lead generation

How to Pick a Conversion Optimization Consultant for your Online Business

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Here is a list of questions you may — and should — ask before you choose the best conversion optimization consultant for your online business.

Maybe you have exhausted your resources or maybe you’d rather have CRO experts maximize your profits. Whatever your situation, it’s time to pick a conversion optimization consultant for your online business, whether it’s eCommerce, lead gen or subscription website.

But how do you know which optimization professional is the best? Better yet, how do you know which one is the best fit for your needs?

Here are 14 key questions to consider when choosing our prospective conversion rate optimization (CRO) agency. Buckle up because here we go!

1. How Much will a Conversion Optimization Consultant Cost me?

Small conversion rate optimization firms can be found for as little as $2,500 per month to run tests. For a full team approach, expect to pay between $5,000 and $15,000 per month. Enterprise-focused firms will charge up to $50,000 per month.

Agencies that specialize in search engine optimization, paid search advertising, social media and media buying are adding conversion optimization services to their line card for a small fee because clients, like you, are asking for it.

Keep in mind, these agencies are not necessarily conversion specialists. They may be able to run AB ests, but the small fee they charge isn’t likely to impact your bottom line.

Know what you buy into.

When it’s time to pick a conversion optimization consultant for your online business, you have to understand what their offer actually is.

Do you know how your conversion rate optimization consultant measures success? A great question to ask when you are trying to choose the agency that best fits your website needs.

Do you know how your conversion rate optimization consultant measures success? A great question to ask when you are trying to choose the agency that best fits your website needs.

2. When Will I Start to See Positive Results and a Good Return on Investment

There are two main determinants of your ROI from conversion optimization:

  1. The average value of a conversion (transaction or lead).
  2. The number of conversions you have each month.

The more you make on each conversion, the more you will profit from increases in your conversion rate. The more conversions you have each month, the more ideas you’ll be able to A/B test during that month.

Your consultant should be able to help you estimate the relative return on your CRO investment.

Having said that, conversion optimization is an ongoing process, so it’s important to choose a consultant that can give you ongoing improvements in your conversion rates. After all, their job is to increase your revenues.

To find the answer to this question, ask the consultant about:

  • Their experence, especially with companies similar to yours
  • The number of ideas they will be able to work through
  • Their process for choosing good ideas to test

3. Do I Need to Have My Own Resources? How Much Time Will I Have to Invest in This Project?

This will depend on the type of engagement you are looking for. For example, at Conversion Sciences, we offer our clients a couple of service options.

If they prefer to hand over the conversion rate optimization portion to us, we furnish them with a full CRO team. No company resources needed. Just plan to spend an hour with your conversion consultant each week on an ongoing basis and a bit more while we learn about your online business. Learn more about our Fully-Managed CRO Services here.

If they have an internal conversion team already in place, or they don’t have sufficient traffic to warrant full-time engagement, our clients can opt for our Conversion Rate Optimization Audit. This gives them a thorough analysis of their customer journey that they can use to develop their own experiments.

Our advice: Always ask this question. It will help you better compare and find the best CRO consultant for your website.

4. How Will You Measure Success?

This is a great question that can separate the wheat from the chaff. Let’s explain.

The best answer a CRO consultant can give you is, “We will improve bottom-line metrics such as leads generated, transactions, or subscribers and that’s how we will measure success.”

With this approach, the conversion consultant is incentivized to look at the bottom line as their measure of success. It also aligns the conversion consultant goals with your business goals.

Be careful of optimizing for secondary measures, such as clicks to a page with a form, bounce rate, the time visitors spend on your site or the number of pages they visit on average. It’s possible to improve these numbers without improving bottom-line metrics such as leads generated, transactions, or subscribers.

5. Can You Guarantee Results or a Conversion Rate Increase?

You may be evaluating conversion rate optimization companies that offers a guarantee as well as agencies that work for a percentage of the increased revenue.

While these seem like very tempting offers, they can give you very different experiences over time.

The most extreme guarantee is a pay-for-performance arrangement that boils down to, “I get a cut of your revenues.” On the plus side, the consultant doesn’t get paid if they don’t deliver higher revenues. On the downside, they may get credit for your own in-house promotions, which could raise your costs.

Another thing to remember is that, as revenues increase, this approach leads to higher monthly fees. If your conversion rates improve significantly, that’s good. But it means your consultant is getting paid very high fees. This can make you feel like you’re paying too much.

A variation to this is to pay your consultant only for revenue growth. However, if there is a period in which revenues do not grow, your consultant will be incentivized to pull resources away from your business just when you need them most.

Pay-for-performance may look good up-front. It has a built-in guarantee that reduces the risk of hiring a consultant you’re unfamiliar with. But we have found that it does little to properly align your goals with your consultant.

Would you like a better solution?

Consider asking the conversion consultant to continue working for free if a predetermined goal is not met in a set timeframe.

For example, if they can’t demonstrate a 10% increase in revenue in six months, they keep working for free. When they hit the results, they can start billing you again.

6. How Well Do You Know My Industry / Technology / Platform / Distribution Channel / Market?

If there’s one thing that testing teaches us very quickly, it’s that there is no such thing as a “magic formula.” Ideas that work for similar sites may not work on your audience. Every audience is different.

A conversion optimization consultant that has worked with a number of your competitors will have a playbook of ideas to consider. Many of these ideas never would have occurred to a team with less experience in your industry. If the consultant also know your website platform and technology, their learning curve will be limited mostly to your product, service or business brand.

Having said that, industry experience can also be a hindrance. If the conversion consultant is overly familiar with websites in your industry, they may not be able to look at your site with fresh eyes — a key advantage of external vendors.

All-in-all, a disciplined optimization process will work in any industry. Ask the consultant for some examples of novel ideas that are specific to your industry, but make sure they have a proven, repeatable process.

Before you pick a conversion optimization consultant for your online business, decide whether you are looking for a fresh pair of eyes, or for somebody that can quickly catch up and contribute as if they had always been a part of your team.

7. Can You Share Some Case Studies?

A case study will help you understand how the consultant helped other businesses improve conversion rates in lead generation, sales or subscriptions. If a case study shows giant performance gains, take it with a grain of salt. This can happen for you, but not always.

A consultant should be able to show you their case studies, but it’s a good idea to ask to speak with their clients as well.

The consultant will likely refer you to clients they’ve had success with, but it gives you a chance to ask about situations in which your conversion consultant struggled.

How a consultant deals with adversity is as important as how they behave when things are good.

Should your CRO agency guarantee results or a conversion rate Increase? Discover the answer on the Conversion Scientist blog.

Should your CRO agency guarantee results or a conversion rate Increase?

8. How Will You Get to Know My Target Audience and What Is Your Process Like?

Successful conversion consultants will tell you that they let the data tell them about your audience. Your analytics data, surveys, reviews, and chat transcripts can reveal many issues with your website. If that is not enough, they will also use surveys, session recordings, heatmap reports, and A/B testing.

Any other answer from a CRO consultant could demonstrate that they do not have the optimization experience needed to perform the job.

Getting to know your target audience will be one of the first steps in the CRO process, but it’s important to underestand their entire process. If it isn’t outlined on their website, ask them to explain it to you.

In particular, you’ll want to know how much of your time will be spent supporting the on-boarding process and if there are any additional fees for software or special ad-hoc work.

9. Do You Do Split Testing or Can You Implement Personalized AI-Powered Experiences to My Visitors?

An experienced conversion rate optimization consultant will be well versed on every optimization technique and tool available and will recommend the one that is the best fit for your business.

Stay away from anyone who tries to steer you towards a single solution. For example, be wary of consultants that focus on A/B testing only. Many ideas can be validated or discarded without an A/B test. Ask about online panels, session recordings, heatmap reports, and eye-tracking studies for alternatives.

Related: AI Optimization Services for High Traffic Sites

10. How Do You Know What to Optimize First?

The most important aspect of experimenting is the choice of ideas to focus on. Since it is easier to generate ideas than to test them, it’s important that the consultant have a process for evaluating and ranking ideas based on expected ROI.

There are a number of standardized ways to rank ideas. The most common framework is ICE, which stands for Impact, Confidence, and Effort. It helps collect and rank all of the ideas that come up when starting a conversion rate optimization project.

Consultants who rely primarily on heuristics, or best practices, rely on their own experience to decide what to test. This makes them little better than you at picking what to test.

