Is Your Conversion Rate What It’s Supposed To Be?
Keywords: Conversations rates;Search Engine;PPC; Search Engine Marketing; SEM; SEO; Search Engine Optimization
We get asked, “Is my conversion rate what it’s supposed to be?” on a pretty regular basis. It’s always tough give an exact answer for specific circumstances because actual conversion rates depend on many variables, including seasonality, web site response time, ad quality, etc. It takes a disciplined approach to hone in on the factors that influence the conversion rate for each customer.
Benchmark Data
While we can’t give you an exact answer to the question, we can give you a benchmark against which you can measure yourself. Everyone loves a benchmark, right? Our benchmark represents aggregated data across an etailer data sample. It might not be suited perfectly to your individual situation, but it does give you a number to at least gut check your own experiences.
Aggregate - 1.91%
PPC Search Ads - 4.52%
Paid Shopping Engine Ads - 4.24%
Free Shopping Engine Ads (Froogle) - 4.63%
The data in the benchmark shows the following:
* The overall aggregate measure of conversion rate from the etailer sample is 1.91 percent.
* PPC Search traffic has a better conversion rate than straight Organic traffic, 4.52 percent versus 1.75 percent.
* Paid Comparison Shopping Engines convert at almost the same rate is Paid Search 4.24 percent
* Free Comparison Shopping Engines (there is only one we tracked, Froogle) beats everything at 4.63 percent
Seasonality has a large effect on these numbers. Just looking at the overall aggregate numbers, conversion rates during the pre-Christmas time period were 1.9 percent. From that period to today, the overall conversion rates are at 1.45 percent.
How to Improve Your Conversion Rates
So even though we can’t tell you what your specific conversion rate should be, here are a few guidelines that can help you improve your rates:
1. Organic traffic is still a large component of many of our customer’s web sites. This can be inferred by the weighting of the numbers. Organic traffic isn’t free, and this number shows that a well executed SEO campaign could have a large effect on your bottom line.
2. Paid search executed well can result in good conversion rates. Targeted ads and quality landing pages should result in higher conversion rates than your organic traffic. PPC when done right can be an important part of driving conversions on your site.
3. If you sell products, you should almost certainly be using some of the Comparison Shopping Engines. They have excellent conversion rates and good predictable bid prices.
4. Froogle is a great resource. It’s the only one we are highlighting specifically since it’s a bit one-of-a-kind. If you sell products, we can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to be on Froogle.
A few more words of wisdom: make sure you have the tools to track conversion rates across all your advertising sources, including search engines, shopping engines, banner ads, email marketing, RSS feeds, affiliates, etc. It’s also helpful if you can roll up all of your results in a single dashboard so you can quickly see where you might have problems with a source or campaign.
By analyzing your profit generated from each source along with your conversion rates, you can make good, informed decisions about how to optimize any of the components that are affecting your conversion rates.
Adam is the Chief Revenue Office at ClearSaleing. He is a seasoned sales manager starting insides sales teams at Google and Actuate Software. Adam holds a B.S.B.A. in Marketing from The Ohio State University. www.clearsaleing.com
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Don't Manage Your Prospects: It Will Drown Your Business (1)
As a business owner, it's much smarter to find "doers" and leaders than it is to turn people into them (which is basically impossible without their personal conviction to do so).
Search Engine Optimization: Is It As Important As It Seems? (2)
As you can see from the information presented above, you can help to get your site seen by the search engines with just a small investment of your time. Jo Han Mok is the author of the #1 international business bestseller, The E-Code.
How To Measure Your Level Of Core Desire (3)
(like most people) Is it at 80? (not enough) Is it at 90? (not enough) Or is it at 100? (The only number that will produce results).
Earn More Money By Developing A Loyal Internet Following (4)
7.Add new content often, and do it for your visitors. Many people try to get by without adding fresh content regularly. In order to achieve the maximum results, you will want to add new stuff at least a few times per week.
