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Complete Website Optimization Guide: From SEO to CRO

For a serious business, it takes time and money to launch a well-functioning, branded website – sometimes only to witness little to no traffic. And even when visitors land, the majority of them bounce back to SERPs without taking action, a frustrating and all-too-common scenario for aspiring businesses.

But there’s a solution: website optimization, through which you can detect and address your site’s weak points, all by virtue of SEO, CRO, eliminating friction points, and other techniques I’m going to cover just below. 

Once done, a proper website optimization strategy will help you drive more traffic, sales, and conversions. 

Dive into this guide to learn the essential steps of website optimization and the website elements you might need to improve to see your bottom line grow. 

Looking for a website optimization shortcut? Take a product tour to explore how Phonexa can help you calibrate your site.

Website Optimization: What Makes It Important?

Did you know 63% of online buyers prefer to purchase only after a positive shopping experience? Poorly optimized websites lose two-thirds of their potential revenue, a serious concern for business owners. 

No matter what you sell – if your user experience is laggy, SEO provides no visibility, and friction causes drop-offs, very few users will buy from you. But once your website elements align, you’ve got a potent marketing engine that puts your offers on the map and encourages your clients to act as you desire.

Here are some obvious benefits of optimized websites:

Brand awareness If users don’t convert immediately, they at least recognize your brand and stay open to future offers.
Mobile experience A well-optimized site runs smoothly on mobile devices, boosting sales from smartphones and tablets.
Conversions Content grabs attention and converts users into followers, buyers, or referrers.
Revenue An increasing number of users interact with your website, resulting in more purchases and higher revenue.

SEO or Your Key to Organic Traffic

Surprisingly, FirstPageSage found that well-thought-out SEO can deliver a 748% ROI, making it an unshakable element of website optimization. SEO is divided into on-page and off-page:

  • On-page optimization is done directly on your site, like elevating the content quality and metadata
  • Off-page optimization involves backlinking, guest blogging, and other external activities

The following paragraphs explore both, focusing on the most effective practices. 

Meta Data

Google uses keywords, titles, and meta descriptions to identify the gist of your website or page and present it to relevant users. 

First things first, you need to enrich your website with keywords, which are the queries users type in search engines to find the content they need. 

Here’s how you can do it:

  1. Select a keyword tool: Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz Pro are the top tools to gather the right keywords for your SEO needs.
  2. Research keywords: Launch a keyword tool and search for keywords that align with the page you want to improve or create from scratch. Focus on keywords with high volume and low competition ( keyword difficulty).
  3. Apply keywords: Compile a list of keywords and distribute them evenly across the page, putting some in headers to give search engines a hint of what your content is about.

 

“To get started in an unfamiliar area where you don’t have traffic and might not have a lot of data, do keyword research to see what kind of problems people are facing. Then write content that solves those problems or answers the questions that they’ve got. Make sure that what you’re doing is good and valuable.” – Jeannine Crooks from Amplify Webinar

Once you’re done with keywords, ensure that the title and description communicate the content of your page and are enticing and within the optimal length range: 60 symbols for titles and 160 symbols for descriptions. Use this SERP simulator to measure your title and description lengths.

Content Quality

Although meta content is crucial for website optimization, it can’t resurrect difficult-to-read and non-informative pages – these quickly become invisible to Google.

Follow these guidelines to maximize content visibility:

Utilize short paragraphs Massive chunks of text repel users, so make sure to divide your pages into paragraphs and headers.
Add tables and lists Whenever you have to describe three or more items, use a table, numbered list, or bullet points.
Be informative Improve website content with facts, numbers, and case studies, and remove content that lacks substance. This will also increase user engagement, making it easier for readers to navigate your content and act.

Backlinking

Backlinks are inarguably the top ranking factor. And while it takes time and effort to increase your domain authority, the good news is that you can get backlinks naturally by publishing case studies or other unique and valuable content. Statista maintains a 93/100 domain authority by constantly uploading useful case studies that others link to reinforce their points. Currently, Statista counts nearly 500,000 backlinks, making it one of the best SEO-optimized websites. 

Internal Linking

Another website optimization essential is internal linking, which involves linking your pages in a way that allows users to access related content when needed.

To organically connect your content, divide it into clusters or topical pillar pages. For example, an insurance website can have a cluster dedicated to life insurance and interlink the pages that belong to it. Then, as your website expands, you can link new pages to pillars and update the linking structure accordingly.

Conversion Rate Optimization & User Behavior Analytics

At this point, search engines must already work on your website optimization, but there is still a missing part: conversion rate optimization (CRO). 

Here’s how you can grow your conversion rates across the board, step-by-step:

Audience Analysis

To begin, create an ideal customer profile (ICP) based on their demographics, psychographics, and pain points. Broader audiences may require several ICPs.

Next, use this data to send the right message to the right user at the right time. For example, an HVAC company, Carrier, does it quite effectively by showcasing their environmental impact and the thriving working conditions that their customers can experience. 

Sales Funnel Implementation

Your content must synergize across touchpoints and marketing funnel stages to take consumers on a journey from being unaware of your brand to becoming your clients. A classic 4-stage sales funnel helps with that. 