Asking how they prioritize test ideas will weed out the weakest prospective vendors. After all, a solid understanding of methodologies demonstrates the kind of professionalism you are looking for.

Free Resource: Hypothesis Prioritization Framework

11. What Would You Like to Know About Our Company?

Good conversion optimizers will have lots of answers to this question.

They will be ravenous for any data you have, including things like chat transcripts, marketing research, surveys, personas, reviews, advertising data and more. That’s because conversion consultants are uniquely able to turn your existing research into test hypotheses.

Be suspicious of a consultant that doesn’t want to know more about YOUR business. Optimization professionals have inquisitive minds and they always want to know more. By giving them a chance to ask you questions, you can evaluate their curious nature and mental process.

12. Do the People I’ll Be Working With Have Strong Optimization Experience?

More than likely, you’ll have a chance to speak to the top people on the consultant’s team. But it’s important to know who will be assigned to  your account.

  • Are they experienced? How many years?
  • If they are juniors, what type of supervision will the consultant provide?
  • Does the person overseeing a junior optimizer have strategic marketing experiencee?

Conversion optimization is a challenging field. This is not a set of skills that is easy to teach in the classroom — which is why the consultant’s process matters.

Your consultant should be able to articulate a repeatable, proven process that has a history of positive results.

13. How Soon Will I See Results?

You will find a wide range of minimum engagements in the marketplace of CRO consultants. Some will take a chance and work with you on a month-to-month basis. Others will require a commitment of three months or more, up to twelve months.

If a consultant asks for no minimum, you should nevertheless ask them for a reasonable timeframe in which you can evaluate their results, a time at which they should be able to defend their performance.

The month-to-month consultant may be willing to take a chance on your website, but you can’t afford the loss of time if their gamble doesn’t pay off. Hold them to a timeframe, but we recommend giving them four months or more.

Most A/B tests are inconclusive. Beware of those who promise results within a short timeframe. CRO consultants should share previous and similar experiences, but they won’t be able to make claims about your returns until they start working with you.

Keep in mind, estimates and experience aren’t promises of future performance. No two websites or businesses are completely alike. The optimizers working on your website will need to gather and analyze lots of data before they can set realistic expectations.

14. Do You Work With the Tools We Own or Can Afford?

If you have already invested in conversion optimization tools, mention this in your first conversation. You will want your consultant to know you expect them to use your tools proficiently, or to have experience with similar tools from different vendors.

As far as affordability goes, we live in a golden age of marketing tools. There are many options at many price points. The consultant should be able to help you choose a tool that fits their needs and your budget.

Note: Most conversion consultants will give you a better return on your investment in optimization tools.

Here is a list of questions you may - and should - ask before you choose the best conversion optimization consultant for your online business.

Here is a list of questions you may – and should – ask before you choose the best conversion optimization consultant for your online business.

15. What Is the Consultant’s Testing Philosophy?

Each consultant will have a testing philosophy. Some favor scientific rigor. Others favor quick decisions. Here are some questions to ask them, with the answers you will want to hear.

How long do AB tests take?

No AB test should be stopped before two full weeks have passed. If you have a high volume of conversions, one week may be acceptable, but no less. Read our AB testing guide here.

Will you stop a variation if it looks really negative?

Most conversion consultants will monitor tests and stop any variations that seem to be underperforming to avoid lost sales and fewer leads.

Do you let tests overlap?

If your prospective conversion consultant plans to run tests on multiple pages of your site, there is a risk of polluting the data and making bad calls. They should be able to keep visitors from one test getting into other tests on your site.

How do you do quality assurance on tests?

The tools used by a conversion consultant give them sweeping powers to alter your site. It is surprisingly easy to break your website with these tools. A thorough Quality Assurance (QA) process includes testing on multiple devices and involves several people before changes go live.

What kind of post-test analysis do you do?

Even if a test finishes and there is no winning variation, your conversion consultant can learn important things from the data.

Their knowledge of analytics will allow them to see how the test impacted other segments of your audience. 

For example, it is common for an idea to impact desktop and mobile visitors very differently. The same is true for new visitors versus returning visitors. 

This is called “post-test” analysis. It allows you to get even more value from every A/B test. This should be part of their capability.

Can you perform multivariate tests?

If you have a high-volume site, multivariate testing is a way to work through many design changes, discovering what combination is most impactful for a given website. 

Multivariate testing is not appropriate for most businesses. 

However, you should ask about the newer generation of AI-driven multivariate testing that uses machine learning to personalize your website in real time.

How to Pick a Conversion Optimization Consultant for Your Online Business

Final word of advice: no matter who you choose, make sure the consultant you hire is the one that is able to deliver on the strategy you need.

The best CRO agencies will tell you if they are unable to help you and may even recommend alternative solutions to your business problem.

Use these questions when you’re ready to pick a conversion optimization consultant for your online business. Who knows? It may even be us!

GO AHEAD! BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
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Eliminate Risk Upfront and Bump Your Lead Conversion Rate

Seven risk reversal tactics to increase B2B lead generation and the quality of your prospect list you can steal.

Even in B2B lead generation, you can “reverse” the perceived risk of completing a form. Risk reversal tactics are an important part of conversion rate optimization.

There are lots of reasons that someone wouldn’t fill out your lead form, even if your white paper, podcast or webinar are free.

  • “I’m going to get a sales call”
  • “I’m going to get a bunch of spam”
  • “I may not be able to join the Webinar”
  • “They’re asking for too much information”
  • “I don’t really know this company”

Well, even in business-to-business lead generation, you can “reverse” the perceived risk of completing a form.

“Hey, you. Yes, you. Come here. You wanna white paper? Well, I have a deal for you. All you gotta do is give me your contact info. Hey, you got nothin’ to worry about. I’ll take real good care of the information. Honest.”

I’ve been studying the landing page techniques of what I call “The Bad Boys of Conversion.” These marketers, often called “affiliate marketers” or “infopreneurs” get high conversion rates for everything from get-rich-quick systems to health supplements.

My goal is to understand how the well-tested tactics they use could be applied to more conservative business sites.

One of the most important techniques used by these marketers is “risk reversal.” Money-back guarantees are perhaps the most common form of risk reversal. Are these tactics useful for business-to-business lead generation?

Absolutely, but a different kind of risk reversal is in order.

Risk Reversal Tactics do work on Business professionals

Business professionals respond to the same incentives that consumers do. However, consumers are risking their money, while businesspeople may be risking their reputation, and their decisions could affect their jobs. This makes business prospects more risk averse.

Thus, using risk reversal strategies becomes even more important in a B2B transaction.

You can significantly increase both your conversion rates and the quality of your prospect list by using some of these risk reversal tactics on your lead generation pages.

7 Risk Reversal Tactics For B2B Lead Generation

7 Risk Reversal Tactics For B2B Lead Generation

Remove the risk up front

Make your white paper, webinar, or video free. Before you say, “Lead generation content is always free,” keep in mind that your prospect is “paying” for the content with their contact information. To them, it isn’t exactly free, and the decision to give you their contact information is similar to the decision to spend money.

Here are some ways to remove risk up front.

1.Don’t ask for contact information.

If you have a piece of content that really nails your value and generates qualified calls give the content away. There is no risk to the prospect, and broader readership can be expected.

Removing risky fields can also lower the “cost.” Fields that increase the cost of lead generation content include address, phone and many qualifying fields. Do you need their address? Do you need to know their marketing budget, really? These risky fields can decrease your conversion rates.

Ask for only the information that you need to qualify and contact them, and eliminate all the rest.

2.Make your forms optional

This allows the prospect to select the level of risk they are willing to accept.

Completed forms will indicate better qualified prospects, prospects that already have a level of trust with your brand. Partially completed forms, less so. Empty form submissions indicate prospects that you may not want to waste time on anyway.

3.Emphasize respect of privacy

On your landing page, best place to put risk reversal is near the submit button (but it shouldn’t ever say “submit”).

The simple phrase, “We respect your privacy” communicates two things: first, that you have a privacy policy, and second, that privacy is important, and you’re not likely to abuse this information, or give it to inbox-clogging spammers.

It is common to make the word “privacy” a link to your privacy policy, but that may not be wise. In his excellent book “Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google website Optimizer”, Bryan Eisenberg recommends testing this. The link takes an interested visitor away from the landing page, and this may decrease conversion rates.

