Web Design for Conversion

"Whether or not you use Internet marketing tools, your site can be your primary marketing vehicle." 

Web Design with Conversion Architecture: The Blueprint for Internet Marketing

Website design is the cornerstone of effective (and therefore – successful) Internet Marketing, yet many do not understand the importance of laying solid foundations here. Just like with building a house, solid foundations are the key to everything.

It is important to remember that a web site is a marketing tool which should be increasing revenue for the company. Web sites should be built to serve the needs of the user. A business website is not something that users just look at, they are interacting with it and you as the business manager/owner would like them to do so and contribute to your bottom line. If the user’s needs are served, the web site will be more likely to enable the company to achieve its goals.

The 40/40/20 Web Design Rule

Usability is the number one element that needs to be considered when developing a site. Search engine visibility is the second most important factor (see more further below). Aesthetic design is now the least important factor – but that certainly doesn’t mean that sites need to be so ugly that they turn visitors into stone. It just means that design needs to be hinged on usability and search engine visibility rather than vice versa. Web sites can still be gorgeous; they just need to fulfill other goals as well - the key here is conversion orientated design.

WSI Conversion Architecture™ follows the 40/40/20 Rule of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) – 40% Audience Targeting, 40% Offer and 20% Creativity.
Those figures outline the parameters that determine the success of a marketing campaign. Whether or not you use diverse Internet marketing methods like pay-per-click advertising, landing pages, Social Media Optimization, etc., you can always think of your website as your primary marketing vehicle.
Build it using the 40/40/20 Rule where (a) every element of the website keeps in mind the majority of users and their varied profiles; (b) there exist multiple acquisition channels making a variety of offers and (c) aesthetic design and creativity offers unique and personalized experiences for site visitors.

Web Design is all about visitors’ engagement

“Virtually all websites have a persuasive purpose. To change what people think and do online, you need to first clarify your target outcomes and then make sure everything leads to those outcomes." (http://www.futurenowinc.com)

Whether or not you use Internet marketing tools, your website should be your primary marketing vehicle. But what value will a site bring to your business if people are visiting your site and not completing the desired action (i.e.: making a purchase, calling to get more information, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.)?

As your primary marketing tool, an important factor is the online sales funnel – what types of visitors are coming to your site and where are they in their buying process. Are they only “Browsers”: those that just identified their need and are looking for general information? Are they “Shoppers: those that are further in the process and are now comparing different solutions for their need/problems? Or, are they “Buyers”: those that now what they want, made all the information gathering and are ready to convert.

The design of your website should support the different types of visitors that arrive at your site, as each of those visitors’ type is looking for different things and if they don’t find it on your website they will be gone. Take into account that the average number of visits a visitors is doing on a website before making a buying decision is 6! You surely want them to have all those visits on your website and come back again and again as they progress in their buying process.

Design your website as a sales funnel

“Did you know? Average time someone spends on a home page is 25 Seconds; Percent of people that scroll down below the fold - 63%" (Source “Prioritizing Web Usability” By: Jakob Nielson). How important it is to design your home page and your entire website correctly?

For decades, sales and marketing experts have talked about a "Sales funnel" and how important it is to maintain a high volume of prospects in the "pipeline". How do you "funnel" and filter to the prospects that will become paying customers?

Keep in mind, that your audience is profiled primarily on their needs / pains / problems broken down into demographics, psychographics and where they are in the buying cycle (which decides their behavior on your site). Your goal then is to ensure that every element of your website persuades (converts) visitors on your site to take the actions that lead to the delivery of your objectives. Continue to pour your site visitors through your website funnel! Monitor and measure your results to ensure that your efforts are driving results to your bottom line. Remember that every click on your site is a step towards conversion. Visitor satisfaction with every click on your site should build confidence until they reach the final click where they convert into a customer.

WSI Conversion Architecture™ starts by defining your business goals and target audience, and then ensuring that every element of your site persuades visitors to take the desired actions. These elements include: persuasive copy, calls to action and conversion layout (amongst others). The guiding philosophy of Conversion Architecture™ is that all websites must have a persuasive purpose. Designing your website with Conversion Architecture™ in mind will result in more visitors doing what you want them to online – whether that is signing up for a free consultation or buying a new product.

