What to Do When Your Site Isn’t Converting Visitors

If you thought there was nothing more frustrating than a website that doesn’t attract any visitors, think again. Worse still is a website that pulls in plenty of traffic, but for some reason fails to convert those visitors.

You’re convinced you’re getting everything right and you clearly have a search marketing strategy that’s working. In which case, what is it about your website that’s failing to appeal to your audience?

More importantly, what are the first and most essential things you should do to turn things around and increase conversions?

Here’s the good news - major website redevelopment projects aren’t always necessary. Whether things have tapered off or never really gained momentum in the first place, there’s much you can do without resorting to the nuclear option.

Start with the Quick Fixes

A great place to start is making sure that your website is working as it should be. Rather than taking anything for granted, carry out a detailed inspection of your pages; your navigation system, your checkout process, your contact forms, your links and their buttons. This is website optimisation 101.

If anything isn’t working properly, it’s likely responsible for putting people off the idea of doing business with you.

During the process, you’ll also want to factor speed and fluidity into the equation. Does every page of your website load up practically instantaneously? Are there any notable performance issues with any of your pages or content?

Next, take the time to consider how your site and its pages appear when accessed by mobile visitors. More than 50% of global web traffic now comes from mobile devices, meaning you need to prioritise your mobile visitors if you want to succeed.

CRO and Purchase Process Assessment

It’s also important to put yourself in the position of your customer and consider the effectiveness/efficiency of your ecommerce site’s checkout process.

If you’re finding it difficult to be fully objective, ask a friend, family member or colleague to go through the process and provide you with their suggestions.

Poor conversion rates are often the fault of unnecessarily complicated or time-consuming purchase processes. Ideally, it should be possible for your customers to make impulse purchases in just a few clicks - not jump through endless hoops to spend their money with you.

Contact Forms

How do contact forms influence conversion rates? It’s simple - a surprising proportion of customers like to reach out to new brands and businesses, before committing to a purchase.

In which case, it’s your job to make it as quick and easy as possible for visitors to your website to get in touch with you. This means avoiding the kinds of over-complicated contact forms with too many fields to complete, which are off-putting for the majority of visitors.

Also, it’s essential to clearly present your contact information on all pages of your website. The easier you can make it for visitors to contact you, the better. 

SEO Modifications

Last up, your search strategy is already pulling in decent volumes of traffic, so why the need to modify your SEO campaign? It’s simple - you may be attracting too many dead leads of no value to your business, or perhaps targeting the wrong audience entirely.

If there’s nothing wrong with your products, your services or your website, it could be that the traffic you’re attracting isn’t right for you. In which case, you may need to go back to the drawing board with your SEO strategy. Remember, search engine optimisation requires constant management to get the most out of it and attract the right people; the users who are searching with a confirmed interest in your products or services.