenomenum. He said that he offers a free consulting service called “webVision” in which he has repeatedly seen some of the most common mistakes web owners make that run off potential clients and customers. He wrote his article to help people avoide these 11 website conversion killers.
I am going to share a few of them with you along with Barry’s infographic since he asked people to please share it, saying: "A great big thank you to the talented designer Marco Giannini, whose work is showcased here at www.infograficanimata.it."
One is conversion aversion.
What if a person gets your the home page and doesn’t know what to do next? Here is what Barry does when he finds one of the website conversion killers:
Naturally, I ask my prospect…
“What is it you want the first time visitor to do?”
Bad answer #1: Go to our contact page and fill out the form there. C’mon, really? I’m not saying this will never happen, but it’s naïve to believe it will happen often. Please, think like your gun-shy, skeptical, research-conducting visitor. Offer a reasonable baby step.
Bad answer #2: I’m not sure (what I want visitors to do). One word of advice: decide.
Probably a bad answer: Buy our stuff. I’ll accept this answer if your stuff is inexpensive, easy to understand, easy to buy and risk-free. In fact, if your sale meets these qualifications it’s a good answer. If it doesn’t, it’s borderline nuts.
I wouldn’t buy a boat motor from someone with a website like that. How many of them have you bounced off of?
Nor would I want to buy from a person whose website or landing page is our second killer--a keyword disconnect.
Barry says:
The term the visitor used to discover your content, or at the very least, the concept behind the term, must jump off the page into the reader’s brain. Don’t choke on this opportunity or forget this tip. Deliver what the visitor came to find.
Your landing page should reassure the reader he’s come to the right place. Relevance is the key to conversion. So, if you’re running specific campaigns, via search, PPC, social media, guest blogging, or what have you, the headline the visitor discovers upon arrival should map to the phrase they just clicked.
The hard sell is a sure-fired killer.
How many times have you been turned off by the same old, same old squeeze page? I remember when I first saw one, okay maybe a bunch more, I read every word. I watched every video. By the time I was finished an hour or so later and got to the bottom of the page I was numb. At first this worked on me, but after time. . . Barry calls this the hard sell. Just don’t do that. You need to take inbound marketing classes if you think it is going to work. People like to be nurtured, not nagged.
You will find all the content killers on the infographic, but Barry ends one of his articles with a take-away:
Review the entire list and make sure your website has zero conversion repellents.
• Define conversion
• Make the website clean
• Connect with keywords
• Nix the jargon
• Foster credibility
• Offer helpful content
• Inspire interaction
• Embrace social media
• Nurture
• Make the site easy to search
• Direct the visitor
J
aco Grobbelaar is the owner of BroadVision Marketing. BroadVision Marketing works with business owners to put in place inbound and outbound marketing strategies that consistently secure new clients. The BroadVision Marketing Training Center is located in Petaluma, CA and primarily serves companies in the San Francisco Bay area.
Jaco can be reached at jaco@broadvisionmarketing.com or 707.766.9778 or connect with Jaco on Facebook - www.facebook.com/broadvisionmarketing - and LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/JacoGrobbelaar.