Book Image

WordPress 3 Search Engine Optimization

Book Image

WordPress 3 Search Engine Optimization

Overview of this book

WordPress is a powerful platform for creating feature-rich and attractive websites and blogs; but with a little extra tweaking and effort your WordPress site can dominate the search engines and bring thousands of new customers to your blog or business. WordPress3.0 Search Engine Optimization will show you the secrets that professional SEO companies use to take websites to the top of search results and proliferate their business. You'll be able to take your WordPress blog/site to the next level, as well as brush aside even the stiffest competition with this book in hand. We'll begin with a typical WordPress installation and with a variety of simple techniques, turn it into a powerful website that search engines will reward with high rankings. We'll go further: with advanced plug-ins we'll connect your WordPress site to popular social media sites and expand the reach of your site to bring more visitors. You'll learn about dozens of free online tools to accomplish everything from keyword research to monitoring your ranking progress. WordPress is a great start for building search-friendly sites. However, with the tools in this book, you'll get your website/blog noticed by numerous new users/customers or your target audience.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
WordPress 3 Search Engine Optimization
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Converting visitors to customers: the third spoke of SEO


Too often, people think of SEO solely in terms of ranking position. They forget that if your website cannot turn that casual visitor into a customer—your ranking did nothing for you except send a visitor to your site for a moment.

Conversion science is the discipline of making sure the visitors to your site take some action to bring them closer to being a customer. Successful websites have specific and effective calls to action . A call to action is a phrase, graphic, or section of your website that urges the visitor to take some tangible step toward becoming a customer or user of your product or website. The call to action can be a box that says "Call Now for Immediate Service," "Shop Now!", or "Subscribe for Free! Get Updates by RSS."

A call to action doesn't necessarily mean that visitors purchase something right there, but that they take steps toward becoming a purchaser.

Your call to action will differ based on the space in which you compete. If you are a blogger and want to expand the reach of your blog, you'll want users to sign up to your RSS feed, or follow you on Twitter. In more traditional business environments like retail and home services, you'll want people to call or e-mail to make an appointment. In a full e-commerce environment, you'll want to immediately drive people to make purchases.

The following screenshot shows a sign-up box employing an aggressive call to action in the home services (replacement windows) niche:

For your calls to action to be effective, you need to keep them prominent, above the fold (on the upper part of your web pages that are visible before scrolling down is required), and persuasive.

Another rule of conversions is to have fall back positions, a second best option. In other words, if your users don't purchase something today, maybe they'll sign up for your Twitter feed that will let you keep them updated about new products. Perhaps later, these new contacts will eventually become customers.

Creating conversion-based websites

Each competitive space is different. However, conversion science does teach a few absolute principles that can help you create highly effective conversion-based websites:

  • Don't hide contact information. About 30 percent of all websites do not display contact information prominently. In a business environment, this mistake is pure suicide. Put that phone number and e-mail up top where users can find it.

  • Put the meat where the eyes are. Use the "above the fold" portions of your header and sidebars for conversion tools and messages. Studies show that user's eyes typically scan the top and sidebar areas for information. Don't expect users to scroll to hunt for your phone number.

  • Mix it up. Some users like to call, others like to e-mail. Give users more than one choice.

  • Don't "dead end" your users. Don't use "Chat now" buttons that lead to dead ends, that is, "Chat is not available right now." If you utilize a call to action, make absolutely sure the action is available; even if it's a voice mail, it is still better than wasting customers' time.

  • Don't broadcast your poor service. Don't say "To reach sales, call between 1 pm and 5 pm." That's just begging your customers to go elsewhere. If you must be out of the office (all of us must leave work sometimes) just send folks to a friendly voicemail and return the call later.

  • Give fewer choices. Don't confuse readers with too many selections. If your viewers get confused or overwhelmed, they might slip into "choice paralysis."

  • Always give the next step. Don't lose your customers along the way. If they don't buy, get them to sign up for your newsletter. If you convince them to watch your video, make the next step an invitation to purchase.

  • Sell benefits, not features. "Your car will run faster!" will convert better than "Our fuel additives are the most powerful in the industry."

  • Use testimonials. Tell your customers what other users say about your services.

  • Guide their eyes and attention. You can literally point users to your desired action with arrows and buttons.

The following screenshot of Adobe's Business Catalyst website shows several elements of expert conversion science at work. The user is guided visually to the call to action with an arrow and a clear and simple button. The placement of the conversion tool is above the fold, front, and center.

Truly effective calls to action are going to differ widely depending on the space in which you participate. You'll want to try different approaches and measure your results. In Chapter 10, Testing Your Site and Monitoring Your Progress, we'll cover how to measure the performance of you website.