Conversion Based Website Design: An Introduction

Since the dawn of the internet, there have been countless people citing their opinions as to what makes a “great website”. If you ask five hundred people what makes an amazing website, you'll get five hundred different answers. Over the next few weeks, we'll take a look at a handful of websites and look at what works and what doesn't. More importantly, we'll break down why it works and we'll suggest some easy ways for you to get closer to that holy grail of web marketing. Conversion.

What is Conversion?

So what is conversion? Simply put, a conversion is when a site visitor performs a predetermined action, like when a searcher “converts” into a new customer. A conversion could be a phone call, a purchase, or a newsletter subscription just for starters. We could talk about exactly what conversion is enough to fill an fifty blog posts, but for now, let's assume you have determined a solid, measurable way to quantify your conversions. There are many ways to improve conversion, but there is one in particular that is often neglected.

The Conversion Secret?

We're not going to talk about search engine optimization, or writing keyword rich ad copy. No, instead we're going to talk about the most often overlooked aspect of any online business, one that most SEO firms fail to address: web design.

Undo Backwards Web Design

Many websites are designed backwards, meaning the website communicates for the business, from the business's standpoint, instead of for the target audience the company is wanting to engage. These websites and this type of thinking are focused on getting maximum traffic and then sell, sell, sell, without thinking through about what the target audience is desiring and how they will process it. If conversion is the web marketing goal, then target audience engagement is key.

Sadly, today, most designers do not consider this during the development of your website.

Design With One Action in Mind

Good project development, and ultimately the overall success of the online marketing campaign will start from a solid plan. Before you can plan, research on “who exactly is your target audience and what do they want” will save you money while making you money.

In determining how to engage your target audience and how to best accomplish your goals, ask yourself this:

1. Who is my target audience?
2. What is the one most valuable piece of information they desire?
3. If they went with my service, what would be the most important question they might ask?
4. What would encourage conversion if I were looking for the same service? Saving money? Reliability?

Conversion based design is really what it would be like if we let our customers design our businesses. Think about it.

Valuable Client Insight

By standing in the shoes of our ideal prospects, it is much easier to determine what they need in order of importance and how best to get it to them. What would matter most if you were them? After answering these questions, work with you designer to create engaging, user friendly web experiences. Remember, get down to the basics and keep it simple. Next week, we'll look at some great examples of conversion based design and a few examples of, well, bad web design.