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. Read the rest of this entry »

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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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