For any e-commerce business, conversions are essential to generate sales. But before you can convert leads into customers, you first need to generate traffic. An excellent way to get that inbound traffic moving along to optimize your landing page through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
An excellent example of explaining SEO and what constitutes good SEO traffic comes from MOZ, an SEO expert. Two things to consider are the quality and quantity of your traffic:
Quality of traffic. You can attract all the visitors in the world, but if they’re coming to your site because Google tells them you’re a resource for Apple computers when really you’re an apple farmer, that is not quality traffic. In other words, you’re not comparing apples to apples. Instead, you want to attract visitors who are genuinely interested in the products that you offer.
Quantity of traffic. Once you have the right people clicking through from those search engine results pages (SERPs), more traffic is better. A good amount of this would be through organic searches, where people are finding your site on their own, so you’re not paying for advertising to get them there.
Utilizing SEO properly goes a long way in driving traffic to your site. You can also help drive traffic by posting relevant content on social media like Facebook or Twitter.
Once you’ve got their attention, promote your goods or services in a clear, compelling way that persuades them to take action. How you present yourself can mean the difference between someone taking the next step or clicking away to visit a competitor’s site.
Understanding the conversion process
Now comes the conversion process. The first phase of the conversion process is turning a visitor to your site into a potential lead. If someone comes to your landing page and signs up to be on your mailing list, that is a conversion: You’ve turned a prospect into a lead. One great way to accomplish this is by providing the lead with a giveaway or a free trial.
Most landing pages offer some giveaway in exchange for an email address. If you’re selling software as your service, you can provide a free product demo for a prospective customer to try. Free demos let your customers test-drive your product before they commit. Customers also don’t feel anxious about committing to this because they know they can cancel if they feel the product doesn’t fit their needs.
If you’re a financially oriented business, for example, you could let your target audience download a free eBook that gives them financial tips on mutual funds.
Either way, if your offer doesn’t solve a problem or offer practical advice, anyone who visits your web site’s landing page won’t feel compelled to give you their email address. And that means no new lead.
The dollar signs come into play when you have converted that captured lead into a customer. Whether they are following you on social media, reading your blogs, or responding to any marketing materials, when they buy something from you, they are now a customer. So follow up with your customers, answer any questions they may have, and don’t be afraid to ask for the sale.
converting leads into customers
