This post was written by Michelle Howe, President of Internet Word Magic, and was originally posted in our April, 2008 client newsletter.
When someone lands on your homepage, how clear is your marketing
message? Is it easy for them to decide to do business with you
or do they have to maneuver through a series of obstacles on
your website to get the information they need?
Let's take a look at some of the obstacles on a website that
sabotage the sales process:
Confusing Navigation
How many times have you gone to a website, ready to buy, and
then can't figure out where you need to go to make the purchase?
One of my first clients hired me to write sales copy for her
website because she had written the copy and she felt it was not
doing a good job converting sales. So I went to the website and
pretended I was a customer to experience what her customers
experience when they go to the website.
I actually spent over 10 minutes trying to figure out where I
needed to go to buy her products and the only reason I didn't
give up is because I had been hired to solve the problem of poor
sales.
What I discovered is that her biggest problem wasn't the sales
copy, it was poor navigation. First we had to solve the
navigation problem and then I rewrote the copy for her products.
And you know what happened? Literally hours after the website
went live with the new changes she started selling products.
Confusing Jargon
You may be an expert in your field but what about your customer?
One of the biggest problems I find with website copy written by
the business owner is that it is too technical. The content
tends to be filled with jargon or words that would be unfamiliar
to a potential customer or client.
A few years back I was working on a website for a client who did
remodeling for commercial buildings. He insisted that the
website content include construction terminology that only a
builder would understand. I asked him who his customers were and
he told me they were store managers (who may or may not be
familiar with construction terms).
It never occurred to him that the website content needed to be
written using words that would be familiar to his customers and
to leave out the jargon.
Confusing Marketing Message
When someone comes to your website they are looking for
information to help them solve a problem. In order for them to
get an answer to their problem, you need to make sure the answer
is not hidden on your website or completely missing.
Since most people who come to your website will land on the home
page, it's vitally important that you have bold headlines that
clearly express your marketing message in a way that is easy to
understand.
It doesn't matter whether you are selling a product or selling a
service, what's most important is that people can immediately
figure out what to do without having to think too much. If you
make them think, they will leave your site. No one has the time
to read through long paragraphs and long sentences.
You want to present a simple headline, easy-to-understand
benefits and a clear value proposition. By scanning the
headlines on the home page, the reader should immediately be
able to make a decision about whether they want to do business
with you or not.
Conclusion
Simple language, clear direction and benefit driven content are
key to a successful website. If you want to increase the sales on your website, maybe you just need to remove the obstacles
that sabotage the sales process.
