When you sit at your computer to write your next marketing piece you’re faced with a challenge. What exactly do you write to persuade people to buy your product or service?
Novices tend to simply list the features of their business and products or services e.g. We specialise in… We offer a range of…We’ve been in business since… We provide same day service… We’re expert at…
Features are important. But if you want to persuade more prospective clients to whip out their credit cards there’s something else you should be writing about: the benefits of doing business with you.
When I worked at a publishing company my boss always insisted the graphic designer use serif fonts (Times New Roman was one of his favourites) for the body text in all our publications.
Why? Because serif fonts are easier to read on the printed page. But it’s a whole different ballgame online. That’s because computer screens have lower resolution than printed paper, which make serif fonts harder to read.
When marketing savant Perry predicts, I take notice!
He recently blogged his 10 Predictions for 2010-2019.
His prediction about the future of website development was of particular interest. To quote:
The traditional HTML website site hand-crafted by an HTML editor and uploaded via FTP is fast becoming a relic, replaced by Content Management Systems and platforms like WordPress and Joomla.
SEO guru Jill Whalen has answered a selection of newbie questions in a recent edition of her excellent newsletter.
Ever wondered how many links you need to get to #1 in Google? Or, what factors affect my Google ranking? Or, how can I write my website content to get better rankings?
From my experience the most frequently ignored social media reality is that someone has to WRITE all this stuff. And it has to be pretty good. To quote Sonia:
There’s too much good content that you need to compete with. And there’s no magic system that can replace sitting in front of your keyboard and producing something that somebody wants to read. (Or partnering with someone who can.)
If you need someone to write your blog posts, Facebook page or Tweets, there’s a… ahem… good copywriter I can recommend.
Old school copywriting is all “Sell, Sell, Sell!” But online, hype is out and “help” is in, according to website content maven Nick Usborne’s article “Help, Help, Help, Sell”.
When it comes to your website visitors he says, “You need to guide them, inform them, direct them. And, of course, at the same time, pre-sell them.”
Just like clothes and hairstyles, website design can go stale. If your website was designed back when Levi’s Engineered Jeans were the freshest thing in fashion, it might be time for a redesign.
But while a site makeover is always a nice ego boost, it may not lead to improved results… unless you look beyond just the look and feel. This short video illustrates why it pays to think about what your customers want from your website before you redesign:
Accountants have tax loopholes. Photographers use PhotoShop to make their portrait sitters look younger. Chefs have recipes passed down from their grandmothers. And successful online marketers also have insider information.
Okay, maybe the four ingredients of a profitable website that I’m about to reveal aren’t exactly secret. They’ve been written about endlessly on the Web and in articles and books. But they may as well be secret for all the attention most website owners pay to them.
Are you keen to leverage the web to promote your business, but only have a minuscule budget for website development? This four-step process shows you how to build an effective small business website on the cheap. Real cheap.
With the economy slowing it’s a great time to rev up your marketing. But you need to get the most bang for your marketing buck. Here are three super-effective and low-cost marketing weapons to help you attract new clients in tough times:
“I hate marketing,” a friend of mine told me recently.
Despite owning two successful businesses my friend has a vehement distaste for marketing. I’ve found this attitude is quite common amongst small business owners. Many of them think marketing is either sleazy and dishonest, or ineffective and a waste of money.
I think these attitudes arise because there’s a misunderstanding of what marketing is. Hopefully this article will help set the record straight.
Here are six inspirational definitions of marketing from some of the world’s foremost experts on the topic:
A friend of mine had a job selling ad space for a local newspaper. He once sold a tiny ad to a delicatessen owner in a suburban shopping mall. The deli man put on extra staff the day the ad came out to cope with all the extra customers… who never showed.
It may have been because the ad was a dud. But it’s more likely that one tiny ad simply isn’t enough to build sales.
The deli man didn’t know what all successful marketers know. As Jay Conrad Levinson so clearly explained in Guerrilla Marketing, “marketing is a process and not an event”.
