Your guide to a more lead-friendly website that results in more sales.

Eight seconds.

On average, that’s how long you have to convince a prospect to stay on your website.

After that you have to convince them to do something – buy, opt-in, contact you, anything.

There are a few things you need to consider about your website:

* Most of your visitors will leave your website after eight seconds. Therefore, it’s essential that you make a compelling headline and landing page that will catch their attention in less than eight seconds.

* Most of the visitors who come to your website are NOT yet ready to buy your product. You need to convince them.

* Websites with landing pages get more leads compared to those who don’t.

* Videos can increase the sales of a product by 144 percent.

* Site speed is crucial to conversions.

Unfortunately most websites are just brochures for products. They invest heavily in getting visitors to the site but little in getting them to take action when they arrive. These sites just leak money.

Conversion optimisation is a science, but there are some steps you can take right now to improve conversions.

Be Clear with Your Intention

By the time they enter your website, your visitors should  know why they need to do business with you and the benefits they can expect from your product. They will also check if you’re offering money-back guarantees or free shipping. Therefore, be clear in stating these benefits first to encourage them to buy your product.

The ASOS home page features very little product but what they sell and why you should shop with them are always clear.

Create Several Effective Calls-To-Action

Having an attention-grabbing headline and meaningful graphics can help guide your visitors and convince them to buy your product. Use more convincing calls-to-action like “Download Now – It’s FREE” or “Try our product for the first 30 days – for FREE.” Make it clear that your visitors can download or use your product. This also gives them the opportunity to assess if your product is really worth their money.

DropBox does this very well. It’s very obvious to the visitor what action they should take and the benefits associated with it.

Use Visually Stunning Images of Your Products

Always remember, people want to buy something that looks beautiful, even if they don’t see the actual product. Use large category images to make your product vivid and more desirable.

GoPro uses high quality images of both their products and how you can use them. They draw you in and associate the product with the experience.

Utilise a Fully-Optimised Landing Page

A fully-optimised landing page can do wonders; it may even be the main conversion tool for your website. Your landing page should supply your site visitors with relevant and important information about your product. It should also have an effective headline that grabs the attention of the visitor, and a hero image that both reinforces your value proposition and draws people to your product.

I have used both Unbounce and Leadpages and both let you create great looking landing pages in just a couple of minutes.

Social Proof and Third-Party Endorsement

Testimonials are behind 20-50% of purchasing according to McKinsey and Company. If you already have customers liking and using your services, use them.

User testimonials from a social media site or an endorsement from a prominent client that was featured in a popular news publication can create trust and confidence. Post these testimonials on your site or use the logo of the news publication to prove their positive remarks towards your product.

Remember, your website is like a house with lots of doors. Visitors can enter from multiple places. Make sure you have clear calls-to-action on every page to have the best chance of converting them into a customer.

James Kemp is marketing director at GrabOne and consultant at Growth HQ. He grows New Zealand businesses through strategy, content and automation