Master Yourself With The Art Of Writing Copy (5)
Use these copywriting tips to craft compelling copy. No longer will you have to work for hours to find just the right words for your website. The copywriting tips above take the guesswork out of effective copywriting.
How Public Relations Can Help Promote Your Business Effectively (6)
It won't happen overnight, but your patience and perseverance will be rewarded. - Create a top 10 list. Take a tip from David Letterman and create a top ten list about something in your business.
Copywriting Software - The Ultimate Copywriting Aid? (7)
Build up this desire and then ask for the sale at the end of the letter, just make sure you pile on enough reasons and/or bonuses as well as a money back guarantee to make the reader feel he'd be a fool not to buy.
Affiliate Programs Can Be A Beginners Friend (8)
A fifty to sixty percent commission on a $100 product is very good, but it's not so hot if you're promoting a $15 product. 3.Is this company reputable and well managed?
How To Write Your First Article (9)
Main Content. Your main content should breakdown and elaborate upon your introduction. Instead of giving an overview as you did in the introduction, begin developing each of your points.
Work From Home Business Success- What Does It Take To Achieve Your Dream? (10)
There are some things that you need to do when you are trying to make your business a success. Let me explain what you will need to do. First, you will need to educate yourself.
A Succinct Guide To Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) (11)
For example, www.htmldog.com Check for and fix broken links: Try: validator.w3.org Ensure your HTML and CSS Validates. Try: validator.w3.org Build Links Now that you have a search engine friendly site, it is all about getting links.
How To Track Results From Your Current List (12)
Keywords: Internet Marketing, Email marketing, List Building Individual web site enthusiasts need to propose fresh, unique content to article directories. Once this is done, tracking it is the next objective.
Reverse Marketing A Hidden Gem? (13)
The most common method of reverse marketing is probably something that you have seen a lot of. If you sell gardening supplies on your website and you have a website that sells all of the different types of supplies, gloves, gardening seeds and other things on that site you want customers to be able to find your site so that they can place orders for your items that fit their needs.
The Benefits Of Internet Marketing (14)
This is because a person assumes the higher the Google ranking (if that is the search engine they are using), the more relevant to their search the website will be.
The Fatal Mistake That Keeps Most Internet Entrepreneurs From Succeeding (15)
Most of those companies failed simply because they thought doing business in the virtual world was different than doing business in the real world. It's not! The same business principles that worked before the Internet came along work just as well on the Web.
Useful Methods For SEO Copywriters (16)
Articles that have good titles will get linked to often. Articles with boring titles will hardly ever get linked to. SEO copywriters also don't try to trick the search engines with shady techniques.
Broadband And Online Trading (17)
If we go back about ten to fifteen years prior to today, trading on the stock market was a thing reserved for only a few. Of course the common man could still buy stocks, but one hardly had any hands on experience in it.
The Dos And The Donts Of Internet Marketing (18)
Make sure you have a powerful signature, or tagline below every post you make. Offer a free report, make a powerful claim, etc. and then drive people to a squeeze page so they can claim their free download.
The Importance Of Positive Thinking For Affiliate Success (19)
Other people know something I don't. I can't do it! The problem is that people don't see the overall picture. They fail because they can not face the boring and time consuming tasks, that everyone who has ever succeeded in anything has to do initially.
The Keys To Building An Enticing Resource Box (20)
The more articles you write, the more identifiable your name will become. After feeding your name, you want to give recognition to your website. Your website is how you will build a successful internet business, so you want to make it clear that all the articles you write are associated with your website.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Best Web Hosting Sites: How To Compare And Select A Web Host (1)
Only your domains are hosted on the dedicated Web server. You also generally get full control of the server with administrator or root access. You may also want to consider a virtual dedicated server.
Ten Mega Marketing Ideas To Get Your Website Making Money (2)
Offer special deals in your promotional media. There are countless people out there searching for every scrap of information and they would prefer to read an anthology of literature from you before ever acting because of their fears.
