Forget SEO - It´s All About Conversion!
Forget SEO - It´s All About Conversion!By Stephen Munday
Which
SEO hat do you wear? Is it white or black? Or perhaps it´s a subtle
shade of gray. Well, wherever you are on this spectrum, if you are like
99% of the SEO-fixated webmasters out there, you are doing all you can
to get visitors to your site. Where you used to optimize your keywords
meta tags, you now worry about anchor text and XML site maps.
So,
you finesse your site, schmooze the algorithm du jour and begin to
climb the slippery search engine rankings pole. But this is where you
have to leave your SEO tricks behind and start thinking conversion.
Whoa
there! Conversion? That´s all about making sales on shopping sites. My
site´s a forum! I don´t sell anything. What has conversion got to do
with me?
Everything, my friend. Everything....
SERP Conversion
You
want visitors to come your site, right? That´s why you climb greasy
SERP pole, after all. (And why you lay awake at night wondering when
the next Florida, Hilltop or Bourbon algorithm earthquake is going to
hit.) But what does it matter if you reach the peak, but no one clicks
through to your site anyway?
The fact is that you have to
convert prospective visitors even before they arrive. You have to pique
their interest, tweak their curiosity and make sure they click your
link and not the other guy´s. And all you have to use are words. No
technical tricks will help you now - your only tools are plain ol´
words.
The SERPs will show words from two of three places. Two of these you can control and one you can´t:
1.Your title tag.
2.Your meta description tag.
3.A directory description.
(For example, Google is known to use DMOZ descriptions in their SERPs, and Yahoo uses their directory descriptions in theirs.)
Now,
there´s not much you can do about how Yahoo or DMOZ editors describe
your site, so don´t worry about number 3. But do what you can do: Place
your value propositions clearly in 1 and 2, and use them to lure
searchers into your website.
So you have to convert people before they even get to your site. But that´s not all.... You want them to stay, right?
Flash Conversion
No,
this has nothing to do with being blinded by bright lights on the road
to Damascus. Nor am I telling you to go and make a 100% animated
website.
This "flash" is that split second, that tiny window of
opportunity that opens up when a searcher arrives at your site and
decides whether they have actually found what they are looking for... or
not.
Typically, you´ll have a couple of seconds to persuade the
new visitor to stay and hang out. That´s all you get. It´s the ultimate
in speed-dating. So, how do you wow your "date"? Do you show him a page
of scraped "content" interspersed with Adsense ads? Not if you want
this to be a lasting relationship.
Follow these tips and be sure to impress your "date":
1. Have a clear theme
Ranking high for "blue widgets"? Then be sure your visible title, copy and images are clearly focused on them.
2. Have a clean design
Imagine
you are taking a first date to a movie. Do you pick her up wearing your
pajamas in a dirty, trash-filled car? Or do you clean the car, wash
your face and dress to impress? Of course you want to impress her, so
you make sure you look (and smell) good.
It´s the same with
your site: Clean design, a nice text size and pages that don´t scroll
from here to eternity are going to float your first-time visitor-date´s
boat.
3. Write clearly and focus on your "date"
Waffle on
about yourself and your date will get bored. She wants you to be
interested in her. And in terms of your site, that means giving her
what she wants to know as quickly and succinctly as possible. This
comes down to your ability to write and communicate. So, if you are
like Steve Martin in "Roxanne", make sure you get a someone else (a
copywriter) to compose the lines to wow your "date" for you.
OK,
so let´s say you have successfully wooed your first-time visitor date.
He´s here and he has decided to stick around. You´re going steady,
getting to know each other a little more. That´s all you want, isn´t it?
No, it isn´t! You want to pop the question, of course!
Getting hitched
You´ve
made all this effort and spent money on getting your "date" this far,
so you want to get the most out of your investment, right? You want to
hear those sweet words, "I do":
I do... want to click your Adsense ads. I do... want to become a forum member. I do... want to buy that cool digital thingy.
So how do you turn a whirlwind romance into a successful proposal? Try these ideas for size:
Have clear navigation
You
want to make your date dizzy with excitement, not frustration! Make
sure you have clear, consistent, well-labeled navigation and make your
visitor-date´s time with you a pleasure, and not a reason to reach for
the Advil.
Have a clear proposition
What do you want your
visitor to do? Buy something? Sign up for something? Join something?
Whatever the point of your site is, it does have a point, right? So
don´t beat about the bush, and don´t hold back waiting for the right
moment: Make your "proposal", and make it clear and direct.
Happily Ever After...
You
thought that was the end of the story? Wait a minute, it´s not over
yet! I thought you were in this for a long-term relationship, not a one
night stand?
I know, you were thinking that having made all
that effort while you were dating, you could ease off now that you´re
"married". But don´t you know that the real rewards start here?
So what are the secrets of a long, blissful relationship with your visitors?
1. Feed them!
You
convinced him to come visit once. But how often will he come back if
all you give him are the same old leftovers? Cook him up something
juicy and delicious, and have him salivating for more:
Enliven
your content with new, relevant pages and, not only will you set the
search engine robots drooling, but you will also find you have a hoard
of visitors coming back for seconds. And in this age of
fast-(visitor)-food creation tools called blogs, there´s really no
excuse anymore.
2. Shower them with gifts
Everyone likes a gift - and not just on birthdays, anniversaries and at Christmas:
Money
talks, and if you are selling anything through your site, then
discounts and other offers to previous visitors and customers will draw
them back like magnets. Throw in tempting freebies as well and you will
have a potent marketing mix.
3. Send them "love" letters
Anyone
who has been in a long-distance relationship (like my wife and I were
for a year and a half), knows that if you can´t be together, the next
best thing is a letter or email. For your website, this means an
interesting ezine that is light on sales pitch and rich in information.
4. Start a family!
Not
literally! But you can create a "family" atmosphere by adding a forum
where your visitors can interact with each other - not just with you
and your site. People are social animals, so use a forum to keep them
coming back.
OK, so perhaps I overstated it a little in my
title. SEO is not dead, so don´t forget about it quite yet. Just
remember that it will only get you so far: If you want to actually
achieve anything with your site, then you need to focus on conversion
like a laser.
About the Author: Stephen Munday lives in Japan. His most recent project is http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/
where you can get your name in kanji or buy a beautiful personalized
Japanese calligraphy. This article is © Stephen Munday 2005 and may
only be reproduce as a whole with hyperlinks intact.
Source: www.isnare.com
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