We are so pleased when we see numbers like 5,000, 10,000 visitors per month to our websites, and for others even more. But the real question is how many of those visitors are turning into customers. Or if you own a blog or website where advertising and maybe affiliate programs is part of your income stream; are your advertisers pleased with the response they're getting from your website?  More importantly, are you getting your money's worth by adding affiliate banners and links to your highly trafficked areas of your site?

Chances are good that you're not,  statistically anyway.  Shop.org reported that an average retail website conversion rate is around 1.8 percent(%), some are even quoting numbers in the  0.1 % conversion rate range.  This means if you're getting 1000 visitors to your website every month, chances are good that you're probably only receiving  one(1) sales per month - 12 sales per year if you're lucky.  Not very good numbers  unless you're selling million dollar homes  (and I haven't seen many designers selling million dollar homes lately)  So I ask you- Is how many monthly visitors  to your website really your company's goal?

Probably not.  Your design company's goal  is more likely sales, annual revenues,  number of paying clients, number of paying customers, Dollars,  Pounds, yens, Euros, Rupees, Rubles, The Benjamins, Cream... and any other names we can come up with to describe money.  So the real question should be:  How do we get our conversion rates up?  And the short answer is research - that how, yes that ugly word again. 

What's great about the research now though,  is that it's more accessible than ever before primarily due to social media and inbound marketing techniques.    Your demographics- your customers and clients are communicating with you every minute of every day. It's like that little voice in your head that won't shut up.   You're getting live unfiltered "face time" with your customers though social media avenues like Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon ,  LinkedIn and the Blogosphere.   

THE SOCIAL MEDIA & LEAD GENERATION - PERFECT TOGETHER

With social media your leads no longer have to only come from your website.  They can come from your Facebook business page or group [setting up your company profile in which your company can receive fans (another word for leads)  or rather people that are interested in your product or service], your  LinkedIn professional group [creating a business group related to  your core business can invite professionals, customers and clients alike to join - giving you the opportunity to network and grow your business - another way to cultivate your leads] ,  your personal and business Twitter profile [Great for meeting new clients, customers and colleges in your industry - yet even more leads] , your Ning social network or group and many other social networking sites on the web.   Now the difference between the contacts you make using  social networking  are that they are more "prep" or qualified leads for your services than visitors that  end up on your website by a random combination of keywords in Google.    Now that we have better leads in our pipeline,  it's time to convert them to customers.

SITE NAVIGATION TO THE RESCUE

Your website or page navigation needs to be paid very close attention to.  Visitors are first looking for information before your product or service.  Once you've provide the right information to them , its only then that you can move to the next step in the process:  Your website should welcome your visitors, ask them what they are looking for (providing options), direct them to the answers or information they requested, and only then should you suggest a  product or service that will help them solve their problems.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET CAN ONLY INCREASE YOUR CONVERSION RATES

Take the time to really understand the culture of your customer demographics  and mimic that language on your website.  We learned this in psychology 101, mimic the people you meet and they become your friends or customers or clients. The only difference is now you're doing it on the web.   "Your  virtual world  is no different than  your "real world".   A good practice is to visit your website as a customer every day:  Ask yourself if you would subscribe or buy or sign up for your product or service your website is offering.  Don't be fooled,  the" build it and they will come" strategy is long gone; you have to go get them and bring them back... kicking and screaming.  :-)

More Articles on Website Conversion Rates:

Understanding Your Websites' Conversion Rate Can Make or Break Your Online Business

IF YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO MY RSS FEED