What is a high converting website?
When we talk about web design, there’s a lot to cover including the term “high converting website”. There’s the look and feel of the site, as well as the content that fills it. There’s writing copy, choosing images, creating structure—and then there’s the coding. All of these aspects have to work in harmony for your site to be successful, but there are some elements that are more important than others when it comes to the end goal: conversions.
Simply put, a high converting website is one that has been designed in such a way that it makes users take action—whether that means buying something or subscribing to an email list or simply leaving their contact information so you can follow up later.
We’ve seen our fair share of small business websites over the years—pretty ones, ugly ones, and everything in between—but every now and then we come across one that just has something extra special. Maybe it catches our eye with a striking color scheme or draws us in with engaging copy.
Whatever it is, we know immediately that this person must have spent time and effort on their website because it looks so good. This is a high-converting website because all of these elements are working together to encourage users to take action.
A conversion-focused website needs a clean navigating path
It’s important to make your site easy to navigate, but that doesn’t mean you have to dumb it down. One of the most powerful ways to use navigation is to guide your visitors through a logical path that converts them into customers.
For example, if you’re selling a highly complex product, you might have several informational pages on your site that tell people about the benefits and options of that product.
If someone wants more information, they can click on a link at the bottom of the page for a free consultation—this gives them the opportunity to ask questions before they make up their minds about purchasing, and if they do decide to buy, it’s easier for you to close the sale because you understand their needs.
High conversion-focused website must have effective headlines
When we’re talking about headlines, we’re not just talking about blog titles. Your homepage’s headline is one of the most important parts of your entire website. It’s the first thing people will see when they visit your site, and it can determine whether they stick around or click away. There are tons of different formulas for good headlines, but a few common recommendations include creating urgency (Get a stunning website TODAY), making a promise (We can help you improve your business), or showing a result (How we helped our client get 58% more conversions).
Let’s look at each one individually:
– Urgency: Create a sense of “this offer ends soon” or “do this NOW before it’s too late.”
– Promise: Tell people what you can do for them, and how much better off they will be once you’ve done it.
– Result: Show results that your product or service has achieved for other customers, and highlight any numbers that support those results.
You may have noticed that these recommendations are similar to what experts recommend for writing effective calls to action (CTAs). That’s because your headline is essentially just another form of CTA.
High conversion-focused website is mobile responsive
The days of people using their computers as their only way to access the internet are long gone. Nowadays, most people have smartphones, and if they don’t, they have a tablet or another device that isn’t a computer.
Desktop browsing isn’t the most popular form of browsing anymore. In fact, it hasn’t been for 4 years now, even since mobile browsing overtook it in 2016.
In 2018, 58% of website visits were from mobile devices, which means that more than half of your website visits are very likely to not be from desktop. What you can do is make your website responsive, if you hadn’t already.
Responsive websites are websites that can be accessed from all devices, both big and small, and if your website isn’t one of them, people who aren’t on the desktop will have issues accessing your website, if they can even open it, that is. To make sure that all of the visitors will be able to look at your products and purchase them, choose a responsive website theme.
All high converting websites are responsive, with no exceptions giving you a point for your SEO.
A high converting website has highly visible call-to-actions
When it comes to creating optimized conversion-focused websites, you should pay special attention to the call-to-actions (CTA). A CTA is any button or link that prompts the user to do something like click, buy, subscribe, download, etc.
Multiple studies have shown that red call-to-action buttons perform better than buttons of all the other colors. Red is the color of urgency and it is very striking, so these results aren’t really surprising if you think about it.
Button shapes and placement matter, as well. Rounded buttons perform better than plain rectangular ones and when it comes to placement, CTA buttons placed above the fold give better conversion rates, since it’s harder for users to miss them.
The text you put in your button matters as well. Instead of using generic texts like “click here” you should use action verbs that clearly show what the user will get when they click on that button. For example: “Download now!” or “Get your free ebook!”
