Are You Converting Visitors Into Customers?

Learn Basic Online Marketing Strategies for Converting Visitors to Customers

Website visitors are exciting, aren't they? Every person who finds their way to your site is a potential customer, after all. And it's not as if they're finding your site by accident. It's your investment in SEO, social media, and other digital marketing techniques that leads visitors to your virtual doorstep.

Getting people to visit your site is really just half the job, though. The next challenge is turning those visitors into customers. Conversion optimization is an important element of successful online marketing strategies.

The good news is that you're not alone as you work toward converting more site visitors. It's a challenge that nearly every modern business faces, and there are tools and tactics available that will help you get the job done. Get your start boosting your conversion rate today with these four basic online marketing strategies.

Solve a Problem

Visitors arrive at your site because they are looking for something. The visitor has likely been lead to believe, through your marketing, word of mouth, or otherwise, that you can offer a solution to their problem. Now it's time to deliver on that promise.

• Answer their questions. Is your content optimized to answer the questions that your target audience is asking? Is your content architecture set for your visitors to find those answers quickly and easily?
• Keep it concise, easy, and clear. You'll have plenty of opportunities to expand on important points later in the process.
• Up front and obvious. You want to put the problem and your solution in clear terms and easily accessible. Put yourself in the customer's shoes, and consider what caused them to seek your solution in the first place.

Have a Strategic Goal

I want to convert more customers is not a strategic goal. It's important to get specific. What are your target demographics, and why are you targeting them specifically? You also need to consider your end goal.

• Is there a specific product or service offering you're especially focused on? Are you looking to inspire big ticket purchases in the short term, or smaller purchases over time? The answers to these questions should help shape your conversion optimization process.
• Track your goals – figuratively and literally. The beauty of online marketing is that most everything can be measured. This is an opportunity for businesses to delve into their metrics to learn what is working and what isn’t. Strategically testing and tweaking is an essential part of conversion optimization.

Be Unique

Unless you offer an exceptionally specialized product or service, there's a good chance you face online competition in your industry. Setting yourself apart from that competition is one of the keys to converting site visitors, and there are many ways to achieve that goal.

• Communicate your value proposition clearly, and embrace the qualities that make your business unique. It's especially important to show what you offer beyond the purchase.
• A good deal is always appealing, but it's often your customer service, product support, and similar “extras” that really catch the eye and earn the trust of the modern buyer. The content you produce is a great opportunity to expand on these details for site visitors.

Encourage Loyalty

There's still work to be done after you convert a visitor into a customer. The next step is turning your new customer into a repeat customer. Encourage customer loyalty by providing strong customer service, keeping your promises, and offering perks for repeat customers.

• Encouraging customer loyalty isn't just about appealing to existing customers. It also plays a role in converting new visitors.
• When a potential customer sees that you treat your current clients well, they'll be more likely to purchase from you. That's to say nothing of all the referrals you'll generate through your loyalty efforts.

In summary, how you approach the conversion optimization process depends in part on your business model and what you sell. There are commonalities in online marketing strategies for all businesses, such as positioning yourself as an authority problem solver with a unique value proposition. And NO business should be online without tracking their targeted intended goals. Show your visitor that you can solve their problem, but also be trusted, and you'll be well on your way to making them a customer.