Speaker - May 2009

Clearly articulated and differentiating value propositions have a critical effect on Web site conversion rates, according to MarketingExperiments online research laboratories ( www.MarketingExperiments. com). Simply stated, the conversion rate is the measurement of visitors fulfilling your desired outcomes, which might include contacting you, buying a product at your site, signing up for your newsletter or blog feed, etc.

Your value proposition should be front and center on your home page, and answer the classic question: “In 10 words, how would you convince people to buy from you instead of a competitor?”

Although this question isn’t a Web strategy issue in itself, many people struggle to answer it. The lack of a compelling opening message can impede your online success. Case in point: A speaker’s Web site may be positioned as “helping clients clarify and achieve goals.” This sounds impressive, but people who are looking for a business coach probably have visited many other sites that make the same claim. After a while, this statement fails to grab their attention.

>How to check for this leak: Even if visitors don’t enter your site at the home page, most who don’t know you will go there as the second page they look at to find out more about you.

If visitors take a quick look at your home page and then leave your site, something is awry. Your copy does not pique their interest or answer their immediate questions, such as: “Can this person meet my needs?” “Should I explore further?”

leaks in Visitor Engagement

Popular theory states that you have 10 seconds to engage visitors and convince them to stay on your site before they click away in search of something more compelling.

Although it’s not quite that simple, there are some definite ways to get rid of visitors fast before they’ve really checked you out. The splash page is one way to

push them away. Your Web designer probably persuaded you to include a splash page because it “does cool stuff.” Hopefully, there’s a “Skip Intro” button on this page to retain visitors! In my experience in reviewing traffic reports, I’ve observed a consistent leak of up to 30 percent of visitors leaving the site after viewing this page— before they’ve learned about you and what you offer.

>How to check for this leak: Look for the splash page in your traffic reports and see how many visitors exit at that point. If it’s more than a small percentage, you have a leak. Remove that page today!

“Landing pages” also pose potential leaks. These are the interior pages of your Web site, which turn out to be the first page that visitors see, usually because you have some well-indexed content they’ve found in a search engine.

Here, it is absolutely critical to understand the visitor’s mindset. Each site visitor is looking for something specific, may have found you by accident, has no idea who you are, or has absolutely no interest in you.