The majority of people who are surfing the internet actually skim through the content and don’t stop to read all of the content on a website or even a page for that matter. Most of us actually pick out the headlines on each page then move on. That is why we would suggest optimizing the content on your website to improve conversion rate. So you may be wondering, how exactly do I optimize the content on my website if nobody is going to read it? Well, there is actually a couple different things you can do.
Content Layout: There are too many websites out there that actually place the content on their website in the same format as reading a book. This technique doesn’t work since most people don’t have the time to read lengthy content. They want to be able to find the information that they are looking for quickly and easily. This is especially true for mobile users. That is why if you have a good web design company they will help you design the layout of your most important pages so that it is easily read by both desktop and mobile users. Here are some incredibly easy tips that will help people read the content on your website with ease.
- Line Breaks and Shorter Paragraphs – You would be surprised at just how much easier it is on the eyes when you add white space between each paragraph by adding simple line breaks. This combined with making each paragraph no more than 3 to 4 sentences will make a visitor your website more likely to read the content.
- Use Attractive Sub Headings – Using bold or underlined sub headings will accomplish 2 things. It will make it easier for the visitor to skim through the content and identify important areas. The other benefit is that if you use attention grabbing headlines it may catch a readers attention visually and cause them to read the page even though they didn’t intend to in the first place.
- Using Bullet Points – Think about the last time you viewed an article that had a bullet-ed list. You couldn’t resist reading the bullet-ed list could you? They are also easy to scan for readers and allow for a visual break from the rest of your content.
- Add Internal Links – This will up the likelihood that a visitor to your website will stay on your website. Make sure to link a couple of your best pages that is topic related to your article.
- Use of Images – There is no better way to make your page or blog post look more appealing than strategically placed images. Now you may have to use a web design company help you with this or show you how you can easily use your content management system to do it yourself but trust me it will be well worth it.
By simply updating the formatting of the text your content will become more visually appealing which will turn into more of your visitors taking time to at least skim your content. At the end of the day the content on your website will be most effective if read in detail. So how do you pass along this information to your website visitors effectively? That is where video marketing comes.
Video Marketing: This is a great way to communicate your information to your website visitor. There are numerous benefits to video marketing on your website such as:
- Quickly Deliver Your Message – Like I mentioned above most of your visitors won’t read all of your content and even if they do take the time to read most of your content they likely won’t digest it. Using videos on your website allows you to use a fun and unique way to allow visitors to quickly get and digest important information on your website.
- Engage Your Visitors – Videos end up reaching your website visitors both visually and audibly. Not only will a visitor hear about what it is that your website is offering but they will be able to witness it. Videos are proven to keep people on your website longer which ups the likelihood of them converting into sale.
- Boost Search Engine Optimization – The search engines love new fresh content being added to your website. Why not go the extra mile and add videos to your website as well? Not only will videos impress your visitors and improve your conversion rates but it will also help with search engine optimization.
- Personality – One of the hardest things to do for online businesses is giving their businesses a personality. When you own a brick and mortar business customers can come into your business and interact with you and your employees however, when you own an online business all you have is your website. A custom video will give you the flexibility to show your personality while promoting your service and or product.
- Strengthen the Bond – Many of your potential customers like to purchase from people they feel that they know. That is why a video featuring some of your employees is a great way to give online visitors a feeling of knowing who they are buying from.
- Stand Apart From Your Competition – Most of your competition has a website that looks as good if not better than yours. One way you can set yourself apart from your competition is by adding custom videos to your website.
- Keep Visitors Coming Back – I have mentioned in the past that blogs are a great way to keep visitors coming back to your website. An even better way would be to also add updated videos to your website. Videos are much easier to follow and give potential customers more incentive to check your website multiple times a week.
- Don’t be Forgotten – Many times people will visit a website and then forget about it. If you use videos correctly you will get more of your visitors bookmarking your website so they can get back to it.
There are a couple things to note. The first is that this isn’t a one or the other proposition. To be most effective you need to have both fresh content that is easy to read as well as videos. The second is that you will want to use a third party video sites like YouTube or Vimeo so that the video bandwidth doesn’t bog down your website. If you optimize your website content and add custom videos to your site you will likely notice an increase in the conversion rates of your website.