If your website is getting on a bit (or, shudder to think, non-existent), it’s really time you considered re-designing and updating it. A revamp of your website doesn’t just mean the content, you’ve got to give it a whole new look that matches your brand and entices customers in, just as a store front does. You’ve got to make sure it looks professional so it might be best to hire a designer or at least make it look like you have. There’s plenty of help out there and some sites guide you through the whole process such as Midphase; you can find more information here on these sort of business hosting websites. A good, professional look is a vital starting point if you’re to attract conversions.

So, what are conversions and why should you want them higher? Well a conversion is basically when people visit your website and do what you want them to do whether that’s buying something, signing up to something or simply downloading a piece of content. You want a high conversion rate because it means you’ve hit your goal: you’ve scored, your website is delivering. If you keep track of your conversion rate it will help you see your online successes and failures and provide a better user experience in the long run.

As well as the overall look of your website you need to put some thought into how it works to get those higher conversions. High bounce rates and low conversion rates come from a range of different issues. Top reasons for having a high bounce rate include pages that are slow to load; it’s fairly well known now that Google will be looking into site speed in their ranking algorithm. Google is trying to promote content that provides a positive experience for users and a slow site tends to be a rubbish experience for the user.

You also need the content on your site to be what the users are searching for. To improve your average session duration, entice readers on the home page but have them look around your website for other bits and bobs. If they get everything they need from the first glance then it might look like a bounce. However, at the other end of the scale, if your content is repetitive or your page description that’s in your title tag and meta description doesn’t reflect your page accurately then Google will penalise you.

When you re-design your website you’re looking to make it pretty, have outstanding content and function smoothly so that it’s fast for a good user experience. So, what else does your website need to be? It 100 per cent needs to be reactive and relevant. An eMarketer survey predicted that 82.5 per cent of the US population would be mobile users last year and they were right. The number of mobile users is just going to keep on rising so your website needs to be reactive to whatever platform the users are using. One last thing, did you know what by improving your conversion rate you can actually lower your cost per-acquisition, which is essentially how much acquiring a brand new customer costs. So re-design you website, get higher conversions and get more customers!