Conversion Rate Web Marketing Blog 

We’re happy to say that we’ve set a new conversion rate record for our lead generation websites - 41.82%.

That means that for every 100 people that visit this page, at least 41 of them will complete and submit this form.

Why is this page converting so well? Here’s a couple of reasons:

• It’s a simple form
• It’s being seen by the right people
• It meets the visitor’s needs

What’s even better is that it’s the second most popular page in the whole website. Congratulations to the Piano Removalists - Network Piano Carriers.

From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your web marketing you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.

Here in Australia, some economists have been spinning the yarn that our economy is “decoupled” from the US economy. They would have you think that your business will not be affected by the US recession. However Morgan Stanley economist Gerard Minack set the record straight last week on ABC’s Lateline program. Gerard broke the bad news that for the 98.5% of Australians who don’t work in mining, it looks like hard times are on the way.

So how do you protect your business from a looming downturn?

1. Ensure your supply of customers by investing in highly cost effective marketing

Web marketing is about finding people who are in the market now and ready to buy. Getting your website found in Google and driving 24 x 7 traffic to your website is one of the easiest ways to ensure that you have a steady stream of customers whatever the economic climate.

2. Improve your website’s conversion rates

You can boost the number of leads and sales that come from your website by analyzing and improving the performance of your website. There is enormous leverage in your boosting your website’s conversion rates. The payoff for boosting your conversion rates is far higher than the payoff from getting more traffic.

3. Start an email newsletter

An email newsletter that’s rich with content and informative is one of the easiest ways to keep your customers safe from the competition. If you’re not already producing an email newsletter, don’t wait until times are tough. Start now.

Act now

We’ve been warned that trouble is on the horizon. However, your business need not be hit hard by a retracting market. You need to be smarter than the competition and take a greater market and dollar share. And you need to act now…

I’ve been thinking about this topic since I saw Gerard Minack on Lateline last week, however US conversion rate guru Jeffrey Eisenberg at Future Now beat me to writing this article, so this was partly inspired by his post.

From the author: How effective is your email marketing? The answer lies in your conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your email marketing you need a combination of the best email marketing tools and a team that includes experienced web marketers, email designers, web programmers, copywriters and editors. That’s why we created Bitemark.

Contact us on 03 9012 6600 for a free conversion rate review of your email marketing.

I was meeting with William MacLean from McLean Finance today and we found that his website is on page one in Google for the term “Development Loans.” He’s been getting a number of leads through his site for Development Loans and it’s an area that he specialises in.

So the question is, “How can we get more leads for development loans?”

So I thought I’d outline the basics of our strategy.

Step One - Website Traffic

By reviewing the Google Analytics stats for the site, we found that a number of people were finding the site by searching on Google for Development Loans.

We knew that the site was ranked number eight on the front page of Google. We know from experience that being number one in Google is likely to bring in far more traffic than being number eight. At a minimum, we would expect the numbers to go up by a factor of four, but it could be much higher than that.

So the strategy to get the site up to number one in Google for development loans is:

1. Check that the pages are optimised correctly
2. Get links to the site from other websites from pages that are relevant and use the keyword “development loans”.

Fortunately, William has a blog so he can write about the topic and link back to his site. He’ll also ask his business associates to link to him from their websites too, preferably using the keyword “development loans.”

Another good link would be from a directory that allows you write up a description of your business and link from the description to your website.

Step Two - Conversion Rates

The next step is to look at the content of the web page that is on the site to target development loans. Now we’re already getting a reasonable conversion rate for this page at around 6%. It could be higher, though, so I asked William about the types of people that have been enquiring about this product.

He tells me that there has been a range of people enquiring, from “Mom & Pop” investors through to property developers. So a basic way to improve the conversion rates would be to tailor a web page to each group of people that you want to attract. The page needs to:

1. Raise their specific needs
2. Use their language
3. Tell them how you can solve or address their needs
4. Show real pictures that relate to them and topic
5. Make it easy for them to take action
6. Show testimonials from similar people.

