5 replies to this topic

[SEMMatt]

Hello,

I think that I'm experiencing what could only be called; a "stopping point" in my online marketing efforts for a particular client. You see, after establishing online marketing goals, doing keyword research, optimizing for those keywords, updating content, getting inbound links one thing is clear (from reviewing the analytics data). We're getting more traffic and more targeted traffic which is great plus have above average rankings. The problem is while the conversion rates are great for a certain type of searcher they are horrible for the rest (namely the many new people we've brought on to the site). And the certain searcher who converts is one that’s already looking for our website; meaning they already know about us and are just trying to find us online and search by our name. I’m curious what kinds of things do y’all suggest doing to “market” to these other online searchers who look like they should be converting because of what they search for but are not. Any good books anyone can recommend?

Thanks.

[Jill]

Perhaps the keyword phrases you've optimized for are not as targeted as you originally thought?

[Randy]

Step 1: Make an effort to understand what these non-converting visitors are actually looking for. There are lots of different ways to start to do this, ranging from asking some to complete a survey when they're exiting in exchange for something, say a discount or free shipping or something if/when they purchase. Or sometime you can simply analyze the traffic patterns within the site. The more you find out about who they are, what they do and what they're looking for, and what expectation your site if failing to meet, the better you can make it for everybody.

Step 2: Really analyze where the drop out is taking effect by reviewing the site's analytics and looking for patterns. Are people coming to just one page and bolting? Are they getting into the shopping cart and dropping out before they complete their order? You'll probably find a couple of places that are the major drop out points. Once you know where it's happening it's a lot easier to start figuring out Why.

Step 3: Armed with your new Customer Profile that (hopefully) better matches your non-converting visitors and an idea of where the drop outs are occurring you can start start conducting some A/B Split or Multivariate Testing on those pages to see what makes a positive difference.

This is where it gets exponentially more difficult to give general advice without knowing any of the details. As a general rule though you need to understand who your visitors are, what their hot buttons are, how to trigger those and keep them hot all the way through the checkout process.

[torka]

You may find some additional useful information on maximizing conversions in one or more of these places:

GrokDotCom
Marketing Experiments
Psychotactics

--Torka

[Michael Martinez]

... And the certain searcher who converts is one that’s already looking for our website; meaning they already know about us and are just trying to find us online and search by our name....

Are these returning visitors? Most research today indicates that consumers do a lot of research before making a final purchase decision. You may simply have a longer pipeline process than you realize, and you have to cultivate a stronger relationship with first-time visitors so that they feel more compelled to search for your site when they are ready to make a purchase.

It's not a bad thing to have a long lead time and multi-touch conversion process as long as you understand what is happening and manage that process well.

[SEMMatt]

Thanks Michael. In this case I actually just mean to say that they are searching for our brand. I've gotta check to see if they're returning visitors or not.
M