4.Ask for opt-in, not opt-out

If you’re asking a prospect to sign up for email communication, you should explicitly ask for permission. You may feel that this is implied when someone provides their information to you, but any uncertainty increases risk.

Tell the prospect can they can expect and let them opt-in by checking a box. This is an opportunity to sell your email communication.

“Check this box for occasional tips and best practices by email on widget use.”

or

“Subscribe to “Widget News,” the authoritative email newsletter on widgets and their application.”

Allow opt-out at any time. Let prospects who are signing up for email communication know that you will be offering opportunities to opt-out of the email with each communication.

“You can unsubscribe at any time.”

You can use any specifics from your privacy policy, such as “we do not tolerate spam,” and “Your information is digitally encrypted.”

5.Spell it out

Transparency is a great risk reverser. Tell them on the page what will happen when they click the “Get your report” button.

“You will be taken to a page that contains a link to the report. You will also receive an email asking you to confirm your email address. We don’t tolerate spam. Based on your input, a respectful sales person may call, and this is your opportunity to ask any questions about widget use in your organization.”

This risk reversal tactic will lower your conversion rates, but should result in a better-qualified list.

You should also tell them what they won’t get. “No one will call” is a common risk reversal phrase. Of course, this limits what you can do with your house list, and you should be sure to adhere to any limitations you promise.

6.Add risk and then remove it

On the scales of a decision you have risk balanced against value. If your landing page does a good job of building the value of your offer, you will find prospects more willing to take risk, and complete the form.

One great way to communicate value is by setting a price. Consider charging for your content. Then offer a money-back guarantee to reverse risk. No questions asked.

Does this sound like raising the prices in a store just so the owner can run a sale? Yes it does. But our goal is to communicate value—not to boost our profit.

This strategy will reduce conversion rates, but it will deliver highly-qualified prospects.

For example, charging for a product trial—a common lead generation offer—will often ultimately deliver more paying customers than a free trial, even though it reduces the number of people who try the product. Since we’re not really trying to make money on the offer, we won’t be concerned about those who request a refund just to get free content. We should all have content worth stealing.

7.Always deliver on your promises

These risk reversal tactics have two edges. If you fail to deliver on your risk reversal promises, you are damaging your brand and losing potential customers.

You must be able to support your risk reversal claims. You must enforce your privacy policy internally. Don’t email prospects if they opt-out, and don’t let a salesperson call someone on your list if you promised you wouldn’t.

Above all, deliver the content that they “bought” with their contact info and their attention.

I use a unique email address for every site I provide personal information. When I get spam, I check the address to which the email was sent, and that tells me who’s been stealing my contact information. With services such as OtherInBox, more professionals are using this technique. It’s more and more likely that you will get caught, and your brand will suffer.

You don’t want to join the “bad boy” marketers, do you?

In general, you can reverse risk by

  • Telling prospect how you will treat their data
  • Telling prospects what to expect if they complete the form

This article was first published in my Search Engine Land column.

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The Best Definition of Conversion Rate Optimization Ever Written

Who better than a scientist to come up with the best definition of conversion rate optimization ever? Read on. Be the Judge.

What exactly is conversion rate optimization? You’ve read about it over and over, but you may not have a proper understanding of how to apply it to your ecommerce store or to your online lead generation efforts.

Today we will cover not only the best definition of conversion rate optimization ever written, but its benefits and impact on profit. Plus, best practices and how and where to learn CRO. We’ll also answer some of the most frequently asked questions on the topic.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO?

Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is the process of maximizing the value you get from every visitor you bring to your website.

The value you get from every visitor is expressed as a rate – the famous “conversion rate“.

And the reason it’s called conversion “rate” optimization is that, in general, we are trying to increase the rate at which site visitors become buyers, subscribers, leads or callers.

Now, most people believe their website only has one conversion rate. The truth is, it has several. Therefore, conversion rate optimization, or CRO, attempts to improve each of these conversion rates – either by increasing value or reducing the associated costs (e.g. ad spend).

How does this process work? CRO is the process of making changes to a website, and measuring how those changes increase or decrease the conversion rate.

Today we will cover not only the best definition of conversion rate optimization ever written, but its benefits and impact on profit. Best practices, how and where to learn CRO and some FAQs on the topic.

Drawing of a digital laboratory by Conversion Sciences.

To accomplish this, we use data to understand how changes to your website affect the behavior of visitors and measure conversions.

Let’s dive in a little deeper.

The Applied Definition of Conversion Rate Optimization

The number of potential customers, visitors or traffic we get to our site will grow, decrease or fluctuate over time. It is generally believed that the rate at which these visitors convert will be more consistent over time than changes in traffic.

This is only partially true.

For example, you may decide that your home page will be better if you put images of your products near the top of the page. You can make this change and see if you get more sales.

But what if traffic decreases on the day that you make the change? You would get fewer sales due to the lower traffic, and it may look like your change was to blame. The percentage of buyers – the conversion rate – may have gone up. But lower traffic caused the total number of conversions or transactions drop.

Let’s assume you make a change to your site the night before Black Friday – the biggest shopping day of the year in the US. And you get a massive increase in sales. You might think that your conversion optimization change was the reason for it. But it was the market that changed.

“Hidden variables” – changes in traffic, in your competitors’ offers, changes in your advertising – can lead you to make bad choices. Fortunately, we have a complete set of methods and disciplines to ensure we don’t make bad decisions as we find out what our customers really want from our website.

Why is Conversion Rate Optimization Important?

As the digital world grows, it becomes harder and more expensive to attract visitors to your website. Organic traffic requires an investment in infrastructure and content. Advertising prices are rising on each new platform: Google, then Facebook, then Instagram, then…

Getting value from this hard-won traffic is the key to sustained online growth. Extracting value means converting visitors to email subscribers, leads or shoppers who add something to their carts or to return customers.

Finally, we want to eliminate those visitors who would not use your solution or buy from you because they cost resources.

In every case, the relationship changes. It converts to something new, and this is a conversion. Our goal with conversion rate optimization is to maximize the percentage of visitors that we convert into customers, and therefore grow our online business.

Benefits of Conversion Rate Optimization

The first benefit of conversion rate optimization is generating more revenue from your website’s current traffic. The second benefit is increased conversions, maximizing ROI, ROAS, cost reduction, and cost streamlining. But this is only the beginning.

A good conversion rate optimization program will also:

  • Get more visitors to return
  • Get more customers to buy again
  • Tell you what your best visitors want – and don’t want
  • Help you understand the different kinds of visitors to your site
  • Get your customers to advocate for your business

The data you gather about the people coming to your website is a massive competitive advantage. One that you can leverage for on-going growth and higher customer satisfaction.

What scientific knowledge is fundamental to conversion rate optimization and where can i learn CRO?

What scientific knowledge is fundamental to conversion rate optimization and where can i learn CRO?

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices

Every successful conversion rate optimization program starts by collecting data and generating hypotheses to evaluate and test. Of course, at Conversion Sciences we have been coaching, writing how-to guides and defining CRO best practices for decades. Here are a few to get you started:

Feel free to visit our CRO Articles & Guides blog section for more articles. Or if you’d rather have our scientists help you, you may want to check out our CRO Services.

Is Conversion Rate Optimization for eCommerce the same as it is for Lead Generation?

The CRO process for ecommerce sites is exactly the same as it is for lead generation websites. It is based on a scientific method and it is designed to keep us from making bad decisions based on a small amount of data that may seem sensible.

Whether you are optimizing for an ecommerce store or for a lead generation site, your questions are the same:

“How much revenue am I generating from the visitors to my website?”

The way you measure success is different for lead generation and ecommerce sites. So, this requires a change in the way you calculate value.

For an ecommerce site, calculating value is easier than for a lead generation site because the transaction happens on the actual website. So, it’s very easy to attribute a visit to an ecommerce transaction. Besides, a visitor can complete a transaction in one visit. You measure value instantly based on the amount each person purchases.

For a lead generation website, the sale happens at some point after the visitor has left the website. You only know the true value of a new customer later, and often the sale happens over the phone or in person.

When we make changes to an ecommerce website, we can see the results almost instantly. However, changes made to a lead generation website may drive more leads, but are these leads as good? Are they turning into customers at the same rate? To answer these questions, a bit more work is required to value leads than buyers.

What Scientific Knowledge is Fundamental to Conversion Rate Optimization?

