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One of the fastest ways to boost profits is to turn your attention away from traffic for a while and start thinking about your conversion rate. If you’re like most sites on the web, you’re throwing a lot of sales out the window by making some simple mistakes or missing a few key pointers. Let’s talk about where to put our focus in order to maximize conversions.

Tip #1. Navigation

Nothing is more important than making it easy for your user to find what they’re looking for. Navigation starts with your choice of landing page in the first place. Most advertisers are sending clicks straight to the home page. Don’t do that. Use targeted ads and send your users straight to the most relevant page. You want them to see exactly what they expect to find based on the text of the ad. If they feel even slightly misled they will run screaming for the back button.

But navigation doesn’t end there either.

Check your internal searches to find out what your visitors want to find most, and make sure it’s placed somewhere prominent and obvious. Don’t make the mistake of trying to force your visitor into a conversion right away by making other popular navigations difficult.

This tactic backfires.

Visitors want to be persuaded before they make a purchase. If they don’t feel informed enough, secure enough, and if they don’t trust you enough, they’re not going to make a purchase. Let them navigate through their site the way their actions are telling you they want to. People are much more likely to buy if they feel like they arrived at the conclusion on their own.

Tip #2. Images

Images are arguably the most important aspect of landing page design. Humans are visual creatures, and our first impressions are typically formed on sight alone. If the landing page looks haphazard, old, unmaintained, clumsy, or cluttered, you’re going to lose a lot of ground in the first second of the visit.

Users expect a clean, professional from the second they land. Keep these four principles in mind.

1. Meaningful – Images have implications, even with the most basic of shapes. For example, to users, a horizontal line usually means “stop reading.” Photographs tell a story. No matter how basic the image, always consider what it means to your audience.

2. Custom – A stock photo here or there is fine for blogging, but when it comes to site design, and landing pages specifically, your images need to be custom made. If your images aren’t unique, it’s difficult to present a consistent brand image and nearly impossible to portray a unique selling proposition.

3. Logical – All too often I see landing pages with beautiful images that just don’t make sense for the site. Approach images logically by using them in a way that makes sense for the user. At the same time, think logically about your images and split test them for maximum benefit.

4. Clean – Images should not clutter your landing page or distract from text. They must always serve to enhance the experience. An image that fits right in between two paragraphs as part of the narrative is always better than an image of a smiling model wearing a headset (not that a little of both is always a bad thing).

Tip #3. Content

The content of your landing page is all about the user. Visitors don’t want to know your life story or why your business is better than the rest. They want to know how to solve their problem. Keep the following in mind:

• “Unique” isn’t enough – It’s not enough to say that your content isn’t plagiarized or even that it’s creative. Instead, it needs to serve a unique purpose. The content of your landing page should serve a purpose that isn’t met by any other page on the web. Content should have its own unique selling proposition.

• Forget SEO, at least for now – If you think about keywords while you design your landing page, it’s going to end up being junk. Optimize for user satisfaction. Keyword stuffing doesn’t work for search engines anyway.

• Be “neutral” – When we say neutral, we mean that you don’t want to go for the hard sale. Most visitors are savvy enough to realize that they can’t take anything you say for granted. Instead of getting promotional, get specific. Focus on the “how” of your product or service. How is it going to help them solve their problem? How is it different (different, not better) from the alternatives? It’s important to recognize that, in this context, neutral doesn’t mean formal or unopinionated. Personality is good for content, and those who take strong stances with no apologies are likely to win over those who agree.

• It’s all about the user – Pretty sure we mentioned this before, but it’s worth repeating. This is one of the most common problems we come across: sites that spend too much time bragging.

• Address concerns before the user has them – The default response to any buying opportunity is to say “no thanks.” We all have low-level fear and skepticism before making any purchase or commitment. Address these concerns before the user even has them. We made sure to do exactly that with our link building service landing page, by discussing not just what we do, but what we don’t do. This has had a tremendously positive impact on conversions. Find out what your users most common objections are right now, and address them as quickly as possible.

Tip #4. Call-to-Action

Everybody knows they need a call-to-action, but this is also one of the most common places where mistakes are made. The type of call to action you use is highly subjective and depends a great deal on what you’re selling, and for how much.

