Guest post by Ran, online marketing manger of Wood and Beyond
Whether you are selling a product online or promoting a service, the days of evaluating your success based on traffic to the site are probably over. Today the name of the game is how well you are able to convert your traffic to undertake the desired action which profits your business. If you are selling online the desired action is a purchase, and if you are promotion a service the desired action might be a phone call lead. To achieve your goals you must first create high level of trust with the potential customers.
How to increase conversion rates by creating trust with potential customers:
Add a privacy statement – Similar to the way in which customers are trained to search for the lock symbol (also know as site secure) when buying online, some look for ‘privacy statement’. This statement describes what you as the business owner intend to do with their information and in some cases included in the site’s terms and conditions. By adding a privacy statement you will increase your credibility and boost customer trust making it more likely to convert well.
Add your contact information – Perhaps the biggest impact on conversion rates is listing full transparent contact information including phone number, email address, physical address and even an picture of your office building. Whether buying a product or ordering a service customers are looking for reassurance that the business is solid and should the need arises they will be able to contact the business.
Add testimonials and reviews – When it comes to using testimonials and reviews to increase conversion rates you might ask 10 people different and get 10 different answers. Clearly there’s no definitive answer, however even if it works to convert a small percentage of customers it is worth adding. By posting real testimonials and reviews, some glowing and some less, you will increase your credibility and likelihood of conversion. Make sure to add new testimonial often to give returning customers the impressions the business is very much active.
Show 3rd party accreditation – Are you a member of any professional organization? Has your business won any awards lately? If the answer is yes, make sure to write about it. If the answer is no, consider listing even basic associations such as a Yellow Pages icon if your business is listed, a PayPal icon if you are selling online and accepting PayPal etc. Associations and 3rd party accreditation will help your business get that authoritative brand image and help increase conversions.
Check your grammar and spelling – These mistakes and typos could be extremely damaging to your brand and also quite tricky to find in time. Consider getting a second pair of eyes to proof read any new content as customers sometimes associate your level of content with your ability to deliver high quality products or service.
How do you increase conversion rates?
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This old story relates to the fact that a busy cobbler will be so busy making shoes for his customers that he has no time to make some for his own children.
We’ve been building websites, attending client meetings, giving advice – all the while our website has been gathering dust. The last blog post was – don’t ask. Even our blog format is about to be obsolete – we have been using blogger since the inception and as of May 1st they will no longer support FTP. You know it’s bad when even Google is telling to get your act together.
So, please bear with us as we revitalize and revamp the site.
Back in March, we asked this question. Most of you thought if they weren’t dead, they were probably on life support. Here’s what Google had to say recently -
Google doesn’t use the “keywords” meta tag in our web search ranking.
What does this mean? Should we eliminate keywords? There are those who say save the space, don’t include them. Google acknowledges keywords neither help or hurt you at this point (your not penalized for having them), and there are some other sites that still look at them. Further, Google hasn’t ruled out that it may revisit using them in the future.
Bottom line it’s the content that makes the difference. If you want to have your site show up in Google, there will be need to be some keyword density in your text. Keyword density refers to the frequency that the keywords appear in your text. Keywords should appear naturally in your test as they would in every day language. If we were having a conversation about lamps, you wouldn’t expect me to say “lamps what is lamp the best lamp for lamp reading lamp?” We call this stuffing and it’s a no, no.
But how much is enough and how much is too much? 2%, 5%, 20%? Well, it depends. That helps, eh? Some search engines like 2%, some want more. The best way to handle this is to create multiple pages with varying key word densities – by varying the densities one of the search engine algorithms will match the density and your page will be ranked.
Which naturally leads us to the old “How long should the article be?” Some say words counts of 250, some say 500 – again there is no magic bullet. First and foremost, it should be natural. If you prattle on just to get to a word count of 500, you’ll lose your audience. As with anything else in SEO, try different approaches and see what works.
Seriously, are you still using your website as an online brochure? If you are, you are missing the boat. And that boat is a Party Boat hosted by your competitor’s with all your customers on board . . .
Emerging online marketing trends
Source: IMGBranding
Published: Friday, September 25, 2009
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Increased adoption of multi-channel distribution models – Regardless of wherever else you sell, you need to be selling online. Consumers and even brick and mortar retailers have come to expect it and accept it. Marketers are collectively seeking new, profitable revenue streams for their goods and services, and online is the most efficient option with the lowest barriers to entry.
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Continued migration of allocated marketing dollars into online from traditional media - The shift will accelerate, with money flowing into online promotion from traditional vehicles such as television, radio and print. It’s hard to compete with efficiency, flexibility, customization and interactivity.
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Continued evolution of social media - Social media is all about conversation and engagement. Get comfortable with this new technology and get past the misconceptions. Less than 5% of Twitter users are teens and twenty-somethings. And the fastest growing group on Facebook is Women 55+. Your customer is online. Are you?
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Changing role of the Web site – It’s not just an online brochure anymore. Your site should be a dynamic and interactive extension of your brand that captivates, motivates and facilitates customer loyalty. Keep content fresh. Facilitate social networking. Encourage dialogue. Measure results.
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