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Tony Marshall
Principal
Lead Creation
Have you ever searched a term in Google, clicked onto a website and found it was completely irrelevant once you got there? That it didn't address your specific wants? Or that it didn't make sense and appeared to be written by Google Translator?
You probably waited around for about 10 seconds before hitting that back button - if you were generous.
Google takes note when people click back immediately and it penalises the site - dropping it down in the search results rankings, as it obviously isn't relevant to the term searched.
Beyond that, the site isn't converting any of the browsers into customers. It is simply a brochure that people don't want to read, not a powerful sales tool.
Marketing fail.
So what can you do to make your site relevant to browsers? Hint: it's not design. It's the words on the page. They need to be relevant, make sense, and engage the reader.
Here are a few steps and tips to turn your website from a brochure into an epic marketing tool-through the power of words.
STEP 1: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Your website needs to target a niche market. Focus on the specific group of people who are your best customers.
Focusing your marketing will improve the conversion rate of your website. Because you are not trying to please everyone at once, it allows your website to be more relevant to serious browsers.
Make the website about the reader, not about your business. You must appeal to the wants of your target market. This will make your words more compelling and therefore more effective.
So, what can you do to make your words more convincing for your targeted audience? Keep in mind the following three points:
Who do you want to respond?
Who don't you want to respond?
What incentive or reward will make people want to respond (e.g. offering a free report or newsletter, etc.)
INNOVATION
What you promise must have special appeal to your market niche. What can you provide that's new and compelling? Identify the unique needs of your audience, and look for ways to tailor your product or service to meet theirs.
Start by considering all the product or service variations you might offer. Then look at how your product or service could have something uniquely compelling to offer a niche market.
STEP 2: WRITE FOR YOUR NICHE
Relevant words must tap into people's emotions and make them act (while including a balance of consumer and SEO-oriented text). The right words on your website are what makes the reader interested enough to want to use your services rather than your competitor. So what can you do to convince them?
Here are my top 7 tips on how to grab your audience and keep them on your site:
TELL THE STORY OF WHY YOU'RE DOING WHAT YOU DO
Establish a reason or motivation for your service. Tell the story of how or why it came into being, why you thought it would help people. Background stories help the reader to understand your offering, and make your business seem more accessible. If you can get a previous clent to comment positively on your service, show this on your website as it adds to the believability
USE TESTIMONIALS FROM SATISFIED CUSTOMERS ON YOUR SITE
This shows potential customers that you have previously delivered on your promises to ‘people who are just like them', and therefore you will be able to do so again.
SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE
Use words and jargon on your site that has a particular appeal to your market niche. This will create a sense of comfort to people in the niche as you are not only an expert, but an understanding member - not an outsider. When coupled with a great product or service, why would there be a need to go anywhere else?
EMPHASISE DETAILS
Even small and seemingly insignificant details establish the groundwork to make the claims about your business believable.
STEP 3: EDIT, EDIT, EDIT
No one will ever write a perfect website, so ensure you are realistic in your editing. Eliminate unnecessary information e.g. long winded sentences. No one cares. If you wouldn't want to read it, why should anyone else?
So finally, what is the key to turning your website from a static brochure that no one wants to read, into a high powered marketing tool?
Make the words and messages directly relevant to your intended audience.
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