Why Launching a Modern Website Isn't Enough: The Essential Role of Conversion Rate Optimization

Introduction: The Importance of a Good Website for Online Success

Achieving online success is more important than ever. With the internet serving as the primary source of information, communication, and commerce, businesses that fail to establish a strong online presence risk being overshadowed by competitors. A good website is fundamental to this presence. It acts as the digital face of a business, offering visitors the first impression and influencing their perception of the brand. But what exactly constitutes a "good" website, and why is it not sufficient on its own?

How to Build a Good Website

Design and User Experience

A modern website should have a clean, attractive design that reflects the brand's identity. It should be easy to navigate, ensuring visitors can find the information they need quickly and easily. This involves:

• Responsive Design: Ensuring the site looks and works well on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Fast Loading Times: Making the site load quickly by optimizing images and minimizing unnecessary data.
• Optimized User Journey: Designing the website flow to guide users seamlessly from entry to conversion points, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction.

Content Quality

Content is king. High-quality, relevant content engages visitors and encourages them to spend more time on the site. This includes:

• Compelling Copy: Writing clear, persuasive text that speaks directly to the target audience.
• Visual Elements: Using images, videos, and infographics to complement the text and enhance the user experience.
• Keywords: Strategically incorporating keywords to ensure Google can index and rank the website, which is crucial for SEO and organic search visibility.
• Regular Updates: Keeping the content fresh and up-to-date to maintain relevance and authority.

Technical Foundation

• Secure Hosting: Choose a reliable hosting provider with strong security features and minimal downtime to keep your site safe and trustworthy.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly with a responsive design, quick loading times, and an easy-to-use interface.
• Content Quality and Structure: Create engaging, high-quality content organized with clear headings and clean, descriptive URLs.
• Performance Optimization: Regularly use tools to improve site speed, implement browser caching, and monitor performance for continuous improvements.

Security Essentials

• SSL Certificates & Regular Updates: Encrypt data with HTTPS and enable automatic updates.
• Firewall, Anti-Malware & Backups: Use security plugins like Wordfence and UpdraftPlus.
• 2FA, Strong Passwords & User Roles: Add extra security, enforce strong passwords, and limit access.

Understanding Core Web Vitals

When optimizing a website, it's essential to focus on four main categories: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. These areas work together to create a superior user experience for your visitors.

Core Web Vitals have become a cornerstone within website performance. They're a set of metrics developed by Google to assess how well your site functions in terms of loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Here’s a simple breakdown of how they fit into the broader optimization picture:

• Performance: A fast-loading website keeps visitors engaged and happy. They're more likely to convert (become customers) if your site loads quickly and responds instantly. Core Web Vitals focus on three key areas:
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures how long it takes for the main content of your page (like an image, video, or large block of text) to appear. Aim for a fast LCP to reduce bounce rates.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures how much the page layout moves around unexpectedly while loading. A stable experience is crucial – users shouldn't get frustrated by elements jumping around. Aim for a low CLS score (ideally below 0.1) to prevent layout shifts.
  • Interaction to Next Paint (INP): A new metric that indicates how quickly your site reacts when someone clicks a button or tries to interact with anything. A responsive INP makes your site feel snappy and encourages visitor engagement.
• Accessibility: Good Core Web Vitals can indirectly benefit people with slower internet connections or visual impairments. A faster loading site (thanks to good LCP) makes browsing easier, and a stable layout (low CLS) avoids confusion for visually impaired users.
• Best Practices: Adhering to established methods for website development often results in strong Core Web Vitals scores. By focusing on these metrics, you're building a website with a solid foundation for performance and user experience.
• SEO: Google prioritizes websites that offer a good user experience, and Core Web Vitals are one way they measure that. A website that performs well according to these metrics is more likely to rank higher in search results, bringing more potential customers your way.

Good Core Web Vitals mean a better user experience. When your site loads quickly, responds fast, and doesn't shift around as it loads, visitors are more likely to stay longer and be satisfied. Plus, Google uses these metrics to rank websites, so better scores can help your site appear higher in search results.

By optimizing for Core Web Vitals, you're creating a website that's not only technically sound but also one that converts visitors into customers. It's a win-win for everyone!

