Website Conversion Basics: 5 Fast Ways to Boost Website Response NOW

The first (highly inadequate) iteration of this article’s title was going to be, “5 Quick Tips for Making Your Website More Effective”… and then I woke up. Thank goodness. Because what does that even mean?!

Well, website conversion, put very simply, is:

How well your website converts a casual browser to one who acts.

Although the specific “action” of course depends upon your goal and website type (blog/informational, direct sales/mini-site, e-commerce retail shop, etc.), a website can only be considered “effective” when it achieves its intended goal.

And that’s the key.

I’m redundantly breaking website conversion down in this way to get you thinking about the critical question:

What is my website designed to DO?

What goal do you expect it should achieve (action or sale)? Get specific and keep your objective in mind while we cover the five website conversion basics below.

To be considered effective, your website must:

1. Use navigation & design to DIRECT (actions) and SERVE (audiences).

And not just “any” audiences — yours.

Because when people come to your website, they’re there to achieve a goal. The goal or action you want them to take and the thing they are there to achieve are the same – just articulated in different ways.

For example, you want them to buy your grant writing book. They want information about grant writing. While they probably didn’t come to buy, they have come in search of information… and you can capitalize on that fact by leading them right to the goods.

• Is your site designed in such a way to allow them to easily achieve the goal?
• Can they get around easily… or are they easily lost?
• Does your site load sluggishly, causing them to bail before even seeing your offer?
• What info does your average user most want… and is this provided right away?

In other words, is the path to your desired goal perfectly clear?

If you’re the least bit uncertain, get with a business Web designer with a marketing background — or one who at least understands website conversion and results-focused design — and discuss ways to streamline, focus, and direct your traffic.

It’s critical.

2. Remove anonymity to boost credibility.

Are you an email address or a contact form? A phone number and a P.O. box?

There’s nothing wrong with having those things, but having them and *embodying* them are two very different Mohicans. Website conversion rates reduce drastically with excess anonymity. 

Exactly what are you hiding from? Better yet, why…?

“Make it easy to contact you. A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.”

[Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab: “What Makes A Web Site Credible? A Report on a Large Quantitative Study”]

Solopreneurs can use a service like Mail Boxes Etc. for a physical address.

Remember, most customers in most industries don’t necessarily want that “big business” feel. They want to be able to attach a face and a name to the company they’re about to give their business.

3. Choose a website size and layout suitable for YOUR audience.

“¡No me queda este sitio web!”

You don’t want your visitors to say “your website doesn’t suit them”… do you?

Then analyze your stats. Find the most common screen size and use that info to inform design and layout decisions. (No website just yet? For a simple site with seldom-changing content, try a resolution of 1024×768 to accommodate the narrower screen widths of those running a little behind the times.)

Don’t feel pressured to use “responsive design” if all you have is a simple three-page website for a service-based business, with content that never changes. A fluid-width website with a companion mobile site can be more than sufficient, for instance.

And likewise, if you have a blog or frequently changing news section on your website and want this info reflected across all media channels (desktop and mobile), it may then be in your best interest to take your “fluid width” website a step further, to consider a completely responsive design.

Here, website conversion rate hinges upon how well your content adapts to the user’s needs, and how accessible you’ve made it.

4. Use font to convey credibility…

…and personality. Font choices add character to Web pages, logos, and play a very important role in your audience’s perception of your business — and of you.

Don’t think something as silly as the appearance of word on a page would have any effect on website conversion?

Think again.

“Research has shown that the typeface (i.e., font) that is chosen for a Web site convey mood, attitude and tone; and can impact the perception of a company’s credibility.”

“Web pages presented in either a neutral or inappropriate typeface resulted in lower ratings for trust, professionalism, and believability.“ [Source]

Unless marketing directly to children, for instance, avoid using kiddy-style fonts like the dreaded Comic Sans (good heavens!). And even when marketing to children — don’t use it. Please.

5. Use colors to influence action.

Color plays a critically important subliminal role on your website. For example, green is often referred to as a “concentration” or “harmony” color. So on long-copy sales pages that feature a lot of text (where website conversion increases the longer and the more they read), using a green border, highlights, or background could be a very good move.

However, take care to note the nuances between meanings in different shades of the same color. For instance, in some sources, dark green is seen as a money color, while only the standard kelly green would be the concentration color. Sometimes, the effects you want can be interchangeable between color shades, but not always.

You can use color to your advantage, to make your website visitors feel energized, relaxed, focused, scared, angry, more prepared to buy… or almost any effect you can think of. The important thing to note when attempting to increase website conversion in this way, though, is to use colors that contrast enough to prevent parts of your website from becoming invisible for color-blind users.

Hint: Color blindness is definitely a consideration when using this website conversion tip. When designing with this disability in mind, you would actually avoid green, as the most common type of color-blindness (99%) is the red/green deficiency.

For more on color psych, read the Psychological Properties of Colors for some interesting details on how color influences… well, everything.

The Reveal:

There are certain foundational principles EVERY website must implement to be worth your organization’s time and investment.

Web design doesn’t matter if it doesn’t support your goals.

Does your website make the grade? If not, begin tackling and testing the above five aspects one-by-one… and website conversion will surely — and quickly — increase.