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3 Ways Heatmaps Can Improve Your Website Conversions

With the first quarter coming to a close, it’s clear that the industry experts were correct in suggesting data and analytics will drive the industry in 2017. Not only do marketers have more access to compelling data than ever before, they also have tools to analyze it, interpret it, and put it to use.

One of the most useful data gathering and aggregating tools is called a “heatmap.” A heatmap shows how visitors interact with a webpage: where they look, what they click on, and how they scroll. The red or “hot” areas of the map represent the greatest amount of activity.

Heatmaps provide real-time information to marketers seeking to respond to industry changes and trends as quickly as possible, making it easier for the customer to find what they’re looking for and eventually convert to a sale.

Here are just a few ways heatmaps can help you optimize your website design and improve conversions.

1. Identify where users become confused

One of the most common sources of confusion on a website is the navigation bar. After all, this is where a user is intuitively trained, for better or worse, to look seek out information (hence its name). If a visitor to your website is spending a lot of time hovering around the navigation bar, it’s reasonable to assume that they’re not sure where to click. They are confused.

While there are a variety of factors that result in nav-bar confusion, a few are very common. Perhaps it contains too much information to digest, it’s unnecessarily cluttered, the text is too small to read, or drop-down menus are difficult to click.

According to some case studies, removing the navigation bar all together is the key to greater success. Consider the type of information your user is looking for—is the navigation bar necessary to lead them there, or would a simple call to action suffice?

2. Test your calls to action

What if your CTAs simply aren’t generating clicks? A heatmap will show you if users are noticing your CTA buttons, if they’re hovering over or near them before making an action, and what action they’re likeliest to take afterward.

In the example below, you’ll see that the landing page was optimized with an effective call to action. The heatmap shows how the CTA button clearly receives the most attention on the page.

Source: Kissmetrics

Furthermore, a “click map,” featured in most heatmapping software, can show you whether your CTAs are actually generating clicks, and if those clicks result in additional actions. A click without a form-fill is, however, just a click!

The bottom line is that calling a visitor to action doesn’t amount to much if the visitor doesn’t click. (We discuss this in our upcoming Conversion Marketing Seminar.) Split-testing your CTAs is critical when you’re trying to determine their effectiveness. Placement, color, text, size, and many other factors can make the difference between a strong call to action and a weak one.

3. Discover which parts of your Web Design should be optimized

We’re in an age of rapid change, and yesterday’s tools are no longer adequate to engage consumers and drive conversions. In a sense this means your website design should be adapting to the viewer on a moment-to-moment basis.

Such intuitive web content is of course difficult to create and maintain on the fly. What you can do, however, is use heatmapping to determine the parts of your site that can be optimized. This is known as conversion rate optimization, or CRO.

This allows you to challenge conventional wisdom and see what works best for your visitors. Should the most important information appear above the fold? (Maybe not!) What’s causing visitors to abandon their shopping carts? How do numbers trigger the likelihood of a purchase?

When you use heatmaps to answer questions like these, you no longer need to rely on anecdotal data, or even the hard data of other businesses. Your customer is your customer, and your job is to cater to their needs, not the people visiting another website.

Want to learn more about how to design and optimize your business’s website? Check out our business web design guide!

7 Tech Trends That Will Change Marketing In 2017

It’s almost time to greet 2017 with open arms—and an open mind. That’s because emerging technologies are going to play a huge role in the near future.

Local Visibility Packages: What to Know About Local SEO

Local search visibility can be improved by optimizing your local SEO, which includes syncing accurate business information with the many directories and sites out there that lists those businesses. Furthermore, it’s about working to increase your online visibility, particularly as it concerns local SEO marketing.

Aside from having your business info (name, address, phone number) displayed on a directory listing, reputation management and ongoing maintenance of your business info is crucial to establishing you as a credible business in the eyes of search engines.

Listing accuracy is vitally important. Inaccurate listings not only harm the business they’re for (if they’re active), but they can damage the trust Google has worked so diligently to foster between users and the search engine.

Moz Local’s George Freitag summed up listing accuracy nicely when he said:

Listing accuracy is Google’s method for determining whether Google can trust a local business result.

