Building an Effective Web Site

Many web sites that have a marketing goal in mind have been created to be informational in nature. That's all right if you have built the website for the sole purpose of providing information. However, if your goal is to promote something - to actually have your reader take an action of some, sort, then it has to be designed to support this goal.

Your web page must have an effective headline and tell the user exactly what your site is about or you will lose them. If your site exists for the sole purpose of selling one or more of your products, let them know!  If you do, and they stick with you to learn more about your products, then they have just become a pre-qualified prospect.

Keep Your Site Theme Based

If you plan on selling t-shirts and cell phones, PLEASE don't do so on the same site. Rather, create two separate sites that focus on that particular inventory theme. Now this does not mean that you should only sell one product. For example: Cell phones - dozens of products and services, one theme (focus)! 

Home Page: Keep Out Links To Related Sites

If you were a hardware store owner, you wouldn't send your customer to a competitor as soon as they walked in the door would you? Well, that's exactly what you'd be doing if you provided related links and products on your home page after working so hard to get that visitor to your site. Related links and products should be included on a separate web page (if at all!).

Sometimes it is appropriate to use a link to another page in order to reinforce your message in providing your product/service. If you must use links that take the user on a tangent, load the new page in its own smaller window. This way, the main focus of your product is not compromised since the main product window remains underneath.

Creating Buyers With Killer Sales Copy!

If your main goal it to make product sales, then "copy is king". Many new Internet marketers get caught up in the glamour of their web site design and completely neglect their sales copy. The information that will be read by your prospect, which has been created for the main purpose of turning your prospect into a buyer, should be your highest priority. I've seen web sites where they have just carelessly pasted up incomplete thoughts.... unsupportive information.... boring  statistics.... or just images without any words whatsoever.... and then they can't figure out why they're not making sales!

Cool colors and animated images will not get you any closer to selling your product or service. Your sales copy will. Informative, exciting, compelling, well-written sales copy is definitely one 
of the most important factors in deciding whether your business will succeed or fail.

When you are aware of it, you will notice that copy is in every medium: newspapers, magazines, and although in a different form, radio and television. Similarly, copy is all over the place on 
the web. It's not just in your sales letter and order form. It's in every paragraph, product description, link, button, heading.... it's in every single thing that you display on your web pages!

Keep It Simple

Make your sales copy as clear and concise as possible! Don't try using long words and sentences - this would be very distracting and removes the focus on your products. Be sure to explain everything since you wouldn't want your reader to guess at what you're trying to say. You want them to comprehend everything you're talking about with the greatest of ease.

Write your sales copy as though you were talking with someone, not at them. Be as informal as possible. It is difficult to develop a rapport with your prospect if they do not feel that you are reaching them at a personal level. If your copy reads like you're talking to your buddy, then you hit the nail on the head!

Only use words in all capital letters if you want to emphasize a point. Of course, this could also be accomplished by bolding the text. By using a lot of words in caps it seems like you're yelling at them! Also, avoid underlining text since people will naturally think that it is a hyperlink. 

A wonderful way to make points is by using bullets. They allow you to make your points in a very easy to read and straightforward fashion. Don't use words like "me" and "I". Instead, use words like "you" and "your". Doing so will make your reader feel like your talking with them personally.

Make It Exciting

Make your sales copy as exciting as you can. Make the boldest promise you can make as long as you can deliver on it! Use words that build excitement and motivate people such as: Free, Guarantee, Secret, Save, Easy, You, Your, Now, How to, Fast, Value, Money, Discover, Amazing.

Avoid words that would make your customers click away from you such as: Buy, Bad, Hard, Taxes, Difficult, Failure, Contract, Decision, Cost, Obligation, Fail, and Sell.

FREE is the most powerful four-letter word on your web site. It does indeed grab people's attention. However, don't offer "free items" if you expect your customer to pay for things like postage and handling. If you do, you will lose all credibility!

Building Credibility

Not only do you need to educate your prospect on your products, in order to build credibility, you may need to educate them on you! If you're an expert in your field, tell them so. If not, show them why they should trust you and your product. Perhaps you hired a team of experts to develop your product. Use testimonials from previous happy customers. Use percentages and charts that give real, concrete examples. Your prospect needs to feel comfortable with taking the plunge and making a purchase with you. Make your contact information visible with real names, physical and email addresses and phone numbers. Not providing this will make your customer feel skittish about making a purchase with you.