If you’re trying to sell a service that costs tens of thousands of dollars, they’re going to want to talk to you. It’s as simple as that. You must have a phone number and other contact information in place, and this is where you should be putting most of your efforts.

If you’re selling something on a smaller scale, the contact information plays less of a part, but it must be there.

If you’re selling products, it’s important to have both “buy now” and “add to cart” buttons. By giving them the choice of placing an item in their shopping cart, they won’t feel like they are making as big a commitment, and they can keep shopping. Once something ends up in their shopping cart, they are almost guaranteed to buy it.

Be sure to split test your call to action. You want to try different images, different text, different fonts, and different placements. Test as much as you can, and always think about new things to test. It’s amazing how much a small change can have a big impact.

Tip #5. Credentials and Featured Badges

This is one of the best things you can do to build trust with your visitors. We’ve seen pretty dramatic improvements in our conversion rate after adding a rotating badge demonstrating that we’ve been featured in sites like Forbes and SEOmoz.

Visitors are naturally hesitant to work with you or buy your products. By default, they have no reason to trust you. One of the easiest ways to overcome this is to demonstrate that organizations they are familiar with have been more than happy to mention you or endorse you.

If you can add certifications on top of that, it also does a great deal for your credibility.

If you haven’t been featured on any prominent sites or earned any credentials, get started now. It’s worth it for the conversion rate boost, let alone the referral traffic.

Tip #6. Loading Time

The loading time has a very strong and direct relationship with your conversion rate. Your users always feel like they’re in a hurry, whether true or not, and they won’t wait around to see what you have to offer when they know there are hundreds of other options to choose from, and millions of other ways they could be spending their time.

Invest in high speed hosting, and keep needless clutter off your site. Make sure the most important parts of the page (for the user) load first, and that the page doesn’t suddenly reorganize itself as soon as more images and multimedia finish loading.

Tip #7. Responsive Design

Roughly 15 percent of web traffic is on a tablet or a smartphone. That’s almost a sixth of your potential customers. If they visit your site and it looks ugly on their device, odds are good they’re going to pack their bags and head elsewhere. Meanwhile, study after study confirms that mobile users are more engaged, wealthier, and more likely to make a purchase than desktop users.

Responsive design ensures that your landing page looks perfect on every device. It means that images and text are clearly visible without side-scrolling; that buttons and links are large enough to be pressed with a finger; and that users get the experience they expect from a smartphone or tablet.

Without responsive design, you’re more or less sacrificing 15 percent of your traffic without giving it a second thought.

Conclusion

The key to a higher conversion rate is to put the user first. They’ve seen enough infomercials and scam sites to last a lifetime. Put the focus on their unique problem, how you can help solve it, and giving them the information they need to feel comfortable with a purchase. Test your calls-to-action and be sure to give them contact information.

Stop leaving sales on the table.

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Dates, Location: June 11-12, 2013, Seattle, Washington
URL: http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced/

Conference: Conversion Conference

How It Helps Your Biz: The Conversion Conference gets straight down to business, into the nitty-gritty details of actually converting customers. Getting your business found online is obviously a crucial part of the sales process, but if your traffic isn’t converting then it’s useless. You may be great at SEO, but if your sales record is dismal, it’s essential that you make the time to attend this year’s Conversion Conference.

It will help you to improve your conversions and your bottom line. The conference offers an intro workshop for learning the beginning aspects of conversion theory. More advanced workshops include content development, search intent markers, sales funnel development, lead gen and nurturing technology, and much more. The conference happens in four locations each year, making it easy to participate.

Dates, Location: June 11-13, 2013, Chicago, Illinois
September 30-October 2, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts
October 24-25, 2013, London, United Kingdom
November 4-5, 2013, Berlin, Germany

URL: http://www.conversionconference.com/

Conference: SES Conference Expo

How It Helps Your Biz: SES Conference Expo is the largest and most popular industry event in digital marketing. If you are hoping to make connections with some of the key players in the SEO industry, don’t miss this one. Typically, the SES conference program includes some basic sessions for industry beginners, but there are also a number of sessions for experienced internet marketers that cover some of the latest trends in the industry.

As with any event this size, be sure to review the program to determine which sessions you’d benefit from the most. Specific focus is paid to both the search and social media marketing sides. Conference organizers make an effort to include consultants and practitioners, along with reps from the search engines, for a holistic conversation. Speakers are encouraged to focus on case studies, high level strategies, and tactics that can be implemented right away by attendees.

