Boost Search Traffic Conversion Rates with Post-Click Marketing

Many small business owners have asked me how they can increase conversion rates without spending a lot of extra marketing dollars. Conversion rates vary by industry, so saying 3 percent is “bad” or “good” is unrealistic. A 3 percent conversion rate may be great for a luxury boat sales site — whereas 3 percent may be dismal for a ringtone download site.

For the small business owner, post-click marketing is an opportunity to turn more of the traffic you’re already receiving into a conversion. You can also better segment that traffic and drive it to the right “message” on your Web site. By its very nature, if done correctly, the process will increase conversions in traffic you’re already receiving.

Follow along because it’s example time!

Selling Joe a Cheap Orlando Vacation

Joe is looking to take the family to DisneyWorld in Orlando, Florida. He’s shopping online and — for lack of a better description — Joe is a bit tight-fisted (he has a lot of mouths to feed, you know).

You happen to offer vacation experiences in Orlando on your Web site, and some are quite affordable to budget shoppers. So how do you and Joe meet, have a meaningful online experience, and decide to enter into a relationship…I mean transaction?

Well if you’ve done your keyword research — you’re halfway there.

You already knew that about five people a day searched for the term “cheap Orlando travel packages” and you built a page on your Web site completely devoted to the bargain shopper looking to bring the family down. You’ve optimized your page and bought paid advertising that points to that “bargains” page.

Joe does a search for our term and voila! There you are. So he’s sold and ready to book, right? Wrong. Joe just met you, and he’s not the kind of guy to take the first offer that comes along. Post-click marketing is going to sell Joe, if you do it right.

Direct the Traffic into a Sale

Once he hits your landing page, which has been optimized with content designed to appeal to the budget traveler, he’s further enticed by seeing some triggers that will reel him in.

He may see a nice bright graphic that says if he books a vacation plus park tickets he saves 30 percent — Joe is happy, he likes to “save.”

Right above your “Online Booking” button you’ve used the text “4 steps to the most affordable Orlando vacation you’ll ever have!” Joe likes the words save, affordable, and cheap, so he’s ready to book — and does so.

You had some pretty qualified traffic coming in when Joe arrived on your Web site — but that didn’t guarantee a conversion. You helped the process with post-click marketing. Here’s what you did to win that conversion:

• You segmented your users.
• You optimized and ranked for keywords those users are interested in.
• You landed them on the page most likely to convert them.
• You further enticed them with some more trigger words such as “save” and “affordable.”

Segmenting for Success

There are a few steps to successful targeting and post click marketing — and the latter doesn’t work very well without the former. Post-click marketing depends upon the “type” of shopper coming to your site.

Certain keywords are used by certain shoppers. Using the Orlando example, you can possibly segment into a few different groups — budget conscious, family oriented, luxury travel, value shoppers (not the same as budget), and location-based. When performing the keyword research, you can segment the keywords by the type of user that is likely to use those terms.

Family-oriented searchers want to land on pages that show them (or lead them to) great activities for the kids, discount tickets to Disney, kid-friendly restaurants, and the nearest store to buy supplies they’ll inevitably need.

Luxury-focused shoppers will search using terms like “luxury” and “exclusive.” Land those users on pages designed to show-off those features, think about the great photography you see on luxury hotel sites and use words like, “private” and “elite.”

Once you’ve landed those users on the pages that best fit their “type,” take control of the transaction and start selling — landing them was only part of your job. Use imagery to drive the sale home — photos of kids, plush and luxurious bedding, and a view of Cinderella’s castle from the balcony. Use the words that are most meaningful to each segment on those pages (value, save, exquisite, kids, fun, etc.).

Any type of e-commerce site can benefit from segmented traffic and post-click marketing. Sometimes your product will naturally segment your traffic.

Someone performing a search for “Nike” is thinking about being active, exercising, and getting in shape while being supported and comfortable. Show professional athletes wearing those shoes and being “NBA MVP.” This may convince the shoppers they’ll also be an MVP if they buy your Nikes.

A searcher who’s looking for “Jimmy Choos” isn’t concerned about comfort, but needs that $400 pair of shoes because they’re trendy, a famous actress has them, and it doesn’t matter if they’re comfortable or not. Showing the “Jimmy Choo” searcher photos of hip and skinny celebrities wearing the shoes they’re looking for is an on-site marketing tactic that will help seal the deal.

Using a combination of traffic-driving marketing and on-site sales techniques is a great way for a small business owner to make the most out of every marketing dollar they spend. Converting more of the visits you’re already receiving is a great way to increase your ROI.