The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Your Organic Traffic and Conversions #semrushchat

Liza Perstneva The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Your Organic Traffic and Conversions #semrushchat Liza Perstneva

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For many business owners, how to attract more visitors to their website still remains a mystery. The truth is, it won’t happen overnight. Experienced webmasters know that making it to the top of Google can take from six months to a year.

Building organic traffic takes time and effort. But with a consistent strategy, proper optimization and the right tools, it can be done effectively. During our first SEMrush Chat of 2017, our chat participants discussed how to increase your organic traffic and conversions. This time we invited Don Purdum, a digital marketing consultant, an award winning blogger, an author, a speaker, and the founder of UnveiltheWeb.com, to be our special guest and share his experience.

Let’s move on to the first question!

Q1: In order to increase your conversion rate, what should people focus on for 2017?

Now that we’ve moved into 2017, it’s time to reassess your approach to conversion rate optimization. Let’s see what our chat guests advised that you focus on in order to increase your conversions.

First of all, Don Purdum recommended looking at your business from your consumers’ point of view.This means that you need to understand how your customers see and feel about your product or service. If your clients reveal only 20 percent of what’s on their minds, you’ll have to discover the other 80 percent in order to create highly relevant content.

Q1: If customers reveal 20% of what’s on their minds you have to discover the other 80% to create highly relevant content. #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

Don also shared an infographic that explains why a relevant message is vital for customer interaction, customer perception, and their actions.

Q1: Why a relevant message for #contentmarketing or #business is vital! #semrushchat @donpurdum pic.twitter.com/EWsPYwnzxU

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

In Praveen Sharma’s point of view, improving user experience is another important element website owners should focus on in 2017. Everything from your content to your navigation should be simple and effective. A great user experience can drive site visitors to convert. “A big focus in 2017 should be on UX. The easier your site is to use, the more likely you will generate leads and sales,” tweeted Miles Technologies ‏@milestech.

@semrush A1. A better user experience is all we require. From content to navigation, everything should be simple and effective. #semrushchat

— Praveen Sharma ???????? (@i_praveensharma) January 4, 2017

To get people to click on your call to action, you should make sure your CTA is clear and that it explains what your site visitors need to do. It’s highly important to show them what you have to offer, why they need it, and how they can obtain it. Jerry Frear pointed out that your landing page content should match users’ search queries. You must make your CTA an offer that’s difficult to refuse.

A1. Clear concise call to action. 1 click entry. Landing page content that matches the user query. #semrushchat

— Jerry Frear (@JerryatEngage) January 4, 2017

Jerry Frear also recommended paying attention to other important elements, including mobile optimization, load speed, and A/B testing: ” How do you know if something else will convert better if you aren’t testing?”

According to data released by StatCounter, mobile and tablet devices accounted for 51.3 percent of Internet usage worldwide compared to 48.7 percent by desktop in October of 2016. As mobile phone usage continues to increase, website owners need to pay careful attention to their CRO activities on mobile devices.

A1: I believe, mobile layout optimizations & user experience would play a major role in increasing conversion rate #semrushchat

— Bharat (@bharatpc) January 4, 2017

Finally, Don Purdum reminded us that site owners should always create content that solves users’ problems, needs, or desires and tell them how it can be done using a strong call-to-action.

SEMrush Chat Recap Q1

Increasing organic traffic and conversions is a timely process. However, if you focus on the important elements of your website that our chat guests mentioned, you’ll be rewarded by search engines.

Q2: Why is it vital to have a relevant message for your audience?

Making your message relevant is the key to getting your listeners’ attention. Modern users have little patience and high expectations. This means that irrelevant messages simply won’t be heard. You have to make your message believable.

Our chat participants helped us collect a list of reasons why relevant messaging is vital for online success.

1. Relevant messaging shows that you understand your audience well

Every marketer knows that it’s crucial to know your audience. Your message should be tailored to your consumers and address their concerns and areas of interest. “If your content is all about you, what incentive does your audience have to read, comment, share or link?” asked Don Purdum. Relevant messaging demonstrates that you know your consumers well. It means that you can offer them good solutions to their problems.

