I was reading a great article on conversion optimization when this line stood out to me: Traffic generation is what you get. Conversion optimization is what you do with it.
I believe that sometimes we get so caught up in getting more and more traffic to our sites that we forget about the importance of what we do with that traffic when it gets there. You could have all of the site traffic in the world—without a contact us button, you won’t get any business from it. Conversion optimization for IT consultants can become a little tricky. It’s hard to avoid jargon and have a straightforward explanation of your business. If you’re an IT consultant struggling with conversion optimization, there’s plenty you can do to get your website visitors to convert. Here are just twenty tips to get you started.
1. Grab Attention with Eye-Catching Colors
When I say eye-catching, I’m not talking about a straight blue and orange website. But be sure to highlight your CTAs and pop-ups with an accent color that is ideally incorporated into your logo. This will make your buttons stand out and encourage visitors to pay attention to them.
2. Focus on Your Customer, Not Yourself
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who only talks about themselves? It’s not very exciting. A website that discusses only your business is just like that conversation. Instead, focus on the customer’s problem first and discuss your solution second.
3. Use the Right Graphics
What do the graphics look like on your website? Personalized graphics that provide viewers with relevant information can be an eye-catching and convenient way for visitors to learn, without reading paragraphs of text. Customize your graphics with your brand colors for optimal punch.
4. Make Conversion Easy
Where is your CTA on your blogs? On your home page? Don’t expect your visitor to scroll back up to the top or bottom to convert if they’re in the middle of a page. Make conversion optimization for IT consultants easy by placing a CTA button in the header, footer, and above the fold.
5. Be a Storyteller
Stories are transformative. They’re a great escape and have had a resounding impact on the fabric of our history. While your marketing is probably not going to make history, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be telling a story. In simple terms, look at your solution like a novel. The customer’s problem is the villain, the customer is the hero (who doesn’t like to be the hero?), and your solution is the guide.
6. Use Your Menu as a Sales Funnel
The navigation menu at the top of their website isn’t just arbitrary. Instead, the navigation buttons should mimic your sales funnel for conversion optimization for IT consultants. Start with the awareness stage (blogs), move into consideration (services/pricing), and end with the decision (CTA).
7. The Shorter Your Form, the Better
A commonly made mistake when it comes to conversion optimization for IT consultants is the length of landing page forms. No one wants to fill out a book in order to download a one-page whitepaper. Keep your form short and sweet—only ask for as much information as the download is worth.
8. Have One Goal per Landing Page
A generic landing page won’t convert. Create a different landing page for each download. For example, a landing page for that conference you’re hosting, another page for the whitepaper, and still another page for the downloadable infographic. Customizable landing pages can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and convinces your visitor to convert.
9. Place Your Buttons Strategically
Look at the data and place your CTA buttons accordingly. Where are your visitor’s eyes drawn? If it’s not to your CTA, it better be to a graphic that then points to the CTA. Get feedback from family and friends. If they can’t find the “Contact Us” button in the first 5 seconds, then you need to make some big changes.
10. Keep It Simple, Stupid
Too many times I have gone on to a website and had to poke around for quite some time before I was able to figure out what exactly a company did. The very first words on your website should make it self-evident what your services are.
11. Know Your Customer
For the best conversion optimization rate for IT consultants, you need to know who you’re talking to. After all, a website that is speaking to non-profits is going to look quite different from the one that’s speaking to Google-esque corporations. Understand your personas in and out and design your website’s content for your niche.
12. Always Have At Least Three Ways to Contact You
As the years go on and digital methods of communication continue to proliferate, it’s important that you accommodate multiple generations of website visitors and give them a way to contact you. While what methods of communication you offer will depend on your niche, always include at least the big three: contact form, office phone number, and email. This will ensure that you’re not missing out on the Baby Boomer who wants to call, or the young professional who would prefer email.
13. Cut the Jargon
This is it- this is one of the most common mistakes we see when it comes to conversion optimization for IT consultants. Too much jargon. It’s easy to fall into bad habits when creating content and using words like ROM and brandjacking can cause confusion that dilutes your message.
14. Imitation is Flattery, not Function
One of my coworkers just wrote a blog on this. Do not copy a competitor’s conversion optimization for IT consultants’ strategy and expect it to work for you. What you see on the surface may not be the whole story. Reverse engineering does not work. Analyze the strategy and learn from it, but do not copy it.
15. Go Back to the Data
As a data-driven company, we here at New North are a bit data-crazy. We live off of data and make all of our decisions based on it. When we’re designing a CRO strategy, we look at heatmaps, google analytics, and Hubspot to figure out where people are converting, why, and how we can improve. Use your data to guide your technique.
16. Include Different Conversion Levels
Some people who go on your site may still be lingering in the awareness stage. Others are ready for launch and looking to hit that commit button. Have different levels of conversion for each visitor. Block some blogs so you can convert those who are still just looking to learn more. But also provide comprehensive contact us forms at the end of your service pages for those who want to talk shop.
17. Make Sure Conversion Is Worth It
To be successful at conversion optimization, you need to ensure that you give what you get. You can’t ask someone for their salary information and home address, only to offer a measly infographic in return. If you’re asking for a lot of personal information, be clear up front that they will receive an in-person meeting or other high-value product in return.
18. Stay Away from Stock Photos
Few things are closer to blasphemy in the marketing world than using cheesy stock photos on your conversion pages. These are a huge turn off for visitors. They look unprofessional, are difficult to relate to, and the worst are just downright laughable. If you need to use free photos, look through Unsplash or Pexel first.
19. Be Helpful
If you’re asking a website visitor to convert on your site, your intentions need to be pure. Yes, you’re looking to make a sale—that’s what makes the world go ‘round isn’t it? But you should still be offering your visitors truly helpful, useful information in exchange for their time. If you look at your site and don’t see any relevant information that would actually help your customers, then it’s time to up your game. What issues are your customers dealing with and how can you provide content that helps?
20. Get Help from an Expert
Conversion optimization for IT consultants can be complicated. It takes expertise and knowledge to perfect the strategy that works for your business. If you don’t have years to spend working on that, get in touch with New North. We have proven techniques to help you grow your IT company. Learn more about our services today.