Websites Under Your Control Blog

Imagine you pick up the phone, call the listed phone number, and ask to order the "special" being advertised.

From the other end of the line, you hear a salesman rattle on about the history of the company, how great the team is, that they are members of the association of blah blah blah blah blah blah...

You have certainly tuned out by now, and only politeness keeps you from hanging up without another word.

Imagine you are the business owner, and hear your sales people turning away business that way? (And you pay them to do that?!)

Chances are, that's exactly what you are doing with the most promising visitors to your website!

Say what?

Someone who has never heard of you, but is looking for exactly what you offer, hears about you from some source of their own. Maybe it is Facebook, a professional association website, a Google ad, or the website of a related business.

They click on the link... and see all that blah blah blah blah blah blah.

You have just wasted all the effort in getting those links and building those pages.

Instead, try this...

Every link to your website that you control should point directly to a custom page that talks directly to the topic of the link.

• If the link is on the site of one of your suppliers, the page should talk about how you do what you do, with that supplier's products.
• If the link is about you as a supplier of widget adjustments, have it go to a page about your widget adjustment services.
• If it is a link from the Chamber of Commerce, let the page talk about specials you provide for Chamber members.

You get the idea. When someone clicks on a link and goes to your website, their first reaction should be, "This is exactly what I was looking for!"

And it's really easy...

If you are using our Online Business Partner^® service, just log in and find the current page on your site that most closely matches the interests of those prospects who would likely click to get more information, then select "Copy This Web Page". On the copy, revise the title, headlines, and text to focus precisely on the topic. Save this new page, and provide the link to it to those who will be linking back to your site. Repeat as necessary for other topics and link sources. (No need to add this new page to your navigation menu if you don't want. The automatic sitemap updates will inform search engines of your new page.)

Next issue... optimizing these "landing pages" for best results.

While it’s true that a picture may be worth a thousand words, your website can’t be only graphics. You need the right well-written text to deliver your message.

In fact, the best looking site won’t be the best-performing site on the web, unless you have solid content that reaches your audience and propels them to action.

You want your site to entertain or educate, but not at the cost of sales.

Here are several tips that will punch up your text, making it easier to read and understand.

• Rather than writing in long paragraphs, use bulleted lists. Visitors to your site may get put off by the sight of long paragraphs, and they won't read them. The only person likely to wade through a white paper on your background is your mom.
• Keep each topic focused. It’s better to have one page on shipping and one on receiving than a combined page on shipping and receiving. That way, your visitors can read the only the parts they need. (It is better for your search engine results, too.)
• Use subheads. Subheads make the text look nicer and give it a more organized feel. Readers can go right to the part that interests them.
• Avoid bragging or hyperbole. Save that for the ads. Your website should be an objective take on your services. Make it a gentle read.
• Don’t try to "stuff" your content with keywords. Search engines are too sophisticated to fall for that old trick. It’s better for you to have well-written content that delivers to your audience. That way your visitors will get your message completely, and take action.

If you don’t feel qualified or don't have time, hire a pro--like ours. We have a ghostwriter in captivity who is ready to write some great content for your website. And if you need a newsletter, press release or blog article, our writer will compose it quickly and well.

It can be humorous, instructional or informative. You can have one article written or one every week or month. The more work we give this guy, the less noise he makes.

Hiring a professional writer is a good idea if you don’t feel like dusting off the old English 101 textbook, or you'd rather be on the golf course in the little free time you have.

But whether you write your own content or hire a ghostwriter, follow the above steps to make your website more readable, more persuasive and more frequently read.

Unless web geeks are your best customers, keep it simple, avoid the costly flashy stuff, and never, ever, have a starting page that says "click to skip intro." And write for your customers, not your own ego!

One of our oft-repeated messages to our clients is, focus your web site toward those people and businesses you feel are most likely to become your best customers.

Some want a website that tries to be all things to all people. That may sound like it would get more potential business, but you are diluting your appeal to your best prospects, and inviting time-wasting inquiries you don't want from people you can't help.

You are also dramatically weakening your Google appeal.