Many business owners I talk have an “event” mindset when it comes to the web. They believe a website is a marketing silver bullet. They think all they have to do is get the site on the Web and the phone will start ringing and the orders pouring in. Unfortunately that rarely happens.
I’m a freelance copywriter in Sydney, Australia. When I tell new acquaintances what I do they usually ask “What’s that?”
I’ve also found many business owners don’t know what a freelance copywriter is or does.
A lot of people think it’s to do with copyright law. It’s not.
“Copy” refers to the text of a brochure, advertisement, website or other marketing material or promotion. Thus a copywriter is a person who writes copy. In a nutshell, a copywriter is a salesperson in print.
Recently a client questioned the liberal use of the word “you” in the home page I had written for them.
A central tenet of a successful business website is that it is about and for your customers.
Too many businesses use their websites to talk about themselves: We’ve been in business since… We offer innovative business solutions… We have the biggest range of… We offer superior customer service…
These messages do not work. The hard truth is customers are not interested in you. They’re only interested in themselves and their problems.
When someone clicks on your about us page they usually have one question in mind: “Who are these guys?” Your potential customers want to get a sense of the people behind your website. And they’re looking for signs of trust and credibility.
An about us page gives you a legitimate opportunity to talk about yourself. So don’t blow it by filling the page with hype, boring mission statements or meaningless marketing fluff.
Instead, you should use this page to start building a relationship with the reader. At the same time you can reinforce why you’re a better choice than your competitors.
Why your about us page matters
The about us page has an important role in providing visitors comfort and trust in your company and your ability to meet their needs. It exists to:
Put a human face on your company
Demonstrate to visitors you’re credible and trustworthy
Show your company’s passion, personality and values
This page is particularly important if you’re selling products over the web. People need reassurance that you’re a reputable business before they’ll enter their credit card details.
Here are six tips for what to include – and what not to include – on your about us page:
Simple, unobtrusive designs that support users are successful because they abide by the Web’s nature – and they make people feel good. Jakob Nielsen, website usability guru
Many websites seem to be designed for the sole purpose of being cool, different or winning design awards. But a business website must be designed to meet its business objectives. Otherwise it’s a waste of money… even if it does look good.
Good design is important on the Web. But if your site’s going to be a success, it can’t be designed in a vacuum. Here are four essential website design principles to help ensure your website is profitable:
Targeted traffic is the lifeblood of every profitable website.
A profitable website depends on two numbers: the number of visitors to the site and the proportion that actually become customers. These metrics are known as “traffic” and “conversion rate”. Increasing either one means better results.
The first three ingredients of a profitable website – simple and effective strategy, high-quality design and customer-focussed content – all relate to raising conversion rates. So it’s no surprise the fourth ingredient is targeted traffic.
That’s because your website is like a billboard in the desert. It doesn’t matter how good it is, if no one sees it, it’s absolutely worthless. So you need a strategy to attract targeted traffic your website.
The most popular way people find websites is through search engines such as Google, Yahoo and msn. You can expect a large proportion of your website traffic to come from these search engines.
But people can also find out about your site in other online and off-line media. For example, they might visit your website after you give them a business card with the URL on it. Or they might see a print advertisement encouraging them to visit your site.
Here are three powerful strategies to ensure a steady flow of targeted traffic to your website:
The graphics and the technology are a minor part of web success. The content is the hard part, and it is also what will make your website a success or failure. Gerry McGovern, author of Killer Website Content
It’s hard to go wrong when your website offers, well-organised, well-written, customer-focused content. But from my experience few companies heed Gerry McGovern’s advice for creating a successful website.
They focus all their effort on creating an eye-catching design. The content is usually an afterthought – a badly organised mish-mash of brochure copy, old press releases and stale marketing clichés.
Websites like this are rarely profitable. They fail to deliver enquiries, leads and sales. In fact, a website without high-quality content can easily drive potential customers away and erode hard-earned brand equity.
