Posts Tagged ‘increasing sales’
10 Tips for Improving Your Online Copy to Increase Sales
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
So, you’ve engaged in various online marketing campaigns - SEO, linkbuilding, online ads - but your site still isn’t seeing a surge in sales? Well, it may be that your website’s copy needs a tune-up; that your site’s text doesn’t flow, or engage the visitor or call them to action. If that’s the case, here are 10 copywriting tips you can use to give your website a much-needed writing boost!
1. Use white space to your advantage - We’ve all been to websites that have big blocks of text, with no end in site. Sites like that are truly lucky that anyone stays to read their uninviting novel. If you want your text to be inviting, then make it manageable to readers. That means small paragraphs with lots of white space.
2. Use original content, and lots of it - One of the worst things you can do for your website, in terms of search engine rankings and readership, is to copy and paste text from another site, even if you have permission to do so. All of the major search engines frown upon duplicate content, and visitors searching competing websites are sure to be unimpressed when they happen upon your website, whose copy is identical to the previous three he or she just looked at! Keep all your copy new and fresh and add pages to your site for regular news or blogs - all that extra content will help bring in more visitors to your website.
3. Give visitors a call to action, and often - Okay, the good news is a visitor is on your website, reading your copy. Now what? If you want to turn visitors into customers you will have to hold their hand through the process. Give them the opportunity to buy or learn more (whatever it is you want them to do). Throughout the text on each of your pages, have links that say “Read more”, “Order now”, “Learn more”, etc. You want to make sure you don’t miss the short window of opportunity with your visitor when he or she decides they’re ready to take action.
4. Answer unspoken questions on the first page - What are the most common questions that people have about your business? Okay, now instead of hiding them deep within your FAQ page, answer those questions right on your home page. Don’t let visitors make assumptions about your business, because that may quickly lead them off your page and onto someone else’s!
5. Break up your text - Use bullets or numbers to emphasize points, break up text and bring in some more white space. Another good way to break up text is by using a picture, graphic, or headline - anything to make your website’s copy look unintimidating.
6. Keep headlines short and to the point - A good headline tells the reader everything he or she wants to know, in only a few short words. You should spend more time on a headline because it will be what your readers are most drawn to, and it’s designed to quickly grab their attention. The most important thing about a headline is that the message needs to be 100% clear and understandable. No one should be forced to re-read a headline because they weren’t quite sure if it meant one thing or another.
7. Make your copy personal - If you want to really engage your readers, then talk to them like you know them and understand them. Instead of bragging about how “thousands” have been satisfied with your products, tell them specifically how one of your products could work for them. Imagine you’re writing copy to one of your customers, because visitors don’t log on in groups, they come as individuals.
8. Stick to one - or two-column web pages - Don’t try to get fancy with multiple newspaper-style columns, just stick with the format your online customers are used to, a simple one- or two-column page.
9. Separate your site from its competitors - Unless there are no other websites selling similar products or services to yours, it’s a good idea to give your visitors the reason why you stand apart. The best thing you can do is to avoid clich�s like “our customers are #1″ and to be specific, like “our organic baby diapers are 100% natural and biodegradable”.
10. Make ordering easy - Okay, now here is where many online sites fail; they make ordering overly long and tedious, and then they wonder why their shopping cart abandonment rate is so high. Don’t require additional information like survey questions or membership signups in order for a visitor to place an order. Make the process simple and try to condense the number of checkout steps to four or less (three is optimal).
Now that you have been given some copywriting tips for your website, you’ll be ready to give your online text a makeover! The effort you put in to bringing visitors to your website will mean nothing if the site is hard to read and requires too much time to understand. The key to any website’s success is to make sure your copy is understandable, to the point, grammatically correct and that the text is broken up by lots of white space.
Tags: advice, Carrie Hinkel, copywriting, E-Commerce and E-Business, Generating More Sales, increasing sales, online copym, Sales, tips, website, writing copy
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5 Tips for Utilizing Email Marketing to Drive Sales
Friday, October 19th, 2007
Email is a quick and reliable mode of transferring messages and information. It is also a relatively free form of advertising. For new businesses, anything free is worth considering. But there are many regulations that muddy the waters of email marketing, and if you go the wrong way here, you’re likely dealing with hefty fines.
There are some things that can help business owners take full advantage of email marketing, while avoiding potential pitfalls.
1. Focus your attention first on those people who have already expressed an interest in your service or product. Starting and maintaining a short newsletter can attract subscribers who would be more likely to buy from you. Once they subscribe, they provide their email addresses, which provides you with a chance to market.
2. Make sure that you don’t go against the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: This Act allows for up to an $11,000 fine per spam email sent, but you can use software or the service of a company specializing in spam avoidance to ensure that your marketing does not go against the Act. In general, the Act requires that you: provide a valid physical address for contact, allow a one-click unsubscribe button, and disallow the importing of lists, which may include purchased contacts.
3. Track your email. Tracking who responds to your email and who doesn’t can be a great tool for evaluating how well your marketing efforts are paying off. Unlike written communication, email marketing leaves a permanent trail. Response time and email-to-final-purchase ratio each tell a story about your marketing success. Some people may choose to use more advanced tracking methods, such as coding links within each message that notifies you every time a potential buyer clicks for more information.
4. Personalize. Don’t think that just because you’re sending the equivalent of a “cold-call” through email, that you have to make your message impersonal. In fact, the computer robots that go through and decide which emails to mark as spam and which to mark as legitimate mail depends a lot on how you address their email. Use a real name and a believable subject line, and include your contact information at the bottom of the email. You are, after all, trying to attract people to your product.
5. Embellish. If you have a choice and the capabilities, use html in your emails. Plain text doesn’t attract attention like a slick logo or graphics. This will also show your recipients that you didn’t just slap some sentences together and send the message off blindly, but that you took your product and its future seriously.
You may want to look into the services of an email service provider (ESP). Many have easy to use features that are great for those just getting started with email marketing, such as customizable HTML templates, the ability to personalize your emails, and open and click reporting. Most importantly, ESPs also help you to become CAN-SPAM compliant by reviewing your lists and maintaining relationships with the various internet service providers that your subscribers are using so that your emails get delivered. While some ESPs can be pricey, others (such as Constant Contact )are inexpensive and cater to small businesses with smaller budgets.
Email has more potential to attract customers than any other Internet marketing method. Think of how hard it is to climb the page rankings at Google and Yahoo. Trying to bring customers to your site involves years of work or a lot of money as you struggle to get the Meta Tags and descriptors just right for your site to move up in the rankings. Email marketing is much more skill-dependent. It still involves work and creativity to attract customers this way, but is much more rewarding, as email marketing can bring people into your business who will turn into regular customers.
Tags: advice, boosting sales, constant contact, E-Commerce and E-Business, email marketing, increasing sales, jennifer ratliff, Marketing, Marketing Your Business, tips
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