3 Strategies for Improving Your Website’s Conversion Rate

Develop Effective Messaging and Calls to Action

It has always been important to have clear and compelling messaging in print collateral and advertising, and the same is also true for the messaging that appears on your website.

The foundation for compelling messaging is well-developed and organized copy. Begin pages you want to capture visitors' contact information on with a compelling headline, followed by body copy where key points are neatly summarized in a sentence or short bulleted list, and then place a call to action at the end.

Research has demonstrated that the headline is most critical for generating conversions, followed by the call to action, and then the body copy. It's important to recognize that your website's visitors will often scan the first three words of sentences and paragraphs rather than taking the time to read them in entirety.

The following are some additional copy formatting and styling best practices that improve conversion rates:

• Make page titles clean and simple.
• Keep the first paragraph short – no more than two lines.
• Use important words related to what consumers are most interested in at the beginning of sentences.
• Vary the length of paragraphs and use no more than four to five lines per paragraph.
• Use readable sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Helvetica, etc.).
• Use different colors and bold fonts, but only do so sparingly or else your website (and, by proxy, you) will look amateurish.