Using a Funnel Analysis in Your SEO

Even great SEO experts discover from time to time that their website is not creating the conversions necessary to keep profits on the rise. The cost of running a website, paying for SEO, paying for advertising, and running diagnostics must always be offset and covered by the increase of online revenues. If the costs of doing business online are outweighing the additional sales, then there is a real problem that needs to be addressed. It might be with the checkout and conversion process.

By using a drawing of a funnel, analysts can reenact the process that customers go through to buy a product or service. At the top, or wide part of the funnel, visitors enter the shopping cart area. As the funnel grows narrower, it’s representing the various steps that customers have to take before the very bottom when actual money is received.

Research shows that sixty percent of visitors who start the checkout process on an average website drop out before the conversion point. There are many reasons to account for this drop off. Among them are: out of stock products, overly priced shipping costs, inadequate delivery dates, poor reviews, or simply changing their mind.

When using the funnel diagram, companies can also outline the steps required for conversion. There are almost always too many steps and requirements. With each additional requirement, the potential for a lost sale or dropped customer increases.

Aside from shortening the entire process, page loading times can be a factor. For example, a vacation rental company noticed that their conversion rate was extremely low. It didn’t take long for the fulfillment team to figure out why. When a customer would see a list of homes available, they could click on a specific picture for more information.

But if they wanted to see another home, they would have to click back three or four screens to get to the original list, and then choose another house to investigate. Traveling through each screen took a cumbersome amount of time and was too frustrating for customers to want to hang around to the final purchase.

The analysis from a funnel will consistently provide the information necessary to improve conversion rates across the board.

About the author: Learn industry best-practices and gain access to exclusive insider tricks of search engine optimization and social media marketing from Christopher Ryan, Top Ranked (96th Percentile Worldwide) SEO Expert.  Need help with your business? Hire me on Elance.