There’s less than a month until the start of 2015, and web marketers are starting to get their ducks in a row. One of the simplest ways to start is to outline key objectives for the coming year, and Conductor has compiled the results of a survey about where SEO gurus will be focusing their attention and resources next year.
The number one aim is lead generation – 61 percent of marketers named it as the top priority. It was followed by building website traffic (57 percent), increasing traffic conversion rates (54 percent), improving natural search rankings (48 percent) and boosting brand awareness (33 percent). Clearly, despite an ever-changing web marketing landscape, businesses still put a premium on what matters most: Getting more qualified prospects to contact them.
User flow can turn traffic into leads
Part of the reason lead generation ranks well above other goals is that it’s closer in the sales funnel to driving business revenue. Our work with one client demonstrates exactly how high traffic numbers can factor into lead generation when you make simple tweaks to the strategy.
The client, a developer of business efficiency apps, had healthy traffic. Yet it wasn’t getting as many leads as it expected from its website content. We took a look at the overall flow of its site layout and made some recommendations about calls to action, links and information organization. In a few months, we were able to help the business grow its qualified traffic by 20 percent – and that traffic represented qualified leads. The bounce rate actually dropped (69 percent to 67 percent) while the growth was taking place, which doesn’t often happen.
We also saw a 13 percent increase in the average duration, meaning people were more interested in what they saw on the site, and more likely to become leads. Many brands focus on boosting traffic, and that’s certainly a worthwhile objective. But for SEO to actually pay dividends, it has to translate into leads, and a thorough look at site organization can help businesses achieve their most pressing goals for 2015.
For an in-depth guide to creating SEO content that fulfills diverse marketing goals, check out our ebook:
Content for SEO: How to publish online for search success
