Steve: Your homepage is one of your best tools for driving conversions. When someone searches for a niche keyword and your page shows up, you can rightfully expect conversions. But unfortunately, that’s not usually how it works. In this podcast episode we are going to give you 4 simple tips to make your home page convert more visitors into patient bookings.
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Podcast Intro
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Huyen: Hello and welcome to another episode of Online Marketing For Doctors podcast.
If you are new to this podcast channel, this channel is all about providing strategies and tactics you can use to grow your practice fast. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast by hitting that little bell button (Ding Sound), so you never miss out on a future episode.
Steve: According to AdRoll, 98% of your first-time site visitors won’t convert on your homepage. All that organic traffic you worked so hard to get is leaving your site without giving you anything in exchange for your content.
Getting first-time site traffic to convert takes years of conversion optimization experience. But you don’t have the time or money to pay an expert.
You need conversions ASAP. But now we know that the majority of your site visitors won’t convert. It seems nearly impossible to resolve. So what can you do to make your homepage actually convert?
Thankfully, there are a few ways that you can drive more conversions on your homepage. And these 4 amazing FREE tactics are ones that you can implement today!
Huyen: Yes, correct. We are going to show you very simple changes that we made to our website, and our client websites, over the past seven years that have generated higher conversion rates. These changes turned homepages into conversion magnets, and this is how you can make your homepage convert, too.
Steve: First of all, you need to Focus on one call to action.
Run through your website right now just like a new, organic visitor would do if they were landing on your website for the first time. Click on it from a Google search and act like you’ve never been to the homepage before.
Once you’ve done this test, tell me one thing: How easy was it to understand the end goal of your homepage? What was your call to action? How easy was it to find the call to action and see what the website wanted you to do?
If it’s too hard, or there were multiple options, you probably need to focus on a single CTA.
Huyen: That’s correct, You need visitors to understand almost immediately what you’re asking of them. Do you want them to sign up for a free consultation? A newsletter? A webinar?
And you can’t expect them to do all three of those, either. CTAs are critically important. Unbounce (a well-known landing page builder) calls them the “tipping point” between a bounce and a conversion:
Steve: That simply means that a great clear call to action can produce a conversion, while a mediocre, confusing or disjointed CTA can cause someone to bounce.
CTAs are critically important in determining the next action of a user. A single CTA helps focus the users’ attention on a specific action that you want them to take. If you have multiple CTAs, you risk confusing the user or overwhelming them.
It isn’t just something that we’ve been noticing, Unbounce also found that reducing the links and CTAs on your landing page or homepage can increase conversions dramatically.
Huyen: You might be asking yourself an important question right now…what call to action does work? What about… “Book a Consultation”? Unfortunately, this sort of CTA is not working as well anymore, and we discussed that very topic in greater detail in our podcasts #29… Why ‘Book Appointment’ as a Call to Action Is Not Working Anymore & podcast and #30: How to create content offer that your prospects want. We will leave the links to these podcasts in our show notes, so please check them out below before you go.
Steve: Moving on to our next important tip: Keep it short and sweet
You’ve heard us preach about the conversion power of long-form content. The longer your blog post is, the more traffic and more conversions you can expect. We currently only write blog posts that are over 1,500 words long. There is no denying that long blog posts convert better than short ones.
HubSpot and Backlinko (2 well known companies in Content Management System and SEO) analyzed millions of searches… and they discovered…
…that the longer the content was, the better the rankings would be for the website. But what about your homepage? Does a long-form content homepage convert better?
Huyen: Not necessarily. It’s not an instant guarantee. In fact, there are tons of case studies showing the opposite is true, and that shorter homepages can do more to increase conversions.
Less was indeed more with your homepage. They’re effective because first-time users won’t feel overwhelmed immediately by your content. By being concise and direct, the user will have an immediate understanding of what your practice does. And long gone are the days were people want to spend 10 minutes reading your homepage.
If your homepage isn’t converting at the rates you want it to, try A/B testing a condensed version to see if it increases your conversion rate.
Steve: Now moving on to our 2nd last tip for today… Craft a stellar headline
It’s no secret that headlines have the power to increase your CTR on organic search results. If your headline is boring, people won’t click on it. If your headline is mesmerizing and captivating, you can bet that more people are going to click on it.
Your headline is your first best shot that you have at instantly communicating value. And that same rule applies to your homepage.
According to the latest data by Entrepreneur, you have two-tenths of a second to communicate value before someone forms their first impression of your website.
