Three Things Every Website Should Do

When I started my company in 2002, I knew I needed to have a website. Why? To provide credibility! How can a company be "real" in this day and age if it doesn't have a website? So, like many companies, I published an informational website that explained "here's who we are, and here's what we do".

I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about my website. I certainly didn't think of it as a strategic weapon in my company's marketing arsenal. That started to change in the spring of 2004 when a newsletter was forwarded to me by a fellow member of the National Speaker's Association. The subject of the featured article was something called "internet marketing".

The article caught my fancy, so I subscribed to the author's newsletter. Over the next month or two I picked up an eBook and a CD that were recommended in newsletter articles. The concept of internet marketing really started to intrigue me, so I decided to do some serious research.

During the next four months I invested several thousand dollars and a couple hundred hours learning about internet marketing. My conclusion? I was missing out big-time with my company's website! In fact, I concluded that just about every business website would be vastly improved if it was re-designed to do three things:

1. Help visitors RAPIDLY answer two questions:

  • "What does this company do?", and

  • "Is there anything here for me?"
2. Encourage visitors to opt-in to receive free information resources.

This keeps website visits from being one-shot deals. If you offer visitors the opportunity to opt-in to receive free, value-added information, and you provide truly useful information on a regular and consistent basis, you will earn trust and build relationships. This increases the likelihood that your website visitors will buy from you over time.

3. Motivate Action

If a website page is going to motivate a visitor to take action, the focus needs to change from you, your company and your products and services to your visitors and their problems.

Web pages that motivate action are not distant and aloof. Instead, reading them feels like a one-on-one conversation between you and the reader. The copy invokes the reader's emotions, plus provides enough supporting details to enable the reader to feel comfortable making a decision to buy online or to contact your company for more information.

This very specialized form of copywriting is called a "sales letter". You have probably received sales letters in the mail, or seen a similar type of advertising in television infomercials. Some sales letters and infomercials sound pretty "cheesy"; yet, for decades sales letters have repeatedly proven to be one of the most productive forms of direct marketing.

The biggest criticism you'll hear about sales letters (usually from corporate website designers) is, "This copy is much too long! Nobody is going to take the time to read that much information!"

You know what? The critics are almost right. Probably 95% of readers will not read any given sales letter in its entirety. That's OK, because sales letters are not written to appeal to everyone! They are written to appeal to specific individuals that have the specific problems the sales letter addresses.

Most people will skim a sales letter...IF it has a compelling headline or sub-headline that catches their attention. They may read a paragraph or glance at a few bullets. If the paragraph or bullets are compelling, they may read another paragraph. Once they have read several compelling paragraphs, they may decide to go back and read the sales letter from the beginning. At that point it becomes much more likely the reader will take the action the sales letter recommends.

Conclusion

If you want your website to generate online sales and/or leads, it needs to do three things:

  • Help visitors rapidly figure out what your company does and whether you can do anything for them

  • Encourage visitors to opt-in to receive value-added communications (so that you can build relationships and earn trust)

  • Motivate action
    • To motivate action, change every page that describes one of your company's products or services to a sales letter. Make sure each sales letter includes a "call to action", whether it is making a purchase or contacting your company for more information.

    Change the focus of your website from you, your company, and your offerings to your visitors and their problems -- and watch the online sales and leads roll in!

    Copyright 2005 -- Alan Rigg

    Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. To learn more about his book and sign up for more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020performance.com.

    In The News:

    pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    Web Sites ? Should I Learn or not?

    A common dilemma most small and medium businesses face when... Read More

    HTML Editors 101 - Smaller Is Better

    SiteSpinnerSiteSpinner is a user-friendly web site development tool that includes... Read More

    The Two Most Common Mistakes That Scare Away Web Visitors

    Can you imagine the hypocrisy of spending thousands of dollars,... Read More

    Why Do I Need A Web Site?

    Even though the Internet has been around for a long... Read More

    Free Websites & Why You Should Avoid Them

    It amazes me how many people try to build serious... Read More

    Website Sales: 10 Reasons Why People Dont Buy From You

    You've put up a website to promote a product or... Read More

    Planning A Usable Website: A Three-step Guide

    A website is like an information flow, with you as... Read More

    The Power Of CPanel

    cPanel is a control panel for your website and allows... Read More

    Live Support from Your Website? Can You Do It for Free?

    I'm a freelance programmer and somehow I managed to get... Read More

    The Problem with Automated Accessibility Testing Tools

    An automated accessibility tool is a piece of software which... Read More

    The Cost Of A Web Site

    Just starting out, you can start with a simple informational... Read More

    10 Things You Should Be Monitoring On Your Website

    Every business needs to know how it is doing. That's... Read More

    Building a Great Intranet Taxonomy

    While it may seem like a "quick and easy" task,... Read More

    How To Write More Powerful Online Text

    Although there are significant differences among the various types of... Read More

    How Web Templates Are Helping Online Businesses to MultiplyTheir Income

    Web templates by nature are created to aid and ease... Read More

    Launch Your Own Website Today - Its Easier Than You Think!

    Thousands of people are now making a living online and... Read More

    Achieving Differentiation With Your Website

    Internet Marketing is not a miracle marketing strategy ? competition... Read More

    Making the Most of Your Website: Start with the Basics

    One of my most salient memories from when I sold... Read More

    Tips to Protect Your Downloads or Products

    1. Upload robots.txt file in to your root directory and... Read More

    Database Driven Web Site - Do You Need It?

    Many of site owners still don't realize all advantages of... Read More

    Make Your Web Site Stand Out

    When visitors add your web site to their Favorites or... Read More

    Getting One-way Inbound Links: the 5 Major Strategies

    With search engines putting a damper on direct reciprocal links,... Read More

    The Problem with Paypal On Your Web Page

    When I set up my website I felt paypal was... Read More

    I Did It: Six Months to a Successful Website

    For years now I've been looking to start my own... Read More

    How to Build a Database Driven Web Site

    If you ever want to create a state directory, article... Read More

    Website Content & Usability

    Writing for the web is totally different to writing for... Read More

    Trust Us! Sending Credible Messages

    A company must earn and keep trust or sales don't... Read More

    How to Listen on the Web

    When building a relationship, listening is more important than talking.A... Read More

    In Business? 10 Reasons Why You Need a Website -- Now!

    1) Word of Mouth The single most powerful form of... Read More

    Using Mini Websites - Powerful Way to Direct Marketing

    Mini Websites are the most powerful and cost effective solution... Read More

    Benefits Of Making Your Website Accessible To Disabled Users ? Part 2: The Business Case

    The Disability Discrimination Act states that service providers must not... Read More

    Selling Your Site: Outsource or Homemade?

    To the starting internet entrepreneur, there is nothing more discouraging... Read More

    You Dont Know Which One

    I still remember it very clear ... It was almost... Read More