Many own or manage a small to mid-sized business website (SMB). These websites are showcasing your products or services and are only one small component of reaching your intended audience.

Improving conversion rates.

To reach your audience and generate leads — means to increase your return on investment (ROI). There are a variety of customer relationship management solutions (CRM).

You can choose from the many marketing automation services, and sales tools available for SMBs today. The marketing tools you’re using to reach your audience — and manage your business — will make all the difference to building your business. 

It is essential to ensure that your website is optimized.

The average conversion rate across all industries is just over two percent. The top 25 percent of landing pages have a conversion rate of over 10 percent. This means that for every 100 people who visit your landing page on your website — an average of just over two are achieving your desired goal.

What are your goals?

Your goal is to have them sign up for a free trial — and leave their contact information. You want your sign-ups to learn more — downloading a guide or eBook. You want to be able to provide something of value to your customers, site visitors, clients and friends. This will then prompt them to give the disclosure of contact information — schedule an appointment or purchase a product.

There are some ways to entice your target audience visually on your website.

You can bring people to your site by having your landing page designed to increase your conversion rate. There are a variety of methods that can be used to improve conversions.

This may seem a bit complex or tricky — but the good news is that there are marketing tools, and cloud-based SaaS services. Something such as Agile CRM — that are available to help you create the most effective landing pages. This will help you with increasing conversions and marketing your brand.

Throughout the next few paragraphs, we’ll cover five methods for improving the conversion rates on your landing pages.

1. Focus on your headline, subheadings, and layout.

One of the first things viewers will see when they visit your landing page is the headline. According to KISSmetrics, there are only 6-12 words that could spell a higher conversion rate for your website. These words are all in your homepage headline. This is what is going to capture the attention of readers and help them decide if they find value in what you’re offering.

Optimizing your headline in the way that is best for your business will depend on your unique product or service you provide. If your product or service is a solutions oriented business that will help a problem or need in your market — say it.  

Ask and answer the problem in your headline.

This will entice viewers who need it. Other ideas for your headline are to show value for viewers to spark curiosity. Use the word  “free,” or a time frame like “30-day trial,” and — use a testimonial.

Once you have a good headline, you may find that your audience responds better when there’s a subheading below.

A subheading should be short, to the point, and relevant to the headline. It should also offer a bit more detail to prompt viewers to sign up, learn more, download, or contact you.

The layout of your landing page is essential, as it will determine how easy it is for viewers to navigate your site.

How will your get your site visitors to read your content, and see your call to action prompting conversions? Having a layout that’s user-friendly — to the point — and visually stimulating for your audience is key.

2. Images.

If you truly want to captivate your audience, the right choice of visuals is essential. According to 3M — the use of visual aids improves learning by 400 percent. With so much information on the internet — it’s refreshing to know that images can trump text any day of the week.

As we process them 60,000 times faster than text, and only remember approx. 1/3 of what we hear. This makes a captivating image a powerful component for increasing your conversion rate. Use something like an image of someone looking at something visually captivating on a phone, tablet of the laptop screen. A photo associated with the psychology of color theme.

When choosing the best image to use for your page — be sure that it’s supportive of your brand message — and doesn’t overpower your content. A great image should be visually stimulating.

Be sure to captivate your audience’s senses and create an emotional or behavioral reaction. The right use of color in your images is key to determining how you want your audience to feel.

3. Show value for your “peeps.”

A great way to increase conversions is by showing value in what you’re offering. Tell viewers how signing up, leaving their contact info, purchasing your product, or starting a trial is going to add value to their lives. When your audience can see the value in the product or service you’re offering, they’re going to be more likely to engage.

Free information.

If you’re offering free information in exchange for contact information, show how it is going to improve their lives, jobs, etc. If you’re offering a service, show your audience what they will be getting if they sign up for a consultation or appointment.

Whatever you’re offering, your landing page holds a chance to sell to those who’ve already shown interest to visit your website. This isn’t going to be a hard sell, this is going to be presented to someone who is familiar to a certain degree with who you are, and quite possibly already likes your product or service.

4. Call to action.

If you want to increase your landing page conversion rate, it’s essential to examine your call to action (CTA) button. This should be placed on your landing page in a place that is salient for viewers, easy to click on, and easy to read.

Once readers are convinced they want to try what you’re offering, a conveniently located CTA that prompts visitors to “call now,” “learn more,” “download,” “shop now,” etc. is important.

5. Testing and tracking.

In determining what will be most effective in increasing conversion rates, it’s essential to use a system of multi-channel tracking and testing.

AB testing is a great way to determine which call to action, headline, image, etc. to use for your landing page. It’s also helpful to offer different opportunities for conversion throughout your website and track them to see which are most influential.