Analytics. Scientific method. Statistics. This is the fundamental knowledge you should have. Or learn. Or hire.

Sometimes, analytics isn’t enough. In this case, we need to figure out how to generate the data we need. This can be done by conducting experiments. We devise a hypothesis, figure out how to test it, and then run the test until we have some statistical confidence in the data.

The biggest obstacle to a high converting website is sitting between your ears. Our brains are festering lumps of bias.

We tend to make decisions in our daily communication projects based on what we think is effective. Not on what our audience actually wants. We tend to call “effective” those things that match our preconceived notions. What we’ve seen most recently. What matches our most emotional events – big wins and big losses.

Confirmation bias and availability bias blind us to what our audience is really telling us. The conversion rate optimization process is designed to prevent these biases from influencing our decisions.

To do this, we rely on data and experimentation.

The other important thing you need, besides scientific knowledge, is curiosity. If you aren’t curious, you probably won’t care enough to take time to experiment, to feed your curiosity.

Where can I learn Conversion Rate Optimization?

Everyone learns differently.

If you are new to conversion optimization, I recommend my book, Your Customer Creation Equation.

Some prefer to learn by reading and studying. We’ve tried to make sure that our website is a reference that answers the questions that will come up as you explore conversion optimization.

If you’re like me, you prefer to learn from specific examples and then generalize the learning. This is the mark of a highly intelligent learner. I espouse this process in my online courses, which are geared toward self-teachers. I use video and examples to illustrate larger concepts.

Ultimately, your web visitors are unique. They are unlike any other audience, even your direct competitors. The best lessons you will learn will be found in trying new things, measuring precisely and improving your conversion rates.

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How to Create a Sales Funnel in 5 Minutes

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Building a smooth customer journey is key to business and revenue growth. Here’s how to create a sales funnel that works in just 5 minutes.

You may not believe you already have one or more sales funnels in place, but all businesses do. Maybe it’s not working as expected. Or perhaps you would like to make it more effective. Follow these steps to create a sales funnel in 5 minutes that will have customers buying from you in no time at all.

What Is a Sales Funnel?

But first things first. Let’s quickly refresh the definition of a sales funnel.

A sales funnel is a hypothetical or ideal journey you would like a prospect to travel to become a lead or a customer. This is why sales or revenue funnels are also called “customer journeys” or “customer blueprints”.

They can be as simple as a one step Click to Call Google Ad, where the button is your opt-in point or as complex as need be. Especially for those businesses where lots of lead nurturing is needed for prospects to convert.

Call only ads are best used when there's a sense of urgency to the offer. Isn't this one of the shortest sales funnels ever?

Call only ads are best used when there’s a sense of urgency to the offer. Isn’t this one of the shortest sales funnels ever?

Keep in mind, while you are building your sales funnel, that the best functioning ones are those that reduce friction. That is, they do not add unnecessary barriers or hurdles to the sales process.

Ready, Set, Let’s See How to Create a Sales Funnel in 5 Minutes

One of the sales models that is most frequently used in customer blueprints and customer journey mapping is the AIDA model, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Developed by E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898, it maps how people make purchasing decisions. And, in spite of the technological developments, its importance and effectiveness has not diminished as humans have not changed their buying decision making process since then.

Whatever tactics you use to qualify leads and drive them closer to taking the desired action will change accordingly to where the lead is within the funnel: top (TOFU), middle (MOFU) or bottom (BOFU). It essential to understand how the funnel works from the moment you make the first contact (TOFU) with your ideal future customers to the moment where you convert those leads (BOFU). Keep in mind that each one of these components depends on the others.

Creating a sales funnel is as simple as defining the desired action and the target audience and then drawing the path between those two. And as complex as making it function successfully.

Here’s how to create a sales funnel (or improve the one you have) in 5 minutes.

AIDA model applied to customer journey mapping.

AIDA model applied to customer journey mapping.

To Create a Sales Funnel First you Need to Generate Awareness

Attracting attention or generating awareness works best when you know your target audience media habits. You’ll be more successful if you advertise your brand, your products and/or services where the majority of your prospects already are.

These prospects may be currently looking for what your product or service provides or they may not. Those potential leads that are intently searching for a service similar to yours will notice relevant messages much more than those that are not.

For example, if someone is ready to upgrade to a new car, they will feel as if there are more automobile ads than usual. It’s because they are more aware. Generating awareness for your brand might be easier in this case. Funny how the brain works.

On the other hand, you may generate awareness amongst prospects with related needs. They are not looking for what you sell exactly. For example, while browsing their Facebook feed or reading a blog post, a person looking for a higher paying job may stumble upon a college or university they didn’t previously know existed.

Once you know where to find the vast majority of your audience, you can decide on a way to generate awareness about your brand. Usually these tactics range from PPC campaigns, TV or radio ads, billboards, blog posts, trade show participation, referrals, direct mail, email campaigns, online search results, all the way to super outrageous publicity stunts. You get the idea. Don’t craft the copy or the creative yet.

Have you chosen a tactic to introduce your prospects to your brand? Great! You’ve got the first step of your sales funnel covered. (Don’t overthink it) Move on to the next step.

Guiding customers through the buying stages: how to create a sales funnel that works in 5 minutes.

Guiding customers through the buying stages: how to create a sales funnel that works in 5 minutes.

Second Step: The Interest Awakens

To create a solid sales funnel, you have to drive your prospects to click, call, download, sign-up, or visit you. And even though this happens at the last stage, you need to present the reasons why your are worthy of consideration in order to make it happen.

Do you have an eCommerce site and are offering free shipping? Is your SaaS fulfilling a productivity need that is important to your lead? Or do your cars flaunt the features your prospective buyers are searching for?

Related reading: 7 Conversion Copywriting Hacks You’ll Wish You Knew About Sooner

You need to know your customers and their behaviors, habits, and motivations to cut through the noise and to offer them something they recognize as useful or relevant.

This is the time to entice and convince them as to why they need your product or service.

Third Step: Pick Me! Pick Me! or the Sales Funnel Desire Stage

You presented your benefits properly and showed value to your prospect. Now it’s time to elicit desire. Congratulations! You are in the middle of the funnel (MOFU).

Keep an eye on your goal, your lead has to desire your product or service above any other.

Hence, you should keep educating and positioning your brand as the solution to their needs and problems. This is the stage where you shine a spotlight on those benefits. Testimonials, case studies, product comparisons, and customer reviews work well here.

This is also the stage where you match your product or service benefits to the prospect’s needs to clear up any barriers to the sale. This is a critical stage in which website traffic often fails to convert.

Do not miss out on these 20 Landing Page Best Practices to Kickstart Your Conversion Lift

Fourth Step: Ask for the Sale

It seems to go without saying that any good sales funnel ends with a purchase. The biggest mistake people make when using the AIDA model, though, is to assume the sale will happen organically once the other steps have fallen into place. It won’t. Unlike an actual funnel, what goes into a sales funnel doesn’t always reemerge at the end. And people tend to not take action unless they’re asked. So, pay attention to your calls to action – the worst mistake sales people make is not ask for the close.

What’s your call to action? How will you prompt them to fill out the form, complete their shopping cart purchase, have a one-on-one call or meeting or do whatever final action you want them to take to complete their customer journey?

Purple mattress on exit intent pop up offer (BOFU).

Purple mattress on exit intent pop up offer (BOFU).

Maybe you’ll offer them a free assessment, or a last minute discount if they complete the transaction right away. Take a minute to decide as the BOFU stage is the most crucial since it’s where you ask for the sale.

Ta Da! 5 minutes to build a sales funnel without writing a single line of copy — yet.

Would you rather have the conversion scientists identify your customer journeys to help you build your funnels? Then, check out our Conversion Rate Optimization Audit Services.

Sales Funnel Examples

Now that we’ve created our customer journey, let’s take a look at a couple of sales funnel examples for inspiration.

I think we covered one with the call only PPC ads example. Great for a local business like a personal injury attorney or a plumber, locksmith or any organization whose concern is to make the phone ring. Another requirement for successfully using this type of sales funnel is a sense of urgency to your product or service.

Purple mattress provides visitors with a humorously informational and convincing MOFU tactic on their landing pages with their zany videos backed by scientifically proven data. We may be a bit skewed as they also wear lab coats but go ahead, play the video and tell us what you think – unless you decide to buy a mattress first. ;)

A typical lead generation sales funnel example that remains mostly on the TOFU stage is to offer a Free Book, Research or White Paper to visitors – organic or paid. Take them to the next stages of the funnel by offering a one-time offer or a free consulting session. Keep qualifying the lead and close it with a call or an in person meeting.