Beyond the Basics: The Importance of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

While having a well-designed, content-rich, and technically sound website is essential, it’s not enough on its own. To truly achieve online success, businesses need to focus on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). This is where Bejamas can make a significant impact.

What is CRO?

CRO is about making your website more effective at getting visitors to take the actions you want them to take, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form.

Why CRO Matters

Simply attracting visitors to your website isn't enough. You need your visitors to follow the user journey as designed and fulfill the goals of each subpage or section. Whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or exchanging data for a white paper, CRO helps you understand what drives visitors to take these actions. Bejamas specializes in analyzing these behaviors and providing tailored strategies to improve conversion rates, leading to more engagement, sign-ups, or other desired outcomes.

Key Strategies for CRO

Here are some simple ways to make your website better at converting visitors into customers:

A/B Testing

• What it is: Testing two different versions of a webpage to see which one works better.
• Example: You might change the color of a button or the headline on a page and see which version gets more clicks or sales.

User Feedback

• What it is: Asking visitors what they think about your website.
• Example: You can use surveys or ask customers directly what they like or don't like about your site.

Optimized Landing Pages

• What it is: Creating special pages that are designed to get visitors to take a specific action.
• Example: If you're running an ad for a new product, you create a landing page that focuses only on that product and makes it easy for visitors to buy it.

Streamlined Checkout Process

• What it is: Making it easy for customers to complete a purchase.
• Example: Reducing the number of steps to checkout, offering multiple payment options, and making sure the process is quick and easy.

User Behavior Monitoring

Understanding how visitors interact with your website can help you improve it. Here are some tools and methods:

Heatmap Analysis

• What it is: A visual representation of where people click, scroll, and spend the most time on your website.
• Example: If you see that visitors aren't clicking on your call-to-action button, you might move it to a more prominent position.

Live Session Review

• What it is: Watching recordings of how visitors use your website.
• Example: Seeing where users get stuck or confused can help you make changes to improve their experience.

Drop-Off Points

• What it is: Identifying where visitors leave your website without taking any action.
• Example: If many visitors leave during the checkout process, you might simplify the steps or offer more payment options.

Bejamas: Your Partner in CRO

For businesses looking to improve their conversion rates, Bejamas offers expert services. We specialize in analyzing user behavior and implementing strategies to make your website more effective at converting visitors into engaged users.

So, to put it simply, when it comes to our expertise:

• User Behavior Analysis: First of all, we analyze tools like Hotjar and Google Analytics to understand user behavior, what they do on the website, where potential problems occur, etc. This demonstrates our expertise with user behavior analysis, audits, creating personas, and user journeys.
• Prioritizing Fixes: Then, we list priorities in terms of what needs to be fixed to increase conversion rates.
• Revised Designs and Testing: Following that, we provide revised designs and test them with real users, showcasing our expertise in running tests.
• Development Push: Finally, we push these optimized designs for development.

Bejamas: Success in CRO and Development

A successful example of CRO is Bejamas' work with Alpro (Danone Company), a plant-based food company. With Bejamas' help, Alpro (Danone Company) improved their website, making it faster and easier to use. This led to better performance, higher SEO rankings, more active users, and increased engagement. Bejamas' expertise in UI/UX played a crucial role in analyzing user behavior and revising designs to enhance user experience. You can read more about it in our case study.

Another notable success story is Camino Financial, which partnered with Bejamas to optimize their Core Web Vitals and revamp their website. By using Next.js and Storyblok, Bejamas significantly improved page load speed, reduced bounce rates, and boosted SEO rankings.

This upgrade streamlined Camino's content management and supported their mission of providing financial support to underserved communities. Bejamas' development team skillfully implemented these changes, ensuring a seamless and efficient integration of the new features.

Conclusion

Launching a modern website is a crucial first step towards online success, but it's just the beginning. To truly thrive, businesses must go beyond aesthetics and functionality. This involves focusing on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to turn visitors into customers.

A comprehensive approach includes focusing on design, user experience, content quality, technical foundations, audience reach, security measures, and conversion rate optimization. These elements not only attract visitors but also convert them into loyal customers, driving growth and success.

Partnering with experts like Bejamas can significantly enhance these efforts. We help ensure your website remains fast, secure, and optimized, providing a seamless user experience. In the fast-paced digital world, ongoing, multifaceted efforts are essential to stay ahead of the competition and achieve lasting online success.