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Google is the premier search engine on the web today. There’s no denying it, and both users and the stock market alike are clear indicators of how important Google is to search engine efforts. In some ways, Google controls the Internet economy moreso than even the all-powerful Microsoft. Appearing high on Google’s search pages for a given term - related to whatever business you’re involved in - is more valuable than any billboard or television commercial.

But is Google really the gateway to all web business? When a search engine optimization specialist tells you “Your site isn’t Google-friendly” does that mean you have to kowtow to the one company whose motto is “Do no evil”?

Yes and maybe. The same strategies that work well on Google work well on almost any search engine - Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, etc. Relevant keywords, related content, powerful links to and from related, high traffic sites - they work regardless of the search engine.

But should your site be written to appeal to Google’s search bots? Or should you write to your human site visitors? Can you do both?

In an ideal world, yes, writing for both Google and other search engine bots and human visitors should operate the same way. But while search engines prize keyword density, human readers can usually tell if a site is designed for search engines. Search engine optimized copy is not quite as natural as normal marketing copy.

For example, here’s a paragraph Google might read as very powerful for selling web design:

360 PSG, a web development company, offers website design, custom web applications, and a powerful content management system for any business website. Our web designs fit any small business. They work for e-commerce, online portfolio pieces, and online news releases.

Now, that’s not bad, but it’s a little dry. At the same time, it’s readable, simple, and clear.

Another tack we could have taken was straight-up advertising-style copy:

Take control of your website with 360 PSG. Our powerful web designs can help your business establish a strong web presence. Our Fission CMS makes it easy - just login, click, type and save, and you can have unlimited pages, and unlimited web options. Find out more today.

That’s not bad either, as ad copy - it’s inviting, it sells our system as easy to use, and effective, but you’ll notice there are very few words or phrases in that paragraph that count as keywords.

In that first paragraph, we had “website design,” “custom web applications,” and “content management system.” The second paragraph had none of those words together.

If someone is searching for those particular services or products, the first paragraph is more likely to attract search engine results. The second paragraph might be more effective selling to human readers, though it’s much less likely to attract search engine results.

So it’s a fine line to walk - on one hand you want to attract search engine traffic. On the other, you need to drive sales through your site.

Here at 360 PSG, we focus on both - the subtle techniques that boost search engine ranking, plus the effective copy that attracts visitors to a sale once they’re at your site.

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As website designers who build for businesses, we at 360 PSG make it our goal to not only create good designs for our clients, but also make sure it works for all their potential customers.

On the whole, all popular web browsers read and interpret HTML the same way, matching W3C compliance standards. But every browser, whether it’s Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer have their own quirks - certain design elements “break” if you don’t account for the ways different web browsers or operating systems function.

When you, as a business owner, are looking for a web designer, make sure they target these W3C Compliance standards - a good business website should work on any computer your potential clients will use. It’s good to remember that not all your clients are running the latest software - you might have the latest high-powered PC running on Windows Vista and 4 gigs of RAM, but the person looking to use your services might be running a Pentium 3 with Windows 98 and less than a quarter of the memory your computer has. Flashy design tricks that look good on your machine might simply not run on potential customer’s computers, or worse, crash them out.

With open-source web browsers like Opera or Firefox, there are many options for testing your website to make sure it works. For Internet Explorer, until recently, you basically had to have multiple computers using different versions of Internet Explorer to make sure your website works. There have been workarounds, but they tended to leave your computer unstable or might not work entirely accurately. We’ve found a new tool that allows you to test web designs across multiple versions of Internet Explorer, all on one computer. It’s called IETester, and though it’s not perfect, it’s the best solution we’ve found so far.

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As a small business owner, you have your hand in every detail of your business. You run payroll, you manage staff, keep track of inventory, in charge of ordering, chief of sales and direct your marketing. So it’s only natural that you want to be involved in every aspect of your company’s website.