Once you have a funnel ready an implemented you will want to test it, so we leave you with 9 Imaginative Approaches to AB Testing Landing Pages to get you started.

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What Form of Form Will Get You More Conversions?

Experience a lift on your contact form conversion rate. Know what form of form you should have on your lead generation site. These best practices designed to increase contact form conversion will definitely help.

Contact forms are the most common way of beginning a conversation between a company and a prospect. In this article, we’ll show you how to get more prospects to fill out your form without reducing the quality of those leads.

What’s the big deal with forms? They have fields. You fill out the fields and you get something you want.

So, why do so many of your visitors fail to fill out your forms?

There is some psychology and some science to getting more form fills, whether you are trolling for leads or asking your visitors to buy something. The folks at SingleHop have done a study and it is exactly what we’ve seen in our testing of contact forms. You’ll learn a lot about increasing contact form conversion from this little infographic.

Contact Form Fields: How Many is Too Many?

As a general rule, the more fields you have, the lower your conversion rate. However, the leads you do acquire will be better qualified. The best way to find the right mix is to A/B test your contact forms.

Generally speaking and to increase contact form conversion, you should avoid:

  1. Fields that ask for qualifying information that can be found out on a phone call, such as purchase timeframe.
  2. Drop-down fields that may not contain an answer accessible to the visitor, such as title.
  3. Drop-down fields that imply something, such as number of employee ranges.
  4. “None of your business” fields, such as mobile phone, yearly revenue or social security number.

Best Practices to Increase Contact Form Conversion

While you may think your website is selling your product or service, what it’s really selling is a sales call. You must convince the visitor to complete your form.

There are four components that will help you achieve this.

Build Trust

You can build trust by including your phone number and contact information. Sometimes they will call you.

On a mobile device you should optimize for phone calls.

Provide Social Proof

Your contact page should present testimonials and endorsements to make visitors feel comfortable completing the contact form.

Add Value

Make sure you are building value. What’s in it for the visitor if they fill out the form?

  • Who will contact them? A salesperson? A consultant?
  • Will there be a hard sell?
  • How long will the call be?
  • What questions will be answered?

Sell the call to increase contact form conversions.

Use Risk Reversal

You can significantly remove barriers to completion by simply presenting your privacy policy on the form. While these are rarely read, they indicate that you care enough to have one.

Lead generation solutions that deliver. Contact us to generate more and better leads fast.

Get the Call to Action Right

On a contact form, the call to action usually lives on the contact form button. The call to action should communicate what will happen when it is clicked.

Studies indicate that using first person improves conversion rates. Test changing “your” to “my”.

For example “Download your free report” is second person. “Download my free report” is first person.

Experience a lift on your contact form conversion rate. Know exactly what form of form you should have on your lead generation site. Infographic.

Contact forms infographic.

The Best Lead Capture Forms

The best contact forms don’t assume the visitor wants to fill out the form. Only lonely people fill out such forms.

Instead, your form should give visitors a good reason to complete the form, and build trust with them and explain the value of completing the form.

This is an important step in their journey to solve a problem.

Treat it as such.

21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks to Skyrocket Conversions

21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks

Keep these proven copywriting hacks in mind to make your copy convert.

  • 43 Pages with Examples
  • Assumptive Phrasing
  • "We" vs. "You"
  • Pattern Interrupts
  • The Power of Three

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8 Elements of a High Converting Squeeze Page

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Lead generation is the lifeblood of online business and most lead generation is done via email collection.

If you grow a list of prospects who’re interested in your promotions, your business grows too. However, before you make money from your list you’ve got to get people on it. Whether you want people to download your lead magnet, sign up for your latest webinar or volunteer to test your product, you first need to persuade them to part with their highly guarded personal details – that’s no small feat.

No wonder the average opt-in rate across industries is hovering around a mere 2%. After investing a fortune in Facebook advertising, PPC ads, outsourced content, content management software, site design, and more, you only net two leads per 100 visitors. Two leads… NOT customers mind you.

Surely, your business deserves better.

Today, we’re going to cover the eight elements of a high converting opt-in page so you can boost your opt-in conversion rates and get a better return on your content marketing investment.

Ready to dive in?

Element #1: A short pre-headline to draw them in

When your prospect arrives on your opt-in page she wants to know if she’s in the right place. If she feels lost, she’ll click away. Use the apex of your page to make her stick around.

And, depending on who you ask, you have five seconds or less to do that. But how do you do it? Here’s three ways to instantly attract your reader when she lands on your page so she stays on.

#1. Name the target audience
For example, Attention dog owners, Attention Content Marketers etc.

When you name your audience you get a nod from the prospect, “Yep that’s me.” Handled correctly, this small first yes will ultimately lead to the big yes of a signup later on.

#2. Name the type of lead magnet
For example, Free Special Report, Free Training Webinar etc.

The specificity of your offer increases desire and the likelihood of the prospect staying on so as to get it.

#3. Name the referral site
Naming the referral site on your page makes your prospect feel like a diva and warm up to you and your offer.

Amy Harrison rolls out a red carpet for her Copyblogger readers. She makes them feel the love by welcoming them: specifically, heartily, personally.

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                                 Source

Your pre-headline has four main purposes:

#1. To help your prospects understand your offer…fast.

#2. To alienate those who are not a good fit for your offer.

#3. To attract those who are perfectly suited to your offer.

#4. To build rapport with your audience in an instant.

A great pre-head will keep readers on your signup page.

Element #2: A benefit-rich headline to make them want to read more

Once your prospect hangs around, use your headline to show her how your offer will benefit her and improve her life. Promptly address her concerns so she lingers on the page or you’ll lose her by the door. Quickly address her pain, paint the desired future for her, or pique her curiosity so she can’t help herself but read on.

In short, tell your prospect what’s in it for her.

Jacob McMillen’s headline is ultra-specific and has a solution that’s tailor-made for cash-strapped businesses – that’s a big benefit that’ll keep his target audience glued to the page.

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                           Source
Not only that. Your headline must also tie in nicely to the traffic source. That way the prospect’s conversion journey becomes smoother thus generating better results for your business. Jacob McMillen does this superbly as the source page to the above landing page shows:

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Notice how his CTA, the last words in his bio, are the first words on the landing page? This way the byline is perfectly coupled to the landing page thus increasing conversions. When a reader clicks his bio and lands on the landing page she smoothly continues her conversion journey – because of harmony between the two pages, conversions are likely to be higher.

On the flip side, a copy mismatch between the source page and the signup page tanks conversions.

Element #3: A few lines of crisp copy to pull them further down the page

You’ve done well if your prospect is still on your page thus far.

Your next few lines should give specific points about your offer. Show her how your offer will scratch her itch or push her towards her dream. Do that and she’s more likely to give you her details.

Use bullet points or short paragraphs. Your bullets should be:

  • Clear- use simple direct language so the prospect easily grasps your offer.
  • Crisp- keep your points brief and to the point to keep the prospect engaged.
  • Catchy- use attention-getting words to give details about your offer.

Smartblogger nails their bullet copy on this sign-up page for an upcoming webinar.

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Source

The three bullets tell you exactly what you’ll get on the webinar in a simple engaging way without laboring the point. If you’re going for the minimalist approach even a single line will do. The amount of copy on the body of your opt-in page depends on three key factors.

#1. How aware is your prospect about you and your offer? The more aware she is about you and what you do the less copy you need and vice versa.

#2. What works best for your niche? Study the most successful signup pages in your niche and do likewise.

#3. How complex is the problem you’re trying to solve for the prospect? The more complex the problem, the more copy required to convince prospects to sign up.

Element #4: A pro-looking image to help them visualize what they’ll get

Our brains process images up to 60,000 times faster than text.

To woo your prospect so she says yes to your proposal (offer), show her what she’ll get. Use a picture of the product or of people expressing the feeling you’re targeting. Pictures of animals work well too if your context allows it.

John Nemo’s book shot dominates his opt-in page on purpose. You can almost smell the LinkedIn cash splashed on the cover.

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A word of warning about pics: don’t just include a picture because you like it…that won’t help your cause. Only include a picture if it’s relevant to your offer.

