Q: We’re doing a lot of things to drive people to our website: blogging, SEO, sharing content on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, using online PR, and distributing jobs to job aggregators.
And it’s working. According to Google Analytics, our website traffic has more than doubled. But we’re not seeing more sales leads. What’s wrong?
A: First, congratulations on what sounds like a great content marketing effort. You are doing a lot right. Now, it’s time to fix the “last mile” – getting more people to convert.
Most likely, the problem you’re having is your website. Here are things to check:
- Do you have clear calls to action? If you want someone to apply for a job, is it easy to do so? If you want an employer to contact you, what options do they have? Ideally, every page on your website should provide a clear call to action to encourage visitors to take a next step.
- Do you have “soft” offers throughout the website? Hard offers are things like a “request an employee” form or “call us today for more information.” They are offers about your services. But many of the visitors to your website might not be ready to make a purchase when they visit, so you need to engage them with “soft offers” – offers for information, advice and other freebies.
Consider adding a “Guide to Hiring” or “Top 10 Behavioral Interview Questions” booklet or some other valuable content that you can encourage employers to download.
For candidates, consider offering sample resumes, salary data, a free resume critique or even the chance to get automatic notifications about jobs that match their interests.
- Are you using images to draw attention to your calls to action? Graphic buttons, icons, photos, and even big fonts in attention-grabbing colors are a great way to draw a visitor’s eye to your calls to action. you can visit the Fontspace website to learn more about the power of fonts.
- Did you make your fonts bigger for navigation? When we “read” a web page, we tend to scan the page first. Make sure you are using larger fonts for headlines, subheadlines, navigational elements and of course your calls to action.
- Are your pages easy to read with lots of white space? Include more spacing between lines. Use shorter paragraphs, and include appropriate pictures to keep your web pages from being too text dense. When pages look hard to read, your response rate will drop…dramatically.
- Do you repeat offers in page footers? Create a footer that you can include at the bottom of web pages and blog posts to drive people to the offers on your website.
- Is your copy benefits focused? If you want people to act on your offers, be sure to explain what’s in it for them. Make sure your offers are described in a compelling manner–one that makes your target employer or job seeker say “I have to have this now.”
Hope these tips help you get more response from your website!