7 Ways to Increase Engagement and Conversions on Your Website

When you're setting out to create a successful website, user engagement is a major concern. Any time visitors land on your site, you want them to spend some time with your content and click-through your Calls to Action (CTAs). It can be hard to know how to encourage those behaviors, though.

Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to keep your potential customers’ interest, such as creating useful content and streamlining your site’s navigation. Having a more engaging site will go a long way towards increasing conversions as well. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at the relationship between engagement and conversions. Then we'll cover several techniques for increasing engagement on your website. Let’s get to it!

An Introduction to User Engagement (And Why It Matters)

User engagement is an assessment of how interested visitors are in your site and its content. It's based on a number of metrics related to your site's users and their behavior.

This includes how many unique visitors your site receives per day, how many pages they view per session, and what actions they take. Your bounce rate – which is determined by the number of users who visit a page and then leave without taking further action – also factors in.

Many sites use blogs filled with valuable information to engage their visitors. However, you can use quizzes, forms, and social forums as well. Having an active comments section on your site is also a sign of high engagement.

There are a few ways this can all benefit your site. For instance, a solid engagement rate indicates that you're likely building a loyal audience of users. This, in turn, can lead to higher conversions.

Additionally, engaged users will often spend more time on your site, increasing the chances that they'll convert. The more opportunities you give users to engage, the more likely they are to do so.

7 Ways to Increase Engagement and Conversions on Your Website

Boosting engagement can be an arduous task. Fortunately, these seven key tips can help you get the ball rolling.

1. Create Useful Content

Providing useful, informative content in the form of blog posts, social media posts, or even your email newsletter can help build your credibility in your industry:

Neil Patel's email newsletter page, which promises valuable content to subscribers.

Small businesses that have blogs have been shown to receive 126% more leads. The promise of helpful information is what gets users to your site, where they can then engage with your content and eventually convert.

When creating your content, strive to be original, accurate, and thought-provoking. Posts that are relevant to your users and fulfill a need they have are most likely to draw them in and encourage them to engage.

2. Improve Your Site's Performance

A one-second decline in loading time can cause users to click away due to boredom or frustration. If you can, it's ideal to keep your page loading times to no longer than two seconds.

Running tests such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom should give you an idea of where your site speed stands:

The Pingdom page speed test.

If your site is running a little slow, there are a few things you can do to fix the issue. First, you may need to upgrade your hosting plan to handle increased traffic on your site.

You may also want to make sure all of your images are optimized. Additional techniques such as ‘lazy loading‘ can give your users something to engage with while the rest of the page loads.

3. Remove Clutter and Streamline Navigation

An overly complex website can lead to confusion among your users. In turn, this can lead to a higher bounce rate, as users leave your site when they can't find what they need.

To avoid this, consider streamlining your navigation and decluttering your website. Switching to a simpler design, using plenty of white space, and clearly labeling your navigation menu can help make it easier for users to make their way around:

Apple's website, which features ample white space and clearly defined navigation.

This can improve your engagement, as visitors will be able to find features such as forms, comments sections, and other opportunities to interact with your content.

4. Keep Content Readable and Interesting

If visitors can't easily read your content, they're not likely to further engage with your site via comments or by reading additional posts. It's important to use readable fonts and text sizes.

It also helps to make your text scannable, and not use overly-complex language:

A blog post written in a conversational style.

Finally, studies show that pages with 1,000–2,500 words see more engagement. Keep this in mind when creating content, and strive for long-form posts.

5. Incorporate Images and Videos

Images can be a powerful tool. They draw immediate attention and can lead visitors into your text content. This is why it's wise to include featured images to kick off your posts:

A blog post with a featured image.

Additionally, if you're selling products on your site, high-quality images of your merchandise are essential. Showing off key details and features may point something out to a visitor that convinces them to add a product to their cart.

Creating demos or educational videos can be even more powerful. Like written content, they can help establish your authority on subjects related to your site and engage users via comments.

6. Display Customer Reviews

Many users find customer reviews helpful when trying to decide whether to make a purchase. Including them on your site can work to keep visitors engaged:

An Amazon.com customer reviews.

Plus, reviews add content to your site that you don't have to write. Offering customers a chance to leave reviews can help them feel more invested in your products or brand as well.

There are several plugins you can use to incorporate reviews on your WordPress site. A couple of popular options include WP Product Review and WP Customer Reviews.

7. Analyze Your Data

Finally, it's important to capture and analyze data from your site to determine what's working and what isn't. One of the best ways to gauge visitor interactivity and engagement is to use a tool such as Google Analytics:

The Google Analytics Overview page.

The information this platform and others like it provide can show you in what ways users are engaging with your content. You can then work to improve those engagement opportunities to make them more appealing.

Conclusion

‘Engagement' can feel like a vague and difficult-to-master concept when it comes to optimizing your website. However, once you get the hang of it, encouraging your users to take action and interact with your content just takes a few well-planned strategies.

Here are some tips to help you increase engagement and conversions on your site:

  1. Create useful content.
  2. Improve your site's performance.
  3. Remove clutter and streamline navigation.
  4. Keep content readable and interesting.
  5. Incorporate images and videos.
  6. Display customer reviews.
  7. Analyze your data.

Do you have any questions about how to improve your website? Ask away in the comments section below!

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Categories: Content Marketing
About John Hughes

John is a blogging addict, WordPress fanatic, and staff writer.

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