How to Improve Your Homepage and Increase Conversions

Tired of worrying about high bounce rates on your homepage?

Does your site have good traffic, but the majority of visitors aren’t contacting you to learn more about your business?

The solution to your problem may be easier than you think. You can engage more visitors and convert them to leads for your business with just a few simple changes to your homepage.

That’s what I’m going to show you here today.

I’ve put together 3 improvements to optimize your homepage for high conversions.

Sound interesting? Well read on.

#1. Start with an Informative, Engaging Value Proposition

The headline of your homepage contains your unique value proposition and is the very first thing to catch the eye of visitors to your site.

That’s why a strong headline can make or break your homepage conversion rate.

The sooner your audience knows the problem your business solves, the more likely they’ll be to stick around to learn more.

As Peep Laja, Founder of ConversionXL, a conversion optimization consultancy, writes:

“Value proposition is the #1 thing that determines whether people will bother reading more about your product or hit the back button. It’s also the main thing you need to test – if you get it right, it will be a huge boost.”

Writing something engaging that gets your message across is easier said than done.

To make it easier, try answering the following questions when putting together your own unique value proposition:

• What problem does your service solve?

Visitors want to know what you do right away, so be sure that’s the central focus of your headline.

AdCom Solutions do a great job of answering this question as soon as you land on their homepage:

 

Not only is the message clear about the service they provide, but it’s written in a large font and placed front-and-center on the homepage.

That’s important, especially considering you typically have just 10 seconds to engage visitors before they leave your site.

 

Simply put, your goal should be to quickly rope readers in with an eye-catching headline that tells them the problem you’re here to solve.

• What are the major benefits your service provides?

Potential customers need to see the benefits of working with you right away.

Think about the pain points your services address and incorporate them into the small subtext you include below your headline.

This MSP business does exactly that:

 

F12 knows there’s few things more frustrating to a business than persistent tech issues. They take advantage of their site’s landing page to address that pain point and position themselves as the go-to solution for businesses looking to avoid these problems.

• How are you different than the competition?

Companies shopping around different MSP businesses need to know how you stand out from the pack.

Rebecca Bagley, Chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, explains how you can determine your competitive edge:

“Broadly speaking, all businesses deliver value in one or a combination of three categories of differentiation: cost, technology and service…Identifying which of these categories your product benefits fall into allows you to effectively differentiate yourself from your competition.”

Diverge IT chose to take the “service” approach on their homepage to separate from the competition:

 

As previously covered in this blog post, there’s a number of different ways to set yourself apart from the competition. Communicating to your local market and positioning yourself as an expert in your niche are two methods that make a lot of sense for your unique value proposition.

With these three questions, you’ll be well on your way to creating your own unique value proposition and converting more leads on your site.

#2. Use Visuals that Demonstrate What You Do

When used in combination with a quality headline, a good image can help tell the story of your business to potential customers.

65% of people are visual learners, so for the majority of people visiting your page, the image you choose has a big effect on their decision to convert.

If you’re wondering what type of image to choose, consider the following:

• Pictures of people convert at a higher rate
• Avoid cheesy stock imagery
• Your image should align with your brand as well as your site’s design
• Choose a photo that compliments your value prop but doesn’t distract from it
• When in doubt, consult with a designer to get the right image visuals

Varsity Technologies landing page hits all these points quite well:

 

Their background image is a great visual representation of their collaborative, technology-focused business.

For potential leads, the photo gives a glimpse of what they can expect from a partnership with Varsity, which helps reinforce the value proposition and attract more interest.

#3. Make It Easy for Clients to Contact You

Your site can have the most well-crafted value proposition and stunning images, but if your audience can’t contact you then it’s all for naught.

That’s why streamlining communication between you and your new leads should be a top priority to increase conversions.

There are a number of different ways to let your visitors contact you. Here are a few of the best:

• Display a Phone Number and Email on Every Page

While this may seem like a no brainer, plenty of companies miss including their contact information on landing pages.

If the goal is open the lines of communication with clients, there’s no easier way to do it than with a phone number and email address.

As we pointed out in a previous post, including your contact information also builds trust with potential clients. Visitors feel assured they can get a live person on the line should they need it, which helps establish confidence and legitimacy as a business.

• Consider Using Live Chat

Live chat gives you the opportunity to communicate directly with the visitors of your site in real-time.

As Rob Carpenter, former director of marketing at Evergage, a marketing platform, highlights:

“Being able to interact with a customer lets you specifically speak to their needs, present the most relevant information, and hold their hand while they make their buying decision. This increased support while the customer is making up his or her mind drives up conversions.”

As part of our outsourced help desk and NOC services, GMS Live Expert actually provides live chat support, opening doors for our clients to have direct interactions with their potential leads (feel free to contact us if you’d like to learn more about it).

• Incorporate Social Media

If your business uses social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to engage with users, consider including links to those sites in the header and footer of your page.

You may even consider embedding your Twitter feed directly on your page to show clients your responsiveness and engagement.

• Create Short Inquiry Forms

Ask as little as possible from your audience to increase conversion rates.

Sure, it’d be nice to know some of the finer details of why visitors contact you. But with mobile web traffic hovering around 56%, capture the must-have details entered easily on a phone or tablet. Save the in-depth questions for your follow-up call.

Here’s an example of an MSP – XSolutions –  making communication as easy as possible:

 

Conclusion

With all the time and money invested in your website, you want to be sure conversion rates are high.

Now, you have a few new actions to take that can have a big impact on leads converting.

If you take the recommendations I’ve made for you in this post, I’m confident you’ll begin to see results improve.