Dates, Location:
June 12-14, 2013, Toronto, Canada
September 10-13, 2013, San Francisco, California
September 16-18, 2013, Hong Kong
October 9-10, 2013, Berlin, Germany
November 4-7, 2013, Chicago, Illinois

URL: http://sesconference.com/

Conference: MozCon

How It Helps Your Biz: Moz is home to some of the most knowledgeable leaders in the SEO industry. And MozCon is a great opportunity to network with them and other like-minded professionals. MozCon is geared towards experienced digital marketers and goes way beyond the basics of SEO. The goal of this conference is to arm you with strategies and tactics that you can use to improve your business and your conversions.

This year’s MozCon includes an agenda that spans SEO, social media, marketing analytics, content strategy, data science and more. Specific Sessions range from “The Mobile Content Mandate” to “How Gender and Cultural Differences in Web Psychology Affect Customer Behavior.” It’s a good mix of meaty analytical sessions and hands-on tactical advancement.

Dates, Location:
July 8-10, 2013, Seattle, Washington

URL: http://moz.com/mozcon

Conference: SearchLove Conference

How It Helps Your Biz: The SearchLove Conference is highly popular among industry leaders. And don’t worry, there’s no wasting time on search basics here. Those attending SearchLove can expect to learn about the most effective industry trends, and take away actionable information for their business.

It’s also a great place to network with other SEO professionals, and discuss some hot topics in the industry at the conference’s popular topic tables. Sessions are geared toward SEOs, managers, and business owners. Topics range from DIY data-driven content development to scalable outreach and the future of search.

Dates, Location:
September 5-6, 2013, San Diego, California

URL: http://www.distilled.net/events/searchlove-sandiego/

Conference: Content Marketing World

How It Helps Your Biz: Content strategy is at the forefront of SEO and search efforts this year, and that’s not changing anytime soon. Though this conference is not specifically geared toward SEO professionals, it’s still an important one to attend. It covers all aspects of content marketing from the basics, to advanced email marketing, identifying your target audiences, and making sales.

If you work with clients in specific verticals, pay attention to sessions geared towards professionals in industries such as health, technology, small business, and finance.  Content Marketing World is attended by a number of big brands, and it can be a great way to meet decision makers at companies like Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Cisco. Specific workshops include building your agency, content strategy for non-profits, and building advanced buyer personas.

Dates, Location:
September 9-11, 2013, Cleveland, Ohio

URL: http://contentmarketingworld.com

Conference: PubCon

How It Helps Your Biz: Geared toward social media and search marketing professionals, PubCon is a worthwhile conference that’s focused on the future of technology. They offer a full-day intensive SEO training that is geared toward experienced SEO marketers. The smaller group training gives you a chance to engage with some of the key players in the SEO industry.

This is another great choice if you’re looking to expand your professional network and learn more about the industry’s latest trends. It’s a week-long event with 200 speakers in more than 130 sessions. The exposure to the scale of speakers and expertise – along with the networking options – make this a good investment. Forbes named this conference a must-attend event.

Dates, Location:
October 21-25, 2013, Las Vegas, Nevada

URL:
http://www.pubcon.com/

Conference: Interactivity Digital

How It Helps Your Biz: Though it’s not specifically designed for SEO professionals, this conference offers a few sessions geared toward search engine optimization. The real value here is being able to connect with and learn from others in the digital marketing industry. You will be able to pick up some highly valuable tips both related to SEO and online marketing.

This is a smaller conference that focuses on the biggest trends of the year. This year’s agenda included SEO and SEM sessions, email marketing strategy, funnel development, remarketing, link building, and more. It’s a great way to get time with world-class speakers in a more intimate environment.

Dates, Location:
The 2013 conference has already passed. Dates and location for next year are TBD.

URL: http://interactivitydigital.com/

Conference: Inbound

How It Helps Your Biz: As the name suggests, the annual Inbound conference is focused on inbound marketing, an umbrella term that encompasses everything from SEO to social media. If your goal is to improve your knowledge of inbound marketing as a whole, this is the place to be. The conference combines marketing and technology with a bit of fun.

