Whether you run a niche blog or an e-commerce store, traffic is meaningless without conversion rate optimization or CRO. Sure, building blog traffic is already a daunting task. But in order to monetize a website, you need to make sure visitors turn to subscribers, social media followers, and paying customers.
For this, you need to focus on certain factors in your website that affect its conversion rate – from landing pages to overall site performance. The good news is, you can easily leverage tools to optimize these elements. Here are the top 9 tools you can use:
For Page Loading Speed
Improving your website’s page loading speed is one of the essential steps for boosting conversion rate. According to statistics, a 1-second delay in page loading time can reduce conversions by up to 7%. Furthermore, 40% of visitors leave a site if it needs more than 3 seconds to fully load. That said, you need to use tools that can help p
1. Google PageSpeed Insights
Of course, the factors that affect page loading speed vary for each website. To identify which factors affect yours, you can use a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights. It works by analyzing your site, detecting issues that impact performance, and providing you with the recommended courses of action.
2. GTmetrix
GTmetrix is another page speed analyzer that can provide you with suggestions on boosting your site’s loading speed. After the scan, your website will be scored based on data from other services such as YSlow and PageSpeed Insights. The platform also provides you with a list of detected issues that’s organized according to priority.
3. Optimizilla
Compressing images is a key step in boosting your website’s loading speed. A simple way to do this is to use Optimizilla to compress images before using them on your site. The tool retains image quality even after the compression process, which is why it’s more preferable than shrinking images yourself.
For Landing Pages
Conversions rely heavily on user experience. Apart from page loading speed, you also need to pay attention to the design aspect of your website – particularly in landing pages where conversions occur. Fortunately, you don’t need a professional designer to create landing pages that convert:
4. OptinMonster
A landing page isn’t complete without opt-in forms to facilitate conversions. To create professional-looking forms, one of the most comprehensive tools you can use would be OptinMonster. It comes with a drag-and-drop editor that can help you create popup forms, floating bars, sliding forms, and a number of other features that can spice up your landing pages. You can also leverage the built-in A/B testing tool to optimize the performance of forms over time.
5. GetResponse
GetResponse also allows to build landing pages via a drag-and-drop editor, but it’s not as feature-rich as OptinMonster in this respect. This is mainly because the platform focuses on managing and automating email marketing campaigns. You can also use the platform to craft beautiful newsletters within minutes.
For Content
Conversions require trust, and trust is won through authority. That’s why you shouldn’t ignore the importance of authoritative content when optimizing for conversions. For content that converts, you can depend on tools that help you capture your audience’s attention, provide valuable information, and can keep them engage as you get your message across.
6. BuzzSumo
To provide valuable content for your audience, you should use a content research tool like BuzzSumo to spot popular topics and “borrow” inspiration from your competitors’ content. Doing so also allows you to come up with headlines that can bring targeted traffic to your landing pages. For more information on writing headlines, refer to this post.
7. Canva
Incorporating visual content in your blog or social media content is another great way to capture the interest of your target audience. With a tool like Canva, you can create captivating visual content using the drag-and-drop editor. You can also take advantage of templates that are prebuilt for specific distribution channels – be it an image-sharing network, your blog, or newsletter.
8. Facebook 360
Aside from visual content, VR content is also getting the public’s interest, especially with marketing campaigns done by major brands like Nescafe, Red Bull, and The North Face. The easiest way to ride this hype is to upload 360 videos on platforms like Facebook 360. An advantage of this is that you can directly share your 360 content to social media users, whom you can funnel into your landing pages to generate more conversions.
For Testing
Truth be told, not even the most experienced web developers can attain maximum conversions in one attempt. Instead, they monitor the performance of their pages over time and make the necessary adjustments based on analytics. To skip the number crunching, you can simply use a heatmap tool and have a visual observation on how your visitors navigate your site.
9. Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is, by far, the most popular tool that generate heatmaps. It helps you quickly determine where your audience goes and which elements they tend to avoid. You can also use the new scroll map tool to identify how much of your page are actually being seen.
Conclusion
Ultimately, remember that your site’s conversion rate depends on key factors that affect user experience. With the tools above, you can focus on each factor as well as design and performance issues that require your attention. Just remember to take one step at a time and continue monitoring your site.