As web designers, we want that - hands-on and involved clients are good website design clients. But sometimes a good client can make bad decisions.

Let’s say your web designer sent you the first mock-up of your website. It’s sharp, but not too flashy. It’s got a lot of information, but not cluttered. It’s color scheme even matches the precise hue of blue you use on the walls of your store.

But there are some things you need changed. You need another menu tab for a new product line you’ve just acquired. You’d like another picture of the inside of your store. And, by golly, you want your LOGO BIGGER. How are people going to remember your logo if it’s an inch-by-inch in the top left corner?

Hold up there, kimosabe. Take a breath, relax. It’s one thing to get more information on your site, to add functionality, but if you’re paying a professional web designer to build an effective website for your business, it’s worth it to heed some of their advice.

We can say with a fair degree of certainty that no web designer will say no to stuff like an extra menu item, additional pictures or more content pages. Information that is necessary to your business or functions you want from your site can always be worked in. What irks any web designer is when a client tries to overstep into design.

Now that doesn’t mean designers want unquestioning clients - matters of taste, such as color scheme, image choice or layout (to an extent) are perfectly legitimate critiques. Even a wholesale “I don’t like it at all - do something different” can be dealt with. Clients who ask questions are smart clients, ones that make it easier to deliver something both can be satisfied with.

But stuff like “Make a bigger logo” or “Make the text as big as possible” or “Can you add some flashing lights? Oh! How about a siren!” not only oversteps the boundary, it will hurt your website and web business too.

Professional web designers draw on both client needs and their own experience of what works in websites. They know (or should know) how people use websites. They know what works - that too much animation makes a site difficult to use, that a certain size of text is easier to read on the average computer screen, that if they make your logo bigger, it’ll blot out the sun.

Remember, your web designer wants your website to be successful too - it’s just as much a reflection on them as it is on you. Trust that they have your best interests in mind. It will make for a better website for the both of you.

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It’s not news that the economy has seen better times, and traditional brick-and-mortar business is feeling the brunt of the drop in business. High gas prices keeping many consumers from going to the store, going to the mall, or walking into any business.

As a business owner, it’s an especially trying time. There are strategies to help bridge that gap in rough economic times. Some might cut hours, cut inventory or even cut staff, but there are strategies some businesses can take to help ease the blow of lowered traditional sales.

One way is to find a new venue to sell your products or services. For many businesses, particularly retailers, that venue is the Internet. This past holiday season showed traditional retailers suffering from drops in sales, but online retailers found their sales increasing.

Why? Simple: it’s cheaper. An online retailer oftentimes has cheaper prices than a traditional store. Because customers can order from their home, they don’t have to drive. Add in the convenience factor and web business is enticing to the average consumer.

But why should your business go online? It’s cheaper for you too. An online store adds a potential worldwide audience for your products at a minimum cost.

The strategy is to find a web developer that can help you build that online audience. While an inexpensive designer might offer incredibly cheap rates, it might be a half solution to conducting web business.

For your investment in the web, particularly in tough economic times, you should go with a web developer that can help you build not only a good looking site, but one that can function as well.

Some key phrases to look for when choosing your web developer is one that has experience implementing e-commerce solutions. Check their portfolio, read testimonials. Even contact some of their clients. A business that can help you make the transition is one you want to be able to trust to deliver on their promise.

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One of the most important parts of search engine optimization, or SEO, is that a site should be updated regularly.

One of the most important aspects of a blog is that it is (theoretically) updated regularly.

It’s simple addition: if your site has a regularly updated blog, your site can benefit from it through SEO. But that’s not the only reason a blog can help Google or Yahoo find your site.

Like we mentioned before, a business blog can be a powerful tool for establishing a good reputation among both customers and business peers alike, but that same blog can also raise your profile for search engine rankings because of the content and potential audience your blog can bring to your site.

