Your web content creates reality. Each word you use directly impacts how your online visitors perceive your business.
Do online visitors:
Get 18 tips to help you create the right reality on the Web.
The content you post on your website delivers certain messages to consumers — both consciously and subconsciously.
The difference between “inexpensive” and “cheap,” or “pre-owned” and “used” is massive.
Along the same lines, consider a restaurant menu that has a burger for $10.99 or $11. You’ll find the $10.99 at a greasy spoon that’s positioning itself on giving a “steal of a deal.”
Up it a penny, as you might find at a quaint bar in a trendy part of town, and that business is striving to convey value through a more refined, upper-class experience. Status comes into play.
Your web copywriting doesn’t describe reality, it creates it.
In fact, every word you feature on your website has the ability to build — or damage — how prospects perceive you. What you say and how you write it directly impacts whether an online visitor:
While many business owners are beginning to understand information is the currency of the Internet, few act on it. This is despite the fact that the Web allows smaller businesses to go toe-to-toe with larger, more established companies.
When writing web content, always put the most important information at the start.
This is exactly what journalists do. It’s called the inverted pyramid. You’re letting your readers decide if the page they’re on — or even the paragraph — is relevant to their needs or wants.
Suspense works wonderfully in fiction and some types on nonfiction. But on the Web, you should not delay conclusions or your main point.
If you do, your readers, should they decide to invest more time scanning your web content, will be thinking: where’s this going? What’s the point here? Those questions will dominate their minds, not allowing them to focus on the important points you need to deliver.
When it comes to web writing, give the conclusion first and follow it up with the evidence. You’ll save your visitors grief and help your business.
How you present yourself on your website can make, maim or kill your business. But before you can even consider placing a word on your website, you need to establish a brand strategy.
Good to Great’s
1. What you can be the best in the world at
2. What drives your economic engine
3. What you are deeply passionate about
Enthusiasm is wonderful, if it’s sincere. Faking it — on or off the Web — comes across loud and clear.
In decades past, sales teams started off each week with pep meetings to stir up excitement. The overly-inspired salesman then jumped from door to door, entertaining his prospects as he pushed his goods.
Under the influence of artificial enthusiasm, he was a fast talker and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Prospects eventually resented the high-pressure pitches.
Today, those tactics aren’t tolerated for even a second. And that’s about how long it takes for an online visitor to click the back button.
People are sick of spam, and “We’re the best in the business!!!!!” reeks of rubbish. You’re stating: “We’ve got nothing to say, so we’re going to compensate our shortcoming with hype.”
Genuine enthusiasm is powerful. It’s contagious. But if you fake it, you will be called on it. And fast.
Have you ventured ‘outside the box’ today?
Many businesses claim they’re innovative when it comes to the Internet, but few seem to demonstrate it.
Most stay on the cushy path, eagerly following cyber herds with the tried-and-true. “Why take a chance?” After all, going outside the box can be downright scary.
One group that relentlessly ventures into the unknown is “an ideas studio” named Burnkit, which is made up of 14 “thinkers” in Vancouver, BC.
Poorly structured web content is misleading and wastes millions of hours daily. For today’s 1.2 billion Internet users, that translates to frustration. For business, it means missed opportunities.
Is your website optimized for visitors? If your site contains complicated navigation, confusing classifications, self-centric web copy, outdated information and counter-intuitive designs, probably not.
What you want to say is not important; it’s all about what the customer wants to do. What is he or she striving to attain or achieve? That defines a task. It might be to find a real estate agent, book a hotel room or purchase software.
If the task is completed on your website, your visitor wins — and so do you.
What has your website done for you lately? If it’s not supporting your bottom line, a simple mind shift can make a world of difference.
Regardless of the industry, most business owners fail to take full advantage of the Web. It’s unfortunate when you consider a website’s ability to cost-effectively promote a business 365, 24/7.
Hiring employees at $30 an hour to market your business every hour in the year would equate to 8,760 hours or $262,800. Alternatively, a well written, properly designed and fully optimized website costs just a fraction of that. Additionally, you don’t have to deal with several other human resources costs and issues.
When considering the best font for your website, look at the two most common options:
While studies show people read serif text faster in print, people actually read sans serif quicker onscreen.
