By: Kent Lewis

June 21st, 2006

Reader Rating: 8.5

The primary focus of search engine optimization (SEO) professionals is to generate traffic to a web site. Some SEO professionals are better than others at achieving that goal via higher rankings in search engines for target keyword phrases. However, the ball is often dropped once the visitor actually hits the site and, most likely, leaves.

Successful SEO professionals understand the secret is to dial in web site conversion rates. In this article, I'll detail some of the most effective and relatively easy steps you can take to maximize conversions on your web site.

Being a Good Guy

When I first joined consumer electronics eretailer goodguys.com (recently purchased by CompUSA), my task was to increase sales via business development and marketing strategies. My background in agency-side search engine marketing (SEM) made that a relatively easy task. My boss told me that I needed to increase traffic to boost sales via SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) strategies. I told him that the first thing we needed to do was increase the sales from our existing visitors, as it's much more cost-effective to improve the site's performance and convert current site visitors than to generate new ones.

My first step was to assess the site's design and performance overall. Even with my limited expertise in usability and graphic design, I was able to pinpoint a few critical issues: the home page file size (mostly comprised of high resolution images) was so large that the site took almost 30 seconds to load on a broadband connection. I had the design team optimize many of the images to cut down file size with virtually no degradation of image quality. I did the same thing with the development team, challenging them to clean up the JavaScript and other elements of the code that were slowing down download (and negatively impacting the site's spiderability).

After optimizing the code (and copy), my next step was to bring in usability engineers to conduct a heuristic analysis of the shopping experience. With a relatively low conversion rate, we had nothing to lose by looking for easy design fixes through the shopping and checkout process. A local Portland agency provided a set of trouble tickets tiered in order of importance. We implemented a majority of the changes within weeks and noticed a slight improvement in conversions that added up to six- and seven-figure improvements to the bottom line over time.

Lessons Learned

From this experience, I took five key guidelines, which can have a significant impact on a site's conversion rates.

Validation

While it would seem like a no-brainer, very few ecommerce companies have taken advantage of a very simple but effective sales tool: social proof. Originally outlined by Robert Cialdini [1], the basic concept of social proof is that people are more likely to purchase a product or service that others have deemed worthy. By providing a "Best Sellers" or "Recommended Items" list on your web site, you're helping save time and make any purchase decision easier for the visitors.

There are other third-party validation techniques that apply to B2B as well as B2C companies: customer/client testimonials, awards and recognition, product or service reviews, and case studies/success stories. Every company has a slightly different audience, so it's important to know what type of content is most compelling to your prospects.

Reciprocity

Remember when banks used to give out free toasters with every new account you set up? Promotions are still effective in generating business -- even online. The theory is that by giving away something relatively inexpensive, the recipient is obligated to return the favor (hopefully by purchasing something). Effective web-based promotions include free trials, demonstrations, downloads, online tools, webinars and podcasts. Price-based promotions can include free shipping, discounts or rebates and contests. At goodguys.com, we gave away a digital camera regularly to boost the email newsletter subscriber-base, with great success.

Safety

As outlined in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs [2], safety is one of the most basic needs a person can have. Even in our high-tech world, we still need to feel secure -- especially when we purchase products online. The best way to create a sense of security is to prominently display industry and security certifications, warranties and guarantees throughout the shopping and checkout process. Providing information on shipping guarantees may seem academic, but many shoppers bail out of the checkout process if they feel the product won't get to them on time, if at all, and that there may not be any recourse.

Communication

Giving the site visitor (prospect or customer) and opportunity to talk with a sales or service representative is crucial. You don't have to be Amazon.com to integrate slick technologies like Push-to-Talk [3], email signup or dynamic contact forms. While at goodguys.com, I used an online survey, developed by i-OP [4], to determine how visitors were using the current site, what they'd like to see in the future, and how they would like us to talk to them via email. The feedback (which consisted of 500 surveys completed in less than a week) helped us develop an email communication strategy and influenced site modifications, which included an email newsletter signup form embedded within the site template.

Measurement

There is no excuse for a company not to have a basic web analytics platform that provides insight into site traffic patterns, referring sites, and search phrases, especially since Google offers free Web analytics [5] (via its acquisition of Urchin) and free conversion tracking via AdWords [6] (which can also be used to track other campaigns, including banners, email, and even Yahoo! PPC text ads).

Web analytics and online conversion tracking are powerful tools that can be used to influence site design and optimization to further improve sales. While most search engine marketing campaigns can offer a compelling return-on-investment (ROI) statement, incorporating offline conversion tracking can make those numbers even more compelling. By implementing printable coupons, unique 800 numbers, pay-per-call campaigns [7], web-based surveys, and loyalty programs, a company can start to tie web-based marketing initiatives to offline conversions to create an even higher ROI.

Improving your Conversions

Use these recommendations as a framework for improving your own web sites' conversion rates before focusing on search marketing techniques like SEO and PPC to increase traffic. In the end, you'll generate more revenue from existing traffic, and increase the effectiveness of your future marketing efforts.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321011473/
[2] http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html
[3] http://www.estara.com/
[4] http://www.i-op.com/
[5] http://www.google.com/analytics/features.html
[6] https://adwords.google.com/select/
[7] http://paypercall.ingenio.com/