02.20.07
Posted in Writing Action-Based Copy at 2:22 pm by Steve
The true power of testimonials is often misunderstood and underestimated.
Why should you solicit a testimonial? The most obvious reason is to help convince others that your product or service is exceptional. Half right.
Yes, it’s true that when you see favorable opinions about a person or a company, you tend to think better of them. It’s natural. But that’s only half the story. The second part is more subtle, and more powerful. Let me illustrate.
During the Korean war, the Chinese communists running American POW camps were extremely effective. They could get patriotic Americans to do and say things they never would have thought of doing at the start. How did they get them to crack?
They got them to write. Robert B. Cialdini explains how in his book, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion." At first, the Chinese asked innocent-enough sounding questions like "Is America perfect?" The obvious answer came quickly. "No, America is good, but not perfect."
"OK, write it down then," they’d be told. Here’s where the first chink in the American’s armor was exposed. Writing it down makes three crucial things possible:
- Writing (as opposed to just saying something) creates an undeniable record of what was expressed.
- You can use what was written to convince others (how testimonials are traditionally used).
- People come to believe what they themselves write.
The third point is the one which I didn’t fully grasp about testimonials. We judge ourselves based on our actions and what we state to others about ourselves and what we believe.
Have you ever been in an argument you felt you were losing? I have caught myself justifying my opinion, even when it was clear the evidence wasn’t in my favor. Why? We want to act consistently with what we have said. It’s even more powerful when we write it down.
So how does this apply to testimonials? Simple. When someone writes a testimonial about your service, first they have created an undeniable record that they feel a certain way. Second, you can use this testimonial to convince others you have a great product or service.
The third, and most important point is that those who write the testimonial convince themselves you have a great service even more by the very act of writing it down. They commit themselves to the statement.
When the Chinese communists coerced American POW’s to write down that America is not perfect, it was powerful. The Chinese took this statement and showed it to other Americans.
When asked why they wrote that America wasn’t perfect, the coerced POW would say, "Because it isn’t!" Because there was an undeniable record of what they said, there was no backing out. They found themselves defending "their" position. The act of writing it down made it not a position, but their position.
This powerful knowledge must be used ethically and responsibly. In getting a testimonial from a customer or client, understand how you effect their attitudes. You strengthen their commitment to use your product or service.
It’s your responsibility and mine to make sure we provide a service worthy of their praise. When we do so, it’s not manipulation. We are engaged in spreading the word about an excellent product or service. It’s a lot to live up to.
Businesses cheat themselves when they underestimate the power of testimonials to promote the excellent products and services they provide. If you haven’t harnessed the power of testimonials up to now, commit to yourself to it. Better yet, write it down.
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02.07.07
Posted in Web Site Usability at 1:28 pm by Steve
They don’t see what you see. When you create a Web page, you envision your reader reading the whole thing, carefully considering its content.
Not likely. People online typically don’t read. They skim or "scan" a Web page.
When the Web first came on the scene in the 90’s, many made the mistake of trying to apply rules of other mediums to Web pages. It didn’t work. Many of the "givens" for traditional publishing just didn’t translate to this new media.
The fundamental reason most people come to the Web are quite different from the reasons they read newspapers or magazines. When you take the time to read a magazine, you’re committing quite a bit of time. You’re looking for general information on a topic you enjoy.
When I pay for a magazine, I don’t feel I got my money’s worth out of it if I don’t read most of it. I feel obligated to at least glance through the whole thing. I don’t feel that way when I go online. Since I invested nothing besides my time, I feel no obligation whatsoever to read an entire article, much less explore the entire site.
That’s uncovers another major reason people don’t explore Web sites much online… there’s just too much to see. The Web puts so much information at your fingertips that you simply can’t begin to digest it all, no matter how focused the topic. Your Web site readers are bombarded daily with hundreds of marketing messages when they spend time online.
There are also basic assumptions about magazine readers that often don’t apply to the Web. First of all, I only subscribe to magazines about things I’m interested in. Why? I have to pay for them.
