Wondering how to increase conversions? This is where your website needs to get personal

The online space is direct, informal, conversational and immediate. It is one-to-one communication that benefits from genuine engagement and personality. This doesn't mean you bang on about yourself and how engaging you are. That is a big turn-off online (or anywhere!).

It means that you speak directly to your reader, in language that they understand, about material that is meaningful and useful to them, in a voice that is true to you and your business. That is how you will increase conversions online.

Work out what the ideal online conversion is for your business

In a shop, the ultimate conversion is a sale. On the football field, a conversion happens when a player has the ball close to goal and manages to get it through. Conversions of faith happen when a person sees things in a light they have never seen before.

For many businesses - especially service industries - a conversion is not necessarily a sale. A conversion is the completion of any action or function you have on your site - a sale, lead, membership or subscription.

What do you want your visitors to do? If you're unsure, read more about opt-ins here.

Once you understand what you want your online audience to do, your ability to increase conversions will soar.

Then apply best online practise to increase conversions

These are the six areas that will really help you to increase conversions online:

content, usability, imagery, opt-ins, auto-responders and measurement. If you pay close attention to these things, you can increase conversions by affecting your online visitors in two key ways. Compel them to take action (kick the goal) and encourage them to think differently (see things in a new light).

When actions are aligned with values you quickly transform curious prospects into loyal customers.

Testing and measuring are your foundation to increase conversions

Increasing conversions is not a set and forget activity. You can't put things in place and hope for the best. We see too many businesses put innovative conversion strategies in place, fail to test and measure, get disillusioned and end up missing out on the wealth of customers and sales that the internet can bring.

It's not hard to test, measure and amend conversion strategies. It just takes a bit of time and planning. Split testing of 'headlines', 'offer', 'opt ins', 'images', 'price points', 'bundles' etc will give you an insight into what works for you and what does not. Read up on testing and measuring here and please get in touch if you have any questions at all about the fastest and best ways to increase conversions on your website.