I would venture to say that many
of you reading this have a website to promote your small
or home-based business. Some of you may be doing quite well
with your site, while others of you are struggling ... trying
to figure out why you're not getting more visitors ... or
more sales.
I used to offer
copywriting evaluations of a website's Home page, and the sites that I was asked to review
ranged from "pretty good" to "pretty awful."
As a 'community service,' I'm going to share with you some
of the problem areas I encountered in the hopes you might
'see yourself' and gain some ideas for improvement.
On a health-related site I recently
reviewed, there was a banner link to an Internet marketing
website at the very top of the Home page. I was amazed!
Did the site owner actually want me to click on this banner
and leave her/his site before I'd even had a chance
to see what was being offered? Not only that, if I was looking
for information related to health issues, why would I want
to visit a site having to do with Internet marketing?
It seemed many site owners expected their visitors to be mind-readers. They
provided so little information on the Home page that it was
a guessing game as to what they were selling. The first
page can be the 'make it or break it' page. Your message
doesn't have to take up a full page (although it doesn't
hurt -- if it's well written), but there should be at least
enough to give the visitor a reason to explore your site
for more information.
I was always pleased when I saw
a site owner had a strong, snappy headline. Trouble is,
on many occasions, it was all but invisible because the words
were in the same font size and color as the rest of
the page. In most cases, the more important something is, the more prominent it is. Therefore,
doesn't it make sense that the headline should be larger,
bolder, and/or in a bright bold color?
One of the most common problems
I came across was that site owners write about themselves.
Here's an example of what one person wrote: "I designed
this website to share my knowledge and experience."
Who cares? Visitors are not interested in why you designed
the site. And they don't care about your knowledge and experience
-- except when they can see how it's going to help them.
One of the best ways to avoid talking about yourself is
to use the words "you" and "yours" and
stay away from using "I" or "we."
If you saw yourself in any
of these scenarios, you might want to consider reading a
book by Steve Krug called "Don't
Make Me Think." It's a common sense approach
to making your site more user-friendly and thus, more sales-friendly.
And if you would like me to take a personalized look at
your Home page and offer my comments/ suggestions/ recommendations,
be sure to visit this
page for a FREE website review.
Nan Yielding has nearly 10 years experience as an online business owner. She is the owner of Writing-Etc.com and offers internet marketing services and assistance to help website owners attract more customers and increase sales.
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