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Don't Destroy Your Online Marketing Results with Bad Website Design
by Paul Marshall
More Web Hosting Articles
Published on this site: November 4th, 2009 - See
more articles from this month
So, you've embarked on a search engine advertising program,
maybe even SEO. Whether you're doing this on your own or using
an online marketing consulting firm, there are key points to
become aware of.
If you miss these, you won't increase conversions.
What good is a Number 1 organic search engine ranking or AdWords
ad listing, if you don't have increased sales or if you don't
generate more sales leads?
Too often, we get all focused about the Internet marketing -- the
ads, the offer -- that we don't think the whole process through
step-by-step and consider the experience our website visitors
will be having.
If we did, we'd be thinking "big picture" and we would head
off some of these potential problems before they occur.
Overcoming Your Website Visitors Anxiety:
When people come to our website it's natural for them to feel
anxiety. After all, look at all the cr*p on the Internet today,
all the too-good-to-be-true products and services.
But when you and I offer REAL products or services, we have to
overcome that concern, even if we're treating our site visitors
fairly and not making outrageous claims.
So, how can you overcome these anxieties?
- Offer more than a 1-page website. Credible companies have
multi-page websites, including Privacy Policy, Terms of Use |
Service and About Us pages.
They also have more than 1 page about their products or services.
I'm surprised by the number of 1-page websites I see from
companies using infomercials to advertise their products. Often,
they have the purchase form right on their home page, their only
page (and often their page isn't secured for credit card
ordering).
Websites that are only 1-page don't seem credible. And having
the purchase form right on the home page comes across as very
pushy!
Doesn't this type of site seem all about the company and NOT
about their customers? Why would we want to buy from that type of
company?
What kind of online marketing consulting firm did these companies
use...or did they use any??
- Next to any sign up or contact form buttons clearly state that
you don't sell your customers' private information and link to
your Privacy Policy page.
- Effectively communicate what your Value Proposition is, also
called your Unique Selling Proposition. If you don't know why
someone should buy your product or service versus your
competitors', now is the time to figure it out. (And by the way,
based on my experience, if you don't know this, you're not
alone, by any means.)
But our websites have to be about more than just us. They have to
be about our visitors. What's in it for THEM, to do business
with us? What unique voids in the marketplace can we fill?
As a Small Business Owner, Personally Relate to Your Site
Visitors and Communicate Directly with Them.
People don't buy from websites, they buy from people!
So, how
can you apply this to your own website?
- For many small businesses and solo proprietorships, their
website text should speak to your visitors directly in first
person.
This should be written from the voice of the Owner or President.
They shouldn't use third person, institutional-sounding
language, getting rid of "we" and "our", using "I" instead,
speaking first person, in an actual conversation. Don't try to
sound like you're Microsoft!
And while your at it, be careful about overuse of words about
you... whether "I", or those words, "we", "our" or "us".
Check out the WeWe calculator (Google: wewe calculator). Make
sure to focus on customer-focused words and NOT on words about
you or your company.
- Include your picture on your Web pages.
For a larger small business trying to make that personal
connection with their website visitors, try the idea used by the
nutritional supplement company Lumina. (Google: Lumina Health
Contact Us)
In this execution, notice how Lumina gets you to relate to their
customer service department. I still remember it was John I spoke
with and that's been over 1 year ago that I called them!
Again, people buy from other people, not from websites.
For us as small businesses, why should we sound large, pretending
to be something we aren't? And why should we run from our
advantage of being small: low overhead, friendly, personal
service and accountability, among other advantages.
Make Each Step in Your Marketing a Smooth Handoff from One Step
to Another:
Whether you're using AdWords, SEO, or both, make sure your title
and description matches the experience your website visitor will
have when they come to your landing page.
Quite often when I'm Coaching my small business owner clients or
performing online marketing consulting, I find the wording for
their organic listing or AdWords ad says one thing and their
landing page says something that doesn't sound the same.
This causes confusion is the best case scenario. In the worst
case, it causes a lack of trust. Dangerous!
We should understand our products or services. And we know what
we want our visitors to do on our site.
Our potential customers may not understand either. We need to
think like them, when we explain what we have to offer them and
how to use our website to take advantage of what we have to
offer.
And when "shifting" from one page to another, we need to
hand-off from one page to another naturally and smoothly, like a
car with a smooth automatic transmission.
Don't advertise one offer in AdWords or organic search, only to
have your landing page sound like it was written for another
advertising offer. I see this problem a lot!
Often times, having an affordable online marketing consulting
firm reviewing what you're doing can offer easy, inexpensive
fixes that can yield big improvements in your search engine
advertising and SEO conversions.
Your Action Plan:
Let's review what we've talked about.
First, overcome visitors anxieties by offering a multi-page
website which answers questions about your company and your
services or products, while inspiring confidence in your company.
Effectively communicate your Value Proposition.
Second, personally relate to your site visitors. Avoid using the
wrong words that may put off your site visitors. Use your picture
on your Web pages.
Third, hand-off from one page on your website and one step in
your selling process to another smoothly and naturally. We should
understand what we want our site visitors to do, but they won't
unless we make the process really clear.
Whether your using an online marketing consulting firm or doing
the work yourself, if you take these steps, your search engine
optimization | advertising plan will convert at a MUCH higher
rate, when you take these steps.
Paul Marshall: Marketing online since 2004, Paul Marshall can help you market
on a budget. You can learn about his affordable Internet
Marketing Coaching and Consulting Services on his home page: http://strategicwebmarketing.net/. You can learn more
about Paul on his LinkedIn profile page:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulmarshallwebmarketing and at:
Strategic Web Marketing.net.
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