Simply put, content and internal links are said to be the keys to success. How can websites be designed along these criteria without losing sight of conversions? From a usability (and conversion) point of view, a wall of text is just as undesirable as overhanging and unclear navigation menus. Are we stuck with the clash between SEO and conversion optimization?

To keep it short: no! Websites can be optimized for search engine crawlers as well as user conversion. Not only can they be optimized for both, but they should be. A full scope analysis, with both SEO and conversion optimization experts at the table, guarantees a user and search engine friendly website design. Conversion rate optimization is very important for a website’s success. The earlier this exchange takes place, the more time, stress, and unnecessary costs can be saved in the end.

Optimizing the conversion rate is crucial for a website’s success, because rather than taking the expensive and costly route of always buying more traffic, you can take advantage of streams of existing users. Reservations about conversion optimization are often heard, that tests influence Google rankings, or that changes can’t be made to the page without negatively influencing on-page optimization. This is somewhat short-sighted, since conversion optimization and SEO fit together very well.

Testing does not influence rankings

For Google and co., these tests are completely undetectable. All leading testing-tools work with JavaScript (AJAX) to replace the page’s original content with text content in the browser. Since the HTML source code is unchanged, the tests have no effect on search engine rankings. Furthermore, Google supports conversion optimization with its website optimizer and the Google Conversion Professionals program, and emphasizes somewhat that such JavaScript replacement are not interpreted as spamming.

On-page optimization for SEO and better conversion rates are not mutually exclusive

Websites with good conversion rates can be listed at the top of organic searches. When conversion specialists and experts work together for SEO, such as the case is with QUISMA, each new test variant allows for the best possible on-page optimization. Moreover, many SEO relevant adjustments can be made to conversion-optimized pages without affecting the conversion rate.

To take a closer look at overhanging  menus from the introduction: for usability and conversion, a compact and well-arranged menu could be placed at the top of the page. Further down on the page, all of the subcategories can be listed and linked. This achieves a compromise where both goals are compatible with each other.

Finally, all traffic should be measured well to see if it leads to a good conversion rate. If new users gained by SEO don’t generate any revenue due to bad usability, then the search engine optimization was for nothing. Accordingly, holistically thinking SEOs will keep conversion rate in mind, and use the conversion rate optimization to ensure that the client benefits from good results in the end.

(Original article was published in German at Twoqubes.com)

The author

Jörg Dennis Krüger (Xing/LinkedIn) is Senior Manager Conversion Optimization at QUISMA – a GroupM company.

“Did anyone get the license plate of the copywriter who just hit me?”

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is an example I created on the fly.

“We are the premier integrated supportability assessment module provider, specializing in custom configurations, enterprise level integrations and pre-configured appliance maintenance. We offer solutions to shorten sales cycles, extend existing applications and deploy a wide range of platforms all within web 2.0 compliant support modules. Fully integrated with standard retention management solutions, we can install our platform into any enterprise release schedule.”

That was pretty bad, but I don’t think I’m too far off from actual “Corporate Speech” found out in the wild.

Speaking in terms of converting, this stuff doesn’t.

I’m sure you are all familiar with KISS and WIIFM. But strangely enough, we forget them so often when writing marketing copy.

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!) – This is key. With my experience in consulting people on conversions, simple always wins the day. I know your target audience is smart, but simple copy resonates louder.

“Reduces costs and shortens sales cycles” can be turned into “Saves you money and brings you sales”

WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) – This may come as a shock to some of you big companies out there, but nobody cares what you do. If your copy includes a lot of “We” then you are probably stuck in the cycle of talking about how awesome you are. Your copy should include a lot of “You” with a lot of benefits.

“You will grow your business, You will get more sales, You will outpace your competition, You will retain more customers.”

Take a hard look at your copy, be honest with yourself and have the courage to change it. The difference might mean that “You will get more conversions!”