Here are the three basic reasons for it, and how you can take advantage:

1. Frequent updates: A good way to use your blog is for information that might not warrant a press release (like a sale or new product). Those little news nuggets might happen as frequently as once a day or once a week, but you should make sure you post them on a timely basis. If you don’t have an announcement or something like that over a given time, find something. You might find a news article that deals with your industry, or maybe a customer question gave you an idea for a How-To piece (hey, kind of like this post!) to educate people on self-help tips (which might lead to them coming to your company for extra help). The simple trick, though, is to update your blog regularly. Don’t let it sit too long, or you’ll lose out on good SEO.
2. Keywords galore: If you keep your business blog focused on your business, meaning your posts are consistently related to one topic, you’ll probably find yourself filling it with vocabulary and terms related to your business. That’s exactly what you want for search engine optimization. Search engines love key phrases in fresh content. For example, in this post I’m discussing search engine optimization and blogs, so good words for me to include are “search engines”, “seo”, and “blog.” If you’ve made it this far in the post, you’ve probably read those words a few times. If you’re writing a blog about your own industry - let’s say it’s one that focuses on antique toys - you’ll be loading your blog with keywords and phrases like “victorian era toys” or “toy truck” or whatever other terms related to what you sell or do. While those words are naturally in your body copy, don’t forget about your titles, tags and categories. It’s just as important to target words for those areas as it is to include them in your copy.
3. Linkbacks got your back: If you’re writing a good blog, you’re already linking to other websites, blogs or news articles that are related to or illustrate your point. For example, SEO for Google has an article on how blogging frequency can improve your Google page rank. And this article talks about what a linkback is, and how it helps blogs. They’re both articles where I did research for this post, so it’s only fair that I reference them, especially if I quote them verbatim. The added benefit is that search engines reward sites that link to relevant content. And if you link to another blog, they might link back to you, sending not only more readers, but further rewarding you with SEO improvements.

Everything I mentioned above is something you can definitely do for your own business, but if you’re like many business owners, you might not have time to keep up on point number 1: frequent posting. That’s where (plug alert!) companies like 360 PSG come in. We offer blogging as a service, written by our staff of copywriters, focused on your business. So if you’re strapped for time, or maybe need a little bit of writing help, give us a call.

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“Credibility” and “blog” are not words that have traditionally gone together, at least not with celebrity-hounding sites like PerezHilton.com or any political blog constantly harped on in the news, but it has increasingly become an effective tool in spreading the word about your company - and drawing visitors to your site.

A business-based or industry blog can add credibility to your website and your business as a whole. By focusing on one particular niche issue, whether it be advertising, real estate or any other industry focus, you can offer commentary that contributes to the dialog on that issue.

Think of it this way: Let’s say you own a company that specializes in dog grooming. There are thousands of people every day looking for tips for primping their pet on the Internet. Who would be the expert those people would trust getting advice from? A dog groomer, right? You, as a dog grooming business owner have an authoritative voice in that particular topic.

It’s the same thing that we at 360 PSG are trying to accomplish with this blog. We’re experts in web development - from web design to custom programming to web marketing. So we’re offering our expertise with the posts on this blog. We’ve talked about web headlines and logo design, and we’re going to have more posts about anything else that can help a web business.

Why would a business, especially one that traffics in information, offer free tips about its specialties? Well, it’s not like we’re giving up the farm, such as the secret of our amazing Content Management System or telling people exactly how to design a great website. We’re offering tips and knowledge - background stuff that, in all honesty, we want potential customers to read before they work on a project with us. The information in our blog not only tells customers about 360 PSG, but customers with good research know better what we can do for them.

That’s what you want a blog to do for you. It’s a win-win situation, really - a blog both educates consumers and also sells your company, products and services.

Targeting potential customers is one way to approach your blog. Another tack to take can be to start an industry blog targeting your business peers as an audience.

