Increasing conversions is the goal of every website.

Whether you run an online shop or a self-help blog, your aim is always to turn the casual passerby into a devout customer. This transition isn’t exactly easy to achieve, but you can utilise various methods to get there.

For instance, you can optimise your site to get more traffic, then appeal to those people with engaging content or great deals. However, if you’re going to appeal to an audience that encompasses folks from all over the globe, you’re going to need to put some focus on geotargeting.

In this post, we’re going to explain what precisely geotargeting is and does, then give you eight ways utilising it can improve your conversions. Running an international website in 2019 is a must if you’re going to appeal to the most people possible. Don’t ignore your potential customers across the pond; use geotargeting.

When you operate out of a single location, your website is usually pretty localised, and you may or may not be succeeding with that model. What this does to some degree, however, is alienate the viewers in other parts of the world.

If you’re sending a particular message to your readers, it might only appeal to local viewers. You’re likely going to lose people from far away to a site that meets their needs. The process of obtaining data to find out where a customer is located and delivering location-specific content is geotargeting.

You can see the effects of geotargeting when you type a general search into Google, like “sushi restaurants.” Google will have your location (or ask for it) and only display the sushi restaurants near you.

This philosophy can be employed on your website, as well. Catering your landing pages to the location that the person is searching from will improve your conversions, as we’ll find out in the next section.

Improving conversions is about enhancing the user experience. One of the ways that you can do this is by showing them content that’s relevant to the way that they live. For an e-commerce site, this is an invaluable tool that can make you a lot of money when employed correctly.

1. Trying Your Hand at Language

The first and potentially most challenging task is to match the language on your landing pages with that of the searcher. You can either activate different languages or utilise an on-site KPI to let the user switch languages.

On truly “international” sites, the language is emphasised. If you go to a large corporation’s website, the first thing you’ll often see is a menu asking where you’re from. Then they will switch the language and currency appropriately.

Experiment with both methods and see which one increases conversions more. The data may differ from country to country, depending on which countries have more English-speaking residents.

2. Do the Exchange

Currency is another one that you should focus on. Everyone’s been a victim to the CAD to USD or USD to GBP conversion before: “hey, this flight said it was only 200 bucks, why did my card get charged $260?”.

If you run an online shop, let your visitors see the currency that they’re familiar with. They’ll be more inclined to pay for an item and revisit your shop if they don’t have to do any currency conversions themselves.

3. Keep Content Relevant

Push forward the content and products that are relevant to the location that the visitor is in. Doing this will have them spending less time searching through your website and more time buying things. The easier it is for visitors to find what they want, the faster they’ll decide to purchase something.

For example, if you’re an online party shop advertising around Mardi Gras, you’ll want to promote beads and occult costumes for people around the Bayou. For those in middle-America, however, you’ll probably do better to show them Easter-themed products.

4. Use the Climate

Use the same philosophy when considering the climate of different locations. For a clothing shop, the rainy UK fall would call for boots and raincoats, but fall-time in Canada might require more wintry preparations.

Again, geotargeting is all about using location to surmise why a visitor might be on your website, then showing them what is relevant.

5. Location-Specific Promotions

You can also cater to your promotions geographically. Deals usually happen because of a specific holiday or event, which differs in most geographical regions. The Japanese school year starts in April, while the British one begins in mid-September, so back to school deals need to be location-specific.

The same thing goes with thanksgiving shopping in North America. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls in early October, while the large Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping events in America occur closer to the end of November.

6. Analyse Design

Believe it or not, the visual elements on your website might benefit from geotargeting, as well. Try out different web-design philosophies and see what works for different areas.

A colour scheme or set of images might convey certain feelings in one culture and completely different ones in another. Holiday themes, national flags, animals, and terrain should all be taken into consideration when you’re thinking about website design elements.

7. Display Close Locations (If You Have Them)

If you’re a multinational corporation with many physical locations, you should always display the closest location to where the visitor is with the hours, address, and contact details. When most of your business is done offline, this is a valuable asset for improving conversion rates.

8. Shipping Offers

Shipping costs are a big part of e-commerce and whether or not you’ll convert a visitor into a customer. Rather than going through the check-out process on your website, only to find substantial shipping costs, show the visitor shipping deals for their location.

If your store is located in New Jersey, you can offer free one or two-day shipping to places like Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington. If the viewer is in Canada, though, that’s not possible if you’re going to make money.

Instead, show the Canadian visitor a coupon for 10% off international shipping. This way, they know ahead of time that they’ll have to pay for shipping, but they’ve already got a coupon giving them a discount.

To get help with geotargeting for your business, as well as any other digital marketing needs, visit our services page. At Climb Online, we specialise in data analysis, SEO, digital branding, and web development.

In the complicated world of digital marketing, you don’t have to go it alone. Contact us to find out how we can help your business thrive online.