If you run an online business, what’s the one primary consideration that you should be putting at the top of your agenda?
Well, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it would be increasing your turnover or maybe diversifying, but the crucial consideration every online business should be concerned about is customer engagement. The importance of this really can’t be overestimated. Promoting products or services on search engines isn’t really all that difficult: what is much trickier is making your business stand out from the rest. There are probably countless other businesses selling similar products to yours and targeting the same niche market, so you’ll have to deliver something unique to stand head and shoulders above the competition.
If you want to be seen as the go-to online seller you’ll need to look at your linked doorway pages and ensure they deliver what they promise.
Many users will click on links to landing pages and find that the information they’re given is nothing other than generic rubbish, or worse still discover that the content on the main website bears absolutely no relation to the sentiments outlined on the doorway page. They’ll then lose interest and go back to the search results and click on something better, or more relevant. Bounce rates are the curse of online businesses, but few businesses make the necessary changes to minimise their impact. Now you might laugh it off and think, well it’s only one customer so why worry, but the fact is each time a user bounces away from your website without signing up to one of your offers, one of your competitors will probably be benefitting.
So what can you do to reduce your bounce rates?
Well, the best advice is probably to be objective and impartial. Take a close look at your search engine link, and ask yourself what does it promise? Now click on the link and go to your webpage. Does the content on the site match the promises made in the link? Is the information useful? Are you telling the user why you’re the best company to do business with? Have you explained what makes your business different, or why you’re able to offer quality products at lower prices than your competitors? If you haven’t, then you’ve probably found the problem: the content on your website doesn’t grab attention, and is probably not relevant to potential customers. If the link page doesn’t grab the reader’s attention, then you won’t be selling anything. So, how can you put this right?
Forget the welcome messages – they’re irrelevant. Yes they might tell users who you are and what you do, but it isn’t strictly necessary. It’s far better to give out this information later. What your business should be doing is telling potential customers what you do better than anyone else, and why they should choose you. To achieve that you’ll need relevant and eye-catching content. So make sure your header tag is appropriate and, most importantly of all, ensure that it contains your keyword: after all, that’s the reason they’ve stumbled on your website in the first place.
You’ll also need to make sure your targeted keyword is prominent in the title tag too: for example, if you’re offering internet security services in Manchester, forget the generic welcome message, and instead lead with something that grabs the reader’s attention and hooks them in. Say something intriguing like ’the 6 simple internet security tips that every Manchester business should know.’ This grabs attention, is relevant and is also potentially interesting. What Manchester online business wouldn’t want to find out what these simple tips were and how they might be of benefit to them? The upshot of this is they’ll read on and click on the link. They certainly won’t bounce away.