A2 – #1 – Relevance determines how they experience you based on their problems, needs, wants or desires. #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

2. Relevant messaging helps you grab people’s attention

You mustn’t allow your message to get lost in the crowd. To make a significant impact on your audience, you need to focus your content on what’s relevant to them. Relevant messaging shows your customers that you have something valuable to say.

It won’t take long for your site visitors to leave your webpage and find another site that will offer them what they really need. Therefore, it’s important to provide only relevant and unique content.

A2: If the message isn't relevant, it won't resonate with the audience you worked so hard to grab the attention of #semrushchat

— Mainstreethost (@mainstreethost) January 4, 2017

3. Relevant messaging shows you can solve your users’ problems

“Relevance is about intent. Are you answering the question they are really asking or just putting keywords on a page?” asked Chris Countey ‏@chriscountey. The ThinkSEM team pointed out that once you figure out your audience’s pain points, you can focus on solving them by matching the solutions you offer with your users’ needs. A relevant message tells people that you know how to answer their questions and solve their problems.

A2: Once you know the audience's paint points, you can work on solving them — by marrying their needs with your solutions.#semrushchat

— ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) January 4, 2017

4. Relevant messaging demonstrates your competence, confidence and trust

If the content that you create is relevant, you’ll soon become a trusted, reputable and authoritative person. “Relevance is Trust and Authority. Otherwise, companies will risk their reputation if sharing bad content,” tweeted Liliana H ‏@Liliholl. Also, you need to be consistent and convicted in your opinions and keep your message clear and concise.

A2 – A relevant message demonstrates competency, confidence and trust… in that order. #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

5. Relevant messaging is good for SEO

Clear, relevant and keyword-rich content is the key to successful website performance. Shawn Harding remarked that relevancy is crucial for SEO. If your webpage isn’t useful and relevant, Google won’t display it in its search results. By making your message relevant, you’ll satisfy both search engines and your users.

A2: Relevancy is incredibly important for SEO. If your page isn't the most useful / relevant, why would Google want to show it? #semrushchat

— Shawn Harding (@shawnbandv) January 4, 2017

6. Relevant messaging helps you better connect with your audience

Relevant message strengthens your website and supports your marketing efforts, allowing your customers to connect with your brand on a deeper level. Annalisa M. Hilliard pointed out that relevancy is about making connection. If you build trust with your audience through a relevant message, they’re likely to become your loyal customers.

A2: Relevancy is connection. Connection is branding. If you build trust w/ your audience they are likely to be repeat visitors. #semrushchat

— Annalisa M. Hilliard (@ahilliardm) January 4, 2017

Check out a few other answers in the following recap.

SEMrush Chat Recap Q2

PolePositionMkg ‏@PolePositionMkg made a great point, saying that without a relevant message, you won’t be able to convince your audience that you’re the one who can provide the solutions they need: “The messaging is everything. Should come before everything. Without it, how do you convince audience you are the solution?“

Q3: What are some steps a business website can take to ensure a low bounce rate?

Before we figure out how to reduce bounce rate, it’s important to fully understand what it is. Your site’s bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors who come to your site and leave it without viewing any other pages.

To reduce your bounce rate, follow these six tips that our chat guests shared.

1. Create amazing content

It goes without saying. Your content must be unique, relevant and high-quality. Also, you need to make sure that it’s readable. Visitors will leave a website with poor readability.

Q3 – #1 – Create amazing content that is specific, relevant and organized. It’s about value over selling. #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

2. Link to other pages on your website

Our special guest also recommended linking your content to other pages on your website. You don’t have to say everything in just one post, even if it consists of 3,000 or 4,000 words. The more relevant sources you link to on your site, the more clicks you’ll get and the lower your bounce rate will be.

