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Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Optimize, Optimize, Optimize!

Only 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates, according to an Econsultancy study.

As your business grows, your goals are going to evolve. Your KPIs are going to change. Your competition is going to get fiercer. Which means your marketing tactics need to as well. 

You may hear, “practice makes perfect” and roll your eyes at the cliche, but it’s especially true when it comes to your marketing strategy! Optimizing allows you to fine-tune your efforts so you and your team can continuously boost revenue and cut costs. (Sounds like a dream, right?)

We’ll share the best optimization practices so you can go off, implement them yourself and see results!

We’ll cover the best optimizing strategies for your:

  • Website
  • Landing pages
  • Email marketing
  • Paid advertising

Now, let’s get to it.

Website

Your website is a reflection of your business’ current state. So if any content appears stale or outdated, it’s time to give it a makeover!

You want to continuously optimize for SEO and conversions. That way, you can increase your organic traffic and better your chances of getting more customers.

If you’re wondering what can help you get those results, it’s...

1. Analyzing website data 
You should have tracking installed so you can continuously check how your website is performing. User data reports and traffic data will tell you just that. 

If your website has seen a significant loss in traffic or you simply want more visitors, your website data will tell you which pages users are spending the most time on and where they’re bouncing. This can help you tweak elements of these pages (i.e. copy, design, CTA) to make them stronger.

2. Performing keyword research 
You can’t place higher on search result rankings without some darn good keyword research. We recommend using Ubersuggest for keyword suggestions, domain overview, content ideas, top SEO pages report, and backlink data. Plus, it’s free!

3. Writing longer content 
It’s recommended that your blogs are about 1,600 words. You can test this by writing more or less and seeing what works for you. Check to see what your competition on page 1 is doing.

4. Updating on-page SEO 
This doesn’t take much time, but boy, does it make a difference if you do it. Make sure your headlines, subheads, URL slugs and meta tags are short, relevant and optimized for search intent so users can easily find your site.

5. Updating off-page SEO 
Off-page SEO definitely takes more time than on-page, but it pays off. It establishes authority, relevance, trustworthiness and popularity. Ways you can do so include: guest blogging, social media presence, brand mentions and influencer marketing.

6. Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly 
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re going to shut the door on a lot of potential customers. Luckily, it’s easier to find sites that offer mobile-friendly templates nowadays. According to Adobe, “companies with mobile-optimized sites triple their chances of increasing the mobile conversion rate to 5% or above.”

7. Cutting down your page speed 
Users don’t want to wait more than two seconds for their web pages to load these days. That goes for desktop and mobile. Check to see if your pages are processing quickly with Pagespeed Insights.

Landing pages

The whole point of landing pages is to generate leads so they become prospects and better yet, customers. So, they’re a pretty big deal.

If you want to optimize your landing pages for conversions, you should consider...

1. Using visual data reports
You can see exactly where users are clicking on your landing pages, so you can see your strong points and which areas need some 

2. Including one clear offer
Too many offers can leave visitors feeling overwhelmed. According to a Wishpond study, landing pages with multiple offers get 266% fewer leads than single offer pages. Increase your chances of generated leads by giving them one clear offer to focus on.

3. Simplifying landing page
Another instance where users don’t like too many distractions. Keep your landing page simple. The text. Navigation. Design. All of it!

4. Incorporating scarcity techniques
People hate missing out on good deals or opportunities. So when they’re told there’s a limited amount of time/product, it prompts them to make a quicker decision. Because well, FOMO. 

5. Using A/B testing for headlines and copy
A/B testing was the highest ranked method planned for improving conversion by 48%, according to a Marketing Sherpa study.

Email marketing

Get your readers to actually read your emails! Win your subscribers over with your compelling copy, designs and offers.

Some tips in improving your email open rate and CTR include...

1. Using a newsletter service
Services like Mailchimp, Constant Contact and Sendinblue make email marketing a breeze. You can build your lists and send beautifully designed emails without worrying about all that technical mumbo jumbo. 

2. Testing subject lines
How many emails do you immediately delete because the subject lines seem too boring or spammy? 

A weak subject line won’t get you the clicks your email deserves. If you’re able to catch your readers’ attention with just the subject line, you’ll surely get them to open your email. 

A/B test your subject lines to win over your email subscribers. 

