Loading

Grow Smart Business


teaserInfographic
Close

Search Articles

Most liked posts



Recent Articles

Popular Tags

accounting and taxes blogging blogs Branding Business Development business travel Capital Access Compliance Customer Service ecommerce Email marketing entrepreneur entrepreneurship Facebook Generational Marketing GrowSmartBiz Conference Grow Smart Business lead generation LinkedIn Marketing michael dougherty mobile marketing networking online marketing Raising Capital Resources retail sales sales process SBSI Search Marketing seo small business small business accounting small business hiring small business loans small business marketing small business resources small business technology Small Business Trends social media Technology Twitter Web Design Workforce

Categories

Posts Tagged ‘website content’

« Older Entries

6 Ways to Improve Your Website and Deliver the Information Your Customers Need

February 14th, 2013 ::

Sherlock HolmesAs a consumer, I find it incredibly frustrating to visit a website and not find the information I am looking for – I am sure you can relate. