Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) explained for the beginner


by Stephen Greenwood - Date: 2007-11-14 - Word Count: 559 Share This!

SEO and SMO helps to bring targeted traffic to your website, but once that traffic arrives, Conversion Rate Optimisation takes over in turning those visitors into customers. A Conversion is defined as someone who takes a desired action on your website, like making an enquiry, submitting a form, or subscribing to your Newsletter. The odds are that 50% of your visitors will hit the BACK button immediately on arriving at your website, and only about 2 of every 100 people will actually convert into a customer. Conversion rate optimisation can help you turn more visitors into customers.

There are many types of optimisation and Conversion Rate Optimisation is one of the most important. After all, why spend time and money with Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media Optimisation just to find that the first thing your visitor does on arriving at your website is press the BACK button.

The best way to understand your visitors is by looking at your website statistics provided by your Hosting company, or by other website performance monitoring tools such as Google Analytics. These statistics can provide a wealth of information to find out why and where visitors are leaving your website.

Conversion Rate Optimisation
Bounce Rates are defined as visitors who press the BACK button immediately on arriving at your website. You may be surprised to find that Bounce Rates of 50% are quite typical for small websites. This means that half of your visitors either doesn't like, or more importantly, DO NOT SEE what they are looking for. One of the best ways to help your visitors find the information you want them to find is by removing things like unnecessary advertising, images and links.

Conversion Rate Optimisation helps visitors to find what they are looking for. Visitors scan your web page from top-left to top-right and then down to bottom-left, all being done within a fraction of a second. This is called the Golden Triangle. This is enough time to decide whether this web site offers the information they are searching for. Help your visitors find what they are looking for by putting your content here and making it as clear as you can.

Static Optimisation improves the usability of your website with the use of clear navigation to your Landing Pages (pages where you want your visitors to go) and the reduction of distracting links, images and text. Similar to Home Staging, CRO should clear the clutter from your website and leave your visitors looking at the message you want them to see.

Dynamic Optimisation is all about improving the stickiness of your website, i.e. getting visitors to want to return again. Visitors need a reason to bookmark a website or add it to their favourites, and just by the fact that your website has been found, just isn't enough. Visitors want to interact, share information, and they also want content on demand. There are many ways to help keep your visitors returning and these include offering a Forum, Newsletter and live RSS Feeds to name a few. All of these techniques add functionality to your website, bringing it alive and giving your visitors a much more enjoyable Internet experience.

Steve Greenwood has been optimising websites along the Costa del Sol (Spain) for over 3 years. Please visit Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) for Internet Marketing Solutions including Search Engine and Social Media Optimisation and also Online Reputation Management.

Related Tags: marketing, seo, internet, spain, cro, solutions, google analytics, costa del sol, conversions, smo, conversion rate optimisation, bounce rates

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