So you’ve been working hard on your brand building and SEO, your website traffic is up, and yet your sales are not. That points mainly in one direction. Your website needs a few fixes. Luckily, these are usually pretty quick to sort out.
5 quick fixes to improve conversion on your website
- Consistent conversion colours
- Write content in plain English
- Simplify your navigation
- Include your prices and make them easy to find
- Make sure all important content is scannable
Let’s take a look at each of these a bit more closely.
1. Use consistent conversion colours across your website
Ok, you got me. I’m not a designer. I have, however, been working in websites for 12 years now and this is one of the most consistent choices I see made by website designers. Within your brand’s colour palette, select the colour that will be associated with conversion. Ideally, you’ll have a primary and secondary conversion colour.
This is the colour you want to enclose forms in, use for CTA backgrounds, and buttons for your primary conversion (typically book, enquire, buy, etc.)
Why this works: people will subconsciously come to associate that colour with taking the next step. Whenever they see it throughout the site, they’re encouraged to take action. If this colour sits in clear contrast to other colours on the site as well, it helps to make the process and next steps crystal clear, no matter where someone is on the site
2. Write your content in plain English
My whole tagline situation is “no jargon, no bullshit” for a reason. And it has been that since I launched this business in 2022. Because, frankly, there is no space for jargon in marketing. Especially with how fucking busy everyone is these days.
Just about every industry is saturated at the moment. If you give someone a reason to pause (in this case to try to figure out what the fuck you’re even saying), you’ve already lost them. There are so many other people they can go to. Keep things plain and simple. But don’t be afraid to inject a bit of personality.
Why this works: Your website represents what you’re like to work with as a company or service provider. If your copy is clear, well formatted, and transparent, people will expect you’re easier to work and communicate with. If your site is full of jargon and long ass paragraphs because you think it makes you sound clever, your audience is going to feel alienated (or worse, bored) and just go elsewhere. Clear copy builds trust and among *gestures broadly at everything* trust is increasingly important.
3. Simplify your navigation
It is widely considered as UX (user experience) best practice to limit your main navigation to a total of 7 options, including the contact button. So if you have 15 top level navigation options, you’re going to discourage action as your audience sits in analysis paralysis.
This doesn’t mean you can only have 7 pages. It just means you need to focus on categories with an index page at the top and child pages (or product pages) below them. If you’re a service-based business, this could look like grouping all of your services under one index page or splitting them into two categories if that makes more sense.
You should also avoid going more than 3 pages deep in your navigation. In most cases, there’s no need to go beyond 2 levels (e.g. services/website-copywriting)
I’ve been creating sitemaps and navigation redesigns for people for over a decade, so if you need a hand with this one, get in touch and we can talk it through. Because there isn’t a one size fits all solution for sitemap consolidation.
Why this works: More than 7 options at the top level creates analysis paralysis and decision fatigue. Your navigation menu is the best way to summarise what your business does in as few words and steps as possible. Keep it clear and simple so folks can assess quickly if you could be the right fit. The clearer you make it at first glance, the more likely they are to hang around. And click around for more information.
4. Include your prices and make them easy to find
Whether it’s in my 1:1s with freelancers or in my website projects, this is a discussion I have time and time again. In the UK especially, we seem to have this weird hang up about money that I will never understand. We don’t discuss salaries, talking about money is considered rude or embarrassing. And frankly I say fuck that.
When you’re running a service-based business, you will always be competing on price. That doesn’t mean the cheapest option always wins. There is a lot of power in perceived value as well. Clearly stating your prices on your website will make you more competitive. People know what they’re getting into, you’re more likely to make a shortlist, and folks who want to work with you but can’t afford it yet know what they need to budget. Everyone wins
But I create bespoke quotes for every client. I hear this one a lot too. ‘From’ prices are your friend. For example, my top level website projects start from £7,500 and my smaller projects for freelancers start at £3,000. Those prices, along with what’s included are all clearly displayed on my website copywriting page.
Why this works: it helps to pre-qualify leads, which saves you a lot of time and improves your overall sales conversion rate. Transparency makes you more trustworthy and having your prices clearly displayed also helps your prospects to narrow down their options.
5. Make sure all of your content is scannable
Speaking of making things easy to find, let’s talk about how you format your website copy. Headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs will all help you out here. As a copywriter, it’s a bitter pill to swallow that no one will read every word on a page. But it is my job to make sure that at a bare minimum, all of the key information is found easily at a scan.
On a typical service page for example, all of the following should be visible at a quick scan:
- What’s included
- Pricing
- Timeline
- Testimonial
- Button or form to book
All with crystal clear headings, clear content design, lots of white space (no, it doesn’t have to be white, it’s just a term for blank space so the page isn’t too crowded), and well-selected content formatting like bullet point lists, bold, etc.
Why this works: Someone is on your website for key information first. They’ll take the time to read things like case studies, additional content, your about page, etc. later. The clearer the website, the better the impression you give. No one is going on your site to figure out riddles or search for information they need.
Your website isn’t really about you
Your website is about your customers. How you understand the issues you’re trying to solve, how you solve them, and how working with you will make their life easier not harder. That first impression begins subconsciously. If your website is well organised and easy to understand, you show your prospective clients that you operate in the same way. This doesn’t mean you need to create a total yawn fest. There’s still plenty of place for personality that doesn’t confuse things.
More UX and website conversion resources
- Your homepage H1 could make or break your website
- Content design and website copy: why you can’t have one without the other
- How to write CTAs and button text that keep people on your website
- 404 pages: how to turn shitty UX into a good experience
- More pages doesn’t equal better SEO or website performance
I’m giving you all of this information for free. Imagine what we could do if we worked together. If your website is getting good traffic but shit leads, let’s have a chat and see what we can do to fix that.