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.

The post 5 Ways to Improve Conversion Rates for Your Landing Pages appeared first on ReadWrite.

As a business owner, it’s always a good idea to effectively use the marketing tools that are bringing you the most success. Measuring success as a business typically pertains to ROI, sales/income, and new customer acquisition. Reaching your target market with content that will appeal to them, while generating income is key when spending money to market yourself as a brand. This is why it’s essential to ensure you’re using the right marketing tools to reach your audience. 

So, just how do SMBs ensure they are using the best, most effective marketing tools? There is a variety to choose from today as more and more marketers are turning to the Internet to reach their target audiences. From social media and blogging to digital advertising and email marketing, businesses have a plethora of options to choose from. The right marketing tools should be able to show clear and concise improvements overall regarding reaching the desired audience, creating value for them, and in turn, loyalty, all while increasing ROI.

As social media grows in popularity, this widespread tool may not be as effective at generating ROI as most would think. So what are SMBs who need to generate a solid stream of income and leads to do? This is where I find email marketing online to be effective. With the variety of marketing tools available for SMBs, email marketing is often a favored tool for businesses who are looking to increase ROI and generate leads. I certainly choose to invest my marketing dollars into email marketing when I want a big increase in ROI, in an easy to measure, easy to test, and easy to deliver way.

The Statistics Do Not Lie

The statistics concerning email marketing and ROI are shocking. In fact, there are so many wonderful stats surrounding the effectiveness of email marketing that Campaign Monitor put together a list of the best, and most current statistics concerning online email marketing today. For a communications medium that was rumored to be dying, email has certainly proven otherwise through the effectiveness of marketing to target audiences to sell and promote products and services. Even DMA (the Data and Marketing Association) claims that email is the top channel for digitally generating ROI. In fact, as reported by Campaign Monitor, for every $1 invested into email marketing, the average return is $44. This makes email a very wise investment for businesses who want to see their brands and revenues grow, as the average ROI for one dollar invested into email marketing equates to 4400% in growth.

If you think that’s shocking, here are some of our favorite statistics we found listed by Campaign Monitor that concern online email marketing:

• Messages are five times more likely to be read via email than on Facebook. –Radicati
• Email acquires 40 times more new customers than Twitter or Facebook –McKinsey
• Your content will be shared with your email followers three times more than any other visitors. –QuickSprout
• 92% of all adults online use email, and 61% use it on any given day. –Pew Research
• Targeted and segmented emails account for generating 58% of all revenues. –DMA
• Email open rates are highest when a company sends two emails monthly. –Database Marketing Institute

When the statistics are lied out, it’s easy to see why I believe SMBs are wise to invest in their email marketing strategies. It’s cost effective and affordable to do, it reaches more people than social media (supposing you have a well-established email list), and it converts into sales and profits more effectively than social media marketing.

It’s Simple to Build an Email List

Where finding leads may seem daunting to those who are looking for new ways to market themselves, it’s incredibly simple to build an email list, and much less intimidating for both those who give you their information and those who are seeking someone’s email address.

One great way I have helped companies build their email lists is by creating content they can offer online that is valuable to viewers, such as a downloadable eBook, or guide, that offers useful tips and advice. Once viewers decide they value what clients are offering and click to download the eBook, they are prompted to enter their personal information online. This information is stored and used to build an email list that can effectively reach those who are interested in a particular product, brand or industry. The link to download the eBook may be included in website copy, blogs, social media, and also via email.

Email Marketing Is Easy to Automate

In addition to email marketing generating the best possible ROI, when done correctly, it is incredibly easy to automate an email marketing campaign so that the time put into it is minimal, and you can focus on the tasks that come with running your own business. With only two emails being sent each month for optimal open rates, this is easy to do, and there are a variety of email marketing tools that are available for businesses who want some email marketing help today.

When I work with setting up email marketing for my clients, I use programs and software that specialize in email marketing. There are a variety of programs available on the market today that make creating and sending emails super simple. Once you have a good template that represents your brand in the way you see fit, it is easy to switch out content, and schedule campaigns to send to certain customers at specific times. Choosing the best time to send your emails will depend entirely upon your unique brand, and your unique target market, but a good email automation program will help you to determine which times are most optimal for emailing your lists, and you may also run AB tests to ensure your emails are being scheduled to send at the most profitable times possible.

Email Campaigns are Easy to Test, Tweak, and Track

Email marketing is one of the easiest marketing mediums to measure, as the metrics are super simple to access, and read. Email marketing platforms will often show you your bounce rates, open rates, and click-through rates for your emails. Having such great analytics makes testing the effectiveness of certain elements of your email campaigns easy also. You may want to run AB tests concerning your email title, the time you send it, how you personalize the email, which CTA button is most effective, and where on your website you’re able to get the most information for your campaigns. Email campaigns can also be easily divided into segments based on data and research, and have been found to increase revenues by 760% on average.

Emails are Easy to Personalize

It’s important to personalize your emails to clients, as a personalized email can result in transaction rates that are six times higher, according to Experian. A great email automation service will allow you to personalize your emails with the click of a button so that it looks like to sent the email just for every individual on your list.

It’s much easier to personalize an email than a message sent over social media. And according to the stats, it’s going to increase your profits much more as well. Think about how you feel when you see an email come through that has your first name in the title. It’s the small details, and personal touches that often make the biggest impact when it comes to marketing yourself via email.

Email is Easy to Access

With the prevalence of smartphones today, most people have access to their email at all times from the touch of a button on their phones. This is why optimizing all email content for mobile devices is key. Many email marketing programs have the tool that will allow for mobile optimization, and this is of the utmost importance if you want your emails to stand out not only on a computer but the screen of a smartphone as well. Have you ever tried to open an email that wasn’t optimized for mobile on your cell phone? It’s fairly difficult to reach, and you may have to scroll all over the place in order just to take in one sentence. The display must be simplified, and formatted in a way that it will be easy to reach when viewers open an email on a cell phone or tablet.

In fact, according to Campaign Monitor, approximately 53% of all emails are opened on mobile devices. That’s just over half of all emails. What’s more is that of the 900 million Gmail users, 75% of them have access to their accounts on their mobile devices. That’s a lot of people using email on their phones, and that is for one email server alone, and over time this number seems to be increasing. This is why mobile optimization is key, and a necessity for businesses who use email, as users will likely be notified immediately, and if you want them to click to open it rather than delete it, the content must be valuable attention-grabbing, and easy to read.

Now that you can see the value and potential, the proper use of email marketing to reach your target audience can bring, what are your plans for using email to generate profits and leads, and increase ROI? Many eCommerce businesses will use newsletters and email campaigns to make their target audience aware of sales, promotions, and other important information about their brands. Keeping viewers in the loop about your product or services, and coming up with content your audience will find value in consistently is key.

Now that you have the information about the effectiveness of implementing an email marketing campaign and access to the tools you need to do it, your biggest task will be providing your audience with what they want and tweaking your campaigns in ways that bring you the greatest results. Email marketing is a wonderful business tool that all companies would be wise to start taking advantage of.

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