Your website isn’t the only “horse and pony” show anymore
Fact: A website isn’t magically found in search engine results. When the Internet first started you could stumble upon success, but no more.
Myth: You can be found on the web simply by submitting your site to search engines.
Fact: Only 7% of websites are found in 80% of search engine results pages (SERPs). This 7% got there through search engine optimization. Of this 7%, many customers are lost because of site design problems and inadequately written content.
The majority of websites enter the graveyard immediately…
Many people build websites using FrontPage or basic HTML, buy software to upload it to the web, and submit it to various search engines and wait for the cash register to start ringing. Others will pay a webmaster to build them a site that looks great using Flash, PHP, JavaScript, etc. and are excited when it goes online thinking of all the business coming their way soon. As time passes, they become dismayed because the phone doesn’t ring, sales aren’t made, and they received no prospects. They begin to question the value of their product or service, even themselves. They might feel like they’ve really failed this time, not knowing they did fine in building the website, but they’re missing some of the key components to success
What are the missing components?
Business on the Internet is similar to traditional business.
- Location is critical. Online, you must be found in the first three pages of search engine results. If you’re not, you are missing the bulk of the market. This requires Search Engine Optimization.
- Does your site offer a unique selling proposition or advantage over other competitors? Why should someone buy from you and not someone else?
- Your site isn’t static, but dynamic. You must have the ability to keep your site current, content rich, graphically pleasing, and worth visiting. Static sites are often due to owners having to wait on their webmasters to put in their requested changes. Traditional businesses wouldn’t be in business very long selling an old fad or product. Wouldn’t it be nice to make simple text changes when you want, without waiting, and without having to pay? You can and you’ll find out in this report.
- Branding is important. In traditional business, you probably have a sign outside your business, print receipts with your business name on it, etc. Online, you brand by articles, press releases, your website, and search engine optimization.
- You have a marketing budget. For every dollar spent, you want a positive return in business. If the return is poor, you must revise your marketing plan. Your website maximizes it marketing power by content tailored to sell, proper site architecture, contains the right elements, and has convenient and easy-to-use shopping carts.
- Your website doesn’t have face-to-face sales like those that your traditional business does, so it must translate this same process in its text.
Professional copywriters use the following process to convert the maximum number of prospects to customers:
-The headline/promise block
-The testimonial/credentials block
-The informational block
-The product introduction block
-The benefits block
-The call to action block
-The guarantee block
-The action summary block
Header/Graphic Block
The header graphic block must grab their attention and pull them in. You have very limited time to get their attention before they click away. This area generally contains your company logo, a high quality relevant photo, and links. The whole object is to pull them down one layer at a time by grabbing and maintaining their interest. In this case, this first layer should lead you to the headline/promise block.
Headline
The headline is the most critical portion of your site. Copywriters often spend more time coming up with the right headline than they do actually writing the rest of the piece. They know that the rest doesn’t matter if they don’t capture the attention of the reader and pull them in farther. The right headline attracts more prospects, increases sales, and boosts profits. Four out of five readers will read the headline and skip the rest of the ad – David Ogilvy
Testimonial/Credentials Block
The testimonial/credentials block must state testimonials immediately in order to validate the accuracy of your previous claim/promise. Credentials relevant to your service/product can be persuasive in your attempt to prove your ability to deliver. To have kept your prospects interest this far, the previous components must be working. The success to this point will likely pull them into yet another layer of your site, “the informational block.”
Information Block
The information block is simply your chance to explain your particular area of business and its existing problems. This is your opportunity to empathize with their frustrations. Let them know how it once affected you too. Drop a few hints that those problems are now behind you as you have come up with a solution. Once they feel you’re an expert on the topic, their desire for a solution to their frustrations will drive them down deeper into your site. This block helps you establish yourself as an expert on the topic.
Product Intoduction
The product introduction block is where you explain how your product is the solution to the prospect’s problems. This is where you’ll also present a graphical representation of your product or service. A photo goes a long way in showing customers what they will be getting by purchasing your product. Ebay sellers using photographs generally outsell those that don’t. A book is not just a book to users. They want to see the cover, because an image provides a sense of a “real” product and not just mere words.
Quality Graphics
High quality graphics help tremendously in showing what something really looks like, rather than leaving it to perception. Each person sees something a little different, and sometimes a lot differently than the next. An image helps to bridge the “perceived” or “actual” variation in perception. This bridge is what helps make sales. Why else would Amazon show a picture of their books, retailers show their products in advertisements and commercials, and catalogs show items instead of just explaining them? They do it because it works.
Benefits Block
The benefits block appears next and ushers in the ways your product or service can solve each of the problems your prospect has. Remember that “features” are not “benefits.” Benefits explain how the product or service will make your life better, easier, or more enjoyable. Features tell you different qualities of your product or service.
The key mission of the benefits block is to create desire for your service or product. Answer how life is going to be so much better because of your product or service.
Call to Action
Once you have sparked their desire, it’s time to make the call to action. In the call to action block, you will make an offer that propels your prospect to make the purchase. This call to action encompasses three important variables. First, you must stress the greatest benefit they’ll receive as a result, again. Second, sweeten the offer by offering additional items of perceived value. Often, these are free items. Third, a deadline acts as a catalyst for action. If you’ve kept their attention this long, you have them interested but you still have to complete the deal. A deadline sets their mind in motion, “if I wait, I might miss out on this incredible deal.” Without a deadline and perceived scarcity, they may just walk away to think about it and never return. Interesting fact: You have to ask for the order roughly nine times before someone will buy. The average salesperson is still asking just 1.5 times.
Guarantee Block
The guarantee block follows the “call to action” and removes any risk for your prospect. This removes any remaining resistance. There is a direct correlation between the length of the guarantee and the number of sales made. Essentially, an ironclad, longer-term guarantee will bring far more sales than a 30-day one.
Action Summary Block
The final and most critical block on your site should be the “action summary block.” This is where you restate the most appealing benefit and how it solves problems for the prospect. You conclude by asking for the order. You have to ask for it or they won’t buy.
The proper site architecture is important because you want your customers to find what they want where they would expect to find it. That’s why stores spend so much time organizing their products into areas, placing signs at each row/aisle/area, and labeling different groupings within these areas. They want their customers to find their products quickly with as much ease as possible.
The right pages/elements of a website include:
Home Page with logo/graphic header
Site Map
Testimonials
Contact Us
About Us
Shopping carts should be easy to understand and use. Buy now buttons should be located in logical areas, such as near the product they represent.
The purchase process must be as easy and logical as possible. Too many sales are lost because of complex sales transactions. If you are experiencing an alarming rate of shopping carts being abandoned your checkout process may be too confusing.
57% of shoppers will abandon a shopping cart because the shipping charges were more than they expected – Forester research
Advantages of the Internet
Shopping carts help orders – no carts – no orders.
You can compete for a worldwide audience (if you’re in the top three pages)
You can add substantial sales to your traditionally based business
A successful site allows you other avenues of revenue (Adsense, Astore (Amazon Store), and advertising)
A successful site will help you increase traditional store sales. Many individuals decide to visit and/or purchase from your store based on what they find on your site.
Marketing results generally improve by advertising across multiple mediums (direct mail, online, radio, television, etc.)
The Bottom Line…
To sum it all up, you need a functionally correct website (site architecture, content, etc.) as well as professional search engine optimization (SEO) to be successful. The right design and content will lead to more sales when someone visits, while SEO will bring more visitors.