Q3 – #2 – Link to sources in your own website. Don’t try to say it all in one article even if it’s 3,000 to 4,000 words. #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

3. Improve your site’s usability

Visitors will leave your website or webpage when it doesn’t live up to their expectations, for example, because of poor website usability. You need to ensure your site has a quick navigation and an easy-to-find search feature in order to make people stay on your website. “[To ensure a low bounce rate, you need to provide a] UX that makes it easy to navigate the site and find the information you need, along with content pertinent to buyer intent,” tweeted Mainstreethost.

A3: Write relevant, great copy. Make site easy to read/navigate/CONVERT. Good UX is a must — on any device.#semrushchat https://t.co/jRqOyfvRBS

— ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) January 4, 2017

4. Speed up your website

Modern users have little patience. According to eCommerce Insiders, people expect a webpage to load in two seconds or less. That means the lower your page loads, the higher your bounce rate will be. Therefore, you need to make sure your website is fast enough.

A3: great content, a clear layout, and fast upload – people are less and less patient, nowadays!#semrushchat

— @AndreaTorti90 (@andreatorti90) January 4, 2017

5. Make your website mobile-friendly

Your customers already use their smartphones and tablets a lot. That means that you should make sure your website provides a perfect user experience on all possible devices. “In a mobile world, mobile-friendly websites are major,” pointed out Red 5 Interactive ‏@r5i.

A3: Deliver optimized content that matches intent. Be *fully* mobile. Display relevant internal links strategically. #semrushchat

— Jason Barbato (@Digital_JB) January 4, 2017

6. Provide a clear CTA

Finally, Annalisa M. Hilliard suggested capturing your site visitors’ attention by giving them a reason to stay. To do this, you need to provide a clear CTA to make your users follow a specific path through your site.

A3: Capture the attention of visitors by giving them reason to stay for. Give them clear CTA for moving them through the site. #semrushchat

— Annalisa M. Hilliard (@ahilliardm) January 4, 2017

Let’s sum up these key points.

SEMrush Chat Recap Q3

Take these steps to reduce your website’s bounce rate and make a good impression on your site visitors.

Q4: What are some good ways to ensure your target audience sees your message?

The goal of any marketing campaign is to reach out to the right audience with the right message. But how can you make sure your target audience sees your message?

1. Focus on influencers in your industry

People tend to trust recommendations from a third party more than a brand. An influencer is the third party that can connect your brand with your target consumer. Don Purdum recommended focusing on relevant influencers who serve the same audience. Start building relationships with influencers by providing value to them. “If done right, they can drive more qualified traffic to you via links and increase your SEO value tremendously,” tweeted Don.

A4 – Focus more effort on influencers who serve the same audience you do but in a different way. #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

2. Research your audience

Doing thorough audience research is an inevitable step in getting your message to your target audience. You need to understand what kind of content your customers like, what words they use when searching for what they need and how they consume content.

a4) Research your audience in advance: What kinds of content do they like? What words do they use? How do they consume content? #semrushchat

— Ryan Johnson (@rsj8000) January 4, 2017

3. Promote your content on channels that your audience uses

Smart targeting is highly important for getting your content in front of your audience. Express Writers ‏@ExpWriters pointed out that you should find out where your consumers are: “You need to be proactive about promoting your content, especially on social media. Find out where your audience is.”

A4: Promote your content on channels that you know your audience uses (e.g. specific social networks, email marketing, etc.) #semrushchat

— Mainstreethost (@mainstreethost) January 4, 2017

4. Match your content with your users’ intent

User intent describes what a person is searching for when conducting a search query. Simply pitching your product or service won’t deliver great results. To convert your site visitors, you need to make sure that your content is designed to meet the user’s intent. In fact, it affects the whole process. You need to create unique offer and CTA, depending on your user’s intent.

A4) Use the most appropriate channels and tools for each of your target personas. Match landing content with search intent #semrushchat

— David Rosam (@davidrosam) January 4, 2017

5. Segment your audience

To deliver the right message to the right audience, marketers need to segment their total audience. Shawn Harding pointed out that not all members of your audience consume content in the same way. Besides understanding your audience’s gender, age and location, it’s also important to understand their behaviors and preferences. It will help you provide your clients with the best possible experiences.

