By Neil Rimmer, Published October 30, 2014
If you own a website and want to increase online profits, then you have two basic options:
Option 1: Increase Sales Volume by Boosting Traffic Levels
When a site first launches, the one and only way to increase online profits is to grow sales volume. For an online business, that means you need traffic. Just a few of the most popular strategies to generate online traffic for your website include:
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Content Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization/Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
Unfortunately, just because you boost overall sales volume does not mean you will actually increase online profits. In fact, the ROI from different traffic generating strategies can vary dramatically so that even a high sales volume might produce little if any online profits.
Option 2: Reduce Costs
Lowering expenses while maintaining current revenues is a tried and true strategy to increase online profits and can be accomplished using a wide range of strategies, including:
- PPC Optimization to Eliminate Non-Converting Keywords
- Eliminate Unprofitable Traffic Channels
- Increase Operational Efficiency to Reduce Labor/Fulfillment Costs
- Invest in Time-Saving Technology
- And Many, Many More Options
To some degree, most website owners have already tried both methods and rightfully so. But here’s the rub: You’ve probably already tried both strategies and yet you still can’t seem to increase online profits. What’s going on here?
The truth is, there’s a thief that has been stealing your online profits from day one. And regardless of your traffic source or how much you cut expenses and improve operational efficiency, the “thief” continues to suppress your profits. That thief:
Is Your Website.
It’s not a joke. Specifically, your conversion rate is simply too low which drives up customer acquisition costs and kills profits—on all traffic sources and across all of your sales and landing pages. Now before you think I’m crazy or making radical assumptions without knowing a thing about you, check for yourself:
Average Conversion Rates for All Google PPC Search Traffic In 2013 for Main Industry Niches
Travel/Hospitality: 1.5%
Banking/Finance 6.1%
Retail: 3.5%
Education/Employment: 6.0%
Telecom/Internet: 6.2%
Electronics: 4.7%
B2B/Industrial: 4.3%
Home & Garden: 2.2%
Auto & Vehicles: 4.2%
Health and Beauty: 4.5%
*Source: Adwords Performance Grader
Now please be aware: Your site should most certainly have a higher conversion rate because these are strictly PPC conversion rate averages. A site with diverse traffic streams including SEO, social media, content marketing, and PPC will always have a higher conversion rate if proper keyword research and targeting has been performed.
So if you are selling apps and generating a 4% conversion rate and think you’re doing well: Think again. That would mean that your site is fully underperforming by 50% or more in terms of converting visitors into buyers or qualified leads. So how are you going to increase online profits by investing in new traffic sources when you are already 50% behind in terms of conversion rate?
The short answer? You won’t. Like now, any addition of new sales will require increased marketing costs and with the low conversion rate: Those sales won’t move the needle in terms of your actual profits. Yes, you’ll generate more revenue and some traffic channels will actually be slightly profitable but overall: Your profits as a percentage of overall sales will not increase until you fix the conversion rate problem.
Conversion rate optimisation firms specialise in helping websites permanently increase conversions by optimising major site components, such as:
- Direct Response Copywriting Specifically On Landing, Sales, and Squeeze Pages
- Site Design
- Shopping Cart Configuration and Implementation
- Social Media Integration and On-Site SEO
- Paid Traffic Channels
- Website Programming
- CMS Configuration
To efficiently find and ultimately fix issues that are killing sales, conversion rate optimization experts employ website traffic analysis. Once fixed, the new baseline conversion rate is confirmed over a large sample size of 500-1000 visitors or more, depending on price point and business model.
After a site has been optimized, you will see more conversions squeezed out of the existing traffic streams which ultimately increase online profits dramatically. After all, you aren’t paying any additional marketing costs for those increased sales. Plus, all future investments in SEO, PPC, content marketing, etc. will ultimately be more profitable as well due to the increased conversion rate. Best of all: You can increase online profits for long after the project is complete because the higher conversion rate will continue generating higher sales for years potentially after the job has been done.
Concluding Thoughts
It’s quite simple: If your conversion rate is lower than the average conversion rate for your niche listed in the chart above, then you’re leaving loads of money on the table each and every month. Massive corporations like Apple and Google have admitted to hiring conversion rate optimization companies to improve their own conversions and boost online profits. And they only do so for one simple reason: To increase online profits.
So before you invest another dime in a new SEO campaign, social media marketing campaign, etc., consider hiring a conversion rate optimization consultant to see how much they could boost your conversion rate. Just imagine how much you could increase online profits if you squeezed 50% more sales out of the existing traffic. If your conversion rate is lower than the average c/r for your niche, then it’s not a question of “if” you’re losing money: It’s a question of figuring out how much.
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