For this reason, a magazine’s readership is focused. Not so online. For example, I was very interested in woodworking several years. It got so bad that I was on a first-name basis with some of the Home Depot tool guys.
I subscribed to a few woodworking magazines. I paid attention to the advertisements in the magazine. I actually wanted to see what new tools and other innovations would be in the ads. However, when I’m online, I’m completely blind to banner ads. My mind simply blocks them out.
Your mind is well-trained too. Because of the tremendous amount of knowledge you’re exposed to on the Web, your mind gets very good at filtering out what it doesn’t need to know. It’s an information overload self-defense mechanism.
You simply can’t process it all. Your mind learns to quickly determine a few key things when you first arrive at a Web page from a search engine or link. The most important ones are:
- What’s this page about?
- What can I do on this page?
- What’s in it for me on this page?
Let’s get into the mind of your site visitor. As Steven R. Covey would say, let’s "begin with the end in mind." What do you want your best audience to do on your site? Purchase a product? Request more information? Learn about you, your products, and services? Now think about the service you offer.
Now consider what your target audience wants. They view why they are there in different terms than you do. They aren’t there to buy from you or to become a new lead for your business.
They arrive with a real or perceived need, greed, or fear of loss. These are the fundamental reasons people act in any way different from what they’ve done before, their "emotional triggers." When you activate one of them, they may act in a desirable way.
If they don’t see how the Web page they’re on will solve their problem, give them more of what they want, or help them secure what they now have, the back button is just a click away. If they came from a search engine, your site was just one of potentially millions of possible matches to the keywords they used to find your site.
Capturing Their Attention in Three Seconds or Less
Web studies have shown overwhelmingly that you’ve got 3 seconds to connect with your Web site visitor. The user’s eyes glance in an efficient zig-zag pattern to quickly capture headlines, pictures, and other clues to decide if they will stay or bail.
For most Web sites, the average visitor sees one page, then leaves. The home page is not only the page where most people enter the site. It’s also the top exit page in most cases. Why? Besides the fact that it gets more traffic than other pages, it’s also where a visitor decides if they are in the right place.
In those critical seconds, your site is summed up, evaluated, and accepted or rejected. It may rub you wrong to realize that so little consideration is given to all your hard work. But that’s the way it is. Neither of us will change it so long as people are pressed for time and have nearly endless options online.
Here’s the good news. Most Web sites out there are abysmal at speaking to their audience. You don’t have to be much better than average to get much better results than your competition. Most Web developers don’t understand your audience. They understand how to create an eye-pleasing site which works technically well. Just don’t leave the messaging to them, because they won’t know where to start. It’s not their fault. It’s just not what they were trained in.
So when you design your Web pages (especially the home page) so that it assures your visitor within three seconds that they are in the right place to solve their problems, you’re way ahead of the game.
For help in designing your Web site to quickly speak to the needs of your target audience, contact us at (801) 282-2778 or email us at seomarketer@gmail.com We’re here to help.
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02.03.07
Posted in About Online Marketing Advisor at 5:55 pm by Steve
It’s a focus on business. When you decided to build a Web site, you had a specific goal. A few things you might want to accomplish might include:
- Get More Clients or Leads
- Make More Money Online or In Your Bricks and Mortar Business
- Get the Word Out About Your Product, Service, or Message
Whatever your goal was, I know one thing it wasn’t. You didn’t set out to build a Web site to learn HTML, Web programming, or graphic design. So why is it that traditional Web development companies speak in the language of programmers or creative directors. Simple. It’s what they know.
A Different Kind of Web Company
Our approach is different. It’s unconventional. Most importantly, our history has shown it works. We’d love to show you a new way to look at your online presence… through the eyes of business, not technology or design.
Get the Rest of the Story About a Web Company With Your Business Objectives as Its Only Measure of Success
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02.01.07
Posted in Writing Action-Based Copy at 6:25 pm by Steve
You send out a mailer and get no response. Your Web site doesn’t convert traffic into sales or new customers. What’s going wrong?
Getting action online or off happens naturally when you:
- Reach those most receptive to your message
- Speak to their emotional triggers (what they care about)
- Give them a reason to act now
Target Audience
Before you can begin to create sales copy that gets results, start with your audience. Know who they are. Know what they want.
