Optimizing your website is easier said than done. A lot of business owners are under the impression that all it involves is simply creating a visually-appealing site and then sitting back and waiting for results.
No matter how great the design of your website is, you can’t just spend an hour on it and be done. Optimizing your website is an ongoing process that you need to stay on top of.
When you effectively optimize your website, you can:
- Cater your website to your unique audience
- Increase organic traffic
- Capitalize on existing traffic
- Fulfill and exceed your audience’s expectations
Above all, optimizing your website is incredibly helpful when it comes to increasing your conversion rate. You can have thousands of clients visit your website every day. But, without optimizing it to give them a superior user experience, they’ll take their business elsewhere.
Optimizing a website is an intricate task. It takes a lot of trial and error to achieve optimal results. Instead of starting from scratch, we’ll cover exactly how we would optimize a real website.
The website we’ll be looking at today is called Dad’s Guide to Twins. This site is a great resource that offers tips to fathers who are raising twins. While the information is detailed and helpful, the website itself could benefit greatly from proper optimization. Check out exactly what we would do to increase conversions on this site. In this case, conversions aren’t sales but rather email signups for a newsletter.
Perform Keyword Research
Dad’s Guide to Twins is a very informative site that has a conversational style to it. As a parent himself, author Joe Rawlinson offers his advice to new fathers. However, his site could benefit from significant keyword research. It needs to implement the proper balance of keyword usage and everyday conversation all while avoiding keyword stuffing.
Below, we looked up the phrase “parenting twins” on a free keyword research tool called Keywordtool.io. By searching this simple phrase, we were able to find several popular long-tail keyword phrases like “parenting school age twins” and “twins parenting alone.” While some of the results are relevant to Dad’s Guide to Twins, others like “parenting twins meme” can be left out.
As a website owner, you can follow similar steps to optimize your website. Start with a broad keyword that relates to your website. For instance, if you sell pool cleaning supplies, start with a phrase like “pool cleaning products.” From there, whatever keyword research tool you use will suggest other keywords that you can filter through. Keep an eye out for long-tail keywords that will attract your ideal audience. As you create more pages for your website, repeat these steps over and over again to keep up with trending keywords.
Produce Longer Content
While some website owners may think short content is the way to go, this isn’t usually the case. According to Medium.com, the most engaging content pieces are those that take seven minutes to read. The average person can read around 1,000 words in three-and-a-half minutes. With this in mind, most informational pieces on a website should reach upwards of around 2,000 words.
Dad’s Guide to Twins has mainly shorter-form content pieces, especially in the “Twin Pregnancy Week by Week” category. To get readers more engaged, he can build on all of these pieces and create longer content going forward.
Similarly, you can build lengthier content pieces on your website. However, avoid falling into the trap of filling them with fluff. Rather, you need to make sure you are offering something of value to your website’s visitors. Google will love the additional information that you are providing and your chances of ranking higher on the SERP will increase.
There is no one ideal length for every niche. To get an idea of how long your content pieces should be, do a quick Google search for your primary keyword. Take a look at the top results: what is the average length of those pages? Try to make all of your pages around this length.
Perform A/B Split Testing
To improve the overall user experience on Dad’s Guide to Twins, we would perform A/B split testing. In our experience and through reading over our Convertica client reviews, we’ve learned how important it is to test different versions of website pages against one another. This way, we can determine which versions will generate the most conversions. Some specific website changes that Dad’s Guide to Twins can consider include:
- Simplifying and reordering the navigation bar
- Incorporate more custom illustrations to reinforce the brand
- Use animation and motion (with intent)
- Changing text links to CTA buttons
While Dad’s Guide to Twins does incorporate some CTA buttons, there are quite a few text links that don’t have quite the same effect:
Now that you’ve seen how we would’ve optimized a website, you should have a better idea of where to start with your own. Keep an open mind throughout the process so that you can offer your potential and existing customers the best experience possible. Watch your conversions skyrocket from there!
About the Author
Kurt Philip is the founder & CEO of Convertica where he ensures the company remains at the forefront of CRO technology by constantly testing and developing strategies with his team. In his spare time, Kurt is a keen cyclist and doesn’t let a day go by without some time on his bike.