Here’s Why You’re Throwing Away 90% Of Your Traffic

With view counts slowly turning into it’s own form of currency, many site owners are learning that making the most of their audience really does lead to a healthier bottom line. In this article we’ll discuss a few simple quick fixes you can apply to your site to make the most of the traffic you’re already getting.

For the past few years, the core focus for website marketing has been all about bringing in as much traffic as possible through organic and paid search. With the recent growth of tools seen at HubSpot, inbound marketing has filtered down to be more prevalent among small businesses who are looking to adopt simple (and budget friendly) tactics to pull leads from their traffic.

The Aftermath of the Mobilegeddon

We’re at the point where users expect a mobile friendly site by default. As a rule of thumb, if you have to use more than one finger to properly navigate a site on mobile, it’s probably not well designed. Not only will not having a mobile friendly site cost you business, it will now cost you traffic after Google’s Notorious Mobilegeddon update.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this simple Google tool. Put yourself into the mindset of the viewer. Think about what will cause them to bounce early and optimize for it. Shoot for minimalism and leave only what’s completely necessary. Knowing that typically a mobile viewer spends less time on page than a desktop user you have to adjust to the mobile perspective.

One thing I like to remind people is that the average mobile user is usually using web browsing as a distraction or in between real world tasks.  Think about your own mobile viewing habits; if you’re like me you’re probably stuck in traffic or sneaking in some ‘me time’ during a bathroom break at work. Your site has to appeal to the mobile user in a quick and simple way, even the smallest flaw or bloat will cause them to switch over to instagram.

Working With What You Have

Traffic is useless without having some sort of collection tool in place. Many websites seem to settle for having a small email capture box in the footer but that’s just not going to cut it anymore. The past couple years have seen an explosion of integrated site tools spawning a new era of lead generation. Users are getting smarter and getting that sacred email is becoming somewhat of an art in itself. Here are just a few methods to make the absolute most of your traffic.

Zopim Chat Plugin – Have you ever seen those little green chat boxes at the bottom of a web page? Some people don’t have the time to pick up a phone and might not be quite ready to send you an email, but they likely do have questions. If you’re available to provide them with the answers they want right away, you’ll see a dramatic increase in conversions. Personally, I’ve picked up several pieces of work this way. This tool in particular plays off a fundamental rule of marketing – just be available for your customers. Google Analytics & Goal Conversions – If you haven’t got Google Analytics set up with goal conversions configured, you need to do that immediately! As I wrote in this article, Google Analytics is essential for any small business looking to generate any kind of success from its website. You can read all about setting up goal conversions in this article by SME Super Star Morgan Lucas. Once you’ve got goal conversions in place you’ll have some solid KPI’s to shoot for in the future. Like any other work in life you have to give yourself a goal to work towards to see real results.

Conversion Overlays – A conversion overlay is a website plugin that can be used to generate conversions in exchange for a valuable piece of content. A conversion overlay works by serving your targeted customer a tailored piece of content in exchange for their contact information, thus helping you generate leads and build your pipeline. What’s it worth to your business if you can achieve even a 1% increase in conversions? If you’re generating 10 or 20 new leads a month as a result? Lately these are being seen as a ‘necessary evil’ in marketing. We all find them annoying yes, but at the end of the day they will bring in leads. Rather than paying for leads in cash the old fashion way you now pay for them in views.

For example, we designed a conversion overlay specifically to help recruitment companies build their database of candidates. It can be customised to their brand and linked to a custom piece of content to help them convert potential candidates.

The Welcome Mat – Speaking of conversion overlays, we’ve found a way to make them more annoying! Just kidding…sort of. A welcome mat is a large overlay that instantly fills the screen of the user when they enter a specific page. You might be rolling your eyes right now wondering how anyone could think this is a good idea and normally you’d be right but the cold hard numbers speak for themself. Welcome Mats are working incredibly well generally seeing an even higher conversion rate than traditional overlays. Couple this method with a small overlay in the right rail and you’ll have two reliable lead generation tools funneling emails into your mailchimp account. Talk about simple.

Now Get Learning!

If this article has raised any questions for you and you’d like to investigate inbound marketing and the inbound model further, I would highly recommend starting with Hubspot Marketing Academy. It has everything you need to begin making the transition to inbound, and a tangible accreditation available at the end of your learning. This post is just the beginning and many concepts have been highly simplified.