Element #5: A signup field(s) to capture their personal details

You’re almost there now… your prospects cursor is hovering over the signup field. Now comes the big question…how much info do you want from her?

Numerous tests show that, in most cases, the fewer the signup fields, the higher the conversion rates. That’s why most sites simply ask for an email address and/or name only as shown in the Marketing Sherpa lead generation graphic below.

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Of course, you can ask for more than that if you want a more targeted list. Although your conversions may dip, the quality of your list will improve. Ask for what you need and no more. This makes filling the fields more desirable. You can always ask for more details later.

But, as with everything digital, conduct split tests to see what works for you and your audience instead of blindingly jumping on the bandwagon. In many cases, tests have shown that increasing the number of fields actually raised conversions.

Element #6: A bit of social proof to earn their trust

It’s natural. No one wants to go first. People do what they see other people do. That’s why social proof is a vital ingredient to the success of your page. Here are some three quick-and-easy ways of incorporating social proof into your signup page:

#1. Display your list numbers if they’re substantial

To nudge people over the sign-up line, you can use big numbers associated with your following. However, be careful as numbers can be a double-edged sword. If your numbers are small, social proof will still work, but against you! No-one wants to be a part of something small and insignificant.

Social Media Examiner uses their massive list to good effect to inspire people to join their list.

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Source

Surely, on seeing the 620 000+ social media marketing peers on Social Media Examiner’s list, a prospect will be enticed to sign up.

#2. Splash customer testimonials generously on the page

Testimonials multiply your clout score thus making it easy for people to take up your offer. Henneke Duistermaat, of Enchanting Marketing, does a neat job.

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Source

Not only does she head the page with a rich list of big sites she’s been featured on, she sandwiches her offer between two testimonials from heavyweights in her niche. Prospects are more likely to trust her word and gobble up her course.

#3. Point to influencer endorsements and press mentions

To get prospects to sign-up for a free trial, Get Response leads with an imposing figure of their current users and then they underline their authority in their space by quoting two influencers.

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This is likely to cause more people to take their software for a spin.

Element #7: A privacy statement to assure them their info is safe

Because cyber-crime is rampant, your prospect is uneasy. Hardly a day goes by without someone being scammed or spammed online. Allay her fears…wrap your arm around her and let her know you’re not one of the bad guys. Tell her you won’t peddle her email address nor send the alien stuff she didn’t ask for.

A brief statement such as ‘We respect your privacy and will never share your info’ is enough as Neil Patel does.

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Feel free to get creative with the phrasing. Or, if you’re not feeling inspired, simply write ‘privacy policy’ and link to your full-blown privacy policy. And, oh, a privacy statement also serves a more personal and practical purpose: failure to include one might land you in trouble with the law.

Basically, your privacy statement should assure your visitors that their info is safe. Only when they feel you’re trustworthy will they be swayed to give you their personal information.

Element #8: A strong call to action (CTA) to compel them to click

Your call to action marks the finishing line of the sign-up race. Give it some thought.

Your button copy should be specific, simple and reader-focused. Tell the prospect exactly what she’ll get if she signs up. Don’t try to be cute, clever, or cryptic, or you’ll lose out.  And please, don’t make the rookie mistake made by many content marketers – using the dismal default CTA copy e.g. signup, subscribe, or download.

Don’t leave your visitors wondering what they are clicking the button for.

Sign up. For what?

Subscribe. To what?

Download. What?

A simple formula, coined by Joanna Wiebe, will help you ace your button copy. Just fill in the blank: I want my reader to __________________.

Your answer becomes your CTA. For example:
I want my reader to:

  • Book a free call…becomes…Book my free call.
  • Get a free quote…becomes…Get my free quote.
  • Reserve a spot on webinar…becomes…Reserve my webinar spot.

Here’s a great example of powerful button copy pulled from this very site’s homepage:

Book a Consultaion Now is a proper Call to Action, or CTA

Book a Consultaion Now is a proper Call to Action, or CTA

The CTA is clear, simple, direct, benefit-focused, and urgent – all the hallmarks of a powerful call to action that converts.

Make the desired action simple and easy smoothly guiding the prospect towards your goal without much work or resistance. Use energetic verbs and the first or second person to make the CTA personal and bump up your conversions. Once your reader clicks on your button, you’ve won and now have a precious lead in your funnel.

Opt-in pages are crucial to the overall success of your business that you should seriously consider outsourcing the task if you don’t have the time or the expertise to craft them yourself.

Conclusion

Getting signups is an essential bridge in your inbound digital marketing efforts. It’s the magic link that turns browsers into subscribers, subscribers into buyers, and buyers into brand evangelists. In short, it’s the gateway into your funnel. As a serious growth-focused business owner, take time to work all these elements into your page so you increase the likelihood of success. Then you’ll hear the sound of clicks not crickets for a change.

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How To Write An Author Bio: 7 High-Converting Byline Examples Turning Readers Into Leads

Discover the 7 components of an optimized bio with 7 high-converting author byline examples to show you exactly what to aim for.

Creating quality content is challenging.

You have to find a unique angle on an often well-covered topic. You have to research data to back it up. You have to create a compelling headline. You have to create curiosity in the opening, polish your grammar, get the tone right, yada yada … all this while fitting the piece into your brand’s or client’s overall content marketing strategy.

With all that work, it’s important that you are getting maximum value out of your content, whether it’s published on your website or a 3rd party publication.

One incredibly easy yet often overlooked way to increase the value of your content is to optimize your author bio.

There is actually quite a bit of value you can derive from your bio, and yet most marketers and writers simply throw something together and never think about it again. Such a waste!

Today, I’m going to highlight the 7 components of an optimized bio, with 7 high-converting bio and byline examples to show you exactly what to aim for.

Before we begin, let’s cover the basics.

How To Write An Author Bio and Byline Examples

A byline is a short paragraph that tells readers a little bit about the author and how to contact the author or read additional content by the author.

In most online content, the author bio can be seen at the end of the article.

Author bio of Aaron Orendorff from Fast Company. He is the founder of iconic content and a regular contributor of Mashable, Lifehacker, Entrepreneur, Business Insider and more on marketing, behavioral economics, and business on Twitter or Linkedin.

Author bio of Aaron Orendorff from Fast Company.

As a general rule, you want to keep your bio to 2-3 sentences or 40-60 words. This gives you enough room to include the 7 components we’ll talk about today without creating a wall of text that scares off readers.

An author bio is sometimes confused with an author byline which is technically not the same thing.

An author byline is a line at the top of an article that names the author, usually lists the date, and occasionally includes additional information

Author byline example on Fast Company article by Aaron Orendorff. Byline says,

Author byline example on Fast Company article by Aaron Orendorff.

Author bios and bylines have become much less distinct in the internet age, and on many websites, the two will be merged in some form or other. But in most cases, you will have the ability to create a distinct 2-3 sentence bio for yourself that shows up at the end of any article you write.

So let’s talk optimization. The following 7 components will help turn your author bios into legitimate lead generators for your business.

STEP #1: Say who you are and what you do

People who consume your content have got three big questions:

  • Who are you?
  • What do you do?
  • Why should I care?

Your bio should answer all three.

Nail them and they’ll be keen to find out more about you — and gladly follow you into the kingdom of your products and services. Most bios don’t address these essential queries. Some do but in a dry matter-of-fact-Wikipedia way. Think of your bio as an elevator pitch in two or three sentences.

Henneke Duistermaat gets hers right.

Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She's on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and make boring business blogs sparkle. Get her free 16-part Snackable Writing Course for busy People and learn how to enchant your readers and win more business.

Henneke Duistermaat from Copyblogger. Source

She sums up who she is, what she does and who she does it for using an engaging style. Crucially, she tells readers the benefits of doing business with her. Because there’s something in it for them, her readers would want to check her out.

STEP #2: Establish your authority in the space

Authority is the tipping point of winning a hesitant prospect over or boosting your trust with clients.

Becoming a trusted voice in your space draws more prospects and causes your clients to stay with you longer. That’s why influencer marketing is the rage right now. Use your byline to underline your authority. Prove you’re worthy of a prospect’s business.

Here’s a great example from Ann Handley.

Ann Handley is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. She is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs; a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine; a LinkedIn Influencer, a Keynote speaker, mom, and writer.

Author bio Ann Handley, Get Response blog.

