Today’s buyer has more choice than ever. The market place is saturated with companies vying for their attention.
So, if people aren’t buying from you it is down to one reason alone:
You haven’t given them sufficient reason to choose you above your competitors.
That might leave you scratching your head – you have a website, you have brochures, you’ve dabbled in email marketing, so what else do you have to do?
Just because you have an internet presence doesn’t automatically mean people will buy from you. You have to give browsers a golden reason why they should buy from you.
This is George. He runs a small business that makes curtains to order for his clients. He’s invested in a website but didn’t want to pay for a copywriter to produce the content (he can write as well as anyone – can’t he?) so he wrote it. It tells people all about his company:
We’ve been making curtains for 10 years
We have an extensive range of fabrics
We can make them to any size
We can make blinds, curtains, Austrian blinds etc.
So, where’s he gone wrong?
Let’s look at it from a customers point of view:
We’ve been making curtains for 10 years – so what?
We have an extensive range of fabrics – define extensive.
We can make them to any size – can’t everyone?
We can make blinds, curtains, Austrian blinds etc. – so do all the other companies.
He hasn’t told them anything that makes him stand out from the crowd.
The browsing public have a short attention span and even shorter memories. If you want them to pick you as their chosen supplier, you must tell them what makes you stand out immediately.
How to make your mark
To find out what makes your business unique, write down every reason you can think of, why someone should buy from you. Ask all your staff members for their input and create as comprehensive a list as possible.
Next, go back over that list and cross off anything that your competitors do.
Once you have your list of things that are unique about your brand you then have to work out which ones are likely to be most important to your customers and, more importantly, which they are most likely to understand. Remember – you must think from your customers’ shoes here; your opinions don’t count.
By now, you should have some good information you can use on your Home Page, in your brochures and in your email marketing.
Make your unique value proposition strong, clear and easy to understand. With your message centred on your customer rather than on you, you should avoid the ‘so what?’ response.
In previous posts we’ve looked at how to improve your website’s search engine optimisation and generally how to get more traffic to your website.
Traffic is one thing but what your business really needs is more people buying.
After all, 1000s of visitors are all well and good for bragging rights at the pub, but if none of them buy it’s not great for your bank balance. Therefore you need to improve your sales through your website as well as the number of people who visit it.
Welcome to my website
People are most likely to buy a product when it’s been recommended by a friend. Of course, making friends with everyone who comes to your site in an attempt to then convince them your product is what they need, isn’t a realistic ask. But talking to them through your website is realistic.
By removing any corporate/industry jargon and creating a friendly, chatty air about your site will help enormously. Talk to them directly by using ‘you’ and ‘your’. As they read, it will be as though they are chatting to a friend and your ‘sales pitch’ will come across in a non-aggressive way.
You’ll become the personal friend providing a recommendation for your product. An approach that is far more likely to succeed.
And then he said…
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve said this, but people buy from people. And I’m going to continue to shamelessly repeat myself because it’s true!
Include testimonials from past clients and not just the glowing ones. Give your reader a balanced view by posting less than glowing comments too. Even better – post the not so good ones and add a post script showing what you did to resolve the matter or improve the product. This will show your human side and show you as a business that listens to its customers and acts.
Even better than testimonials are case studies – if you can include real situations explaining what problem your customer had, why they came to you and how you solved their problem and show how their life/business has been improved as a result (draws in a deep breath – Ed.) – you’ll create a very powerful selling statement.
Picture perfect
I’ve also been known to say that pictures don’t sell, copy does. I stand by that but you can’t deny the power of the ‘before and after’ shots or an image that shows the problem and your product as the solution.
If your reader can see in an instant what your product will do for them, they’ll be hooked.
The back-hander
There are times when people will want more than just a stonkingly good sales piece. Incentives are always a great addition to your sales message. But make sure they add value to your customer – after all, everyone likes the feeling of getting something for nothing.
The million dollar question
Of course all of the above will be totally useless without a strong and commanding call to action. It might seem daft, but you really do have to tell your reader to buy.
You’d be amazed at the number of websites out there that omit this little gem. What’s the point of going to the pains of producing superb sales copy that talks to your reader it you don’t tell them how to order?
You need to know this because…
Well, if you don’t know about this and use it, your website will be an expensive brochure. It will sit there in cyber space doing absolutely nothing.
It is a sales tool, pure and simple so make sure you make it work for you.
If you’re a bit of a petrol head, I bet the sound of a V8 racing past gets your spine tingling. There’s something very special about that throaty roar.
Normally coupled with a sleek body, gorgeous good looks (yes, I’m still talking about the car) and sumptuous interior, its all your boy-hood (or girl-hood) dreams come true.
A car without one is simply, well a car – just your usual run of the mill banger to get you from A to B.
Is your website a Ferrari or an old banger?
Ask any website designer what pattern a typical visit to their website follows and they’ll tell you:
Basically, a visitor will land on their home page, click through to see examples on their portfolio page and then either get in touch, or go elsewhere.
Why does this happen?
