New entrepreneurs have wonderfully
enthusiastic energy about them; it’s an exhilarating time for sure. They’re
ecstatic that their vision is coming to fruition, and thrilled to showcase the
website they created.
Naturally,
they want to tell the world about what they do and have big hopes and dreams
for being inundated with leads that will keep them joyfully busy.
But
then I come along and burst their bubble.
Well,
sort of.
You
see, some business owners already have a solid grasp of online marketing, while
others don’t, and sometimes it’s necessary for me to share my wisdom on the
finer details of how to create a successful website.
Some
will gratefully appreciate the advice I provide on how they can best present
their business to the world, while others feel they have a pretty good handle
on the whole process and just want to hand over their marketing materials and
have us take care of promoting their business.
In
any case, typically, they anticipate being able to just sit back and wait for
the money to roll in.
But
if their website doesn’t appeal to potential customers, then that’s probably
not going to happen.
So
if you’re wondering how to build a successful website, then this article will
give you a great place to start.
It
explores one of the biggest mistakes business owners make while building their
websites, and it’ll help you understand why website copy is so important to
building an effective website, and why it needs to focus on potential
customers, rather than your business.
I
know it might sound strange, but just hear me out on this. Once you read
through this article, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
When
Building an Effective Website, You’ve Got to Focus on Your Customers As a web
developer and online brand specialist, one of the biggest challenges I face is
when clients insist on having everything done their way.
Understandably,
they know their business and industry better than I do. But what they aren’t
quite as well versed in is the psychology behind brand positioning and how they
come across to potential clients.
So,
what am I getting at here?
Well,
more often than not, business websites tend to read like self-indulgent lists
of achievements.
Sentences
usually start with “I” or “We” and they’ll say something like, “We’ve been in
business for more than 25 years, we’ve won these industry awards, we’re very
capable in these areas,” and so on and so forth.
And
what is the result? Typically, this is a huge turn-off for the reader.
Now,
I know it’s a natural tendency for us to want to talk about ourselves and our
offerings, and it is important to communicate these things clearly to potential
customers.
But
when your website focuses solely on your business and doesn’t put any focus on
your customers, unfortunately, the message received by the reader goes more
like this:
“Welcome
to my website, I’m so excited you found it. Here’s all about me and my products
and services. Please buy, I could use some sales here!”
As
I always say, first impressions are one of the cornerstones of business
success.
That
being said, you don’t want your website to give this kind of an impression, do
you?
I
mean, how do you feel when you encounter websites like that?
Do
you enjoy listening to someone go on and on about themselves? Probably not.
So,
why would you expect others to come to your website only to hear you go on and
on about how great you are?
Realistically,
no matter how much you want to, you shouldn’t. And if you do have this
expectation, you’re just setting yourself up for one huge disappointment.
Because
let’s face it – no one is interested in you or your business until you’ve built
up some credibility in their eyes.
And
even if you are perceived as credible, the fact of the matter is, most people
still won’t care about the accolades of your business.
What
they are interested in, however, is if what you’re offering can take care of
their needs, solve their problems, or make their life easier.
So,
now that we’ve got the pep talk out of the way, let’s talk about how to
actually put this into practice.
READ:
3 Ways to Make a Website for Your Target Market
What-Your-Customers-Want-in-Website
Building
an effective website requires a deep understanding of your target market.
Without this knowledge, it’s going to be pretty much impossible to write
compelling copy or come up with a design that’s going to appeal to your ideal
customers.
So,
if you want to know more about how to build a website that will appeal to your
target market, ensuring you get more leads and sales, then this article is for
you.
It
discusses some of the best methods for building an effective website, including
analyzing your target audience, empathy-based marketing, and keeping things as
simple as possible.
Keep
reading on our website.
Getting
Inside the Heads of Your Customers Yes, the purpose of your website (usually)
is to sell whatever it is you’re offering, but how you do the selling is what
makes or breaks its effectiveness.
And
regardless of whether you run a B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to
Consumer) company, you still need to capture the interest of potential
customers.
Some
of the best ways of doing this include showing empathy toward them, letting
them know that you understand their struggles and can relate to what they’re
going through, and assuring them that what you’re offering can help them to
alleviate those issues.
But
in order to do this, you need to get inside the heads of your customers.
What
I mean by that is you need to understand the psychology behind how they think
and why they do what they do.
This
means thinking about things like the mistakes they’re making that are causing
their problems, the beliefs that influenced them to make those mistakes, and
the consequences of those mistakes.
So,
let’s go through this exercise using the owner of the hypothetical website we
discussed above as an example.
