When it comes to the purpose of your website, chances are, increasing business is high on the list. Whether it’s to inform your potential customers of what products or services you offer, or to drive leads directly from your site, or even to convert by making a purchase through an ecommerce platform, your site is a tool for business development. That being said, you want to make sure that your website it actually doing that – converting – otherwise, what’s the point? Your website design and SEO strategy are absolutely crucial pieces of the puzzle for increasing business and converting visitors into customers. Here are six essential elements for a convertible website design.
Keep It Simple
No one likes to click on a website and immediately feel overwhelmed by alarming colors, too much clutter, and no idea where to even look first. Keep it simple. Humans prefer things that are clear and straightforward. You may think that having a bunch of bright colors or piling on special effects sounds like a good idea, but that can only complicate the user’s experience. Limiting a user’s options can help increase the number of people who convert since there are less options and less distractions. From design and conversion options to content, simplicity is key.
Showcase Your Unique Value Proposition
Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what sets your business aside from all your competitors. Make your UVP clear and easy for your users to find and understand. Whether you feature ease, speed, expertise, etc., prominently feature your UVP on your site so the user doesn’t have to go searching for it. This can make the user’s decision a quick no-brainer once they see that the solution you offer can help them solve their problems.
Short Contact Forms
No one likes filling out 25 different fields on a contact form. Research shows that the longer the contact form, the lower the conversion rate. Keep your form short and sweet. Ask for only the essentials at first and wait to get the other information once you get them in the door. There isn’t a universal number of fields you should include in your form; just make sure the fields you include are necessary for your business and lead generation and eliminate the others. Feel free to A/B test forms too. One study showed that removing one field increased the conversion rate by 26%.
Responsive Design
If your site doesn’t work on mobile devices, your potential customers will go somewhere else. With more than 80% of people using mobile devices as their primary source of internet search, your site must provide a positive mobile user experience. If it doesn’t provide a positive mobile experience, people will head to a site that offers one.
The mobile version of your site might not translate directly from the desktop version, and that’s okay. The easier you can make the experience on mobile, the more likely people are to use you and recommend you to others. Maybe you just have a sample of key pages on your mobile site with bigger buttons and fewer areas where fingers might touch the wrong element.
Optimized Content
Optimizing your content first serves the purpose of driving traffic to your site. The better optimization your content has, the more likely your site is to rank high in search results. But once visitors get to your page, you need to keep them there. Use headlines to your advantage by loading them with the benefits to your customers. Just be sure to keep them concise. You don’t want visitors to your website to have to think too hard. Make it easy for them to see that you are the right choice for their need.
Fast Page Load Time
There has always been a strong correlation between page speed and conversion rate. If your website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, you could be losing as much as half of the visitors to your site. The faster your site loads, the happier your customers will be, and the more likely they will be to come back and use your site again rather than going to one of your competitors. Optimizing your site for page load speed is well worth the time if you want a website that converts. Even a 1 second delay can decrease your conversion rate by 7%.
Taking the time to put these factors into your website design can take your website from just another expense to a successful investment that drives business. Don’t be afraid to run tests and mix things up. Sometimes, a small change can make a big difference in conversions.
Does your company need help increasing conversions? LOCOMOTIVE Agency’s team of SEO experts can help. Contact us today.