Here’s another example: You’re a plumber. Sure, you could write a blog discussing tricks for customers to solve septic tank issues, but maybe you don’t specialize in home plumbing - you’re a commercial installer. An end-consumer blog won’t help you much because your sales are driven more by referrals from other companies. That’s where you can be a source of industry news within the plumbing industry.

Instead of how-to’s or tips, maybe you would focus on new technology in plumbing, and how it helps or doesn’t help plumbers, say, implement commercial bathroom installations. Or perhaps you comment on the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Association’s actions in some way. You’re not at all targeting prospective clients, but your blog could potentially raise your profile within the plumbing industry, by extension helping your business.

The real trick is focusing on one issue, and as a business owner your business is your focus. Just talk about it.

There’s another benefit to blogging, one that might draw more eyes to your website. But we’ll put that up tomorrow. Check back soon!

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Problem 3: Too much stuff, Part Two

One thing people often forget with their websites is that they have room to spread out. A website can theoretically have unlimited numbers of pages - in business that translates to a page for every product, service or idea a business might have. So with so much sprawl space, why do so many companies insist on cramming as much stuff as possible on one page?

Yes, studies show the average web user skims one to three pages of a website before they move on, meaning you’ve got to catch their attention quick. But filling a screen with scattershot information is just white noise - your reader doesn’t want to filter through that much information.

The best strategy is to prioritize your information. Highlight the most unique, most interesting or most useful ideas, features or products on a page, and through intuitive navigation, your users will follow up on them. If you have a catalog of hundreds of items, like Amazon, organize items by category, or include a search function on your site so users can find what they want easily.

An added benefit of targeting featured products or services - it allows you to show off your company’s best features, presenting your company in its best light.

Problem 4: The Professional Look

The early promise of web business was that anyone has the potential to make it big. It’s supposed to be the great equalizer - the guy in the basement on his Dell could build a company to rival Microsoft. Today there still is that potential, however it takes more than a basic knowledge of HTML to build an effective website.

A carryover idea from the early days of the Internet is that all a business needs to get online is a tech guy who knows how to code. For a time, it was possible to pull that off. But as websites and web business has become more complex, it takes more than a basic knowledge of HTML and Microsoft Frontpage to build an effective, dynamic business website.

Web business is no longer an emerging, risky industry. It’s an established medium to reach customers - one of, if not the most cost effective ways to market your business. A good website is an expectation customers have of a business - it is almost as important as your brick-and-mortar shop. People get a feel for what kind of business you are, what type of business owner you are by the look of your website. Don’t mess around with your image by cutting corners: get help. It’s worth every penny.

A clear, well-designed website projects a professional image. Huron Sprinklers is a well-established, professional sprinkler system installer. They have a good reputation and good local business. However their website used to look like this. It looks like an inexperienced designer put this together in their spare time…all five minutes of it. In fact, that’s not far off from what happened - their original site was designed by a neighbor kid, basically working from the book HTML for Dummies.

The right thing to do is get help - for a business website, it’s the right thing to invest in a web development partner. There are three good reasons for this:

1. Web developers know what works. Web business has evolved enough to know what tricks work for web pages, and what doesn’t. Working within the industry, they also analyze where web trends are heading. It’s true your web developers will never know your business as well as you, but they’ll know how to present and market it best on the web. 1a)Web developers know what works…for EVERYBODY. This is, seriously, one of the most overlooked problems with homebrew websites - W3C compliance. In a nutshell, that means your website looks the same for every visitor, regardless of whether they use a Mac, a PC, Windows, Internet Explorer, Firefox, whatever. Developers test designs for all these things, making sure your business reaches everyone.
2. Web developers save you money: If you don’t have the skills and tools immediately available to you, building your website takes time and money you don’t want to take away from your normal business. In fact, the time commitment might be why you might not have a website yet. Look for a web developer that can take the sting out of that investment - someone who makes it easy. Some one like (PLUG ALERT!) 360 PSG. Here’s why - companies like us handle EVERYTHING for the web - hosting, design, content, programming, e-commerce. We have it all in one place, working together. It’s solutions like ours that make the web that cost effective solution.

