As you develop, or redevelop your company’s website, one of the primary considerations to keep top of mind is how you will convert leads from your website. Once someone lands on your website, how do you plan to convert them to a paying customer? Or, at least capture their contact information?

Here are some of the top tips for converting leads from your website:

• Establish Trust– It is a well known fact that people do business with people they like, feel connected to and trust. To establish trust using your website, make sure that you include a well-written About Us page, including recent photographs for top leaders. Link to Privacy Policies, website security notifications and certifications and highlight relevant return policies.
• Focus on Simplicity– Your website should be easy to navigate, language should be concise and ordering/contact information should be clearly outlined. If you offer online ordering options, how to place an order should be clearly outlined to avoid customer confusion.
• Eliminate the Un-Necessary– Anything that isn’t relevant to your customer’s experience should be eliminated from your website. To ensure that all of the components on your site are fully functional, be sure to schedule regular testing. It can be extremely frustrating to a potential customer to land on website icons that aren’t operational.
• Offer Answers– If you regularly receive customer questions, post a FAQ page that presents commonly asked questions and their answers. For ongoing questions, consider an online, live chat option to catch potential leads before they navigate away from your website out of frustration.
• Maintain Live Customer Options– While many buyers prefer online ordering options, there are still many that prefer to work directly with a sales professional. Maintain your current inbound sales program to capture buyers seeking to work directly with a corporate contact. And, be sure to post this information throughout your site.
• Focus on Security– Partner with reputable encryption security companies so that customers feel confident when entering in their personal information or payment details. Post the security certificates on your website, focusing on relevant ordering pages so that it is visible to all online buyers.
• Compel Buyers to Take Action- If your goal is to encourage buyers to place orders on your website, be sure to include strong calls to action on relevant pages.

By placing focus on the functionality, layout, and features of your company’s website, you will not only attract more leads to the site itself, but you will compel more of them to take buying steps.