I love analyzing user behavior on websites and looking at outcomes through analytics. I think regularly about what does the user want to do when they get to a page on your site? And did they complete the task that they intended to do? Or more importantly, did they complete the task that YOU wanted them to do? To be successful in search engine marketing, remember that it’s all about connecting with people. If the user is not getting the right information on your landing page, then they’re going to go somewhere else for it. This inspires me to think about the question – is conversion rate optimization (CRO) the next step in internet marketing?

CRO focuses on increasing leads/customers through website traffic, not getting new visitors to your site. It’s about engaging the visitors that you’re already getting and trying to get them to do what you want them to do. This is easily monitored through setting up goals in your analytics tool. CRO is ideal to use with pay-per-click campaigns: the flexibility of PPC lets you react quickly to the results of testing.

In 2009 with his 8 Predictions for SEO in 2010 blog, SEOMoz’s Rand Fishkin notes that CRO is something to look at: “This is still the most under-utilized and highest ROI activities in the marketing department...Online businesses can generate so much revenue from this, yet few invest.”

Let’s think through this. You’re getting people to your site through a variety of tactics. Your traffic has improved but the conversion rate is the same. Then you realize that you’ve got the same old landing pages you’ve been using for a while. The increase you’ve gained in site traffic is of no value unless those visitors become customers.

So what’s the next step to get them to convert so that they can become leads? Conversion rate optimization. Make some simple changes, create different variations of a web page, and then measure which version is best at getting the visitor to do what you want them to do. Once you find out which variation works best, then promote the heck out of that web page.

Budgets are tighter than ever, and justification of marketing tactics is important. Why not take a good, hard, look at your campaign landing pages and make subtle changes that can lead to more conversions? Like what? Look at your call to action. Be honest and evaluate whether it’s meaningful enough for someone to take action. Look at the location and the size of your call to action. Is that “sign up for my company’s enewsletter” box too far down on the page? If you have an ecommerce site, how about that “buy now” button? Where is that located? Do you have multiple pages on your site with the same call to action? If so, look at the funnel to see where users are converting the most.

Devote some time to looking at the content on your pages where you’re asking people to convert. What truly is going to make the user respond better? Give the user what they want, and you too could be more successful in getting conversions through the use of conversion rate optimization.