Pixel after pixel, Ann proves her authority… Wall Street best seller, CCO, Entrepreneur columnist, keynote speaker. You may not have her star credentials but there’s always something to share.

Your vast experience maybe? An industry award? Or a mention by a notable publication?

Whatever it is, slip it in. Impress clients before you say a word. However, don’t shamelessly brag about everything you’ve ever done as Sammy Blindell points out in this post:

“Brand, don’t brag. It’s easy to compose a list of all your accomplishments — and it’s also a mistake. Use only those achievements that your ideal customers will see as beneficial to them, because this is about THEM. If you recently completed some extensive training in recognizing dog aggression, your financial planning audience isn’t going to care. In fact, they’ll probably turn away from your brand. However, if you were a keynote speaker and advisor for the annual International Financial Advisory Convention, that matters.”

Amen to that Sammy.

STEP #3: Include an image with some personality

I’m amazed how many content marketers miss the importance of a photo on social media profiles. It’s SOCIAL media for goodness sake — how can you socialize behind a silhouette? That’s like showing up at a party in a hood.

LinkedIn statistics show having a profile photo can get you:

  • 21x more profile views
  • 9x more connection requests
  • 36x more messages

The same applies to your content marketing, and yet many marketers use a photo that either looks like a mugshot or a shot where the cameraman said, “Say ‘professionalism'”. Ugh!

Want to boost your brand’s perceived competence, likeability and influence? Use a professional shot with some personality!

A great example comes from John Nemo.

John Nemo is the author of the Amazon bestseller LinkedIn Riches to Leverage the World's Largest Professional Network to Enhance Your Brand and Increase Revenue. As a LinkedIn trainer and consultant, Nemo has helped hundreds of small-business owners, coaches, consultants, trainers, sales professionals, and business development executives utilize LinkedIn to generate more sales leads, clients, and revenue. He is a former Associated Press reporter, a professional speaker, and the author of seven books.

John Nemo’s bio. Author of LinkedIn riches. Source

John’s shot exudes confidence, warmth and authority. Prospects are more likely to connect with him. And, oh, please smile. It makes you more likeable. To improve the quality of your photo use editing tools like Pixlr and Fotor.

And then put your best face forward so people fall in love with you and your brand.

STEP #4: Inject your personality into the bio copy as well

When you really think about it, you and your competitors sell similar products.

The differentiator? Your unique personality. Personality, an aspect of authenticity, leads to higher ROI and appeal. Sadly, when people write business copy, they insist on sounding business like — whatever that means.

As a result, ho-hum bios abound.

People do business with people. So you better sound like a human. You’ll bond better with your audience and win more business. Jorden Roper reveals a glimpse of her personality very well.

Jorden Roper is a fuschia-haired freelance writer for hire and founder of the Writing Revolt blog, where she writes no-BS advice for freelance writers and bloggers. When she's not working you can find her traveling playing music in her band, or hanging out with her Chihuahuas.

Author bio of Jorden Roper from Clearvoice.

Jorden isn’t just a freelancer. She’s a fuschia-haired one that frolics with Chihuahuas. I have an inkling that, like her Chihuahuas, she’s:

Bold. Lively. Devoted.

In one fell swoop she humanizes and brands herself by talking about her pets. Let your hair down. Flee from high sounding nothing aka corporate speak squeak.

Be yourself. Be human. Be relatable.

Then more people will desire to learn more about you and your products.

STEP #5: Include a lead magnet in your byline

Your conversion goal for your piece should extend to your byline. For better conversions, your offer should be related to the subject of your piece or at least relevant to the topic.

Discussed pitching? Offer readers a pitch template.

Enumerated on the benefits of content creation and management software? Offer readers a demo.

Talked about the health benefits of sex? Offer them hands-on private coaching sessions at the nearest hotel. Nah, bad idea. But I’m sure you get the hang of it.

Your bio is a great opportunity to attract direct leads from your reader base.

Here’s a great example from Beth Heyden.

Beth Hayden is a copywriter and content writer who specializes in ghost-blogging, email marketing campaigns, and sales pages. Download Beth's free report, The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Warm Welcome Message to get step-by-step process she uses to create magical welcome messages for her clients.

Byline example Beth Hayden from Be a Better Blogger blog.

What the byline doesn’t show is how the offer is an extension of her piece. Here’s a snippet of one of her main points.

Excerpt from Be a Better Blogger post by Beth Hayden.

Excerpt from Be a Better Blogger post by Beth Hayden. Source

Her offer? A free report entitled ‘The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Warm Welcome Message.’ You’d almost feel dumb not to sign up for it since the report completes the piece. This way, her conversions are likely to soar.

Note the singularity of her offer. Countless content strategists overload their bylines with links which overwhelms readers and tanks conversions. Plus, by making one uncontested offer, eyeballs are instantly drawn to it.

STEP #6: Follow up your bio link with a landing page

Capitalize on the heavy lifting done by your content by linking to a landing page not your homepage.

People who read all the way down your content are potential red-hot prospects or brand loyalists in the making.

Don’t let their enthusiasm go poof — into cyberspace oblivion, without harnessing it. Reward them with something special, on a special page tailor-made for them.

Give them something cool and useful like:

  • A super-relevant lead magnet
  • A discount on your latest product
  • A free beta version of your product
  • A slot to win a prize in your competition

See how Jacob McMillen does it below. This byline example on a guest post:

Jacob McMillan author bio on the CrazyEgg blog.

Jacob McMillan author bio on the CrazyEgg blog.

Takes you straight to this landing page:

Landing page from Jacob McMillan author byline.

Landing page from Jacob McMillan author byline. Source

Notice how his CTA, the last words on his bio, are the first words on the landing page? This way the byline is perfectly coupled to the landing page thus increasing conversions. When a reader clicks his bio and lands on the landing page, she smoothly continues her conversion journey.

Harmony wins the day.

Step #7: Be very specific in everything you say

Your bio offers you a chance to position your brand favorably.

Be clear about what exactly you do. You’ll generate more interest, attract higher quality leads and close more sales.

Next time I see a byline that reads ‘Andy Awesome is a marketer who resides at…’ I’ll organize an online march against dud bios. Dude, you ain’t saying nothing. They’re 271 bajillion marketers out there. Add a descriptive to specify what you do.

Only then will you stand a fighting chance of being heard above the me-too roar.

Lianna Patch stars in this regard.

Lilanna Patch author bio and byline example from Copyhackers.

Lilanna Patch author bio and byline example from Copyhackers. Source

Need help with email and landing pages? Then Lianna’s your girl. Her copy makes that crystal clear.

Brand yourself precisely. You’ll see an uptick in the number of prospects who approach you.

Finally, use your bio to boost your rankings for your target pages as Jacob McMillen explains:

“Bylines are a great place to link to a primary service page you are hoping to rank in search. It can be really challenging to rank service pages over blog posts, but including a back link to my main service page in every byline is one of the biggest reasons it’s ranking front page for 40+ key phrases.”

Conclusion: Get Every Ounce of Juice From Your Author Byline

Here’s the heart of the matter:

Your bio is an intricate part of your marketing and branding.

It’s a tiny hinge that swings huge marketing doors — a gateway to your world. So value it and craft it with care. Stretch all your investment in PPC and FB ads, SEO, outsourced content, site design and more to its fullest potential.

Make every click count.

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The 4-Step Process For Drastically Increasing Inbound Calls

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Generate more sales leads. Follow this sure fire 4-step process for seriously increasing inbound calls.

Phone calls don’t get cold.

Phone calls are answered and voice mails are returned. There is no CRM icebox where your contacts can be sent to chill while everyone updates their lead reports.

Even if you have highly sophisticated marketing automation campaigns that move people through the sales funnel, none of them is as efficient and successful as a human being — listening, answering questions, and handling objections.

In our experience, inbound calls are worth between 500% and 1,000% (that’s five to ten times) more in revenue than a completed contact form.

Your business wants more calls. Your sales team wants more calls.

Today, I’m gong to give you a 4-step process for drastically increasing your inbound calls.

Understanding Your Inbound Callers

Before we attempt to increase calls, we must first understand who our callers are.

There are two kinds of people coming to your website who need to talk to someone. They won’t be satisfied by completing a form or reading a report.

We know something about these two kinds of people.

The first kind has a Myers-Briggs type index including NT, iNtuiting and Thinking. Well-known consultants Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg call them Competitives. They are on a mission to find the things that make them better. They expect things to work logically and abhor sloppiness. They are smart and goal-oriented.

