Imagine this: you’re getting traffic to your website, but no one is filling out your forms, booking demos, or downloading your white papers. Frustrating, right? Clients come to me with this problem all the time. But the first step isn’t slapping on more CTAs or redesigning the homepage. It’s understanding why the site isn’t converting in the first place.

Step 1: Get your positioning right first

This should actually be step zero because if your positioning and messaging are off, no amount of optimization will fix your conversion rate. Before tweaking CTAs and refining conversion paths, make sure:

  • Your website clearly communicates what your company does
  • Your messaging resonates with your ICP
  • Your value proposition is obvious and compelling

If you skip this, everything else—traffic, conversion paths, A/B testing—will fall flat.

Step 2: Define your conversion goal

You can’t optimize conversions without a clear goal. What’s the primary action you want visitors to take?

  • Sign up for a product trial?
  • Download a white paper or buyer’s guide?
  • Subscribe to a newsletter?

If you don’t know your main conversion goal, neither do your users. Define what success looks like before making any changes.

Step 3: Gated vs. ungated content strategy

Many cybersecurity companies struggle with whether to gate content. Here’s the reality: if you’re an early-stage startup without an outbound team or advanced tools like 6sense, gating content can be essential.

But gating only works if what’s behind the form is actually valuable. If users feel cheated—like they gave up their email for a glorified blog post—they’ll bounce and lose trust. Make sure gated assets are high-value, in-depth resources like:

  • White papers
  • Buyer’s guides
  • Research studies
  • Detailed tutorials

Meanwhile, your ungated content should attract visitors via SEO and social media, building trust before you ask for anything in return.

Step 4: Map content to the buyer’s journey

One of the biggest mistakes I see? Companies creating content without strategic direction. They chase SEO keywords but don’t think about whether those topics move buyers forward.

Here’s what you should do instead:

  1. Talk to your customers. Understand what they need at each stage of the buyer’s journey.
  2. Map your existing content. Identify where each piece fits into that journey.
  3. Fill the gaps. If a stage is missing key assets, create content to support it.

Once this is done, make sure your website guides users through this journey. If they read a blog post in the consideration stage, don’t just leave them hanging—direct them to the next logical step, like a gated asset or demo request. Want to learn more about the buyers’ journey? Check out this blog post.

Step 5: Check if it’s really a conversion problem

Before making changes, check your numbers. Sometimes, the issue isn’t conversion—it’s traffic. I’ve had clients say their website isn’t converting, only to find they were actually above industry benchmarks. The real problem? They just weren’t attracting enough visitors.

Before optimizing conversion rates, make sure you’re getting enough traffic to make a difference.

Step 6: Guide users through the right paths

Many companies don’t have guardrails around where they send users. If you have a blog post for the consideration stage, don’t just link to your homepage—send them to a gated asset that makes sense for their next step.

By strategically guiding users to relevant content, you can build a conversion funnel that moves them through the journey seamlessly.

Step 7: A/B testing for optimization

A lot of companies jump into A/B testing before they even have enough traffic or a structured strategy. That’s a mistake.

A/B testing only works when:

  • You have a solid buyer’s journey mapped out
  • You’re getting enough traffic to generate meaningful data
  • You’ve already implemented a smart strategy and now want to refine it

Once you’re at this stage, test everything. Don’t just go with the CMO’s gut feeling or the CEO’s favorite CTA button color. Let data drive your decisions. Tools like VWO (which has a free tier) are great for this.

Get the strategy right, then execute

If your website isn’t converting, don’t just slap on more buttons and hope for the best. Start with strategy. Map your buyer’s journey, align your content, and only then start optimizing.

Oh, and always, always let data—not opinions—drive your decisions. If you want to figure out how to make your website convert better, let’s chat.