Businesses the world over are always looking for ways to increase their presence, with the main goal being to improve conversion rates. However, while it’s incredibly important to see those visits to your website translated into customers taking action, if you fail to generate interest in your site to begin with, increased sales become the least of your worries.
In 2018, the average conversion rate for US ecommerce was just 3%. On the surface that may seem like a reasonable amount, especially if your business is one which manages to hit that average time and again. However, the moment you compare that number with a business like Google, who’s app store has a conversion rate of almost 30%, that 3% quickly becomes insignificant. Of course, not every brand has the power, reach, and money of Google, and so the likelihood of competing with them is small. The aim isn’t to get to the same level as them, it’s to simply improve on the strategies you already have in place to gain a better digital presence.
Assuming that more sales is your goal, what you first want to do is increase website traffic. In order to do that, you need to look at how you can implement better SEO tactics in order to generate a consistent following. That being said, while SEO is the holy grail of rankings, you need to ensure you don’t just stuff your content with keywords that creates a site created for search engines and not customers.
Quality Over Quantity
As briefly touched upon before, the key to SEO isn’t to simply jump onto the list of most searched for words and then throw them in across your website, but it’s about using them to your advantage. If you search for which topic is most searched for in your industry, then you can tailor your content to feed into that ranking; you’re basically looking for subject matter that has search traffic potential. This, however, is only a piece of the puzzle. In combination with that SEO analyst, you need to introduce the buyer persona, in order to fashion content that resonates with the customer. Using these two tools together allows you to step into your customers’ mindset and see how they think and feel, thus leading to creating a more engaging experience for them.
Delve Deep Into Your Data
With Google Analytics, it’s easy to find out who is coming onto your website on a daily basis. This can be helpful when it comes to creating the right type of content for your audience. It’s worth setting up google analytics alerts and becoming more familiar with the platform so that you can figure out what is working and what isn’t. Your audience is an important element to your website and if you don’t know them inside out, then your website traffic isn’t going to improve any time soon. Look at the data you have available and explore your demographic in more detail so you can tailor your content better towards them.
Organic Networking
If you find that generating that authenticity is difficult to achieve on your own, it’s worth looking at networking for other brands/individuals who can help. For businesses that offer products and/or services, online influencers and bloggers are a resource that shouldn’t be overlooked. Of course, for affiliate marketing to work, and to feel organic to your brand, you need to choose your affiliates well. Working with a third party takes more than merely finding somewhere externally to promote your content, you also need that site to capture what your business is about. For example, if you’re a brand that is about ethical clothing, you don’t want to use an affiliate that advertises fast fashion; the two don’t correlate and your business will immediately lose credibility. Due to how tricky it can be to implement this kind of strategy, especially for newer businesses, it can be wise to ask for help in how to start affiliate marketing. The benefits of expert help typically outweigh initial costs, and should provide your brand will a consistent way to keep money coming in.
Observe Your Competitors
Competitor analysis, e.g. keeping abreast of what your competitors are doing, is an efficient way to identify your where your brand’s strengths and weaknesses lie. The only way to successfully observe and analyse, however, is to remain objective. If you see an element of their marketing that works well, look at what they have implemented in order for that to happen; observe the facts and not your personal assumptions. In addition to this objectivity, you want to be thorough in what you investigate, and so you want to analyse the different platforms they use for their business, how they deliver their content to their audience, is that more or less successful than your approach, and so on. It’s about seeing the strength of another business and learning how to utilise it for your own use, rather than being disheartened by it. In the world of ecommerce, a lot of the time it isn’t about being better than any other brand, but about co-existing with them.
Increasing traffic for your website isn’t a task that you should undertake lightly, nor is it one you should approach without consideration. To ensure organic improvement, make sure to build upon the business model you already have in place.