By implementing these basic strategies, not only will MacLean Finance get more traffic to their site, but they’ll also get more leads from that traffic.

From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your web marketing you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.

One of my personal goals for 2008 is to get a new acoustic guitar. I’ve been playing guitar for about 3 years now and I love it. Now that I can hear the difference, I’ve decided that it’s time to get a new, more refined acoustic guitar.

I’ve had many different experiences in Music shops. I’ve encountered shopkeepers and sales people who treat you with indifference or even disdain, like you’re a shoplifter. I’ve also had the hard sell. So it was with a little apprehension that I stepped into the Acoustic Centre in Park Street, South Melbourne.

I went upstairs and entered a shop that was wall to wall with acoustic guitars. I was thinking to myself, “Where do I start?”

The first thing that the guy behind the counter (Michael) did was ask me a few questions. What style to you like to play? What are you looking for? What do you like?

Now these guys are a cut above most shops already because they started by showing personal interest. Those few simple questions established that this was about me, the customer. I said that I like to play finger-style, and I mentioned that my friend has a nice Maton. What followed next sealed the deal for me.

Michael started to arrange a series of guitar stands around the central couch in the Maton room. He disappeared for a few seconds at a time and resurfaced with an acoustic guitar each time to place on the stands in front of me.

He spoke a bit about the styles, differences and benefits of each guitar and then said to me, “Have a play with each of these, see what you like.”

I took good time and played to my wife Donna in the store. We both decided that the guitar for me was the Maton EBG808C Michael Fix Custom. What an awesome guitar… I’m still excited about it, even though I haven’t bought it yet!

Michael came back to me with an awesome price that was much less than the RRP. No pressure. Do you think I’m going to bother to shop around now?

The thing is, what this guy was doing wouldn’t be considered “selling” by most people, probably even him. In fact, this was selling at the highest professional level because professionals are genuine. They never make you feel like you’re being sold to.

The professional service that the Acoustic Centre offered included:

1. Showing personal interest and genuine intention to help
2. Knowing their products extremely well and communicating on the customer’s level
3. Offering a selection of products (solutions) that would be likely to suit me and my budget 
4. Allowing hands-on time so that the customer can make their own choice 
5. Offering a great deal.

The question is, how you can apply each of these professional service qualities to your website? You can apply each of them.

From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your web marketing you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

Yellow Pages®is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.

Through the haze of excitement about Web 2.0 Jakob Nielsen has articulated what serious web marketing people have been saying for a long time.

Get Web 1.0 right before thinking about Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is a popular term that refers to things that encourage sharing and community between users. Think Youtube, FaceBook, MySpace, Linked In et al. Think user ratings, reviews, blogs, polls and opinions. 

The hype of it all can be overwhelming, and there are some awesome things about the whole Web 2.0 thing… but… if you think you need Web 2.0 features for your site, ask yourself first:

Will Web 2.0 bring me a return on your investment?

In reference to this question, Jakob says, ”If you’re a mainstream business site (including government and non-profit sites), your user experience needs are very different than those of the few hot sites that attract all the attention.”

The hot sites that attract attention are of course Facebook, MySpace, Amazon, etc. Unless that’s your business and you’re well down the path of raising $60 million in capital, your website is not like any of those.

What should you do instead? Jakob continues, “Instead of adding Facebook-like features that let users “bite” other users and turn them into zombies, the B2B site would get more sales by offering clear prices, good product photos, detailed specs, convincing whitepapers, an easily navigable information architecture, and an email newsletter.”

All of these things fall under the banner of good content, aka. Useful Information. Sustainable web marketing is about delivering useful information to the customer. That’s the first place to start improving your website’s return on investment.

You can read the full Alert Box article here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/web-2.html

From the author: As a web programmer I have been involved in developing several content management systems. I was hands on in developing our own content management suite called eComMetrix®.

