CRO and SEO are both very popular terms in digital marketing. What do they mean? CRO or Conversion Rate Optimization is something Search Engine Optimization agencies started to offer to their customers. It is actually a process of optimization of your website, done in order to increase the number of visitors and customers and raise your income. SEO puts the focus on maximizing the number of visitors that look into your website by showing the website high in the search engine. This process has the purpose of driving traffic to the websites when one of their most important parts turns out as a keyword in the search engine.
Also Read: What is HTTP2 And What Does It Mean For SEO
When it comes to choosing between these two, one has to acknowledge the importance of having a right strategy for their website. Most of the time there is no final choice since every website needs both. Search Engine Optimization optimizes the website for the right search queries and provides you with the visitors interested in your niche and Conversion Rate Optimization will turn those visitors you have just found into customers. Conversion optimization moves in depth, not in surface only. It analyzes the path your visitors have taken prior and after visiting your websites, does an A/B testing for both usability and design of your website and fixes its weaknesses. Without Search Engine Optimization, your website would not have any traffic to turn into customers and without Conversion Rate Optimization, those visitors will not be turned into customers and your business will not grow.
In most of the scenarios, one should focus on both CRO and SEO. However, most businesses tend to focus on SEO for the sole purpose of getting more traffic to their website. What happens is that the traffic does well for the website, but does not bring the money. After all, getting a high rank in Google results is not sufficient and there is a great probability that none of the visitors will convert into one time or regular customers.
Let’s have a look why companies need to focus on CRO too in order to get better results for their business:
- Search Engine Optimization Content: The content of a website is the key to being successful. Content marketing is the core of the website and is what is being listed on search engines. This is why it is very important that one offers unique information to the audience they want to attract. When making a website, try to insert some pop ups that would ask them to register to an event or a newsletter. You can even add a field that they can write in comments about your products and what they might be interested in.
- Keywords: The keyword optimizes a site and ensures its stability. This is why it is crucial for every website owner to have the right keyword in order to attract the right audience.
- Conversion Rate Optimization A/B Testing: A/B testing is a large part of CRO. This is the key method that shows you what works with your audience. By performing an A/B testing, you will know which image, design element or copy to use in order to make your customers happy.
- Call to Action Button: Visitors are already there on your website, but what can you do to make them your customers. The call to action button is the most famous button of them all since this is the exact button that brings you the profit. And if you try to make it in bright color and always present, it would instantly and constantly attract the visitors’ eyes. Never put this button at the end of the page since visitors rarely read till the bottom of the page.
- Sales funnel: Visitors become a part of your sales funnel the moment they enter and look into your site. Your job then is to ensure to provide them with the information they have been looking for. This is why it is very important to ensure that you have a fluid sales funnel and that your customers can clearly and easily understand what is that you are actually offering.
- Content: Content is a part of both SEO and CRO and there is a big reason why. The content is one of the most important elements of the website since it has to be delivered right. A content has to be descriptive, realistic and honest since your visitors must believe you if you want them to buy something from you. Also, the content should guide your visitors trough the page and get them to click the call to action button.
Also Read: How To Prep For The Pending Penguin Update & Ensure You’re Penalty Free In 2016
As you have already noticed, both SEO and CEO work directly on a website, but have very different goals. A search engine optimization team would not have the methods or the plan to inspire the visitors to take action. Their job would be to bring them to your website. A CRO team would be like-wise. This team would not have great understanding of the algorithms that are necessary to improve the traffic of your website. When choosing between both, it is very important to know what your website needs. If it needs traffic, then it needs Search Engine Optimization. If it needs customers, it needs Conversion Rate Optimization. Every website needs work to be done and it depends on how you want and need it to function when deciding what methods to choose to do so.
A combination of both SEO and CRO is an inevitable mix for every person who wants to have a successful online business. The most effective and probably the only way to utilize your presence as an online seller is to combine them both.