Introduction
So you are in charge of your Chamber of Commerce website, and like any other business, the end goal of your website should be the same: to increase conversion. What exactly is conversion? It’s a point on your website where users become new members or perhaps register for events. You need to make sure that people do not get lost on their way there! Here are five tips to help you improve your conversions.
Be clear on your purpose and know your audience
When creating a website, it’s essential to know what your purpose is. You want to be clear on who you’re trying to reach and why this site will help them. You should also know what kind of information you want visitors to take away from their visit and whether or not that’s possible with the content on your site.
Many Chamber websites don’t understand what they are trying to communicate to their audience. The web pages are filled with lots of information but no clear direction on what they would like to accomplish with their visitors. For example, are you more interested in giving out facts about the community, or would you like to generate new members and sell sponsorships on your website?
Eliminate distractions
A good website will be easy to navigate and understand. It should have clear organization, with all the information presented in an organized manner that is easy for visitors to follow. While you don’t want to make your website so plain that it’s boring, you should consider removing unnecessary and distracting elements.
You can use color and graphics to highlight important points and draw attention where you want it. But when it comes down to it, you don’t want people struggling with your website’s design—you want them able to quickly find what they’re looking for and then get out of their way!
Use calls to action
Calls to action are a way to get users to take a specific action on your website. They can be buttons, links, or text that invite the user to do something like sign up for a newsletter, join your chamber, or register for an event or become a member. Calls to action must be clear and concise; they should be easy for visitors to identify and interact with.
You can use calls-to-action in many ways on your website:
- Add a join now button at the top of each page.
- Add a register now or sponsor now button on event pages
- Add learn more buttons in your emails
- Add a share now button at the end of your blog posts.
You would be surprised at how many Chamber of Commerce websites don’t use these call-to-action items on their web pages.
Create a simple user navigation menu
When it comes to your website, the navigation menu is one of the most critical elements: if it’s easy to find, use, remember and understand, you’re more likely to get people taking action.
Be strategic when designing your navigation menu; remember the phrase: “less is more.” If your menu is too extensive, your visitors won’t be able to find what they’re looking for, which could cause them to become frustrated and leave your website.
If you want people to take action, then they must be able to navigate through the site easily.
Optimize for mobile
There’s a reason why Google considers mobile-friendly sites to be as important as high-quality content. If your website doesn’t work well on a smartphone, you’re losing out on a massive chunk of traffic—and potential members.
Google has made it easy to check if your site is mobile-friendly by using their Mobile-Friendly Test tool or by going directly to their PageSpeed Insights tool. These tools will analyze the performance of your site and provide an overall score between 0 and 100, with higher numbers indicating faster load times and better user experience (UX). For example, if your score is above 70, then congratulations—your site is optimized for both desktop and mobile devices!
If you find that your website isn’t performing well in terms of speed/UX/accessibility, consider hiring someone who specializes in this area. Hint, we can help you fix these problems.
Conclusion
With this advice and the right tools, you can increase your chamber’s web conversions in no time!
Don’t have time to implement this yourself? We’ve got you covered!
We work with Chambers of Commerce to improve their online presence so they can reach more people and build stronger relationships with the communities they serve.