What I know from working on hundreds of lead generation and eCommerce websites over 11 years is that there is something far more important in creating a website than the system that you use. It’s your conversion rates and it’s a measure of how effectively the content of your website engages with your website visitors.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your website you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark™.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 to find out how you could boost the conversion rates of your website.

Most people who have worked with us know that we’re not a big fan of “cool flash websites” for businesses.

Well, we don’t apply this rule to everyone. There are some professions where being cool really is everything. For instance, you’re probably too cool for school (i.e. you need a cool flash website) if you’re a:

1. Rock band or popular musician
2. Fashion designer or fashion photographer
3. Company that has a brand the size of,  say, Coke or McDonald’s.

Here’s a couple of flash website examples that are just so cool:

• Angus and Julia Stone - http://www.angusandjuliastone.com - Brilliant illustration, simple execution, really impressive.
• Freedom Furniture’s Online Catalogue - http://www.freedom.com.au/catalogue/spring07/index.html - A very easy to use catalogue metaphor.

Now, before that you make the mistake of thinking that this is what you need for your company, consider these questions:

• What do I really want from my website visitors?
• What actions do I want them to take by visiting my website?
• Will impressing them with design and coolness really influence them to do business with me?

Websites like the examples above exist purely to impress. If you are looking for an outcome like an online purchase or a lead generated from your website, then a cool flash website is probably not for you. Why?

Well, in flash lots of things just don’t work like you would expect in a normal website (such as text boxes, navigation, right click, back/forward buttons, etc). When something doesn’t work like you expect it to, it breaks your intent. You end up thinking more about the website than what you were there for in the first place.

Being too slick will probably do more faours for your designer than it does for you. You don’t want your website visitors to be distracted from doing business with you by the coolness of your website.

From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your web marketing you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.

I had a number of people call me this week to say, “Have you heard this radio ad for ‘Website Rescue’?”  Well, I hadn’t heard the ad, so while I was still on the phone I said, “I’ll go to Google and type in Website Rescue and see what comes up.”

I was surprised. There was no scent… nothing!

After a bit of digging, I found websiterescue.com.au, but that website did not show up on the first page of Google.

It turns out that the Radio Ad was run by Darius Mikolajewski and his company Allwelt. The advertising campaign was running on the Melbourne Radio station SEN (AM 1116). I’d met Darius previously at a networking event here in Melbourne and we’ve had a number of discussions about web marketing (Good move with the radio ad Darius, I hope it’s doing well for you!).

The exercise reminded me of the importance of thinking about how your prospects will interact with your advertising campaigns. Here’s a few examples of how they might respond:

• Calling your phone number
• Typing your web address into their web browser
• Entering keywords into Google.

Remember that radio ad listeners are likely to be hearing your ad in inconvenient places like in the car.

The people that called me could not remember the web address (even though it was a good address, pretty simple to remember), but they did remember the key theme of the ad, “Website Rescue.” 

Radio Advertising and Web Marketing - Rule 1:

When you are running a radio advertising campaign, make sure that you are number one in Google for the words that form the key theme of your Ad!

Remember that radio ads are volatile, lasting only seconds. Your prospects and listeners will only remember a single key theme from your ad. It is likely that they will “Google” the keywords that they remember from your ads. Make sure you are found there!

The good thing that Darius and company have done with their website is including a banner promoting the ad on their home page. This is important since a great number of their website visitors are going to be looking for content that is relevant to the “website rescue” ad.

The banner links through to a simple pop up contact form with seven fields to fill out. It’s a good short form, but the site lacks any content to support the “website rescue” message presented in the radio ad. For this reason alone, the campaign will not be converting to its maximum potential.

Radio campaigns can be very effective, however, relative to web marketing they are expensive. Make sure that you use your website effectively with your radio advertising campaigns.

On a side point, it was interesting for us to note that a number of our customers listen to SEN…

From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your web marketing you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.

