How You Lost 20% Of Your Conversions

I have talked about this before, but alas, I will say it again. Converting traffic is not just a sale. A conversion is whatever action you want your readers to complete. That can range anywhere from buying something, opting in to your list to receive free content, answer a question, leave a comment, share, I could go on and on.

Beneficial Conversions

Most bloggers have specific actions they wish to be completed which rank higher on the importance tree than others. For example, you want a reader to opt in to your list which is probably more important than leaving a comment.

A list client can be driven to your blog over and over again, but maybe a reader is stopping by one time and leaves one comment and vamooosh…gone. Which is the most beneficial conversion?

Most Relevant Content

I discovered something amazing….I have been losing out on potential opt ins. I mean, why wouldn’t anyone beginning a blog want a free resources guide giving them all the free tools to use?? 🙂 Let me show you what I mean.

Most of you know that you should place your most relevant content “above the fold.” The reason being is that many visitors do not like to scroll. Some studies recently completed suggest that people are scrolling more these days, however, above the fold is still your best bet.

Google has developed a pretty sweet tool in the Google labs which lays out your website in browser view. Your most relevant content should be placed in the 90-99% viewing area to provide an optimal viewing area. The Google browser size tool shows you exactly where your % is and what content is placed there. Below is a graphic for you to gander.

Optimal Viewing Area

I realized from this tool that my free content promotion was in the 40% viewing area. Sucked!!  Even though I had the opt in form higher on the page, in the top sidebar, it was not effective.  And I already told you about deciding whether your efforts were productive or effective.

I was not utilizing the prime blog real estate of the upper 90%. Here is what Google has to say about the situation…don’t they always have something to say?!

Google Browser Size is a visualization of browser window sizes for people who visit Google. For example, the “90%” contour means that 90% of people visiting Google have their browser window open to at least this size or larger.

This is useful for ensuring that important parts of a page’s user interface are visible by a wide audience. On the example page that you see when you first visit this site, there is a “donate now” button which falls within the 80% contour, meaning that 20% of users cannot see this button when they first visit the page. 20% is a significant number; knowing this fact would encourage the designer to move the button much higher in the page so it can be seen without scrolling.

Having learned this, I have made some changes here at The Friendly Blogger to test the issue. I have moved my sidebar to the left and made some tweaks. My pertinent information is where it should be as far as the real estate goes. 🙂

The Bottom Line

Above the fold or above the scroll is generally your best bet for your high level content. Your most important information needs to land in this optimal viewing area for better conversions. Also, to understand how this effects your bounce rate, read this:

• How To Decrease Your Bounce Rate from WebPageFX

In case you missed the link above, and you scrolled..:) here is the tool again so that you can check your own site.

Let me have it! How did your site fair? What are your thoughts in regards to prime blog real estate?

I would appreciate it if you shared this~~~really I would. 🙂