Think like a Potential Customer
Since we don’t shop on our own ecommerce sites and already know everything about our own products it can be hard to think of your site like a potential customer would. When you are shopping online think about what you like or dislike, what questions are unanswered, what leads you to look elsewhere and more. Analyze these details and apply them to your own site.
When looking at fishing lures recently I found a lure that had a really intriguing name – The Top Secret Jig. I had to click it to find out what was so top secret about it. Upon going to the detail page I couldn’t tell what features were unique from the picture alone. The description stated:
“The Top Secret Jig is the first truly innovative jig to come along in years” 1
That’s great but why is it innovative? No additional reason is given and I have no compelling reason to buy it.
Who, What, Where, When, Why
I faintly remember learning in 3rd or 4th grade about the key elements involved in writing any good article or story. We were told that every good story should answer these five questions – Who, What, Where, When and Why. This basic lesson applies equally to writing good product descriptions. Answer these questions well and your potential customer won’t have to look elsewhere for more information.
Nothing Personal
Another great tip is to always try to convey how the features you are highlighting will benefit the customer personally. Help them imagine how its use will benefit them rather than offering a cold list of product specs.
Duplicate Content
Many of us have heard that duplicate content isn’t good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you think of it from the search engines perspective, their value lies in delivering the most relevant content. Repeating the same copy for every result would devalue the search offering. One of the biggest things you can do to get better SEO, stand out in searches or product feeds is write original content. If you put it the effort you will gain a great advantage over your competitors who don’t take the time to make these important changes.
Check Your Work
In addition to checking your writing for spelling and grammatical errors you should also have a friend or family member unfamiliar with the product read the description. What questions are they left with? Do they know enough that they would consider purchasing it? I’ll post more about getting free site feedback in a future article.
Get Busy
Writing great, informative and original content for your products should keep you busy for a while. If you find the process overwhelming try to update just a few of your top selling products every day. Hopefully over time your product descriptions will lead to more sales and your search results will be vastly improved. If you have any comments or tips please add them below.
References: 1 LandBigFish (07/7/09) www.landbigfish.com
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