If your website isn’t getting the results you would like, don’t spend any more money on a prettier look and feel. Rather, make the content on your site a priority. Here are five reasons why:
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Alan Lakein, author and time management expert
A simple and clear strategy is the foundation of a successful website. Unfortunately, creating an effective strategy is the most difficult part of building your site. You need to do a bit of research and give the matter some deep thought. Perhaps that’s why so many business owners skip this crucial step.
But rest assured, the difference between success and failure often comes down to website strategy. It’s far better to have a solid strategy with mediocre execution, than a poor strategy that’s brilliantly executed.
Strategy is about aligning your website with the needs of your target market. Developing a strategy forces you to consider what result you want and how you’ll get it. It guides the design and content of your website, without hampering creativity. And it ensures the site meets your most important business objectives.
So how do you develop a strategy? By answering the following five questions:
How do you avoid having one of the 90% of business websites that don’t bring in more business? By understanding and avoiding these seven common website myths that stop your website being profitable:
Myth 1: If you build it, they will come
The idea that “if you build it, they will come” worked for Kevin Costner in the movie “Field of Dreams”, but it doesn’t work for websites. Yet this is the most persistent and dangerous website myth.
Many people assume that if they put a site up on the web they’ll be swamped with customer enquiries and new business. They won’t.
Customers don’t just magically appear at your site. You must have cost-effective ways of generating targeted traffic. And you have to use proven strategies and techniques to convert browsers into customer enquiries and sales.
My first job after uni was working at a small publishing company. One of my boss’s favourite sayings was, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” It was a reminder to his staff that the first step in any project is to establish what you want to achieve i.e. setting goals or targets.
In my experience few websites have any goals. Often they’re built on the reasoning, “We’ve gotta have a website because everyone else has one.” Even now, many people think a website is a kind of marketing panacea. They think that by simply putting a website up they’ll be deluged with sales enquiries. Unfortunately it ain’t so.
Realistic and achievable goals for a website fall into the following categories:
The home page is usually the most popular page on your website. But most first-time visitors will spend less than 30 seconds reviewing it. So you don’t have long to convince them to stick around and explore the rest of your content.
A home page has several important jobs. It must communicate who owns the site and what it’s for. It must establish credibility and trust. And, most importantly, it must convince visitors not to leave the site.
Here are five tips for creating an effective home page that sets the scene for first-time visitors:
The single most important element of your website is the “most wanted response”.
The term “most wanted response” or MWR was coined by e-commerce guru Ken Evoy. It refers to the one action you most want website visitors to do. Examples of MWRs include order a product, subscribe to an e-newsletter, call you to arrange a consultation, fill out a form, or send you an email.
Determining your MWR should be the very first task when you plan your website. Just ask yourself, “What is the ONE thing I want my website visitors to do?” You need to be very clear on this. Once you’ve set your MWR you should design your entire site around encouraging visitors to take that one action.
Every profession has its secrets.
With the economy slowing it’s a great time to rev up your marketing. But you need to get the most bang for your marketing buck. Here are three super-effective and low-cost marketing weapons to help you attract new clients in tough times:
“I hate marketing,” a friend of mine told me recently.
A friend of mine had a job selling ad space for a local newspaper. He once sold a tiny ad to a delicatessen owner in a suburban shopping mall. The deli man put on extra staff the day the ad came out to cope with all the extra customers… who never showed.
I’m a 
Recently a client questioned the liberal use of the word “you” in the home page I had written for them.
How do you avoid having one of the 90% of business websites that don’t bring in more business? By understanding and avoiding these seven common website myths that stop your website being profitable:
My first job after uni was working at a small publishing company. One of my boss’s favourite sayings was, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” It was a reminder to his staff that the first step in any project is to establish what you want to achieve i.e. setting goals or targets.
The single most important element of your website is the “most wanted response”.