A simple way to boost your eCommerce website’s conversion rate is to make sure your visitors can actually find what they’re looking for. It’s highly likely that a visitor to your site will use your website’s search tool to do that.

Seems simple right? Well, in researching this topic we found that the simple things sometimes slip through the cracks. A review of our own eCommerce System’s search tool revealed a number of improvements that we needed to make.

Since up to 80% of visitors to your eCommerce website will search within your site, these 10 simple rules to improving your search results are well worth focusing on. Continue reading eCommerce website search >>.

From the author: If you run an eCommerce website then you might wonder, “How do I know if I’m getting as many orders as I could be through my website?” The answer to that question is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your eCommerce website you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 to find out how you could boost the conversion rates of your eCommerce website.

We recently conducted a conversion rate review on a website for a company that creates metal finishes for non metal objects such as doors, signs and other building elements. To introduce our readers to how a conversion rate review works, we thought we’d publish a brief summary of our conversion rate review.

Client: Metalcote Pty Ltd

Website Objectives: 

Metal finishing is a niche business with appeal to the construction and shopfitting industries. This is B2B and, due to the nature of the work that they do, Metalcote is looking to generate leads. Since metal finishing is a relatively new idea Metalcote also sees the need to educate their prospects on the possibilities of the work that they can do.

This is a really nice looking clean and simple website. Kudos to the web designer who chose a nice readable contrasting font for the text rather than the super light grey on white that many web designers seem to choose.

For the purposes of this summary, we’ve chosen to review the following four elements of the lead generation conversion process.

1. Usability
2. Content
3. Conversion
4. Traffic.

Usability -  How easy is the website to get around?

Opportunity: The home page of the website is usually the first place that a visitor will land. This is your best opportunity to say what you do and position your company. Having a basic splash page misses this opportunity and will likely create a quick exit. Remember that people come to your website for information.

Action: Use the home page to quickly and simply describe what you do and position your company’s expertise.

Opportunity: The Metalcote Logo is perfectly placed in the top left corner of the website (apart from the splash page). This is perfect to reinforce your branding, and it’s great for usability since users can immediately see that they’re in the right place. There is an unwritten law of website usability that the logo should click through to the home page.

Action: Make logo click through to home page.

Content - How useful is the website’s content?

Opportunity: This is a really interesting product with lots of uses. The only way to educate prospects about the possibilities is with content.

Action: Have a copywriter create a web page for each target use of the product.

Opportunity: Metalcote has worked on many large projects for some well recognised brands. There is an opportunity to make your prospects comfortable with you before they contact you by building rapport with them through your website.

Action: You need to trade off the trust that working for companies like Toyota, Nando’s and Chrysler can create by ensuring that those names are clearly seen. You’re already doing this in your gallery to some extent, but make sure you get their branding in the shot.

Conversion - How easy is it to get to the goal?

Opportunity: This site has a good contact page with a simple contact form. Having a contact form on each content page will give you the context of what the prospect is interested in and increase your visits to leads conversion rate significantly.

Action: Include a simple contact form wherever there is a call to action in your website copy.

Building traffic - How will visitors find this site?

Opportunity: There are many searches conducted each month using search engine keywords that are related to your field. Content is the key to getting good search engine results.

Action: Create new website copy and ensure that your search engine keywords are in the right places to make sure that you get found in Google.

So that’s a basic conversion rate review. Implementing these simple suggestions will significantly increase the number of leads generated from this website.

From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your web marketing you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too!

Contact us on 1300 248 362 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

In this article on Clickz, Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now discusses the basics of conversion rates. It’s interesting to note that for all of the technical wizardry that you can use to optimise the conversion rates of your web pages, the basics are still as relevant as ever.

Some of the basics that Bryan identified in the article are: 

• Page speed / load time
• Broken links
• Broken images
• 404 pages
• Invisible call-to-action buttons and links
• Misspellings
• Poor grammar

We’d add understanding your customers to this list.

So much can be gained from just covering the basics. It’s amazing how often they sneak through.