Are You Lost In The Search Engine Maze? (3)
you need to locate the right directories for your companies product and place quality content and descriptive information in places where your future customers can find you. You need to perform a thorough analysis of your web site, giving you the information you need to make the right decision of having experts optimize your web site for quality search engine indexing for years to come.
Build Your List With Google Adwords (4)
Finally, once you get people on your list, don't forget the basics of relationship building with your readers. Give them updated content at least weekly, so that they have a solid reason to come back every week, and will expect your newsletter in their inbox.
Tips To Online Business (5)
Whoever attempts must be confident that if they will continue following the pattern of internet marketer achiever the same accomplishment will also be attained by their own site. Focus and determination is the key to success in online business.
What Is Web Design? (6)
If a customer is looking for shoes,for example, the information that they type will be loaded onto the site. Some scripts that are commonly used for this are Perl, Php, Asp, Jsp, and Coldfusion.
Even Beginner Infopreneur's Can Make $500 To $5,000 Every Month By Doing This (7)
- Is the niche profitable enough? - Is the niche easily targeted and reached? - Is the niche scalable? Step #2 - Mindset and Belief Systems Once you've located a niche to go after, you need to sit back and ask yourself an important question - "Can I do it?" The answer to this question determines, in large part, your success or failure.
4 Key Strategies To Reach The Top Of The Search Engine Rankings (8)
The higher your number of inbound links, the better. One of the best ways to get inbound links is by writing articles on your niche. The absolute best thing about using this approach is that it is absolutely free so if you are on a tight budget this is a sure fire way to get great rankings with the search engines without burning a hole in your wallet.
Did SEO Really Live Up To Its Good Name In The End? (9)
This really helps in getting "search engine robots" to look up your site easily. SEO really lives up to its name after all, with the search engines helping in driving traffic to websites.
The Do's And Don'ts Of Search Engine Optimization (10)
- Never stuff your site with keywords. In the past, stuffing your website text with the same keywords over and over again was one of the best ways to get a good ranking.
Tips For Selecting A Web Design Agency (11)
While there are many qualified freelance workers offering web design services, it is important for you to take a few steps to make sure the provider you select will supply you with the highest level of service and quality.
How Surveying Your List Brings In More Profits (12)
Customer Service: What kinds of services would they like to see available? How do they believe they are treated or valued as a customer to your company? Has their experience buying from you in the past been a positive one that involved gaining their trust and a willingness to purchase from you again?
Internet Marketing Secret - Do You Know What The Internet Marketing Secret Is? (13)
Three: You need to find a way to stand out among the crowd. There are so many people who have an internet marketing business so you have to be different.
The Perks Of Having A Work At Home Business (14)
If you do decide to start your own business, you are the boss. No longer do you have to take orders from anyone or deal with weekly or monthly meetings.
The Best Way To Generate Free Targeted Website Traffic (15)
What good is a website without any traffic? And if the site is getting traffic, what good is it if it's not targeted traffic? There are many ways to drive traffic to your site, both free and paid.
Using Camtasia Can Increase Your Affiliate Checks (16)
It is a proven fact; giving your customers something they can actually see can explode your online sales instantly. You do not need to have trainings and education to be able to know how this system can work for your affiliate program.
To All Internet Marketers - How To Get My Business (17)
Keywords: internet marketing, online marketing, internet business, website traffic, affiliate marketing More and more people are realizing that the Internet offers great potential to set up a healthy business for pennies on the dollar.
What Is The Simplest Web Business You Can Create? (18)
You can adapt this information to highlight the similarities and differences between two or more of the products to help your customers to choose which product would be the most suitable for their own particular circumstances.
Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight (19)
And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.
Writing Articles That Explodes Your Internet Business (20)
So far you probably haven't heard anything you didn't already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content - but how do you really grab those readers?
Permalink to Is Your Conversion Rate What It’s Supposed To Be?