To obtain listing accuracy, Google relies on a number of places to find your information including phone directories and phone books, directories for specific sites, review websites, news websites, government websites, and more; and each time one of these locations mentions your business info, it increases Google’s confidence in the information you’ve provided.

Similarly, when a site or directory lists a variation of the details you’ve provided about your business—such as the wrong address or phone number, or an address/business name listed in a different format or variation—it decreases Google’s confidence in the validity of the business information, making it less likely to show your business in local results.

And why? Because Google wants to maintain the trust between its search engine and the users, since if too many users are dialing the wrong business number or trying to find businesses that don’t actually exist, people are less likely to trust Google’s results.

What’s worse is that if enough online sites provide contradictory information to what you’ve given for your business, that inaccurate information could override the details you’ve listed, forcing Google to trust these other sources more than your business. In the case of store hours or address, this can be a huge detriment to your business.

A breakdown of what you need to do to improve your local SEO visibility:

Create your Google “My Business” listing.
Find all of the variations and instances of your NAP (name, address, and phone number).
Fix all instances of your NAP to reflect the correct business info you’ve provided in your Google My Business listing.

The real problem, as you can imagine, is finding every instance of your NAP and correcting it. This actually amounts to a tremendous amount of work, both searching for and correcting any aberrant mentions of your business. You might not have the know-how or time to do this work yourself, which is where a primary data provider comes in. We’ll talk about those after we get into your NAP.

Understanding the importance of your NAP and how it affects local SEO results

Providing your NAP by creating a Google “My Business” listing should be your first step, way before you dive into any kind of directory, review site, or phone book.

Before you start listing your information on other sites (citations), you need to find any and all existing NAP variations on the web and correct them for accuracy. Building local citations before you correct the NAP variations could create conflicting data for Google who may not trust that your business is legitimate, and may neglect to include it in local SEO marketing results.

Your business’ name, address, and phone number are important for a number of obvious reasons, from helping people get in touch with you and actually visiting your brick-and-mortar location, to making it easier for your audience to identify your brand.

For example, if your business is The Amazing Hotdog Factory, but you find variations for The Hotdog Factory, The Amazing Hotdog, and Amazing Factory of Hotdogs, people won’t know what to call your business, and Google will feel the same way.

To start searching for NAP variations, go to Google and start searching for your company name, your phone number, and parts of your address to see where your business info might be appearing. You can also do site: searches through Google, looking through specific sites for mentions of your NAP. If a website has a search function, you can also use that to search for duplicate/NAP variations.

Sound like a lot of work? It can be, but you also have the option to hire a third-party primary data provider capable of doing the work for you, and then some.

What a “Primary Data Provider” can do for your local search results

A primary data provider is someone you can go to and they will do the hard work of correcting your listing accuracy for you. Most providers have an extensive network of directories and listings they can search for mentions of your business info and then correct any inaccuracies should they come up.

The benefit to this is helping you establish that confidence in Google to trust the information you’ve provided. Once Google trusts your info, it feels confident enough to plug in your business info into local SEO results. Before you ask if that’s all it takes to fix the problem and cause you to appear more in relevant local SEO results, remember: sites change all of the time, and new ones are being created daily. Ensuring all citations—mentions of your NAP located on the web—remain consistent, a primary data provider will regularly check all sites in their network to maintain accuracy.

While they take care of the work of managing citation accuracy, a primary data provider may also put your business info on other sites you haven’t already appeared on, which is a benefit of the provider’s existing network. All of these extra sites that list the correct name, address, and phone number further increase Google’s confidence in your business’ legitimacy and it has a greater chance of appearing higher in local search results.

Optimizing local SEO contributes to better brand visibility and reputation

Another part of local SEO marketing is reputation management. This involves managing feedback, reviews, or comments left about your business or products on review sites such as Yelp or Angie’s List, as well as social media sites where your audience might be able to reach you. Reviews are often visible in local SEO results, and if you have reviews, comments, or questions not being addressed, it can be damaging for your business.

