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BUILDING WEB PAGES THAT MOVE PEOPLE TO BUY
By Charlie Cook
The purpose
of your marketing is to attract prospects and help them make a series of
decisions that lead them to purchase your products or services. The sequence
of information you provide on your web site and its visual presentation
can drive clients to contact you about your services or buy your products -
or it can send them away.
Many small business owners have web sites but
few are making as much money from their sites as they'd like to be. If you
aren't getting the web traffic you'd like, or if you're getting lots of
traffic but no buyers, the problem is most likely the design and copy you are
using on your site. The seven web page building guidelines below will help
you convert prospects to clients with your web site.
1. List The
Actions You Want Visitors To Take.
Do you want them to sign up for your
newsletter, read your marketing message, read your copy or just
contact you? Before you design or edit your page, make a list of which
actions you want people to take and in what order when they visit your
site.
2. Identify The Decisions Visitors Need To Make Prior To
each
Action. Before you design or redesign your homepage or edit your copy,
clarify the decision making sequence that you want visitors to move through.
Most marketing materials, web
sites included, rush to sell prospects on the
solution without laying the groundwork.
Help prospects clarify the
problems they want solved and the value in having them solved. Once you've
done this, you've created the context for selling your solution.
3.
Design The Visual Hierarchy To Move People To The
Desired Action.
Use the
size, color, and the location of elements (type, illustrations or
photographs) to bring visitors' attention to the most important message
first, then to the second most important message or link. Make sure that
visitors can scan your page and find the most important links first or can
scan the copy and quickly pick up the most important points because they
stand out visually.
4. Stay Focused On Prospects' Problems.
Your
prospects want to satisfy their needs and, more importantly, avoid incurring
a loss or pain. Lead with copy about their concerns. Let them know that
you understand their aspirations as well as their worries and the problems
they want to solve.
5. Write Your Copy To Support Prospects' Decision
Making.
To demonstrate that you know and understand your prospects'
problems, be specific. Avoid general phrases like "save time and money",
which apply to hundreds of services. Give detailed examples of the problems
your prospects experience and how you solve them.
6. Tell People What
To Do.
If you want people to read a key article first, then sign up for
your newsletter, and then contact you, tell them so. List the steps you want
them to take at the top of the page and then use your page design
to support this sequence of actions.
7. Make It Easy For Prospects To
Contact You And To Buy.
Include a contact or order form on your homepage and
make
your email and phone number easy to find.
Change the design and
copy on your site to help visitors take the steps to become clients. You'll
be pleasantly surprised at the difference in your response rate and your
business growth.
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2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights
reserved.
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The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals
and
small business owners attract more clients and be
more successful. Sign up to
receive the Free Marketing
Guide, '7 Steps to Grow Your Business' and
the
'More Business' newsletter, full of practical tips you can
use at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com
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