Best Practices: Converting Viositors with Sizzling Web Content
Best Practices: Converting Viositors with Sizzling Web Content
To be effective, web content must speak to the immediate needs of visitors, using a consistent tone and style that they can recognize. More importantly, web content should be straightforward and arranged to make information gathering easy for visitors in each stage of the sales cycle.
As you revise current or create new web content, refer to these best practices to help you convert web visitors into solid leads and buyers.
Know Your Audience
Before you begin the process of writing, take some time to consider who your audience is and what they want from you. How many audiences do you have (consumer, business, technical)? What does your audience need? What is most important to them? What are they least likely to care about? What do you want your audience to think, learn, or assume about you? Use the answers to help drive your strategy and your writing.
Example: Trend Micro, a leading provider of PC security solutions, uses its web site to speak to four distinct audiences-consumers, small businesses, medium businesses, and enterprises-and directs each audience to user-appropriate information.
Write For Humans, Not Web Crawlers
While optimizing web content specifically for search engines will boost traffic, it can dramatically reduce your conversion rates when it doesn't address the needs of your audience. First and foremost, copy should hold your readers' interest. Boring copy or lengthy descriptions of your products for the sake of SEO can overwhelm your readers and actually turn away potential customers.
Example: Instead of focusing solely on search engine results, Palm, a pioneer in the development of smart phones, opts for web site impact with minimal written content on its home page and brief, elegant descriptions that put a priority on clarity, readability, and consistent tone.
Make It Crystal Clear
Most visitors to your web site won't stay for more than a few seconds if the content does not instantly address their needs. To attract visitors in every stage of the sales cycle, the content must entice them to take the next step, plunging deeper into your brand through the clarity and simplicity of your web copy until they are ready to make a buying decision.
Example: Appistry, a premier developer of cloud application platforms, introduces visitors to its brand with a concise description of what it provides and who it serves. Its site is rich in step-by-step information that visitors need for the decision-making process, with clear access to case studies, data sheets, white papers, press releases, third-party reviews, and analysis.
Define Your Voice
Your design, images, and copy all combine to convey your company or brand's personality. Of all of these, we would argue that copy is perhaps the most important element for conveying your website's personality or voice. If your company were a person, who would it be? Here are some ideas: Get consensus on your company's personality type. Get consensus on three adjectives that describe your company or brand: loyal, fun-loving, friendly, trustworthy, playful, reliable, formal, informal, irreverent, gutsy, etc. Determine how your brand/personality is different from the competition.
Example: SupportSoft, a global provider of technology support and value-added services, uses a friendly, inviting voice that speaks to audience needs. From one page to the next, visitors receive a strong and consistent message about the company's values and products.
Make Your Content Scannable
Writing for the web is different than writing for print, because people read differently online. Actually, people don't tend to read online at all-they scan. They look at headings; they scan for hyperlinks, numbers, and keywords; and they jump around, scrolling and clicking for key information. Can they find it quickly on your website?
Example: PGP, a global leader in data encryption software, employs a combination of bold subheads and bulleted copy that makes it easy for visitors to determine if a page includes information they can use.
Invite Them To Take The Next Step
A key to converting visitors into qualified leads and buyers is making action easy. Each web page should contain at least one clear call to action. Ideally, your calls to action should be placed at the right point to lead visitors through the sales cycle. One visitor may respond to a phone number while another wants to schedule a personal demonstration. In any case, calls to action should be strong, clear, and easy for visitors to act upon immediately.
Example: Cisco, a global giant in networking and communications technology, offers multiple calls to action on each page of its web site, allowing visitors to make choices that suit their immediate needs.
Convert your web visitors to customers!
McLellan Creative's team of technology marketing writers helps simplify the process of developing powerful content that engages web visitors and guides them through the sales cycle.
Let's Talk! Contact McLellan Creative today to start planning your web site content strategy.
Best Practices Converting Viositors with Sizzling Web Content - To learn more about this author, visit John Gillett's Website.