The second kind has a Myers-Briggs type index that includes N and F, iNtuiting and Feeling. The Eisenbergs call them Humanists. They don’t do business with companies, they do business with people. They seek relationship and connection. Trust and empathy are the things they look for.

When you say, “Let’s put a phone number on our site because someone might actually call,” you are thinking of these visitors. The problem is, that adding a phone number as an afterthought is exactly what these visitors don’t want. The Competitive sees it as sloppy. The Humanist sees it as stand-offish.

Increasing inbound calls is both about appealing to these users AND making it easier for everyone else to call your business as opposed to contacting you via different channels.

Leverage Your Growing Mobile Traffic

If you are equipped to accept phone calls, you have an advantage over businesses that can’t. Too many businesses are ignoring their mobile traffic because it converts at a quarter to one-half the rate of their desktop traffic.

We have more than one client whose mobile conversion rate is higher than their desktop conversion rate. This is because they accept calls.

Buried deep inside every mobile phone is a phone. That’s why we call them mobile phones. With the right testing program, we can find the right calls to action and proper placements to turn tepid mobile traffic into gold.

Regardless of where the calls are coming from, there are some important steps to take when optimizing for phone calls.

The 4-Step Process For Drastically Increasing Inbound Calls

Now that you understand your inbound callers and leveraged your mobile traffic, let’s dive into the proven 4-step process for increasing your inbound calls and generating more sales leads.

Step #1: Improve Your Website Data Tracking

In order for this to work, dear marketer, you first need to get credit for these calls. Instead of slapping the company sales number on the website, you need to be able to measure calls sent from the site. Inexpensive services will give you a unique number. We use Grasshopper for our 800 number service. Google Voice is a source of local phone numbers. Counting calls will be largely done by hand.

To tie calls back into an analytics package, we’ve worked with a number of services, including IfByPhone and Marketing Optimizer. Others on the market include Mongoose Metrics, LogMyCalls, and RingRevenue. This allows you to calculate a conversion rate with more accuracy.

The ways these packages work are different and beyond the scope of this column. Nonetheless, they let you take credit for real activity in sales.

Step #2: Perfect Your Offer

We too often think that those who would prefer a call will think of calling. It ain’t true. Someone predisposed to call still needs to understand why they should call and what to expect. The only number that doesn’t need a call-to-action is 9-1-1.

Those who bother to write an invitation alongside their phone numbers resort to engaging messages such as, “Call,” “Call us,” “Call us today,” or the daring “Contact us.” None of these offers a why or tells you what to expect. Adding an exclamation point doesn’t help.

Home Instead Senior Care is really working hard to get visitors to pick up the phone. Discover the 4 steps for dramatically increasing inbound calls.

Home Instead Senior Care is really working hard to get visitors to pick up the phone.

There are four things that you can use to make your phone number more enticing to those who would call:

1. Alignment means that your “call-to-call” mirrors the need of the visitor. Often, it is sufficient to match the invitation in the ad or link what brought them to the page.

2. Adding Emotion shows that you relate to their real non-logical pain or desire.

In the example above, “Struggling with caring for a parent” would be aligned, but not emotional.

“Feeling guilty about caring for a parent?” definitely carries emotion. If you think that this kind of message is too bold, think again. We had a 43% increase in calls for an invitation that read, “Ready to stop lying to yourself? We can help. Call …”
Emotion is a powerful tool.

3. The visitor wants Clarity about what will happen if they call. Who will be on the end of the line? Will they be an expert? Will they try to sell me or educate me? Can I call on weekends? Be clear about what will happen on the call.

4. Finally, you must build the Value of the call. Like all good calls-to-action, the call-to-call must reek of WIIFM (“what’s in it for me”). It has to promise enough to the visitor that they would prefer to call you over any alternative. Lay it out there.

These four components — Alignment, Emotion, Clarity and Value — make for effective calls-to-call, and are great for other calls-to-action as well.

Step #3: Put Things In The Right Place

Just sticking the number in the upper right corner isn’t going to get you those calls that make you powerful. The number should be there, as this is where callers look. But the other two places that make the phones ring are:

  • In the headline at the start of content.
  • About 75% down a page of content.

The following image shows a wireframe of a typical content page with proper placement of calls-to-call. We’ve tested them all over the page.

Ask for the inbound call in the headline and again about three-quarters of the way down the page. Increasing sales calls best CTA placement.

Ask for the inbound call in the headline and again about three-quarters of the way down the page.

We tested messages at the top, left, right, bottom and middle. These are the places that worked for us on several sites. Bigger and bolder text can also increase your calls.

Step #4: Make Your Contact Forms Long & Unattractive

You may have noticed an item on the wireframe image above: “Long, ‘Nasty’ Form.”

To maximize the number of calls you get and cast fewer of your visitors into the frigid desert of the CRM, make your forms long, and ask for some personal info. Yes, this is the opposite of what we tell you to do when you want visitors to fill out a form.
This will cook your noodle. When trying to maximize the number of calls we get, a long, nasty form works better than no form at all. That’s right. No form generates fewer calls.

I think this highlights the way our visitors assign a price to their time and attention. On its own, a phone call may seem “expensive.” However, when a long, nasty form is on the page, it makes the cost of taking action by form more “expensive.” The call looks cheap by comparison.

This is a pricing exercise, but the cost isn’t money. It’s time and attention.

The power of a ringing phone gets noticed. If visitors to your site start calling your sales team, it will be noticed. You need to be able to measure the calls and toot your own horn as well. Unlike leads, calls have a power beyond a graph in a PowerPoint presentation. To become an indispensable marketer, make the phone ring.

Bonus: Make Click-to-Call Prominent on Mobile

Maximizing phone calls from the web means maximizing your mobile traffic. There is an entire separate set of strategies for getting more mobile calls.

Visitors on a mobile phone are coming with a completely different mindset from those coming on a desktop computer or tablet. To understand how to engage these visitors, download Designing for the Mobile Web 2.0.

Increasing Inbound Calls Conclusion

There are three kinds of visitors visiting your website:

  1. Those that will not call under any circumstances. They hate the human touch.
  2. Those who are going to call because they trust the human voice explicitly.
  3. Those who might call if given the right incentives.

When you focus your strategies on getting group 3 to call, you can enjoy significantly higher sales rates, bigger average order values and new customers that are more satisfied with their first buying experience.

Make calls a key part of your focus, and harvest more of those fickle visitors coming on mobile phones.

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Social Media Appending: How Far We Have Come

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New Tool Makes it Easy to Find Prospects on Social Networks via Social Appending.

In my most recent ClickZ column, I reflect back on my days as a marketing cog in the corporate machine, a time in which the practice of “appending” was considered “black hat.”

Appending is the practice of adding contact information to records in your prospect database. If you have someone’s name and company, you could “append” their email address and mailing address through a number of services that keep that kind of information.

Companies that sell mailing lists often provide this kind of service.

The thinking was that the prospect hadn’t given you permission to contact them through these other channels, and that it violated the “submit button contract” that is implied when they completed an online form.

Social Media Appending: How Far We Have Come

Social Media Appending: How Far We Have Come. Source: Unbounce.

We’ve come a long way

Oli Gardner has an interesting infographic on the Unbounce blog. The graphic highlights a tool called FlowTown. This is a social media appending tool. Marketers can use it to find the social media accounts of their prospect list, and begin marketing to them through those social media channels like Facebook and LinkedIn.

This is where those of us who have been around the block groan, and then secretly cheer.

Social Media Appending: Why this is different

While appending has not been considered a best practice, it happens. In fact, the best way to do this is to send ask your prospects for permission after appending the data; sending them an email asking if they want email messages, for example.

Many social media platforms allow us to easily “unfriend” or block unsavory marketers. This puts the opt-out capability in our hands. So asking for permission ahead of time is less of a problem.

But there is a right way to inject yourself into someone else’s conversations. It’s called a Content-oriented Social Media Strategy.

  • Only “append” people who have expressed an interest in your industry or products. This is how you know your content will be relevant.
  • Begin with non-promotional content. “How-to” and “10 Ways” style articles test well.
  • Use social landing pages, such as a blog or Facebook page to “keep it social”
  • Measure what you send. Stop sending content that doesn’t generate clicks, shares or comments.

If you’re going to jump into the social conversations, do it right, or it will backfire in a very public, viral way.

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