Web Design that converts: 5 main Points

Web Conversion is defined as “The ability to get a visitor to take a predetermined action”.
WSI has identified 5 main elements that are crucial for converting web visitors:

1. Conversion goals:
Your website should have one or more specific goals for visitors to the site, and a conversion is the achievement of one or more of those goals. The following table provides some examples of conversion goals.

Type of Business	Example Conversion Goal
Retailer	Purchase a product
Contractor	Contact to discuss the visitor’s building plans
Medical information site	Subscribe to a newsletter
Manufacturer with a distribution network	Contact to set an appointment with a dealer
Construction material supplier	Contact for a quote

2. Customers profiling
When a customer comes to your website he is looking for specific information or he has a specific need. If you are able to address that specific need for them then help them resolve it, you will get the business.
First, we need to classify the people who will visit your website – your prospects and customers. It is usually obvious who many of the visitors will be, based upon the customer segments that you currently serve. However, in a lot of cases, there are different visitors types coming to your website, for example:

The solution he desires (take a cruise vs. go skiing)
The problem he is having (broken air conditioner vs. no heat)
The products or services you offer (design / build vs. project management)
Geographically (cold climate vs. warm climate clothing)
Demographically (unmarried vs. couples)
Where he is in the buying cycle (just looking and need information vs. ready to buy)

 3. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
A unique selling proposition is a reason why a customer would choose to do business with you over your competitor. When a customer visits your website, he is deciding whether or not to do business with you. It is, therefore, important to display your unique selling proposition so that it is clear and persuasive to the visitor.
Examples:

Professional advice
Customer service
Range of products
Free installation
Lowest price
Best technology

 4. Funneling
Once you have a good understanding of who is coming to your website and how to attract their attention, the best way to sell to that person is to show them that you understand their need and then explain how you can help them fix their problem. 

The pages on the website should be designed to take each profiled customer through his own path where he is provided with all of the information that he needs to make a decision. Not every profile will need to look at the same information so it is important to organize it in a way that he can choose what information he wants to look at. One effective technique is to develop a page for each customer classification that specifically addresses the needs of that class and our unique selling proposition to meet his needs.
Next we can address the other information that a customer classification my need, such as:

A gallery of example projects
A catalogue of specific products
Detailed technical information
Warranty
Price
How fast their problem can be fixed
Testimonials
Case studies
Client list

 5. Calls to action
Once you have proven to a prospect that you have the ability to solve his need, he is most likely looking for the next step. In all forms of advertising, the most effective ads have a call to action. A call to action is a reason for the customer to act now rather than putting it off for later.

If you do not tell your customer what the next step is, he will most likely not do it. Every page needs a call to action, even if it is just directing them to the next page that he should look at.

Web Design for Search Engine Marketing

An integral part of the design of your website is to ensure that good search engine optimization practices are embedded from the start. If your site is constructed poorly then it becomes very difficult to achieve a high ranking with the major search engines such as Google. With over 65% of people depending on these engines to find the products and services they require this is an important part of the design process. No one can negate the importance that search engines play in online marketing – and if their spiders cannot find a site, it is almost certain that potential customers won’t either.

If Organic Listings is important to you (and it should) and you are thinking or already engaging in implementation of Search Engine Optimization, you should ensure that your website supports the important principals of SEO as of the initial design and structure. SEO is not only about building links or correctly putting the meta tags, it is very much so about the design and navigation of your website. 

Remember that SEO is not only about driving visitors to your website. The goal is to have them converted and take the actions you wish them to take. For that, it is almost crucial that every optimized page on your site acts as a Landing Page. The landing page will ensure that it is as relevant as possible to the search query the visitor has entered to Google and the exact same thing applies when you are employing a PPC campaign on Google Adwords. Make sure that your website is designed properly for Search Engine Marketing!

