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How To Look At Your Site With Buyer's Eyes
best web site the world has ever seen. You master the
art of HTML, learn how to upload it to your server,
promote like crazy. You're going to make a fortune.
Then you wait for the orders to roll in.
But they don't.
You see ads all over the Internet from people who claim
to be able to convert 5%, 8% even 30% of visitors into
sales and wonder what the *big secret* is. But you've
spent your budget buying a domain name and hosting
services. The little that you have left over is
earmarked for buying traffic - or paying the rent.
Tempting as it is, spending $47, $67, $97 or more just
may not be practical right now.
***ASIDE***
Incidentally, have you noticed how many Internet
products are priced ending in 7? Sevens sell. Don't ask
me the psychology of it, but it seems to work time and
time again. Try it out for yourself.
***********
I'm going to tell you a big secret. And I won't charge
you a cent. Not even 7 cents.
Here are the 5 secrets that have made a lot of
successful Internet marketeers very wealthy.
Secret #1. Simplicity
Secret #2. Personalization
Secret #3. Attention to detail
Secret #4. Capture
Secret #5. Ease
Summed up by the easy-to-remember acronym, SPACE.
Before I explain what these elements mean, and how they
apply to you, let me digress for a moment. What are we
actually talking about when we discuss web sites?
There are 4 main kinds of web presence:
>>> Offline companies who want a web site as a shop
window. These can be huge corporations or Mom and Pop
corner shops. They may sell product or not. But the key
point is that the Internet is not their main business.
>>> Internet mega companies who have complex and long
term business plans. Companies like Yahoo and Amazon.
>>> Personal web pages that have little or no
commercial intent.
>>> Web sites run by individuals to make money. I call
these the 'no fall-back' sites. If they don't turn a
profit, they wither and die.
We are concerned with the last of these. It is these
sites that SPACE can be the most help to.
Apply SPACE to your site and you really will be seeing
it through buyer's eyes.
Simplicity
----------
Layout. Not everyone can be a top graphic designer - in
fact, many of the graphic designers I have worked with
seem to find effective web site design very difficult.
Look closely at your site design. Is it cluttered? Have
you tried to get everything except the kitchen sink
onto your homepage?
Back to the drawing board. Think of your home page as
an extended classified ad. It has to please the eye,
grab the customer's attention and compel them to take
the next action - move on to the next part of your
sales story.
Another thing it has to do is to satisfy the demands of
the search engines. It is often said that your homepage
text should contain all of your main keywords within
the first 250 words. That is a good target to aim for.
And it helps you focus on what your most important
keywords actually are.
Personalization
---------------
Your site will not get sales without it. It is as
critical as that. Every copywriter in every ad agency
in the world knows this secret. In case you can't
afford a copywriter, I'm going to tell you what I have
learned in 25 years working with some of the biggest
advertisers around. And it is so simple you will wonder
why so few writers do it.
**************************
*** They Want Benefits ***
**************************
They want benefits.
They. Not you. Your visitors are only interested in
themselves. A reader of a newspaper ad is only
interested in himself. A TV viewer is only interested
in herself. Tell them about themselves. Sure tell them
about your company and great products, but do it
in a way that is relevant to THEM.
Benefits. In the first 200 or so words of an ad (and
start thinking about your homepage as an ad), the
reader could care less about the range of sizes or
colors. They are not interested in how much meat goes
into each pie. They are bored by details. Features kill
your message.
What they want to know is how the product is going to
make them feel better, be slimmer, be more popular, be
attractive, earn more money. How your e-zine is going
to improve their lives or businesses.
*** Sell them the sizzle, not the sausage.***
Once you have got their attention, tell them about
every feature under the sun. By now they are so excited
they will eat your words like candy.
While we are talking about personalization, remember,
your visitors are only interested in themselves. So
humor them. Do a word count of your copy. If you don't
have at least 5 instances of 'you and your' for every
one 'me, mine, my, I, our or we', rewrite it until you
do. The higher the ratio the better.
Attention to detail
-------------------
So many sites are badly programmed. Before you upload
your site always check:
1. Spelling. Every word. Twice. Then get someone else
to check it for you. Unnecessary spelling mistakes give
an impression of sloppiness. Would you willingly buy
from a sloppy shopkeeper?
2. Links. Do they all work. If not, fix them. They must
all work.
3. Does it work for the majority of viewers? Have you
checked how it looks on small monitors and in old
browsers? There are still lots of people using older
equipment. Try not to offend them.
4. Does it load quickly? One of the biggest turnoffs
for visitors to your site is a slow loading homepage.
Optimize those graphics.
5. Since we are talking about graphics - do you really
need all of them? One good picture can be more powerful
than ten bad ones.
When you have checked and double-checked, upload it and
then check again. It is amazing how many links go dead
after the site is uploaded. And get into the habit of
checking your site regularly.
Capture
-------
This is so important, Moses should have carved it in
stone:
"Thou shalt not let thine visitors go without first
getting their email address."
Statistics show that it can often take up to seven
(that magic number again) communications with a visitor
before they are willing to buy from you. It's all about
building trust and developing a relationship.
So how do you get them to come back once, let alone
seven times?
By offering them something of value. That could be a
newsletter, a special report, a free consultation, a
free gift voucher, a tips sheet. You decide what works
best for your business. But ensure that you get their
email address AND permission to use it.
Whatever you offer them must have a high *perceived*
value.
Armed with their email address, you can send them news
of changes to your site, special offers, 'I heard about
this and thought you might be interested' affiliate
offers. Anything to keep you and your business top of
their mind.
If you are careful, and don't overdo the mailings (no
more than once a week), AND ensure that you are seen as
honest and reputable, they will come back and buy.
**********
The mailing list could be the most valuable thing your
business produces.
**********
Ease
----
This shouldn't need to be said, but so few sites do it:
make it easy for the visitor to do what you want them
to do.
If you are capturing their email address, don't ask for
anything else (maybe not even their name). Make it a
no-brainer. There are loads of free resources on the
Internet that will let you have simple scripts to get
the job done. Try http://javascript.internet.com/
To make a sale, you have to make the process as
painless as possible. Don't ask for pages of personal
information that you don't really need.It should go
without saying that you must always reassure customers
that your payment process is secure.
Always remember that your visitors are never more than
a click away from leaving you forever. Do everything
you can to make staying easier than leaving.
So there are the big secrets. SPACE. Not so hard, are
they? Follow these principles and your web site will
look better and work better. And you will make more
money.
There is one other *secret* which deserves to be put
into a section all on its own as without this, nothing
else matters:
Focus
-----
Focus is critical. Focus on who you are talking to.
Focus on what you are trying to say. Focus on what you
want the visitor to your site to do.
Too many web sites lack focus. The webmasters know what
they want, but totally fail to communicate that message
to their visitors.
If you want to get an order - everything on your site
must be focused on delivering the visitor to your order
page in the right frame of mind to buy.
If you want to get their email address (highly
recommended), focus on that as your prime objective.
Don't run off on sidetracks and tangents. Don't waffle
about how great your company is. Focus your mind on
your customers and tell them exactly what they want to
hear.
Then they will do exactly what you want them to do.
About the Author
Martin Avis publishes a free weekly newsletter:
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