Are you optimising your content for Google AND for conversions? Are you combining your
SEO and CRO strategies? If not, then you should be!
Why?
Because search engine optimisation (SEO) alone cannot deliver great results for your business on its own. You need to not only get clicks, you also need to convert those organic visitors into customers, this is where conversion rate optimisation (CRO) comes in.
While SEO and CRO have clearly defined roles to play (which we will explore next), they can also provide substantial cumulative gains, outweighing the value of each when used in isolation.
In this post, I share with you how SEO and CRO work together to drive rankings and conversions.
SEO and CRO - What Are There Roles?
"SEO is what brings people to your website and CRO is what gets them to convert."
The Role of SEO
The role of SEO (search engine optimisation) to increase exposure of your company to potential customers on search engines by implementing different website strategies in order to improve your ranking for certain topics or keywords.
For example, when customers are searching for specific services online through Google or other search engines, the role of SEO is to ensure that your company is listed in the search engine results pages (SERPs), so that they can find you.
The Role of CRO
The role of CRO (conversion rate optimisation) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action i.e. signing up, buying something, using a contact form. The CRO process involves understanding the customer journey through your site, what actions they take, and what's stopping them from completing your goals.
How SEO and CRO Work Together
All your keyword research, site optimisation, and link building efforts are a waste if they don’t result in sales.
Your organic leads need to convert – in fact roughly 16% of organic leads should turn into paying customers.
To keep your leads moving down the funnel, you need to make sure that they’re landing on the right pages, getting the content they’re looking for, and can easily buy, subscribe, request a quote, or sign up.
How to Turn Organic Traffic into Qualified Leads
1. Match Users Intent
In order to rank for relevant terms and increase online visibility, it is important that you write and optimise your website content for user intent (the question that has been asked to find the information)
- Improve your existing pages for user intent
- Optimise for user intent on your new pages
- Target keywords related to the buying journey pain points
2. Optimise for Branded Search Terms
The search volume on branded terms may be low, but these are valuable leads who are requesting your content by name. Optimised pages that meet their needs are low-hanging fruit. For example if you've got webinars, eBooks make sure you have optimised landing pages so they're easy to find.
3. Nurture Your Leads
Everyone who visits your site isn’t ready to convert right away. Lead nurturing – the process of engaging with leads across channels over a period of time – is an art and science in and of itself.
- Email marketing sequences (i.e. cart abandonment, pages visited, form completions etc)
- Retargeting ads
- Geo-targeting
4. Promote Your Freebies
Once someone’s on the page, you’ve got to sell them on a reason to stay. And then give them a reason to stay engaged before they leave.
With all the attention that goes to page copy itself, freebie giveaways (ebooks, checklists, mini courses) can be an afterthought. To help drive lead generation make this more of a priority.
Have strong call outs to your lead magnet. Mention them in your blog articles, user exit intent pop ups, add 'newsletter sign up to your pages'.
My favourite popup software tools are ConvertBox and Poptin (Poptin allows you to do exit pop ups for FREE!).
5. Optimise Your Pages for Conversion
You need to learn how to make a good landing pages that gives your customers what they want. This means going beyond simply designing something that “looks great.”
A great landing page is free of distraction and focused on the end goal, the conversion. From the headline and offer, all the way down to the footer, every aspect focuses on conversion. Take a look at the following blogs for practical tips and strategies that you can start using right away.
6. Exit Intent Popup Strategy
You know when you’re browsing a website and, right before you close the browser or click on a different page, you get a popup asking you for your email address?
That’s an exit intent popup. Here you give your visitors a reason to subscribe or become customers. For example offering a discount code to encourage a purchase or creating a free eBook or guide to download.
Improve Your Conversion Rates Today
For any brand to thrive online, you risk falling flat by not giving attention to customer experiences and conversion rates as well as your SEO.
Because a strong SEO strategy that incorporates CRO can be tough to manage on your own, it’s a good idea to hire an website conversion expert. With help from Convert More, you’ll be better able to keep up with your competition and bring new visitors to your site. Book a review today and see where we can help.