If you have a site that proclaims "anything for dogs" but you only sell jackets for dachshunds, you’re going to compete with a vast number of other sites for Google ranking.

Great Dane owners will find nothing to buy, and  your best customers will probably never find your site.

However, if you aim your site specifically toward wiener-dog owners, you’ll be more likely to get prominent Google ranking, even without any other special efforts.

But there's more to life than Google...

How much time do you want to spend with the wrong people? How about, precisely zero?

So in addition to what you say, make sure that you keep your best prospects in mind when you decide how you say it.

By way of example, since you are already here, look around our new website  (update long overdue, but you know about the shoemaker's children...)

Rather than design a garish, overblown site with fireworks and an organ grinder just to prove we can, we designed it as we would for any of our customers. We kept it simple, easy on the eyes, and informative.

Our decision to keep the tone light was based on our own personalities, plus our preference to work with people who think like we do. We want to inform, not preach. We’d rather joke than complain.

This is who we are, not who we want you to think we are.

We think a web site should be individual and personalized. It doesn’t have to scream to be heard.

Sometimes people listen more closely when you whisper.

 

Need help? That's what we are here for.

You have this professionally-designed website that you can edit yourself, and you have finally achieved that goal of first-page listing on Google for some of your likely search phrases... but do the visitors to your site become customers?

Businesses that fail to "close the deal" will find that even high levels of traffic may not provide the return on their investment that they desired.

There are several way-too-common reasons why otherwise great websites don't generate the business they should. Check your own site, and see if you...

• Qualify Yourself
• Qualify the Potential Customers
• Make it Easy to Buy
• Help Them Take the Next Step

Qualify Yourself

Will potential customers want to do business with you? How will you stand out from the many competitors who are also found when someone searches Google for what you offer?

First impressions: Make sure that your website projects a professional appearance and generates trust in visitors. When someone clicks through to your web pages, they should feel they have landed on the site of a reputable business, and the quality of the site should engender confidence.

Provide your visitors with testimonials from past clients. Put snippets of these testimonials where they will be seen even if no one goes to the testimonials page.

Display relevant credentials and licenses, along with memberships in professional business associations.

Include an “About Us” page that describes the history of your company and bios of the owners and the key staff. List the qualifications of team members, and include "personalizing" things like community service and involvement.

Include your physical address and phone number. (If your address is a PO box or mailbox service, you'll have to work harder on other areas to build up the trust factor.)

Include frequent case studies or sample projects in your blog, mixed in with useful information related to your products and services.

Publish a regular newsletter, not full of ads, but with information useful to people who might become your customers.

Qualify the Potential Customers

"Qualifying potential customers" merely means making sure that there is a good match between what you offer, what they need, the location of the service, and the price.

Problem: If it isn't obvious what you offer or where, they are much less likely to ever call you.

Solution: Make it clear what you offer, and where.  (Many sites have their location in their title tags, but while this is great for Google, it is usually overlooked by website visitors.)

Pricing:  Many businesses do not want their prices on their website, for fear their competitors will see them.

Most people will not contact you for details when there is not at least some indication of pricing on your website.

We have to ask, however, whether the potentially lost "bargain-shopping" customers are as valuable as those who simply move on to the next website where they discover that the services are within their price range.

Given the many options for a provider, most people won't consider the ones who offer no pricing information at all.

Bonus: You won't waste time dealing with customers who won't spend what you ask, if you provide reasonable hints of your pricing on your website.

Make It Easy to Buy

While many service providers can adjust what they offer based on their customers' needs and budgets, many potential customers prefer to purchase packages of services at fixed prices. For the provider and customer alike, such packages remove the headache of having to make numerous decisions about many possible options.

Even if every project will be customized, start with a "standard package" and then adjust as needed.

With pre-bundled packages, the customer can often find exactly what they need on their own without the extra work on both their part and yours. The packaged services are also ideal for online purchase, since the whole bundle can be included as a single product.

Bonus: Don't underestimate the time saved when you don't need to develop a custom package with unique price estimates for each customer. What's your time worth?

