The purposes of your website are to get the word out about your product or service, bring organic traffic and leads to your company, and to convert those leads to customers. Some sites have much higher conversion rates than others. What do those sites have in common, and what can you learn from them?

Every converting website does some common things to take visitors through the sales funnel and turn them in to buyers. Here are seven items every converting website needs.

Great Content

When a user discovers your website because you have a good digital presence and your SEO is spot on, they need to find something that keeps them, there. That something is your content. This is more than just your blogs and photos. This is everything on your site, from the colors you use to the language on your home page.

Think of content as everything included with your site that is not design or behind the scenes coding. Anything a user can see, read, and interact with is web content.

Good Design

Of course, all of the great content in the world is useless without a good web design to hang it on. This means your design must be spot on. This includes your site layout, how responsive it is to mobile devices, the forms you use, and even the placement of headings and ads. It also includes fonts, colors, photos, and more. While some of these are also a part of great content, the two need to work together and go hand in hand.

Good content and design is the foundation on which the rest of your site is built. If you do not have design skills and an in-house team, hire someone to get you started. The results you get will be much better.

Compelling Landing Pages

The pages on your site matter, but the pages that a user reaches first probably matter the most and that means that home pages and landing pages matter the most. Compelling landing pages are essential to converting visitors to customers.

You need to have a strong, positive language. Avoid negativity and use powerful converting language. Be sure your call to action is clear and appears early in the page text. Provide plenty of information but allow the user to make a decision at any time by offering a buy now, subscribe now, or other call to action button that moves with them down the page.

Great, compelling landing pages are essential to converting your customers to buyers, so be sure you have all of the elements you need to do so, and test new pages all the time to make sure they are the most effective they can be.

Great Product Descriptions

People won't buy something if they do not know what it is, what it does, and what sets it apart from other similar devices. This is why your product descriptions matter so much. Start with something brief and simple, but offer deeper text with more about features and specifications below this for those who want to know more.

A big part of your product description should be customer reviews as well. Tell your users why others like your products and why they should buy them. Showcase great reviews, and offer opportunities for customers to leave reviews right on the product page.

Great Product Photos

Product photos are also vital. Customers need to see what you have to offer, and there are multiple ways to take good photos. Simple photo box kits can be had relatively inexpensively on Amazon and other sites, and many modern cell phones take great photos. If you do not know how to take great photos, either take some classes and learn or hire someone who can.

Having clear, good, and compelling photos on your product pages and your site will pay off in conversions in the long run, and is something all great converting websites have in common.

Great Communication

If your customer has a question or wants to place a custom order, where do they go? With the best WordPress contact form plugin, you can give them a way to contact you or fulfill that order easily. The key is that you must have a way for a visitor to contact you, and you need to respond quickly.

Remember, real communication is a conversation, and that goes two ways. Conversations don't take days, so be sure to respond as promptly as you can to turn prospects into converts.

The Best Checkout Process

The best site design, the best content, and all of the things mentioned above can be unraveled if in the end, the user abandons their cart because of the checkout process. This process should be simple above all, but have a few other elements as well:

●       Guest Checkout

●       A Simple Sign In/Account Creation Form

●       Security Prominently Featured

●       Multiple Forms of Payment

●       Clear Costs for Shipping and Handling

●       Simple Cart Editing

Remember, the cart is created for easy fulfilment for you, but also to be simple for the customer to complete an order. Have the best cart you can and a simple purchase process for the highest conversions.

Your website can be a conversion machine, but you will need several things to make it work for you the best it can. Be sure you have these seven items before you even get started.

Bookmark this article with:

 •    •    •