What do small businesses typically do with their websites?
*crickets chirp*
All too often, nothing.
Each tip additionally includes checklist items, urls to more info, and helpful tooltips for terms that you may be unfamiliar with.
Even those businesses who keep it updated, add fresh composition, and have mild success often aren’t getting nearly as much in return as they could be.
So how can your small business manufacture more sales and more money from your website? The tips below can prepare a big difference in the revenue that flows into your site.
Tip 1: Decide precisely What You Want
If I asked you what you want from your small business website, you’d probably tell me you want it to manufacture you more money. Okay, fair ample, but that’s not specific decent. For now, choose 1 SMART goal and 1 only, such as “Increase online sales by x% within the next 3 months”. Of course, you should be realistic here, and don’t choose 1000%! 20% might be a good number to start with, but your goal is your goal, and it may not even be about money, so you decide. The takeaway here is to actually have a specific goal to work towards.
SMART Goal: _______________________________________________________
Tip 2: Prepare To Measure Results
How will you know whether your site is achieving your goal, or failing miserably, whether you aren’t prepared to measure those results? Set up Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools today, whether you haven’t already done so, and next proceed to Tip #3.
Note: You could use another analytics tool, but Google Analytics is free, is used by the huge majority of sites which use analytics, and there are plenty of tips, tutorials, and support for it from users everywhere.
Google Analytics is set up and is tracking my site’s visitors.
Google Webmaster Tools is set up and is connected to Google Analytics.
How to set up Google Analytics
How to set up Google Webmaster Tools and connect it to Google Analytics
Tip 3: What’s Happening Right Now?
Before you implement a plan of attack or measure the results of implementing that plan, you have to know where you stand right now. reply the following questions.
- How do society find my website now? (Your referring sites)
- Add that Custom report to your Google Analytics detail. Just go on that link to add it: https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=GpIUHrDYTF2qzxrs_UmA-Q
- Change the number of rows to show (bottom right).
- Export (top menu) whether needed.
- What is the need that brings public to your site? (The keywords)
- In Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > Keywords > Organic
- Click on “not provided”
- Choose secondary dimension dropdown and choose Traffic Sources > Landing page
- Log into Google Webmaster Tools and go to Search Traffic > Search Queries
- Click the Top Pages tab at the top of the screen
- Click each URL to see the keyword phrases that drove traffic to the page
- What do citizens read, look at, or go on the most on our site? (Your top content)
- In Google Analytics, go to:
- Behavior > Site subject matter > All Pages
- Behavior > Site composition > Landing Pages
- What navigation or other urls do citizens go on the most? (Visitor behavior)
- In Google Analytics, go to:
- Behavior > In-Page Analytics
- Is your site meeting the needs of visitors? (Bounce rate)
- What are your top entry pages?
- Bounce Rate – 30-40% or less is ideal, but varies widely (as much as 50-70% being acceptable)
- For high bounce rate entry pages, where’s the gap? Compare why you created the page and what brought visitors to it. Fix the gap. (Change substance or Calls To Action as needed, or change how you promote the page by focusing on a different promotional phrase)
Custom report added to Google Analytics
Learn more from the amazing Annie Cushing who shared that report originally on SearchEngineLand.
or:
Reviewed list of keywords that bring visitors to my site
Search: Not Provided: What Remains, Keyword notes Options, the Future *advanced
or…
Reviewed my site’s top content
Documented entry pages with high bounce rates
Should You concern About Your Bounce Rate?
Tip 4: Don’t disregard The notes!
If I had to guess, I’d bet that 90% of small businesses that have analytics never look at them! And of those that do, many only glance at the numbers, wonder what it all means, and walk away. Be among the few who actually analyze the results so you can take action! whether number crunching isn’t your thing, find someone who lives and breathes that stuff. Paying for analysis will be a good investment!
I can increase the traffic I get from ___________________ by [doing what?] _________________ [interacting more with users of that social network, responding questions from users of that forum, etc…]
I am not getting the traffic I expected to get from _________________ so I will _____________________ to prepare that happen.
Google Analytics Certified Partners
Tip 5: Every Visitor Is A First Date
While Tip #4 deals with bringing in traffic, that tip will gently remind you to spend more duration focusing on your current traffic instead. The common catch phrase is that it’s five times easier and cheaper to sell to current users than it is to acquire and sell to new users. You have visitors coming to your site right now who are being treated like the lonely wallflower at a party. Instead of ignoring their needs and desires while scrambling to obtain more and more new visitors, treat your current visitors the way you’d treat a first term. Before you take someone out on that first date, you’ve probably determined what they like: favorite foods, music preferences, etc. You plan the period around their likes and interests considering you want to produce a good first impression, and you want to get a second moment.