And then it only takes 2.6 seconds after that first impression for them to either confirm or disprove it.
This data shows that your headline is one of the quickest ways to capture your visitor’s attention and keep them around. Or how it can drive them away.
Huyen: Well, it doesn’t have to be a 50-50 shot, and you can push these odds in your favour. It should only take a second for you to read your headline and interpret the value that your product or service could bring to your prospects. If you take any longer than that, you risk losing potential patients.
Basically, your headline should communicate quickly your product or service’s key value proposition or your unique selling point. Your headline should simply describe the end value that a user gets with your product or service. It should answer the question, “What is the main problem that your product or service solves?”
Steve: We talked about how to craft irresistible headlines in our podcast “#30 How to create content offer that your prospects want” that we mentioned earlier, so don’t forget to check that out.
Huyen: We’re coming to the end, with our final tip of this podcast… Use a video explainer
Video content is steadily increasing. People are watching video content at unprecedented levels.
According to Engadget, users watch one billion hours of video every single day on YouTube alone. Video is quickly taking over the web and becoming the future of online marketing. People don’t want to read anymore. They want to follow along with your videos, webinars, and live content. And knowing this can come in handy if you are deciding to shorten your homepage.
Speaking of webinars, Are you unsure what a webinar can do for you…
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Webinar Promo
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Steve: Yes, webinars are very powerful. That course is definitely worth your time… check out the link in our show notes below for more information.
But first, I wanted to provide some final notes on this last tip about using a video explainer. If you are focusing on creating a short and sweet homepage, you might struggle to condense your content without feeling like you’re leaving key information from it.
Video is an excellent way to pick up the slack and still communicate value.
Homepage videos are great for conversions because the majority (86 percent!) of those who watch business videos will view them from a desktop computer: This means that you’ve got them actively engaged and interested in the message you are communicating.
Huyen: And the best part of video is the difference in content retention between video and basic text. In fact, most viewers will only retain 10% of text-based content. In contrast, they’ll retain almost all of the information (95 percent!) from the videos you show them.
You can effectively communicate more value and drive more memorability with videos than you can with simple text. It’s safe to say that video can increase your conversions dramatically too.
According to Blue Corona’s 2017 data, companies that use video find higher CTRs and better conversion rates.
Video can be a powerful way to drive more conversions to your site. Give it a shot today and watch those conversion rates climb!
Steve: Wow, we got through those 4 simple tips so fast today, so thought it might be helpful to put together a Checklist of Do’s and Don’ts for Website Homepages, and we left the link to that checklist in our show notes below, so please download it before you go. And to summarize…here are some of the key take-aways from this podcast…
AdRoll’s data found that 98% of users won’t convert on their first site visit to a website, meaning that only 2% of first time visitors are converting on your homepage.
Thankfully, there are a few quick fixes that you can use to drive more conversions from your homepage.
Huyen: You can start by focusing on a single call to action. This approach will direct the user’s attention to a specific action that you want them to take.
Next, keep the content on your homepage short and sweet. Keeping your homepage concise will help users move towards converting faster. Don’t allow your visitors to get bogged down with heavy text; give them the clear condensed version of your brand.
Be sure to use a stellar headline. Headlines will help you grab attention and convey your practice’s value immediately.
And finally, try using a video explainer to reduce text and simplify your page. Adding video will allow users to understand your product in a fun, interactive way, rather than reading through 2,000 words of text.
Steve: Thanks for joining us today, we hope that you enjoyed the show. Following these 4 tips, can help start your website’s homepage to drive more conversions today. But enough about us, what are your favourite ways to produce more conversions on your homepage? Have you implemented any of these? Leave your comments below, as our healthcare professional community would love to hear from you.
Unfortunately, this podcast episode has come to the end, but we look forward to seeing you at the next episode.
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Show Note:
Webinar Marketing System: https://onlinemarketingfordoctors.com/webinar-marketing-system/
Podcast #29: Why ‘Book Appointment’ as a Call to Action Is Not Working Anymore https://onlinemarketingfordoctors.com/podcast/book-appointment-cta-not-working-anymore/
Podcast #30: How To Create Content Offer That Your Prospects Want https://onlinemarketingfordoctors.com/podcast/create-content-offer-that-your-prospects-want/
Checklist of Do’s and Don’ts For Your Website Homepage:
Download this simple checklist of dos and don’ts that we’ve put together for you see if they relate to your homepage. https://onlinemarketingfordoctors.com/resources/
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