What is website optimization?

Website optimization?

Website optimization is a process of attempting, through controlled experimentation, to exploit the full potential of a website in order to achieve business goals. To improve the performance of their website, website operators implement A / B testing, with which they can test variants of pages on the website and thus determine which changes ultimately lead to more conversions (for example demo requirements, more organic search results, higher sales figures, less time expenditure for customer service and the like).

How to optimize your website step by step

• Think about what goal you want to achieve with your website optimization. Optimization goals vary depending on the type of company. For example, as the operator of an e-commerce website, you want to find out how to drive sales and increase the average order value. For this purpose, a website operator carries out quantitative and qualitative tests on important pages of the website, which influence the overall goal of the website. For example, the home page is often useful for running A / B tests because a large portion of website traffic is received on this page. It is important that visitors immediately understand what the company is offering and find their way around to take the second step (one click).
• Think about appropriate steps to influence your goal. Now that you've identified the top goal for improvement, it's time to identify website elements that need improvement and then hypothesize how those elements can be tested to improve conversion rates.
• Make a list of variables that you want to test in your experiment. Changes can be created as variants and tested as experiments in an A / B split testing tool.
• Run the experiment. Make sure that you collect enough data to be able to draw statistically relevant conclusions as you conduct the experiment. Business decisions must be made on the basis of meaningful data.
• Review and evaluate the results, then repeat the process. The results of an experiment show whether the changes to the website element resulted in an improvement. A winning variant can be used as a new starting value and tested iteratively if further ideas for improvement are added. Even a test that does not determine a winning variant can provide you with valuable information about what you could try next as part of the optimization.
• Website optimization carried out correctly can generate numerous measurable benefits for companies. The first step in website optimization is to find the best version of website elements that will help visitors achieve a specific goal. Optimization improves the efficiency with which website visitor traffic converts into email subscribers, readers, or paying customers. Improved efficiency in turn leads to a higher ROI in customer acquisition and traffic-generating campaigns (e.g. web searches, Google AdWords, social media and email marketing).

Website optimization goals

The goals of a website vary depending on the type of company, the company's target customers, and the action the company hopes for from the target audience, such as whether to make a purchase, fill out a form, or read an article. The action desired by a website visitor can also be a conversion. The goal may also be to collect a certain number of members for a target group.

Example:

An online publication uses website optimization with the conversion goal of increasing the number of articles that visitors read.

An online store optimizes its website to drive more purchases and encourage repeat purchases.

An online software company is optimizing their website to improve the rate at which visitors sign up for a free trial of the product or even buy it.

An insurance company is optimizing its website to generate more potential leads for insurance bookings.

The people responsible for a fundraising campaign optimize the donation form in order to generate more donations.

Optimizable website elements

Depending on the company's goal, website optimization can include testing the following elements:

• Headings or key statements related to the company's value proposition
• The use of visual media such as photos or videos
• The length of a form, different numbers of mandatory fields or the order of the fields
• Clearly visible placement of case studies in which customers describe their successes with your product or service.
• The visual style, text, and placement of a calls-to-action (CTA)
• The arrangement of the navigation elements on the website
• The placement of the social media content sharing feature
• The layout and design of the website when accessed via a mobile device
• Marketing campaign landing pages are often good for optimization because of the high quality traffic generated through ads, emails, or social media. Website owners can also perform website optimization on actions that span multiple pages on their website, such as registering for a free trial, a checkout funnel, or a multi-page form.

Comparison of search engine optimization and website optimization (differentiation)

Website optimization is also sometimes used to describe how to improve the visibility of a website in search engines. The goal is to rank certain key search terms higher in search results.

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), the following central measures to improve placement come into question: change page title, reduce page loading time, improve user experience, use suitable keywords and generate appealing content.

1. Changing the page title - Search engines like Google use your <title> tag to understand what your page is about and to feed the content to its users. Make sure your <title> tag is less than 160 characters long, is unique to the page, and is worth a click.
2. Decrease in page loading speeds - Website optimization can also be associated with improving website speed and performance. This applies implicitly to the goal of website optimization as the completion of a desired action on a website. Poor website performance, such as latency or slow page speed, can prevent visitors from taking action due to the inability to navigate the website.
3. Minimize bad user experience - Google's latest algorithm updates show that user engagement metrics such as dwell time - how long someone stays on your website as the Google search engine results page - are used for rankings. If users stay longer on your website compared to your competitors, you will see higher rankings.
4. Using the Right Keywords - The core of SEO still depends on the use of relevant keywords. As an example, suppose you run a sushi restaurant, then it makes more sense to have a page that works with the keyword [Japanese Delivery] or [Sushi Delivery]? Based on a keyword research in the US, we can see that there are 1,900 searches for [Japanese Delivery] and 18,100 searches for [Sushi Delivery].
5. Produce well-written content - at the end of the day, the search engines give their users the best content they can find. If Google directs one of its users to your content and who is full of grammar and spelling errors, it reflects badly on Google. Make sure the content you create is unique, full of value, and well-written.