Many companies have gone through phases of past years. The first phase was "I need to get a website". The current phase that has been occurring and growing over recent and present days is "now that I've got a website, I need to get found". Many stop there in their understanding of Internet marketing and regrettably fail to recognize the most integral ingredient to a successful online business. Even if you employing the best Search Engine Marketing campaigns and able to drive huge amounts of visitors to your website, what good does this bring if no one is accomplishing your goals. The question you should ask yourself is "How do I convert more visitors to customers?"

Being a Search Engine Marketing agency, WSI E-Service can show you how your website should be designed for SEM as well as tailor the correct SEO and/or PPC strategy for your business. Contact us today to set a meeting.

Website Design on a Platform You Can Manage

The days were your website was only a business card or a brochure are long gone. Your website should be part of your integrated marketing and help you achieve your business and marketing goals. As such, your website should become (part of) an Internet Marketing System.

Don’t settle anymore for a website that is literally owned by a web designer that wrote it from scratch with HTML or any other programming language and you can’t change it unless you are paying this designer for his time on those changes that you need to introduce. Your business is dynamic, things change constantly and you need to be in control.

Furthermore, how much you are sure that your site written in software code from scratch has the sufficient quality to present you as a professional business to those that visit your website?

Instead, you need to make sure that you are in the driver's seat and you can easily make changes to your site whenever and wherever they are required. Ensure that your site is running on a high-quality Content Management System (CMS) where you can make changes to the content without the need to know this or that code or computer language.

Seeing increasing demand for business-focused websites that could be deployed quickly, without sacrificing features and with a top class quality, WSI E-Services has entered into a collaboration with Daronet Europe.
This collaboration enables you to enjoy the best level of Internet Marketing and Search Engine Marketing services, build on a state of the are Content Management System. This means for you: Less production time, better quality and affordable solution together with all the services you need to have a true Internet Marketing System.

When you work with us, the specific needs of your business are assessed and then a website is built to include only those features that would benefit your business. You pay only for the features you actually need, not for a “one-size-fits-all” solution (that really doesn’t), while keeping your ability to expand later – as time requires or justifies – without going through a painful process of coding and integration.

And best of all, our websites are easy to use and maintain. If you know how to handle Microsoft Office, you will be able to introduce changes to your site. That is simply since you own it and we know that you need to maintain and control it.

Ask us to show you our selected Content Management System and show you what it means to be in charge of your website as part of your marketing strategy.  

Our Approach: Professional website design for results.

First and foremost your website is a marketing tool that is being created or modified to meet specific business objectives. We will spend time with you to ensure these are clearly defined and translate them into measurable goals for your website. While it may sound an obvious and perhaps simplistic task this is the most important phase as a clear focus for the project will drive all future design decisions.

Understanding the segments of your online audience is the next step. This will help to shape the look and feel of your website and define the content that needs to be included.

Making sure your target audience performs the desired action is a key to ensuring the success of your website. All the information each visitor requires along the conversion funnel must be presented in a clear & concise manner.

Whether you are looking for a new website or a redesign of your existing one, WSI E-Services will work with you define the design that aims not only at your Search Engine Marketing efforts, but also at converting your visitors and realizing your goals. As a Search Engine Marketing agency and certified Internet Marketing consultants with the strength of the global WSI network, we will help you to define the strategy, outline the tactics and implement the steps for your highest return on investment.

Our years of experience in this industry have shown that an effective, profitable, sound Internet Solution is the result of careful planning, informed development and ongoing support. There are countless companies in the marketplace that are capable of building you a website, but if you're truly serious about online success for your business then you deserve our business and marketing-oriented approach.

WSI E-Services can engage you in an Information Architecture™ meeting to identify your business goals, your target market and the details of your 40/40/20 formula that will work the magic for your website! Call and book an appointment today.  

Web Design Conversion Architecture Checklist

Download WSI Website Conversion Checklist. If you have not checked off all of these items then you could benefit from a review of WSI E-Services. Contact us today for a complimentary Conversion review of your website.

 

Content Management System & Web Design in collaboration with