Because many people’s main concern is still the aesthetics of their website. They want it to look slick and sexy. They want flash and loads of images and graphics that look pretty. In other words, they want a Ferrari.
But if this is your main focus when looking for a new website, you’ll probably end up with an old banger.
Don’t get stuck in the scrap yard
You might think a gorgeous looking website can’t fail to sell. You’d be wrong.
A gorgeous looking website on a web designer’s portfolio will sell. But if you try and use it to sell your products, on its own it will fail.
Despite the huge amounts of information on the web about search engine optimisation, many people are still not doing it, or doing it badly.
A fabulous looking website is like a Ferrari without an engine – it’s useless. The engine of your website comes in two forms – its content and links.
The web copy on your site has to be:
SEO friendly
Compelling
Relevant
Interesting
Benefits driven
Unique
A tall order if you’re writing it yourself. If you’re serious about getting the SEO copy right on your website, hire an SEO copywriter to write it for you.
But make sure you chose wisely – beware the copywriter who talks about keyword density or who doesn’t know what an H1 heading is or who can’t explain the significance of a Page Title.
Don’t forget the links
Getting your on-page SEO right is a great start, but then you have to work on your linking strategy.
Google adores one way back links – they are links you get from other websites to yours. There are numerous services out there who claim to be able to build thousands of links for you overnight (practically). But be careful – the best links are those that are from sites relevant to your industry. The most effective way to link build is to do it yourself through article directories (e.g. ezinearticles) and using web 2.0 properties such as Squidoo.
Organic is good for you
You might decide that you want to go pay per click rather than battling with SEO. If you have a large marketing budget then go for it. But if you’re not lucky enough to have bottomless pockets, organic search results really are the best way to market your business today.
The days of consumers turning to the Yellow Pages or local press ads are disappearing fast. Today, even for local searches, people are turning to the internet.
Don’t forget, one advantage the search results have over the Yellow Pages is, if you have one or more search results on page one, you’re pushing your competitors off the front page and onto page 2!
So don’t forget – a great looking website won’t sell your products. Relevant, interesting copy will.
Those immortal words were famously uttered by Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) in the 1976 classic, “Taxi Driver”.
This post isn’t about that particular iconic film though. Rather, I want to talk about your website copywriting and how it should be written to gain the greatest effect.
Who do you want to read your website?
This is a topic that I have touched on in the past but it is so important, I’m going to talk about it again.
You might think it an odd question – “who do you want to read your website?” – but it isn’t really.
Look at it another way – what do you want your website to do?
Hopefully you answered “sell” or perhaps “generate enquiries”. But you will only do that if your website copy talks to your reader. Think back to the last networking event you went to. No doubt someone came up and introduced themselves to you and launched into their elevator pitch. What would you find most interesting? Someone who says:
“I’m John, I sell websites. My websites have state of the art features and they look great. They are really eye catching and I work with clients all over the country. I can create ecommerce sites, flash sites and just about anything else you can think of. My company is called Websitearama, this is my card, look me up.”
Lost the will to live yet? I’m guessing that you have now made your excuses and left John to find another victim to bore.
But what if John had said this?
“Hi, I’m John and I can help your website attract targeted traffic that will generate a constant stream of sales. With our software you’ll never lose a sale because it will automatically follow up every lead. You will no longer be walking away from business because you don’t have time to keep in touch with all your prospects – your website software will do it for you.”
In the first scenario John bangs on about his company. At no point does he even attempt to say how he can help his clients. His websites have state of the art features – so what? The are really eye-catching – so what?
But the second attempt starts to address his audience. His website attracts targeted traffic – so what? – so it generates a constant stream of leads. It follows up every lead automatically – so what? – so you’ll never lose another sale.
This time John has qualified the benefits of his product by illustrating what that will mean to his clients.
So what’s all that got to do with websites?
When someone lands on your website they are there for a reason – they want to buy what you are selling.
To make yourself stand out from all the other websites, you have to make sure you give them what they want. If they land on your site only to read all about your company (an Ego website) they’ll get bored and move on.
But if your website copy addresses them directly and tells them what you will do for them, you’ll get their attention.
You
That is a word that should be littered throughout your web copy. By using “you” and “your” you are directly addressing your reader. You are involving them in your website and showing them precisely why they’ll benefit from your product/service.
Stating what your benefits are and what they’ll do for your reader will prevent them from saying those dreaded words:
“What’s in it for me?”
If they have to say that you’ve failed to get your message across clearly.
So next time you are writing your web copy make sure you banish “we” and replace it with “you”. By writing directly to your reader you’ll begin to write benefits driven copy that will sell. It may take a bit of practice but stick with it as it will pay off.
By the way, this is also true for your other sales materials.
Your website can be killed or made by its content. Your website copywriting will determine:
how your website is ranked by the search engines
whether people will read your site
how long people remain on your site
whether your traffic is converted into sales
So it’s fair to say it’s pretty important.
As a freelance copywriter, I am frequently asked for tips on website copywriting so I decided to put a short video together to outline the basics that will make your website copywriting work.
write as well as anyone – can’t he?) so he wrote it. It tells people all about his company:
