How to Build a WordPress Website to Get More Conversions
One of the main focus areas for anyone who starts a new WordPress website is to get more traffic. More often than not, they focus most of their efforts entirely on SEO and do not pay much heed to anything else.
But, what about the site visitors to come to your website and simply leave?
It is just as important to get your site visitors to convert as it is to get new visitors. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) techniques come into the picture.
CRO can help you engage your site visitors and get them to take the desired actions.
Wondering how that works?
Well, that’s what this post is all about. In this post, you will learn 9 brilliant ways in which you can optimize your WordPress website for more conversions.
Ready to learn more?
Let’s get started.
1. Design Optimized Landing Pages
One of the most important things for getting more conversions on any website is the landing pages. Landing pages are what attract visitors to your website using targeted keywords. These are the first pages that your website visitors land on and usually drive the most conversions.
Still, a lot of WordPress website owners forget to create and add more landing pages to their sites.
But, why is that?
With WordPress sites, many amateurs just stick to the pages provided in their chosen theme and do not make the effort to add more landing pages. This is a big no-no.
So, when you build your website, create different landing pages for all of your primary keywords or your key products and services. The more landing pages you have, the better.
Also, make sure that your landing pages have the right CTAs and are optimized for your target keywords to get the most out of them.
2. Improve Your Calls-to-Action
Calls-to-action (CTAs) should be at the center of your conversion rate optimization (CRO) initiatives. CTAs are what ultimately drive conversions on any website.
So, make sure that you add relevant and clearly-visible CTAs on every page of your WordPress website. Also, place your CTAs at strategic places to get more clicks. You can find out the optimum CTA placements for your website by doing A/B testing.
Also, write compelling CTA copy to encourage visitors to click on your CTAs and take the desired actions. Using strong action words or phrases that evoke an emotion or generate curiosity often works well. And, don’t forget to choose the right colors for your CTAs to make them stand out.
CTA placement is another important aspect that you should focus on. Your CTA buttons should be the focus of your page and other content on the page should not distract people away from them.
Here’s an example of a CTA button on Amazon Prime Video’s sign-up page. The CTA button is not only clearly visible, but is the main focus on the page.
Image via Amazon Prime Video
3. Check and Improve Your Site Speed
One main reason why visitors leave a website without converting is low page-load speed. People do not like to wait around for your website to load and will likely move on to the next site.
So, make sure that your website speed is optimum and does not take too long to load. You can use WordPress plugins to optimize your site speed or choose to do it manually. Also, you should consider leveraging managed WordPress hosting from a reliable web host to ensure that your servers are well-optimized for WordPress. This can help in improving your page loading speed manifold.
Finally, using a content delivery network or caching and optimizing images also helps improve your site speed.
4. Make Site Navigation Easier
One reason for low conversions on a website could be that the site is difficult to navigate and people are not able to find what they are looking for. If this is the case, then you really need to rethink your website’s UX design and layout.
This is something that can be easily corrected and improved. So, choose a simple theme to begin with, and make sure that you work extra hard on creating the right tabs and menus to make site navigation easier.
Also, use a simple layout and do not unnecessarily complicate things as that only does more harm than good.
5. Use a Mobile-Responsive Theme
It should go without saying that you should optimize your site for mobile devices. Given that a good share of your traffic will come from mobile devices, this really isn’t an option but a necessity.
Luckily, though, this can be easily done by choosing a simple, mobile-friendly WordPress theme for your site. Using a mobile-responsive theme makes your job easier and you don’t have to make any extra effort to make your site mobile-friendly.
6. Optimize Your Checkout and Payment Pages
If you plan to start an ecommerce website, then there are multiple WordPress plugins and tools that you can use to optimize your store. However, pay special attention to your checkout and payment pages as that is where the conversions happen.
If your checkout pages are not optimized or take time to load, then there will be more abandoned carts. The same goes for unsecured payment pages that have an SSL certification.
Think about it this way – What would make the checkout and payment process easier, safer, and faster for your customers? Then, optimize your pages to achieve that.
Some tips for this are to make registration easier by allowing new customers to register using social media. Keep the form fields to a minimum to ensure fast checkout. Make sure that all pages load quickly. Choose the right WordPress hosting provider to ensure the safety of your payment pages.
7. Use Analytics to Improve Conversion Rates
One way to stay on top of things is to conduct regular testing and use analytics to guide your CRO efforts. You need to first understand where you’re losing website visitors before you can make an effort to fix the problem.
So, use tools for site analytics to understand user behavior on your website and see where you’re losing your website visitors. Find the problem and then fix it.
You should also conduct regular A/B testing to keep optimizing the various design elements like CTAs, forms, colors, etc. A/B testing helps you make small but effective changes to your website that ultimately help drive more conversions.
8. Use Targeted Keywords to Get Relevant Traffic
One of the reasons why you might be getting fewer conversions is because you are attracting the wrong visitors to your website. This could be the result of using keywords that are too broad or not understanding the search intent behind the keywords that you’re using.
So, how can you change that?
Do thorough keyword research for every piece of content on your website and select the most relevant keywords, instead of using only the most popular ones.
The goal should be not just to increase website traffic, but to attract relevant traffic. The more relevant the traffic you attract, the more conversions you will get.
9. Experiment with Pop-Ups
Pop-ups are those messages that you get when you enter a website or try to leave it. They pop up in front of the page content to attract site visitors with some offer or encourage them to take certain actions.
Pop-ups, if used right, can help you get more conversions from your website. You just need to study user behavior on your site and place pop-ups at the right places to get the audience’s attention.
For example, if a person tries to leave your website after checking a product out, you can trigger a pop-up that offers them a one-time discount if they make a purchase right then. This is basically a way to retarget your website visitors and get more conversions.
Ready to Improve Your Conversions?
These are some of the most effective ways to get more conversions from your WordPress website. Try implementing these tips for your website and see the results for yourself.
Have any questions about this topic or need more help driving conversions on your website? Feel free to leave a comment below.