A4: Segment your audience. Don't assume your whole audience consumes content in the same way. Omni-channel marketing is a must #semrushchat

— Shawn Harding (@shawnbandv) January 4, 2017

With your message, you need to show your audience that you can meet their needs and solve their problems.

SEMrush Chat Recap Q4

How do you get your message to your target audience? Share your tips in the comments! We would love to hear about your experience.

Q5: Which tools do you use to create compelling content and relevant messaging?

Now that you know how to ensure your target audience sees your message, let’s see what tools can help you create compelling content and relevant messaging.

  • BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed is a source of news, videos, quizzes and all the rest trending buzz to share with other people. Don Purdum remarked that you can research influencers via BuzzFeed.

A5 – #3 – Research influencers via SEMrush, Buzzfeed and their sites… what they are writing about as it pertains to our topic #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

  • Google Trends. Google Trends allows you to discover what’s trending now. You can see the latest trends, data and visualizations from Google.

A5: Use Google trends, but filter to YouTube. Video is usually compelling content, so it's a good start for your own ideas. #semrushchat

— Shawn Harding (@shawnbandv) January 4, 2017

  • CoSchedule. This tool enables you to plan, organize, and execute your content marketing projects all in one place. Also, its headline analyzer helps you create better titles by scoring your headline’s overall quality and rating its ability to result in SEO value, increased traffic, and social shares.

A5 – https://t.co/EK3hv1dtFO has a headline analyzer that is helpful in creating titles. https://t.co/W1l1YKUocM #semrushchat

— Don Purdum (@donpurdum) January 4, 2017

  • GroupHigh. This public relations and marketing software provider helps you find bloggers and social media influencers, research and review websites, and measure the effectiveness of content and the results of blogger and influencer outreach.

A5: I really love GroupHigh for checking out influencers to network with and see what's going on. #semrushchat

— Jacques Bouchard (@jacquesbouchard) January 4, 2017

  • Conductor. Conductor offers a content intelligence platform that generates customer intent insights to help you create compelling content and increase your traffic.

A5: Oh, and use @SEMRush with @Conductor for beastly content creation ideas – but ask your audience about your content, too #semrushchat

— Chris Countey (@chriscountey) January 4, 2017

  • Canva. This tool helps you easily create designs for various purposes, including blog graphics, Facebook covers, presentations and flyers to name a few. Canva helps you make your message more visually appealing.

  • Adobe Spark. Adobe Spark, an online and mobile graphic design app, allows you to easily create beautiful images, webpages, and videos to tell your story.

A5 Keyword research tools, monitoring tools, visual content creation tools such as @Canva and Adobe Spark #semrushchat

— PolePositionMkg (@PolePositionMkg) January 4, 2017

  • Piktochart. You can also try this easy-to-use infographic maker that helps you improve your visual communication and take it to a more advanced level.

A5: Analytics and copywriting are a given – but an infographic might do the trick, too (@piktochart is great, btw)#semrushchat

— @AndreaTorti90 (@andreatorti90) January 4, 2017

  • Analytics. Website analytics is the important process of collecting, measuring, analyzing, and reporting data on your site, which enables you to better understand and optimize your online performance.

A5: Website analytics. Relevant customer experiences. Industry trends/hot topics on social media. #semrushchat

— Jason Barbato (@Digital_JB) January 4, 2017

Pat Whalen also pointed out the importance of customer feedback. It helps marketers and business owners discover what about their products or services can be improved.

A5: Data, user feedback, and an honest analysis of your successes and failures #semrushchat pic.twitter.com/qVAmX8Bl4a

— Pat Whalen (@2patwhalen) January 4, 2017

Also, our chat guests named other helpful tools and services, including BuzzSumo, Ahrefs, Moz, Keyword Planner and SEMrush.

SEMrush Chat Recap Q5

If you use any other tools to create compelling content, let us know in the comments.

Many thanks to our special guest and our other chat participants for sharing their expertise!

Hopefully, the tips from this post will help you improve your online performance and increase traffic. Nevertheless, what works for one business might not work the same way for you. Don’t forget to do your own testing.

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