Problem 5: Can your host handle the party?

Let’s say your website is up, looks good, is very usable and is getting noticed on search engines. In fact, business is booming - you’re getting hundreds and now thousands of visitors a day. But one day, everything goes dark. What happened?Probably one of two things:

1. Your site got more traffic than your web host’s server could handle.
2. Your web server got hacked.

Not all web hosts are created equal - going for the cheapest option may constrict your business. A cheap host might not have the bandwidth for your growing web business, or charges a steep premium after that cheap hook. Or that web host might not be as secure as you need - particularly if you handle online payment transactions through your site.

Look for a web host that can grow with your business, and also one that has security options in place to protect your data. For example 360 PSG has its servers in a secure, Level 3 datacenter nearby our offices, with a powerful generator backup, climate controlled facility and a redundant lock system. And that’s just the physical protection - firewalls and other web security measures make our servers secure enough for almost any business. And because it’s located nearby our headquarters, 360 PSG staff can respond quickly to any issue that may arise.

It’s that kind of protection you want for your business data, and one that will not only protect your data, but give your customers the confidence to trust you with theirs.

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So your business has finally made the jump to the web. You’ve got a website that has a high-tech look (or not), a web address with your name in it (www.yourname.com….or something close to it), and even pictures of your business, your products and maybe even yourself.So why isn’t your website increasing your sales?

Just having a website does not mean your business will benefit from a web presence. Whether you are selling products, services or simply trying to drive potential customers to contact your brick-and-mortar business, a good business website needs to direct people closer to a sale.

The list below addresses some of the most common mistakes small business owners make when they’re making their first foray into web business, and offers some tips to fix them. If you have other tips, leave them in the comments below.

1) Problem 1: I can’t find anything!

Easy navigation is one of the most important aspects of your site, if not the most important. How will a visitor buy your product if they can’t even find what they’re looking for? Make your web visitors’ lives easier by simplifying your websites navigation and flow.

Many small business owners get caught up in flashy design or become obsessed with branding (we in the biz like to call it logo creep). Sure, eye-catching animation and artful design look cool, but it’s possible to go overboard. This bookshop is case in point. Click on the splash page, then click on the book, then click on the logo, then click on the dot (and pray your browser doesn’t crash). With that obtrusive animation, label-less menus and hard-to-read text, would you have any idea that this place sells books?

Good web navigation easy to use and consistent. Simplify your menus and navigation in the most intuitive way you can. Menu items should follow natural priority - what is your site trying to accomplish? Is it selling a product? Then that specific product should be featured high on the menu. Are you an online store with many products? Categorize and alphabetize your catalog. If you’re publicizing your business, organize company information by what is most pertinent to your customers.

An easy-to-use website naturally removes barriers to a sale. The easier it is for a customer to find a product or information they are looking for, the more likely they are to follow through on a sale.

2) Problem 2: Too much Flash

This sort of lends itself to the first problem, but in a slightly different way. Flash or video elements have almost become de rigueur for a dynamic website, and with good reason. It’s an eye-catching device and can illustrate information in unique ways, whether it’s through movie-style presentations, slide shows, images or diagrams.

Because it’s so powerful and has the potential to be visually interesting, it’s tempting to use Flash all over your site. Don’t. A little restraint goes a long way.

There are instances where loads of Flash makes sense. Nightclubs, production studios or design showcases all can benefit from complex Flash use - it highlights their best features or conveys emotion that helps sell their non-traditional services.

The average business, however, should stick to a simple rule: one Flash element, max, per page.

There are several reasons for this:

1) Not all computers, Internet connections and thus customers can use animation. Flash and videos are larger than the average image file, and older computers often don’t have the latest version of the software that plays that file, meaning it might appear clunky to that user.

2) Too much action on a screen means the things you want to highlight on the screen get lost in a sea of motion. Choose the most important idea you want to express, sticking to simple images and text for less important items.

3) Because you want to be found. Flash-based text is terrible for search engine optimization - search engines can’t read text that appears in those animations, so it’s a good idea to have normal text on your page, containing key words and phrases for that site.

Exercising restraint in your website design is one of the most important design decisions you can make for your business website. It simplifies your company image, makes it easier for visitors to use and ultimately drives a sale.

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That’s it; you might not read the rest of this article. But that’s okay.

Why?

Well, you’re on this web page, reading this article, right? That means my web headline worked. Your headline words are, as this article’s headline says, the most important words in web advertising, particularly for small businesses hoping to get noticed in web business. They got you to read this article, and if you want some tips for getting more attention for your advertising, keep reading.

In advertising as well as journalism, headlines are one of the most important aspects of capturing a reader. They are the hook, the words that direct readers’ eyes to the juicy text you have below – and by extension that product or service you’re trying to sell. With the web, those words not only hook eyes, but as we’ll see later on, they hook search engines too.

Grabbing eyes

Your headline can be many things – coy, clever, subtle or beat-you-over-the-head obvious. Though it should always have one goal: to attract readers.

Headlines don’t necessarily mean sloganeering, though that strategy can permeate a headline. Effective ads that use slogans often stick out, mainly because that slogan permeates all their advertising. Good examples are classics like Apple’s “Think Different” or Volkswagen’s “Think Small” campaign for the original Beetle. Oftentimes the headlines for these ads featured a twist on that slogan, with different images accompanying different copy below.

Advertising legend David Ogilvy called these somewhat abstract slogans and headlines “irrelevant brilliance.” But that doesn’t mean your ad headlines have to be clever, funny, punny or witty.

Have a look at this list of 100 of the greatest advertising headlines of all time. It’s an old list, with some classics you’ve probably heard before and with influence you’ve seen throughout advertising today. You’ll notice a common theme among most of them – they are almost literally calls to action. Few of them mention brands. Almost all of them address a specific issue, and many use language directly related to their field or industry.

Many of these headlines follow a similar formula: “How to…” “Quick solutions to…” “If you have (a problem), this is how to fix it.” That formula is simple and direct – it addresses a potential customer’s issue and offers a solution. Direct headlines also zoom in on a target demographic.

But traditional advertising trends have gotten away from that directness. Current print and television campaigns try to capture customers with humor, wit and charm. In those forms of media, with a relatively captive audience that is already reading the publication or watching the television channel the ad is on, ads can risk an indirect route to their sale. On the web, that old-school directness, along with capturing your readers’ attention, will help in other ways to get your ad noticed.

Capturing machines

Search engine ranking is now the hottest trend in web advertising, and with good reason. Web users are reliant upon search engines like Google and Yahoo to help them sift through the gigantic amount of information on the web. It’s the modern yellow pages – searchers enter a topic, hoping to find the information, product or contact they need to address an issue. With search engines, these searches get more specific, which is where your headline becomes important.

This article’s headline is designed so people searching the phrase “web advertising” will be directed to this page. It’s these key phrases that search engines look for, and where they are placed. Which is why your headline is so important – it’s the first thing a search engine sees when indexing a web page.

Sites like the above-linked Gap campaign are well designed and effective, but you won’t find that particular ad by Googling “t-shirts” or “colors.” That campaign is designed to be a viral campaign, spread both through word of mouth (or e-mail) and for searchers who are more likely looking for one of the bands or artists featured in the campaign. For the Gap, this works – they’re selling a lifestyle, and capturing that tangential attention is important. For small businesses, particularly those without the budget to design these complex campaigns, the direct approach is both the simplest and most effective solution.

So on one hand, it pays to be cute. Well written and interesting ad copy will capture a reader, but only once they delve far enough into an ad or article. But a direct headline – that’s the stuff that gets your ad noticed. (more…)

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What is a USP? What is a call to action? And how can it help my website?

