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Make Your Website Sell
by: Chris Mole
Hundreds of new business websites are springing up every week. The
owners of these sites are full of optimism that their venture into
e-commerce will transform their business by bringing in new customers
and boosting their sales.
But the reality is that most websites fail abysmally
as sales tools. Why? Because the owners of these sites have spent a
lot of money creating fancy graphics but paid little attention to the
words on the site. And it's the words on websites that sell. Your fancy
graphics might entertain your potential customers but they won't make
the sale.
Take a look at many of the websites out there in cyberspace. They
are full of spelling mistakes, poor grammar and cumbersome text that
makes you want to do only one thing...click your mouse button and move
to something else.
Small and medium businesses are particularly guilty of this. The words
appear to be an after-thought, hurriedly cobbled together to fill the
space between the images.
Ninety percent of websites are badly written
One of America's e-commerce gurus, Ken Evoy, believes
90 percent of websites are failing to "get the order" from
potential customers browsing the web, because they are badly written,
or written in the
wrong style.
"Remember, people use the Net to find information. And information
is contained in words, not graphics," Evoy says.
"Let's face it, there's some pretty cool stuff
on the web, and it's fun to play with. But don't be tempted. Your sales
site can't be self-indulgent. You have to think customer every step
of the way. Customers want information.
"Compelling text is 1000 percent more important
than fancy design. After all, if a fancy page has no substance, it
delivers no value."
Web selling also has two important features to consider. First, the
customer sought you out. This is a big positive. Second, there are
thousands of other companies on the web competing for your customer's
business. And since you are a 'virtual vendor', the customer can click
you away in a second ... without even feeling bad about it. This is
a huge negative.
When you think about selling on the web, keep these two points clearly
in mind. You have a potential customer browsing your site, finger poised
over their mouse. One click and they're gone.
Keep your website clean and simple
So what should an effective website look like? First, keep it simple.
It may be nice to have moving images to greet the customer when they
enter the site, but make sure it doesn't take too long to load. Otherwise
the customer will get impatient and...click...they're gone.
All your site really needs is to be clean, simple and well-structured.
It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to be complicated. And
it doesn't have to be expensive.
That's not to say your site shouldn't look professional.
It's your store front - a reflection of your business and the quality
of your
product - so it has to convey the image you want to present to the
world. But a clean, simple site can do that. Some of world's biggest "e-tailers" like
Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, have very simple logos.
So let's get back to the key to a successful website - the words.
If you want to write the copy yourself, think carefully about the purpose
of the text. You are writing sales copy. And the secret of all successful
sales copy is to think like your customer.
Your customer asks: "what's in it for me?"
To quote Ken Evoy again: "Web selling is about
selling one customer at a time ... one-to-one selling...you and the
customer talking together
about their needs and wants."
Most people make the mistake of writing their websites
for themselves. They tell how wonderful their company is, how long
it's been in business
and technical details about the products they offer. But the customer
doesn't want to know about you and your company. The customer is interested
in one thing..."what's in it for me?"
So focus on the benefits of your product or service.
After every sentence you write, see yourself as your customer and
ask the question: "so
what?".
You are selling benefits, not features
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For example, let's imagine you are selling a new email
filter that keeps spam out of people's mailboxes. Don't bore your
potential customer
with the technical details. Focus on the benefits of having such a
filter. For example, you might say something like: "Do you waste
valuable time dealing with junk email every day? Ban-It Mail Filter
is the answer to your problem. Ban-it is the most effective filter
available to keep spam out of your mailbox and put back more time into
your day."
You are selling benefits - not features. Even experienced copywriters
sometimes get the two mixed up.
You need to have a clear picture in your mind of the customer you
are writing for. Write as if you were sitting in a chair opposite them
and talking face to face. And tell them what your product or service
can do for them.
That in a nutshell is the secret of writing copy for the Web.
If you can do this, the potential of web selling is enormous. It outranks
Gutenburg's printing press, Marconi's wireless and Bell's telephone
all rolled together.
So don't waste the fantastic opportunity presented by cyber-marketing.
Make sure your website copy is doing the job you want it to. If you
don't feel competent to write it yourself, hire a professional copywriter.
The investment will repay itself many times over.
About The Author
Ivideo
Chris Mole is a freelance writer and copywriter based in New Zealand.
His company, WebWords, specialises in helping small businesses write
effective sales copy for their websites. Chris has more than 20 years'
experience writing for print, radio and Web media in New Zealand and
the UK.Website: www.web-words.co.nz
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