Get personal. Before you begin to write sales copy, try this. Picture in your mind your ideal target customer. If you’re selling life insurance, maybe your perfect contact is a middle age man with 3 kids.
You want your writing to sound like a conversation between two friends. You can’t really picture some nebulous "audience" in your mind. You can picture an individual. As you write, speak to this person’s needs.
Speak to Readers’ Emotional Triggers
What’s an emotional trigger? It embodies the emotional reasons you can use to move people to action. Here’s the 3 most important you’ll use in effectively reaching your audience "where they live."
- Frustrations – In dealing with competing services offering your product or when doing without your product or service, what has frustrated or angered this person?
- Fears – What things is this person afraid he or she will lose if they don’t buy your product or service?
- Ambitions – What goals does this person have which you can show your product or service will help make happen?
It’s a simple truth none of us want to admit to. We buy what we want, not what we need. Want is emotional. Need is mental and practical.
If your writing sounds like some dry list of features, you keep your readers on a detached mental level. Benefits, on the other hand, embody why they should care.
If you’re selling computers, a feature might read, "3.0 GHz Dual Core Processor." To a computer fanatic, this means something. To you and I, it only has any meaning in comparison to another computer with only a "2.6 GHZ Dual Core Processor." Yawn!
Now compare this with "The fastest processor on the market today – so you can play all the latest games." For the average computer user, which has more meaning? The specific speed of the processor gives a feature of the computer. But the second example tells you why you should care. Effective copy is based on benefits, not features.
Call to Action
Lastly, effective copy calls to action. Make it clear what you want your reader to do. Maybe you want them to pick up the phone and call. You may want them to buy something online or sign up for your newsletter. Whatever it is you want your reader to do, make it crystal clear.
In short, don’t make them have to think about what to do next. When they have to consider options, they almost always choose something other than your most desired action. Never rely on your Web site’s navigation to provide direction. Lead your reader by the hand. You’ll convert far more site visitors into buyers, customers, and leads.
Many salespeople will tell you that for most sales presentations, you have to attempt to close the sale more than once. The Web is no different. That’s why successful Web copy has calls to action all through the content.
I’m a huge fan of long copy. Not all my readers are. So when I create a long sales piece, I’ll put a call to action about a third of the way through, one at the two thirds point, and one at the end. I tracked the results of where on the page people clicked and got a real shock when I tallied up the results.
I assumed most people would read all the way to the bottom. I figured that if I kept putting good reasons to buy and made it interesting, they’d keep reading. What I actually found was that on my sales letter, a full 40% clicked on the first link. 10% clicked on the second. Only 50% of those who clicked on my call to action read all the way to the bottom of the sales piece and clicked the link there.
Wrapping It All Up
To get the most measurable action out of your writing, you must:
- Reach those most receptive to your message
- Speak to their emotional triggers (what they care about)
- Give them a reason to act now
Follow this pattern and you won’t believe the improvement in how people react to your message. Learning all the specifics of how to do this in your writing is certainly beyond the scope of this article. I’ve studied this process for years and I’m still continually learning.
Online Marketing Advisor has helped many clients to increase their sales by 50% to 400%. The number one thing that makes the difference is the quality of your conversation with your customer. Online, that conversation is dramatically improved with effective copy.
Attractive or Effective?
A prettier site won’t speak to your audience as well as better sales copy. Yet when many clients come to us wanting to improve their online presence, they focus first on the look of the site.
OK, if your site looks like a high-school student created it, you may need a new look. But I’ll go so far as to say that some of the best-selling Web sites I have seen out there have a very simple look, but a deadly-accurate message.
Go to a famous art museum like the Louve in Paris. I guarantee that as someone looks at a famous painting like the Mona Lisa, you’ll never hear them exclaim, "Nice frame!"
On your Web site, the look of the site is just the frame. Your content is what people have come to see. So give them content that speaks to them and their needs, greeds, and fears of loss. You’ll see dramatic results.
-Steve Myers
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