However, usability – which means conversion optimisation – is not just about testing. Testing is indeed vital and is the fastest way to obtain meaningful information on visitor behaviour. First, however, test variants have to be developed.

So everything starts with the drafting of possible display variants. Drafts can be done on paper or using tools like Visio, Powerpoint or – my favourite – Pidoco (former RapidRabb.it).

During such a prototyping phase, different presentation possibilities can be tried out, although, at least at the beginning, you won’t be able to test all of them. This phase is vital as it creates a good basis for testing: especially at the start, test variants, which first need to be developed, should differ as much as possible.

Example prototype of an alternate start page for an online shop created with pidoco

The creation of such a prototype draft does not require a graphic artist, but knowledge about the website, its visitors and the products. After the elements and different forms of presentation have been planned in this step, they serve the graphic artist as a useful basis for the creation of the web design. This also limits the number of correction runs as many obstacles have been overcome beforehand and many misunderstandings have been prevented.

The realised websites are then ready for testing.

This approach is also very recommendable for the planning of multi-variant tests, as, based on a basic pattern which often has to be found first, different elements can be developed before the work-intensive graphic design process starts.

In this way, good prototyping can also save a lot of time and money in the area of conversion optimisation, allowing for a much more focused testing process.

The author

Jörg Dennis Krüger (Xing/LinkedIn)  is the founder and CEO of Optimeister – Conversion Optimization with a guarantee for success. The German online optimisation agency offers a complete optimisation service for landing pages, websites and online shops. Optimeister uses Vertster for its projects and offers support to Vertster users in German-speaking countries.

1.  Your conversion action happens on another  site, which you have no control over: This is a surprisingly common occurrence in larger companies as well as for affiliate marketers.  The best thing to track in this case is any outbound clicks to the remote site which represent a purchase or lead straight to the checkout process.

2. Your IT department refuses to put conversion tracking code on the thank you page: Just as above, the trick here is to track the final event, whether it is a click on the “checkout” button, or a click on the last step of the checkout process.  The later in the process, the better.  You can also grab revenue for the order at this point, and if you want to be even more accurate, reduce the purchase amount to match the “throughput” of the un-measured steps.

In other words- if you can only track up to the “checkout” point, and you know that 50% of people clicking “checkout” will actually complete the process, reduce the revenue figure for each transaction by 50% to better approximate average order value and revenue per visitor.

3. You are optimizing yield from banner ads or some other outbound link (such as affiliates): In this case, mark clicks on the outbound links.  If you have information about the value of each click, you may pass this to the reporting tool along with the click.

4. You are pushing leads to a remote aggregator: In this case, you may be hosting a lead form on your site, which posts to a remote URL of a lead aggregator or marketplace.  There are two possibilities here- either attach the conversion event to a click on the “submit” button, or bind to the form submission.  Either way will truthfully record the conversion occurrence without requiring a code snippet on the thank you page.

The solution to these scenarios

The only way for this to work is if your conversion tracking system provides for click event tracking.  Another way to do it is by adding a “taking you to your destination” page which can then display the normal conversion pixel, but this is not very desirable.

If this takes off and gets traction, it has the potential to strongly alter how conversion takes place. Your loosely controlled meta description will no longer matter at getting people to your site- your actual design will! This search engine does away with tradition search results and uses an iTunes inspired “cover flow” to display website screenshots.

On a large screen, it is easy to pick out the primary value proposition and read key copy- if it exists. With this site, I can quickly make a decision as to whether or not a site even stands a chance at getting my business- without even visiting it.

Personally, I think this is one of the coolest technologies I have seen in a while, and have only begun to debate the long term implications on conversion. Certainly many of the same things still apply, but now you have to balance “organic search juice” with a compelling design and clear messaging.

This is something top sites have done a great job at for a long time, so it may be nothing new to them. But a quick glance through several searches on Searchme.com and it became clear- if this idea takes off, sites which don’t strongly embrace conversion oriented design don’t stand a chance.

