I'll get straight to the punch this time. No mystery.
No smoke & mirrors. The words on your website are the most
important element of your website. Period!
It's definitely not Flash, animations and cool tricks
your website can do. Unless you're in the entertainment industry
and you have to show off and impress others with a presentation
that puts your competition to shame.
It's the words on your website that people
really connect with. It's what you say and how you say
it that will keep people on your site longer and that will keep
them coming back for more. It's even going to help you on the
search engines and allow people to find you based on the keywords
in your website. The more content you have, the better but it
should always be great content. You want to win them
with your words.
That said about copywriting, I want to make a few
things a bit clearer for you. A website also has to be:
- nice on the eyes,
- easy to navigate,
- easy to find everything within a couple of clicks,
- visually consistent,
- easy to read, and
- it has to function flawlessly
The point of it all is to get a lifelong customer
by becoming the most appealing option to them. We do this by informing
& gently persuading them that they should do business with
us. Ultimately we want to get them to perform certain specific
actions that will help our business grow. Actions you may want
them to perform on your site could include - getting them to:
- learn more about you and start trusting you
- give you their contact information (as a sales lead or opt-in
email)
- buy something
- refer your site to others
- fill in a survey
- come back to your site again to perform a repeat action
Take it from me, a web designer and internet marketing
coach, I know what many business owners want and think they need
in a website. Most are always shocked when I give them a fresh,
enlightened, perspective. It wasn't about toys & flash &
wow factor. It was about selling with words.
I told them that the simplest looking sites
on the web often sell the most. They always asked why?
Because the focus is on the words and the words do all the selling.
I've created white, plain web pages with content
centered in the middle, no graphics, just text - that got a 22%
OPT-IN rate. That means that a whopping 22 out of 100 people who
visited my page (through a targeted AdWords Ad) signed up for
the offer I created for my client. Compare that to the old form
my client had on their flashy site and I multiplied their results
by 22 x's. I since overhauled the entire site and integrated a
lot of marketing strategies to help them be the best choice for
their visitors.
So remember, it's the words on your site that are
the most important.
Other things to consider:
Web Design Do's & Dont's:
1. Flash intros: Save Flash for
special applications and some main pages but don't make a mini-movie
intro. They are an incredible waste of money.
2. No page counters: this almost
always hinders instead of helps. Leave it out.
3. Make effective use of every title bar: The title tag of your web-page (the uppermost part of your browser)
displays the name of the page you're on. It's also a way to let
the search engines know what your site is about. Use your keywords
in the title effectively.
4. No blinking or flashing text: People
are becoming trained to ignore animations and blinking areas on
websites. It's kind of annoying.
5. Don’t force people to download
any special plug-ins: Most of them won't. Nowadays lots
of people using XP don't even know that an information bar popped
in asking them to install an activex control. They ignore it and
missed your entire message. No plugins for most sites - there
are some exceptions like a game site or movie site. But not for
regular business when the competition isn't scaring away their
visitors.
6. No more frames: If you didn't
already hear by now, search engines don't like framed pages. They
may seem to make your life easier on the design end but don't
even bother starting with frames. If you have them already - recreate
your site but keep all the same page names of your body pages.
7. Don't try to fool the search engines: Your site could be banned and stripped from the search
engines. I'm not saying don't use advanced techniques and all
the research you have available. I'm saying avoid any tactic that
is blatant overkill and search engines will keep you indexed.
Avoid free for all pages and be cautious of your link exchange
programs. Exchange links only after reviewing the other site to
see if it's a good fit.
8. Use White Space: Don't try to
fill in every single white space on the page. Give your words
room.
9. Under construction pages: A
big no-no for most people but not for me. If you're starting a
brand new website and you have the navigation structure and layout
ready then start building the pages. Upload everything - almost
no one is going to see it. I'm not recommending you promote it
yet though - that won't work.
10. Use Standard Link Colors: Believe
it or not, using regular link colors like blue for a new link
and magenta for a visited link will make your website easier to
navigate. I've been to websites where there is no way a person
can know where a link is unless they hovered their mouse over
every section.
So there you have it - you've learned the #1 most
important element of a website (copywriting), along with a top
10 list of Do's & Don'ts. I hope this article helps you avoid
upset on your path to success.
If you can fill out this form and answer these
simple questions, I will get back to you within 24-48 hours
with answers to your questions.
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