First, the definitions:

• A Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is a marketing concept where a company offers something unique to potential customers, encouraging them to switch brands.

• A call to action in advertising and marketing refers to a copy designed to encourage a potential customer to take action, such as purchasing a product or requesting a quote. The goal is to compel the customer to take that next step towards making a sale.

A good USP offers something competitors cannot, whether it is a product or service. Popular examples of USP’s include Olay’s “You get younger-looking skin” or Red Bull’s “You get stimulation of body and mind.” Neither Olay, a cosmetic company, nor Red Bull, an energy drink, were the first companies to make their products, nor were they the first to offer the benefits their USP’s advertise. But these USP’s are effective in that they differentiate their products from their competitors, and make a good argument for that company being the logical choice for the consumer.

USP’s often times appear to be slogans, and very often they are used as such. But a USP must also position its company in a unique niche compared to its competitors, offering an idea, and more specifically an action, that sets your business apart.

Fortunately good USP’s appear to be built for the web - they employ direct language targeting a specific issue, crucial to web optimization. That explicit language, such as “you get younger-looking skin,” is already tailored to one of the most important aspects of web marketing in search engine optimization. If someone were to search the phrase “younger looking skin” in Google, websites selling Olay products would appear immediately in the search results. It’s a case of the USP separating a company in a particularly crowded industry.

Tips for crafting an effective USP can be found here.

Effective calls to action motivate customers to any action to further a sale. In traditional advertising, these can be statements or images that compel quick action. On the web, this motivation can be direct - a line of text encouraging the customer to call or e-mail, a hyperlink such as the popular “click here to find out more,” or even a buy-now button (i.e. eBay). Calls to action can also be more subtle - a visible expiration date on a deal compels quick action, or phrases such as “limited quantities” implies a customer should hustle or they miss out.

Websites can be loaded with calls-to-action - links, images, forms - all using different techniques to entice a visitor to do something.

Here are some tips, borrowed from the National Federation of Independent Business, to building an effective call-to-action

1. Have the call to action follow naturally and build upon what you’ve already said in the written material. This will reinforce your message and explain why a customer should follow the call to action. For example: “Now that you’ve seen the benefits of our product, call our toll-free number today for more information.” Or use a question such as: “Why continue using inferior products when you can gain all the benefits described in this brochure? Call today for more information.”

2. The message should always be specific. Avoid vague suggestions. Use concrete terms and descriptions, such as: “Save $5 on your purchase today,” as opposed to: “Save on your purchase today.”

3. Use power words to convey urgency. Power words include: “free” (most marketing pros agree this is the strongest word you can use in an ad), “limited time offer,” “only a few left,” “one-time special offer,” “free trial this week only,” “buy one get one free,” etc. Customers may not completely believe that they have to act immediately or lose their opportunity, but mentioning a time limit makes a call to action more compelling.

4. When you want a customer to take a certain action, be specific: “Get out your credit card and call now,” “Turn to our order page,” “Fill out the enclosed form and mail it with your check today” or “Click here.”

5. Companies wishing to convey a conservative marketing image (financial institutions, professional organizations, sellers of high-ticket luxury items, etc.) may want to avoid calls to action that give an impression of “hype” or high-pressure sales. Examples of conservative, prudent calls to action that do not sacrifice strength: “”Call our toll-free number to speak with one of our experienced representatives.” “Call today and we’ll show how you can safeguard your family’s future.”

6. Readers tend to be drawn to a P.S. at the end of a letter or other written offer. Many readers will read a P.S. just to make sure they’re not missing something. Use a P.S. to make a strong, conclusive call to action.

In general, you can strengthen every type of business communication you create by including a call to action — even when communicating with friends or associates. Whether communicating by e-mail, memo, voicemail or letter, your messages will be clearer and more compelling by concluding with strong and precise calls to action.

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