Newsletter Series

Creating Pages that Convert

In previous newsletters, we've covered:

• How to do keyword research.
• How to optimize your content through on page SEO.
• The essentials of off-page SEO.
• How to build links to your website.
• How to monitor and track your websites progress.

In this issue we are going to move on to a few more advanced methods you can use to boost your results.

One of the most important (yet most overlooked) concepts is creating pages that convert well. You might get all the traffic in the world to your offer or sales page, but if nobody buys anything (or takes the action you want them to) then those are 'wasted' visitors.

We'll start by covering some of the essential inredients of highly-converting pages, including:

• Writing good headlines.
• Using images effectively.
• The importance of quality content.
• Keeping your visitor in mind.
• Why you shouldn't 'over-sell'.
• Split testing your pages.

Let's start at the top.

1. Writing relevant & engaging headlines

The headline or title of your page is what visitors are going to see first. Therefore, it is important that it is relevant and enticing to the visitor.

Your headline needs to be on topic (meaning it matches what the visitor expects when they clicked through to your site). The easiest way to do this is to base your headline around the primary keyword the page is targeting.

Let's imagine that visitors are coming to your page called 'Labrador training tips' and that that is the term you are ranked for. You'll want your headline to be something like 'Top Labrador training tips', as opposed to 'Tips for training your dog'. This way the page is more relevant to visitors, and they will be less likely to click away instantly thinking they have reached a page that isn't related to their search query.

Headlines for your pages also need to be eye-catching and entice the visitor to read further. A very useful resource you might be interested in is the Google Conversion University guide to writing effective web headlines.

2. Use images

Effective use of images on your pages is proven to boost conversion rates. With a relevant image your visitor immediately knows they are in the right place, before even reading a word.

Whenever possible, try to place an image (with a link to your offer - or wherever else you want to send your visitor to) 'above the fold'. This makes it easy for a visitor who is just skimming to see and click without having to scroll down the page first.

It is also important that your image is clear and has a strong call to action.

Here's an example of an image that gets it right:

3. High quality content

So... you've got people to your site, hooked them with a good headline and given the skim-readers some relevant and eye-catching graphics. The next step is to follow through by making sure that your page has quality content.

If your page has...

• Little information of use for the visitor or customer.
• Poor grammar.
• Poor spelling.
• Or fails to fulfil the promises of the headline.

Then you are in trouble.

Poor grammar and spelling can be easily avoided by running your content through a spell checker. Providing useful information to the visitor is a bit more difficult, but as a general rule you should make sure you actually tell people what you promised to tell them in the headline of the page. For example, if your page is 'how to buy a dog training collar' then actually walk the reader through the steps of buying a dog training collar.

Content is key to not only attracting visitors in the first place, but in getting them to trust you, come back, and recommend others (or link to your page).

4. Write for humans first

It's easy to get carried away when optimizing for search engines, and to forget that the people who read your site are actually real humans! Pages should be built for human visitors first of all, and not just for search engine robots.

This means avoiding:

• Too many distractions from the main aim of converting visitors into buyers.
• Numerous different colors and fonts that confuse the visitor.
• Poorly formatted text.
• Images and pages that take too long to load.

Use Traffic Travis to check your pages are optimized for the search engines, but also use your own eyes to make sure things everything works for humans too.

As you compile your pages, think about what human eyes would want to see!

Here is an excellent template to go by if you're building an information (content) site.

5. Don't try to 'sell' to much

Avoiding an overly-promotional tone when writing your content can actually help you boost your conversion rate more than if you try too hard to sell to visitors.

We are all bombarded by hundreds of advertising messages a day, and our brains become very good at switching off when presented with a 'hard sell' message.

For example, rather than saying to visitors 'buy my guide to dog training today for a special low price', talk about the benefits of the product and introduce a call to action by saying something like 'my dog training guide will teach you how to control your unruly puppy, check it out here'.

Or even... To learn more about how conversion rates are reduced by hard selling online, take a look at this.

6. Split test your pages

When you start getting some traffic to your pages, it is also important that you start measuring conversion rates and testing new ideas against old. Subtle changes (like using a different image, or changing the headline or call to action) can make big difference, and it pays to keep trying out new ideas to see which works best.

The easiest way to do this is to perform what is known as an 'A/B split test'. When you perform a split test, visitors to your site are shown one of two different variations of the same page. Your split testing software then tells you which variation of the page had the best conversion rate (whether that was a click, or a sale, or whatever else you are trying to achieve). Once the split test is over you can change your page permanently to the variation that had the highest conversion rate.

This means more sales and more profit for you!

There are numerous split testing platforms available online. Two of the best are the Google Website Optimizer (GWO) tool, and Optimizely. Both of these services will allow you to test conversion rates of the pages on your website.

You will need to sign in to the GWO tool by using your free Google account. Click 'Sign up for a new Google Account' if you do not already have an account set up.

Optimizely offers a very professional approach to split testing and has some powerful analytics you can use.

Which of these tools is best?

The Google Website Optimizer is free and works well when you learn how to implement it properly. However, for first-time users it can be a bit complicated to use.

Optimizely offers a free 30 day trial (it is a paid service) but is very easy to use.

So unless you are an absolute analytics buff you would be better off using Optimizely.

Let's quickly go back over the key points of creating pages that convert:

• Make sure your headlines are relevant to the topic of the page, and are eye-catching.
• Use relevant images.
• Fulfil the promise made by your headline with with quality content.
• Write for humans first. Search engines second.
• Don't try too hard to 'sell'. It puts most people off.
• Once you've got some traffic, start split testing your pages.

In the next newsletter, you'll learn how to use Traffic Travis as a freelancer or web agency. Even if you don't consider yourself an SEO consultant (or want to be one) you'll still learn a few ways to use Traffic Travis to make more money for yourself.

Wishing you every success, 'til next time,
Traffic Travis