Stage Goal
Awareness Build recognition through useful content, both organic (blog, social media posts, etc.) and paid ads.
Interest Maintain educational focus within a comprehensive yet non-aggressive promotion strategy.
Consideration Collect users’ emails to nurture them into purchase-ready leads over time.
Action Use special offers, personalized emails, and retargeting ads to promote more aggressively to warmed-up leads.

Want to optimize your funnel? Book a demo and review how Phonexa’s actionable insights can drive improvements.

Email Campaigns

Based on the ZeroBounce study, 93% of respondents use email every day. They sort their inbox, write letters, and browse through marketing emails – your brand promotion can be among them.

Indeed, email marketing is a broad topic that warrants a separate page for explanation. But if talking briefly, the open rate of your emails hinges on personalization – ensure your letters aren’t spammy by using the recipient’s name and presenting a unique offer in the subject line.

As for the body of the email, make sure it solves a specific problem, with at least one clear CTA:

  • Introduce your brand or campaign
  • Stress a sale, discount, or limited-time offer
  • Share news, trends, or tips
  • Remind users of an abandoned cart
  • Encourage re-engagement with your content

Website Navigation

Poor website navigation is a common sales funnel bottleneck, reducing engagement with your blog pages and emails. To reduce friction, adjust your site’s button colors, layout, etc.

Here’s how you can do it with Phonexa’s HitMetrix:

  1. Identify pitfalls: Use HitMetrix to detect friction points through heatmap data visualization.
  2. Optimize website touchpoints: For instance, if many users get stuck in your checkout forms and then drop off, you might want to reduce the number of fields.
  3. Run A/B tests: Once adjusted, check user website behavior again against the previous version to gauge the effect of the change.

Phonexa’s HitMetrix not only helps elevate your navigation but also reveals the entire user journey from visiting your website to purchasing to make informed funnel adjustments. 

By identifying which pages users spend the most time on, where they ignore CTAs, and how they behave during the checkout process, you gain clear insights into what specific areas need improvement.

Watch this and see how HitMetrix can help grow website conversions :

 

Page Loading Speed

The likelihood of your users’ conversion directly correlates to your page loading speed:

Here’s how to carry out website performance optimization:

  • Prioritize specific content: Place CTAs and banners at the top of your page to ensure users see them even if loading is slow.
  • Optimize images: Compress your images and upload them in WebP format to reduce site load.
  • Implement lazy loading: Program media to load alongside scrolling, enabling quicker loading times.
  • Improve hosting: Host your website with robust content delivery networks (CDNs) – such as CloudFlare – to enhance your site with the potency of physical servers.

Streamline Your Lead Distribution and Website Performance with Phonexa

If you want to reach your potential customers beyond your website, Phonexa’s HitMetrix and E-Delivery can help you leverage valuable data insights, automate emails, and compare the efficiency of your messages via integrated A/B tests.

Phonexa’s toolkit is even more game-changing for affiliates. By leveraging our all-in-one solution, you don’t have to switch between systems to oversee your lead ecosystem – everything is accessible within a single dashboard, where you can adjust lead distribution, track their journey, and automate attribution, including phone calls

Explore Phonexa’s software in detail in this short video:

 

Get Phonexa’s all-in-one performance marketing software suite at a single price:

LMS Sync Lead tracking & distribution software
Call Logic Call tracking & distribution software
E-Delivery Email & SMS marketing software
Cloud PBX Cloud phone system
Lynx Click tracking software
Opt-Intel Suppression list management software
HitMetrix User behavior recording & analytics software
Books360 Automated accounting software

Build your plan now, or take a product tour to explore Phonexa’s innovative performance marketing solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is website optimization?

Website optimization is a complex process of enhancing website components, including SEO, navigation, and loading speed, to deliver the best possible website performance. Well-optimized websites generate more conversions and sales.

What’s the best route for conversion rate optimization?

To carry out effective CRO, you start by identifying your site’s weak spots: poor content quality, broken sales funnel, etc. Now, develop and implement supposed improvements, run A/B tests, and enhance your site with changes with positive results.

How do I carry out SEO website optimization?

Follow these steps to optimize your website for SEO:

  1. Fill out your page with keywords and write a title and description.
  2. Improve your content readability with tables/lists and breaking your page into smaller chunks.
  3. Implement external linking to authoritative domains and internal linking to pillar pages.

 

How to optimize website performance for quicker loading speed

To begin with, implement lazy loading, reduce the size of your images without sacrificing quality, and place important content at the top of your page. Next, improve your website hosting, and a faster website speed will come. 

How to optimize website content

Web content optimization starts with creating topic clusters. For example, a finance blog can have a cluster about loans, presenting popular US lenders, types of loans, etc. Ensure that pages within a cluster are interlinked and filled with useful information, such as case studies and unique guides or compilations. Finally, don’t forget to fill your content with relevant keywords, structure it with lists and tables, and write meta tags.

Got Questions?
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Phonexa

Phonexa is the leading all-in-one platform for call tracking, lead distribution, email, marketing, and digital marketing. The Phonexa staff is responsible for authorship of Phonexa blog posts.

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