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Web sites are becoming the centerpieces for the marketing efforts of many of today's most successful technology companies. While search strategies for driving more prospects to your web site can be a vital part of your marketing plan, it's even more important that you convert those prospects to customers.
To be effective, web content must speak to the immediate needs of visitors, using a consistent tone and style that they can recognize. More importantly, web content should be straightforward and arranged to make information gathering easy for visitors in each stage of the sales cycle.
As you revise current or create new web content, refer to these best practices to help you convert web visitors into solid leads and buyers.
Know Your Audience
Before you begin the process of writing, take some time to consider who your audience is and what they want from you. How many audiences do you have (consumer, business, technical)? What does your audience need? What is most important to them? What are they least likely to care about? What do you want your audience to think, learn, or assume about you? Use the answers to help drive your strategy and your writing.
Example: Trend Micro, a leading provider of PC security solutions, uses its web site to speak to four distinct audiences-consumers, small businesses, medium businesses, and enterprises-and directs each audience to user-appropriate information.
Write For Humans, Not Web Crawlers
While optimizing web content specifically for search engines will boost traffic, it can dramatically reduce your conversion rates when it doesn't address the needs of your audience. First and foremost, copy should hold your readers' interest. Boring copy or lengthy descriptions of your products for the sake of SEO can overwhelm your readers and actually turn away potential customers.
Example: Instead of focusing solely on search engine results, Palm, a pioneer in the development of smart phones, opts for web site impact with minimal written content on its home page and brief, elegant descriptions that put a priority on clarity, readability, and consistent tone.
Make It Crystal Clear
Most visitors to your web site won't stay for more than a few seconds if the content does not instantly address their needs. To attract visitors in every stage of the sales cycle, the content must entice them to take the next step, plunging deeper into your brand through the clarity and simplicity of your web copy until they are ready to make a buying decision.
Example: Appistry, a premier developer of cloud application platforms, introduces visitors to its brand with a concise description of what it provides and who it serves. Its site is rich in step-by-step information that visitors need for the decision-making process, with clear access to case studies, data sheets, white papers, press releases, third-party reviews, and analysis.
Define Your Voice
Your design, images, and copy all combine to convey your company or brand's personality. Of all of these, we would argue that copy is perhaps the most important element for conveying your website's personality or voice. If your company were a person, who would it be? Here are some ideas: Get consensus on your company's personality type. Get consensus on three adjectives that describe your company or brand: loyal, fun-loving, friendly, trustworthy, playful, reliable, formal, informal, irreverent, gutsy, etc. Determine how your brand/personality is different from the competition.
Example: SupportSoft, a global provider of technology support and value-added services, uses a friendly, inviting voice that speaks to audience needs. From one page to the next, visitors receive a strong and consistent message about the company's values and products.
Make Your Content Scannable
Writing for the web is different than writing for print, because people read differently online. Actually, people don't tend to read online at all-they scan. They look at headings; they scan for hyperlinks, numbers, and keywords; and they jump around, scrolling and clicking for key information. Can they find it quickly on your website?
Example: PGP, a global leader in data encryption software, employs a combination of bold subheads and bulleted copy that makes it easy for visitors to determine if a page includes information they can use.
Invite Them To Take The Next Step
A key to converting visitors into qualified leads and buyers is making action easy. Each web page should contain at least one clear call to action. Ideally, your calls to action should be placed at the right point to lead visitors through the sales cycle. One visitor may respond to a phone number while another wants to schedule a personal demonstration. In any case, calls to action should be strong, clear, and easy for visitors to act upon immediately.
Example: Cisco, a global giant in networking and communications technology, offers multiple calls to action on each page of its web site, allowing visitors to make choices that suit their immediate needs.
Convert your web visitors to customers!
McLellan Creative's team of technology marketing writers helps simplify the process of developing powerful content that engages web visitors and guides them through the sales cycle.
Let's Talk! Contact McLellan Creative today to start planning your web site content strategy.
Best Practices Converting Viositors with Sizzling Web Content - To learn more about this author, visit John Gillett's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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