5 Optimization Tips In 5 Minutes

First of all there are semantic issues here that tend to be confusing. When I talk about optimization, I mean optimizing your website to make sure that visitors to the site have the best possible experience and are more likely to complete whatever conversion goal you have set for the site.

I understand that for some people optimizing their website is all about using tags and keywords to ensure that more people who are not on the site will find it when they are searching and that’s fine, but the following tips are not about that.

These are my five tips to making sure that the people who arrive at your site do what you want them to do.

1. Know what it is you want your visitors to do

It seems so obvious but so many sites mess this up. Are you selling something or are you collecting email addresses. Do you want people to watch a video or do you want them to download a PDF. Choose one goal per landing and concentrate on that. You can add steps that lead up to your goal, but you must remain focused on the prize and not get bogged down in the steps.

2. Clear out the clutter

If your main source of revenue isn’t advertising, then get rid of it. That goes for banner ads, Google ads, video ads. If they’re not serving your message, they’re not serving you.

3. Test your Call to Action

So much has been written about the call to action. Where does it go? What words should you use? What color should it be? What words should you avoid? My advice is the same I give to new parents. Listen to everything, try some of the things, use the ones that work and discard the rest. I’m not suggesting that you A/B test your children, but I do think you should be willing to try different combinations for your call to action until you find the one that works best.

4. Location, location, location

If you have never heard the maxim, it’s the answer to the question, “What are the three most important factors when buying property?” While the offline property market may be struggling, the battle for online real estate is very much on. Make sure you use every pixel wisely. Position your messages carefully. Make sure the page flows in a way that guides your visitors to the goals you have set.

5. Use your words

There’s an old proverb that says “you can’t dance at two weddings”. Web copy is constantly getting invitations from rival bridal parties. On the one hand your web copy has to deliver the right mix of SEO-worthy keywords. On the other hand, the same copy has to also drive readers to complete the conversion goal you have set. Get creative. Remember that your conversion copy has to be found and read while your SEO copy just has to be. Use the fold (the natural page break created by the height of your screen) to separate the two kinds of copy.

These are my top 5 tips in 5 minutes. What else have you tested to optimize your site?