It also gives attendees the opportunity to network with inbound marketing giants such as Seth Godin and Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot. Sponsored by Hubspot, one of the leaders in inbound marketing, the agenda is full of sessions, networking events, and certification courses. If you’re interested in adding Hubspot to the list of services you offer, this is a great way to get up to speed.

Dates, Location:
August 19-22, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts

URL: http://www.inbound.com/

Conference: Inbound Marketing Summit

How It Helps Your Biz: Inbound marketing continues to be huge – as evidenced by the sheer number of conferences on the topic. The Inbound Marketing Summit brings together some of the leading professionals in the marketing industry. Again, this conference is not strictly focused on SEO, but IMS is a great conference to attend if you are hoping to connect with like-minded individuals who are interested in the future of digital marketing.

With representation and speakers from Hill Holiday, Hubspot, and Forbes, this conference is geared toward agency teams, creative execs, and CMOs. Sessions are divided into strategy, content, and tools segments – so it’s easy to hone in on the level of detail and expertise that’s right for you. In addition to the San Francisco event, the same conference brand also hosts events in Boston and New York City.

Dates, Location:
July 30-31, 2013, San Francisco, California

URL: http://www.inboundmarketingsummit.com

Conference: BlogHer

How It Helps Your Biz: BlogHer is a network for (primarily) women bloggers and entrepreneurs to come together, network, build relationships, and share best practices. The resulting brand, community, and conference franchise is truly impressive. This year’s conference lineup includes both BlogHer 2013 and a specialized food blogger conference.

The 2013 main event brings together bloggers, companies, and digital professionals. Everyone is invited to attend; the event organizers estimate that 10 to 15% of the attendees are men. Sessions cover everything from improving blog writing, to SEO strategies, to blog monetization approaches. It’s an especially powerful event to attend if you want to network with “Mommy bloggers” and writers active in women-focused niches such as DIY, family, and home topics.

Dates, Location: Chicago, Illinois July 25 – July 27, 2013

URL: https://events.thepulsenetwork.com/Attendee/Default.aspx?C=70000154M=10000085Mode=HTML

Conference: eMetrics Summit

How It Helps Your Biz: The International eMetrics Summit conferences occupy a unique niche in the marketing world. These conferences focus on the specific angle of big data and metrics across digital and marketing initiatives. As the leading conference covering the impact of data technology on marketing, eMetrics Summit focuses on driving business results through data analysis and technology adoption.

Sessions take a closer look at technology, case studies, and strategic trends in the measurement space. The audience is a mix of IT and marketing professionals, and there’s good representation from big and recognizable brands. If you feel that your ability to measure ROI and communicate that to your clients and colleagues could improve, this is an important conference to add to your list.

Dates, Location: Chicago (June 10 – 13, 2013), Sydney (June 25 – 16), Boston (September 29 – October 3), and Stockholm (October 14 – 15)

URL: http://www.emetrics.org/

Conference: NMX/Blogworld

How It Helps Your Biz: BlogWorld was one of the foundational conferences in the SEO and online marketing world. Rebranded as NMX or the New Media Expo, it’s coming this January to Las Vegas. With different tracks for blogging, podcasting, web TV and business, it’s possible to take a deep dive into the areas that interest you.

Sessions range from introductory level sessions to overviews of the latest trends. A mix of workshops, panels, and keynotes, it’s possible to cover a lot of ground here. It’s one of the largest conferences, and their tradeshow is a good way to meet reps from different digital brands in a consolidated fashion.

Dates, Location: January 4 – 6, 2014 Las Vegas, NV

URL: http://nmxlive.com/2014-lv/

Conference: South by Southwest Interactive

How It Helps Your Biz:  South by Southwest is a major annual event in Austin, Texas that’s divided into three sections: music, film, and interactive. Interactive has a devoted following and you’ll meet everyone from productivity gurus to startup celebs. Brands launch products every year at Interactive, and some of the craziest campaigns in the industry are showcased.

Sessions range from deeply useful and tactical, to thought provoking. One of the major benefits of SXSW is blending interactive with other areas of interest, along with the chance to network. This is a conference that will expand your professional circle and introduce you to new potential clients.

Dates, Location: March 7 – 11, 2014; Austin, TX

URL: http://sxsw.com/interactive