Warm Regards,

Scott Miller, CEO

When I look at a page for the first time, I examine it under the premise of a simple framework I call the three C’s of conversion. It goes like this:

Does your landing page:

1. Capture the attention of the visitor?
2. Communicate your primary value proposition to the visitor?
3. Close the sale, lead, or other offer you are making?

Each of these steps are essential to boosting conversion. On my snow-delayed flight out of Chicago, I thought I should add one more C to the equation: the Customer!

Obviously, with no customer, there is no sale!

The reason this is important is simple: upon arrival to your site, the customer has some expectation in mind, something he or she was looking for. In order to capture, communicate and close, your site must be as relevant as possible to this customer.

In the coming days I will be sharing more specific recommendations and insight on analyzing and improving your Cs of conversion.

Warm Regards,

Scott Miller, CEO

Author of “The ConversionLab.com,” The worlds first “How to” guide to testing and optimization. Visit http://www.conversionlab.com/ for a special offer!

There is no doubt that a well optimized offer page, e-commerce system, etc. can be an incredible competitive advantage. But let’s rewind for a moment and consider what a perfectly optimized offer is…

As I said at SES three weeks ago, optimized offers combine the perfect benefit, perfect amount of risk reversal, perfect amount of scarcity, and perfect unique value proposition for the state of mind the customer is in at the moment they see they offer.

Now unless your offer is identical to your competitors, and your customer’s are the same, your “optimized” offer is going to be different than theirs. The only time offers truly converge is in a commodity marketplace, where nearly every competitor is identical and everyone competes on price.

Now I am not saying to go posting your secret optimized recipes for the world to see, but its food for thought. Do you really need to be paranoid? I think not.

Warm Regards,

Scott Miller, CEO

Author of “The ConversionLab.com,” The worlds first “How to” guide to testing and optimization. Visit http://www.conversionlab.com/ for a special offer!

The answer is rather simple, and here is my favorite metaphor. Web Analytics is like looking in your rearview mirror for the turn or business you just missed. It’s all about what has already happened.

Multivariate testing (MVT) is like having a GPS for your website. A GPS tells you the optimal way to get to your destination, where to turn, and how long it will take. MVT similarly will tell you the best way to build your site to get the most sales the fastest.

The question you must ask yourself: Does your business run by looking in the rearview mirror? Are you reactive or proactive?

But what about us who live hundreds or thousands of miles away?

The press coverage has been more than constant- its been downright transfixing. Anyone who knows someone living near New Orleans or who has been through a hurricane probably spent a little extra time watching the news today… and a little less time surfing the web or “taking care of business.” Not to mention the pervasive online news coverage and blogs pulling eyeballs and dollars away from our sites.

To make matters worse, the threat of spiking gas prices has many people hitting the brakes on purchase decisions. We noted a significantly lower conversion rate today on at least a couple of our “key indicator” tests. It seemed more like a Saturday than a Monday.

We use the term noise to refer to any uncontrollable factor that can affect the outcome of our tests, whether it is a positive or negative change. Split testing helps to disperse the effect equally within the test battery, but it doesn’t always eliminate an uncontrolled bias from entering the test results.

Take for example, a site that sells flood insurance. If this was you, today was probably a great day for sales, perhaps even record breaking. Would today be a good day to get repeatable test results? I think not. The winning creative today probably would be the one with the shortest and easiest order form. Today, many people wouldn’t need much convincing. Normally, the best pulling message might be a completely different appeal altogether. Basing your test results on today’s data, even if statistically significant, would lead you to erroneous assumptions.

If optimizing your landing pages are not on the list, you need to take a serious look at why not. The cost of advertising, doing business, just existing on the web continues to increase.

Optimizing is a way to make your dollars work harder. Double your lead flow, and the cost per lead is cut in half!

One of the best techniques for optimizing your sites effectiveness is to test. If you are not testing, how do you know what you are currently doing is the best you can do?

To find out, sign up for a risk free trial with Vertster and get going!