The same holds true with your visitors. Go back to Tip #3 and act upon what you’ve discovered there. Pay attention to what your visitors needed when they landed on your site, what they liked once they got there, and what they didn’t find when they bounced right back to the search results. Give them what they want and give them more of what they liked. that is the quickest way to a second moment with your current visitors!
I am creating new subject matter or editing existing subject matter to match more closely with what my current visitors are searching for, and what they are interested in.
Building Loyalty The Lady Gaga Way: Focus On 1% Of Your Customers
Tip 6: It’s All About Conversions!
Unless your goal in Tip #1 was to simply show off your website, but you don’t care about increasing revenue, you absolutely must concentrate on conversions. CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is a broad topic that we could spend months discussing, but it really all boils down to that.
Turn your visitors into customers by making it easy and compelling for them to do what you want them to do.
- Want a visitor to go a Buy Now button?
- Hope a visitor signs up for your newsletter?
Whatever your goal is, the key to achieving that goal is to get a visitor to take the essential action. whether you want a visitor to visit that Buy Now button, you need to produce that Call To Action a PRIME FOCUS. Don’t distract the visitor with 100 other possibilities.
Make the choice either very prominent or perhaps even the only choice. form the choice compelling. pop quiz various ways of wording your signal to Action (which may be a button, a text link, or a form) to determine what works best for your visitor (A/B tests are the simplest). possibly Buy Now won’t convert the best for you. Perhaps “Get Started” or “Start Losing Weight Now” will work better.
You won’t know what works best without examining, and evaluating is useless whether you don’t manufacture it drop-dead easy for the users to know what you want them to do in the first place!
I’m making certain users know what I want them to do
I’m evaluating various Calls To Action to see what converts best
How to Run A/B Tests That Give Your Business Big Wins
Tip 7: Get Decent Hosting!
Nothing turns away visitors faster than a site that loads too slowly or not at all. There are tons of hosting company choices, and some of the most popular are the very worst!* You may already have a great host, but whether not, do yourself a favor and choose a virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated server from Hostgator** or whether using WordPress, WP Engine** is highly recommended.
* Never ever use Godaddy to host your website. Just trust me on that.
I’ve committed to using a good hosting company.
Tip 8: Back It Up, Back It Up, Back It Up!
Ignore that tip and you will one day regret it. Backup your site – automatically and often! The chances are high that something, somewhere, will cause your site to be deleted or hacked, and when it is, you’ll handle it like a pro whether you have recent site backups. whether not, you’ll be crying in your virtual soup.
Most sites consist of both files and databases, and both need to be backed up. There are many ways of doing that, but I’ll construct it simple for you. whether you don’t already have back up your site’s files and databases – automatically and often – next choose one of these options to compose it happen. whether your host uses CPanel, choose BackupSmart**. whether your host doesn’t include CPanel, or you’re using WordPress, BackupBuddy** is a great option. whether your circumstances require some other scheme of backup, and you don’t know where to turn, get in touch and I’ll help you find a good solution.
My site is backed up often and automatically
Why Backing Up Your Website Is So Important
Tip 9: On The World Wide Web, The Pretty Sites Get The Most Trust
I don’t care whether yours is the most honest business on the planet, whether your site is an ugly duckling, visitors won’t trust it, and you will lose money. public are prone to making snap judgments based on beauty, and that applies tenfold to websites. Use a professional design! While it may be ideal to hire a design guru to overhaul your site’s design, the cost of that is often quite high. You can still get that professional, reliable look even whether you can’t afford a high-priced designer. Whether your site is based on WordPress or not, Themeforest** themes and templates will assemble your site shine and most importantly, give a sense of trustworthiness to your users, without you having to break the bank to manufacture it happen.
I’ve got a beautiful, professional, reliable design
Prettier websites manufacture for more trusting web surfers, study finds
Tip 10: Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Accomplished all of the above? Think you’re done? Not unless you enjoy seeing the well dry up. decent with the mixed metaphors. What I’m saying is that you should cycle through the tips above on a continual basis. There will always be plenty of ways you can improve your site, cater to your visitors, and earn more money. As day goes on, you’ll see that user needs change, but whether you’re consistently focusing on the above tips, you’ll be able to react to those changes, and fill the needs faster than your competition.
I’m continually analyzing, implementing, and testing
The Lean Analytics Cycle: Metrics > speculation > Experiment > Act
Get the most out of your website by focusing on these ten tips. What will that bring? More sales, more money, happier customers.
** Disclosure: The products mentioned use affiliate hyperlinks. whether you purchase a product via an affiliate link, I will be paid a commission directly from the company that sells the product. You, however, will never pay more for the product considering of the affiliate link. Any recommendations I invent for products are made considering I believe it to be a product that would be of significant benefit to you.
Original post by Donna Fontenot