3. Personalizing emails
Personalization is what helps readers feel special, like the message you sent was especially written for them. Personalized email subject lines generate about 50% higher open rates. It is also said that they generate a median ROI of 122%.

4. Making emails mobile-friendly 
Over 70% of people check their email in a mobile app, which is why it’s imperative that you optimize your emails for mobile. Users are immediately turned-off when an email is poorly designed. Check if your newsletter service offers mobile templates and use whichever ones that fall in line with your brand!

5. Segmenting emails
Not every email subscriber will be at the same stage in the buyer’s journey. And not all of them are subscribed for the same reasons. 

By dividing your email list, you can offer something of value to each of your customers. The DMA reported that when marketers segmented their campaigns, they saw a 760% increase in email revenue!

6. Writing concise copy
Honor your readers’ time by cutting right to the chase in your emails. Nowadays, readers don’t have the attention span to read every single word in every single email. They’re skimming for the most important information. Make this easy on them (and on you!) by writing as much as you need to get your point across.

7. Adding quality images
It’s rare, and we mean rare, that someone would rather read a bunch of text with zero images. In fact, 65% of users prefer image heavy emails compared to the 35% who prefer text heavy emails. As long as your image adds value to your message, readers will. 

8. Adding social sharing buttons
Subtly nudge your readers that they can share your emails on their favorite social media platforms. Giving them this option can increase email click-through rate by 158%. 

Paid advertising

Spend money to make money—wisely. Paid ads can help you get the results you want fast. That is, as long as you know what you’re doing.

If you’re looking to boost your clicks, traffic and conversions, consider...

Google Ads

1. Using negative keywords
Help your audience find you by eliminating irrelevant search terms. This improves your CTR and saves you money by targeting those looking for what your business has to offer. No more paying for useless clicks!

2. Refining location 
Do you want the entire city, state, or country to see your ad? Then so be it! If you want to target prospects within X amount of miles from your business, you can do that too! Simply adjust your geolocation parameters to get your ad seen by your target audience.

3. Showing your ad on certain times and days
You can set which times and days to display your ad rather than at all times. Find out when your audience is the most active to help you see more worthwhile results. 

4. Optimizing ad text
An ad should be short, sweet and effective. Make sure your ad text has a relevant keyword within the headline, tells prospects what your unique selling proposition is and has a clear call to action. 

Facebook Ads

1. Signing up for Facebook Business Manager
Facebook Business Manager allows you to...well, manage every business tool you use on Facebook. You can keep track of all your ads, pages, accounts and performances on here.

2. Installing Facebook Pixel
Track your site visitors with this little piece of code. When you embed this on your site, you can see just what users are doing on your site. With that data, you can create custom audiences for your ad campaign. 

3. Trying various ad formats
This all depends on how you want to best convey your message i.e. video, photo, story, etc. Facebook has a variety of formats to choose from so you can effectively reach your audience.

4. Using split tests
If you haven’t noticed, split tests become your best friend when you’re optimizing. Instead of guessing if your ad is a hit or a miss, test different versions to maximize your campaign efforts. For a step-by-step of how to do so, click here.

5. Analyzing results
Give it some time before you check your ad’s performance once posted. If your ad seems to be doing well, keep it as is! If you’re not seeing results after a few days, it might be worth it to see what isn’t working and fix it.

In conclusion…

As your business grows, elements of your business will shift and grow. That doesn’t mean you need to come up with a whole new strategy. 

Optimizing lets you refine your marketing process as time goes on. 

Keeping up with your user data allows you to not only improve the user experience, but also increase conversions and ROI for your business. What’s not to love?

So, remember—when it comes to your marketing strategy, practice makes perfect.

About the Author

Bernard Ablola

President, Think Strategy

Bernard Ablola is the founder of Think Strategy, where he helps clients formulate their online strategy and framework to ensure projects are kept on track. He is a frequent speaker on B2B lead generation and marketing automation. Prior to Think Strategy, Bernard earned his MBA in Entrepreneurship/International Studies from Seattle University and worked at Microsoft Corporation, managing multi-million search and display advertising campaigns for top tier clients. When he’s not embedding himself in learning, you can find him hiking or skateboarding throughout Southern California, walking his Pomsky (Google it) or finding THE spiciest Asian food in the city.