First,
we need to identify the mistake they’re making that’s ruining the effectiveness
of their website, which would be making it all about them and their business,
instead of focusing on potential customers.
Next,
we need to identify the belief that caused them to make that mistake.
In
this case, the belief would be something like, “If I don’t share my expertise
on my website, and talk about how great my business is, then no one will
believe I’m capable of helping them and they won’t be interested in what I’m
offering.”
Then,
we need to think about the consequences of this mistake, which include things
like a high bounce rate, lower sales, fewer leads, and losing customers to the
competition.
No
matter what your offering is, you can apply this formula to your potential
customers, and use it to make your website copy more appealing to that
audience, and therefore, much more effective.
But
remember, it has to focus on potential customers and their problems, not you or
your business.
How
can you do that?
Well,
let’s assume, for example, you own a business that manufactures lawn mowers,
and you’re certain you have a lawn mower that will make it faster and easier
for people to cut their lawns.
In
this case, instead of writing something like, “We make the best lawn mowers
known to man,” and then proceeding to drone on and on about their features, it
would be exponentially more effective to simply put the focus on potential
customers.
For
this example, the mistake the customer is making would be continuing to use
their crappy old lawn mower, the consequences of that mistake would be spending
more time mowing the lawn, and dealing with the annoyances of a typical lawn
mower, and the belief that influenced them to make that mistake is that they
don’t think there’s a better lawn mower out there or they can’t afford it if it
exists.
Once
you know these things, it’s going to be much easier to write compelling copy
that appeals to potential customers and puts the focus on them.
So,
it would be way more effective to write something like this:
“Are
you tired of spending hours mowing the lawn?
“Is
your lawn mower always getting clogged up with grass clippings?
“We’ve
designed a machine that allows you to mow your lawn in half the time, without
any of the annoyance while making it affordable too.”
See
what I did there? All of the focus is being put on potential customers, and it
discusses the mistakes they’ve been making, and the consequences of those
mistakes.
The
copy addresses their annoyances and their struggles, and even when I started to
talk about the product, it’s all about what they can do with that product, and
what it’s going to do for them.
Cutting
Through the Noise Now that we’ve talked about how to get into your customers’
heads, I think it’s just as important to discuss how to write copy that makes
things clear and concise, and tells them exactly what they need to know about
what you’re offering.
“Nobody
remembers a company that makes noise,” said Donald Miller in Building a
StoryBrand.
“In
every line of copy we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or
descending into confusion; we’re either making music or making noise.”
His
book hammers home how important it is to ensure that not only is your copy
focusing on potential customers, but also that it’s succinct, easy to understand,
and contains all the information they need to know about your product and what
it can do for them.
According
to Miller, within five seconds of looking at your copy, potential customers
should know:
What
you’re offering How it’ll make their life better What they have to do to buy it
So, whatever it is you’re selling, you’ve got to make sure your copy is short
and sweet, easily intelligible, and clearly explains all the points above.
Be
the Guide, Not the Hero Building a StoryBrand also explains the tenets of
effective marketing by comparing it to great storytelling.
Miller’s
book points out that nearly all great stories, whether they’re in the form of a
film, novel, or otherwise, tend to follow a similar formula.
There’s
more to it than this, but the gist of it is that all great stories feature a
hero who has a problem and then finds a guide who has a plan to help them
overcome that problem and achieve success.
In
the context of building an effective website, that means putting your customer
in the spotlight by positioning them as the hero, keeping yourself out of the
limelight by positioning your business as the guide, and appealing to the hero
by letting them know you can help them solve their problem.
So,
when it comes to writing text for your website, stop thinking it’s about you,
because it’s not.
It’s
about your ideal client, what they’re going through, and what they need to hear
from you in order to convince them you are the right choice.
Once
you’ve mastered that, you’re good as gold!
If
this all sounds a bit overwhelming, or maybe writing’s just not your forte, you
can always hire a copywriter to do it for you.
In
any case, if you follow this formula by getting into your customers’ heads,
positioning them as the hero, your business as the guide, and putting the focus
on potential customers instead of your business, it’s bound to make a big
difference in terms of the success of your website!
Have
you taken a close look at your website lately to see how it’s written? When
looking at it from this perspective, what did you discover?
Does
writing your own website copy seem like a daunting task? Would you rather trust
this sort of thing to a professional? Our seasoned copywriters will make sure
your website copy is clear, compelling, and appealing to your ideal customers.
Contact us to find out more about how we can help.
To
your business success, Susan Friesen
Source: https://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/6263640?articleid=6263640
Success is not a fairy tale that revolves around
the element of miracle and imagination. Rather, a person has to pass through
the realities of life to understand what is success. As the two eyes are
essential