Local SEO marketing is sometimes neglected by businesses who think they can just rank well in Google and be seen by their target customer, but because Google actually differentiates global and local results, it can be a huge mistake to neglect this part of your optimization efforts. If you’re struggling to rank well in local results or can’t manage to correct all of the many NAP variations for your business, we also specialize in dealing with local SEO and business directory listings. Talk with our website design and SEO agency now.

How to Run an Incredible PPC Holiday Campaign

The holidays are a make-or-break time for many retailers. It’s the most wonderful time of the year – to ramp up your PPC holiday campaign!

Does Your Website Have a Solid Customer Journey?

For businesses with a digital presence, customer journey is only becoming more important. Here are a few questions to ask about your customer journey.

5 Key Takeaways from the 2017 CMI B2B Report

The most recent B2B content marketing benchmarks, budgets, and trends report for 2017 is out. Here are a few interesting key takeaways to take from the report.

1. Content marketing spend vs. increasing amount of original content

Of those polled, 70% said they expected to be generating more unique content, but only 39% of those expected to increase their marketing spending. If you’re wondering how so many marketers expect to generate more original content for the same amount of spend, consider optimizing existing content to boost site traffic.

Content audits are a great way to capitalize on work you’ve already done while keeping your content fresh and relevant to readers and search engines. Besides, there’s little point to inundating a website or campaign with more content if your old content is still performing well. In the case of original content vs. new content, less is more as long as the content is high quality. Refreshing old content is, generally speaking, more preferable than generating brand new marketing material if you are still seeing a high return on your investment on creating that content.

2. Content marketers are going after lead generation and brand awareness

It’s integral to any marketing campaign to establish clear goals early. Goals are how your company will gauge the success of its content marketing, but also how it will direct those same marketing efforts.

Lead generation is a logical goal for marketers, and so is increasing your brand awareness; but the interesting part is that fewer than 45% of marketers are worried about creating brand advocates. Never underestimate the power of customer evangelism because if you aren’t encouraging positive feedback or providing your audience with a space to build that fan base, then you’re missing out.

We’ve talked about relationship management before and how it can be used to frame public perception of your brand, so if you’re not actively engaging with your customers and managing the relationship your brand has with them, you’re losing an opportunity to have others help to expand your brand awareness.

With social media, viral videos, and brand enthusiasts, it’s never been easier to increase the reach of your brand. If you have customers out there spreading word of how awesome you are, doesn’t that kind of tie into generating new leads as well? The more people who know about you, the greater your opportunity for new leads.

3. Email isn’t dying as quickly (or at all) as some marketers believed

There’s been a deal of consternation among industries as to whether email is a dying marketing channel, or if it’s simply being wasted on the younger generation. Despite the many varied articles and blogs regarding the topic, the marketers polled by CMI—93% of them—were utilizing email to distribute their content.

4. Social media is still top of its game as a go-to marketing tactic

While content marketers are still using an array of tactics, social media is being used by more than 80% of them, which isn’t really a huge surprise. With the changes Facebook made to its business pages and platforms like LinkedIn for B2B businesses, social media is an ideal channel and tactic for content marketers.

It’s also important to note the continued popularity of infographics and whitepapers. These tactics are fairly evergreen, as well as being a reliable way to get backlinks. Remember that whole ‘less is more’ line from earlier? Well, implementing a few updates to an existing (but potentially out of date) eBook, whitepaper or infographic can make it good as new again, or in the case of content marketing, relevant.

5. Site traffic the leading metric for content marketing measurement

Content marketers have been using website traffic as a metric to measure results of their content marketing efforts, but they’ve also been paying attention to sales, the quality of those sales leads, and conversion rates. You could argue that it’s strange to see how few marketers cited higher conversion rates or even SEO rankings as a metric. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see that despite social media content being one of the top tactics being used, only 22% are using social media sharing as a metric of measure.

Marketing trends come and go, but paying attention to what we’ve been doing as content marketers is the only way to adjust course when we notice patterns that really aren’t optimizing tactics that work.

How to Increase Traffic by Optimizing Existing Content

Every site wants more traffic and sometimes you need to create more content and promote it to get that traffic. Other times you just need to optimize.