Help Them Take the Next Step

Just listing your email address or phone number on your website won't cut it. (But omitting those will pretty much guarantee failure...) 

Do you need to "ask for the order" or give a "call to action" when you have already described what you have to offer and how to reach you?

Researchers have found, as reported by Malcolm Gladwell's best seller, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,  as much as a 900% increase in follow-through will result for walking the prospect through the next steps...

Make sure that your website includes a message calling on visitors to take action. Many websites forget this simple step and end up losing valuable sales.

 

Extra Bonus Topic: Make It Easy for Them to Keep Buying

While you are at it, why not boost your recurring revenues by offering your customers something you know they will need every so often? Make it easy for them to get automatic refills, updates, replacements, tune-ups, or whatever else your customers ought to be getting on a repeat basis.

Otherwise, you are abandoning these customers back to the marketplace when they next need what you offer.

 

Need help putting all this together for your website?

Call us at 866-640-1234, or email us at partners@friscowebsites.com.

You know the expression? It usually refers to a big talker who can't deliver on his claims.

We sometimes think of that phrase when asked to help someone get their amateurish website pushed to a more prominent position in Google.

For both the braggart and the website, once people get disappointed, they are likely turned off forever.

So even if you can get prime Google placement, if your website isn't up to snuff, well, nice hat!

We strongly advise: first and foremost, make your website appealing to your visitors. Only then give thought to your Google placement.

Why? Do the arithmetic.

Say your website brings in 500 visitors a month, and 5 of them, or 1%, become customers. Say each will spend enough to make you $100. That's $500 profit from your website.

Think about those 495 people who did not buy from you. Just like the 5 who bought from you, these 495  took the time to come to your website because they assumed you offered something they wanted.

What website improvements might convert just 5 out of those 495 interested people into buyers?

Get those 5 more, and the monthly net from your website just jumped from $500 to $1000.

Bonus:

Improve the content, and not only will your conversion rate improve -- the search engines will rate you higher as well!  If you missed it, last week we talked about how search engines are almost immune from "tricks" these days, and increasingly look for the quality of your website - so focus on compelling content.

(Need help with your content? We offer a ghostwriting service for our clients. If you're not our client, see if your webmaster or marketing advisor can help.)

There was a time when filling your website’s pages with relevant keywords and incorporating a variety of search engine optimization (SEO) tricks would all but ensure you would rank high in search engine results. There were plenty of SEO tricks back then, and many proved to be highly effective. But, as they say, all good (or maybe not so good) things eventually come to an end.

Search engines make their money by selling ads, and need lots of users in order to sell those ads.  It is only natural, then, that search engines continuously improve the methods they use to deliver the best, most relevant search results possible. As it turns out, they are very good at it – and getting even better.

It is no secret that Google adjusts its search algorithms more often than most people take a shower. One of the primary purposes of these tweaks is to seek out and destroy the tactics being used to surreptitiously increase a site’s ranking in search engine results. Consequently, websites filled with pages populated with content created solely with search engines – rather than visitors – in mind are only going to continue their steady fall into oblivion.

This leads to the obvious question: What do we do now? Well, we do what we should have been doing all along. We fill our web pages with high quality content that is well-written, informative, and of interest to our target markets. Search engines will only continue to hone their ability to recognize high quality content, while putting the kibosh on SEO tricksters.

If you populate your website with informative, quality content, it will naturally include words and phrases that are relevant to your topic or to the searches your target audience will perform to find products or services like yours. As long as the site is built properly (see our posts on titles and headlines), this is what it takes to for search engines to prominently display your pages.

(Need help with your content? We offer a ghostwriting service for our clients. If you're not our client, see if your webmaster or marketing advisor can help.)

The days of keyword stuffing have passed, and poor quality content written just to appeal to the search engines will no longer be so easily forgiven. SEO strategies that worked wonders before will now do little to increase your ranking, and their effectiveness will continue to dwindle in the coming months and years.

Providing useful, high quality content that educates your visitors and holds their interest is your best option. Rather than fanatically calculating your keyword density and obsessing over whether “web site” or “website” has more local search juice, simply deliver good, useful content that meets the needs of your target market.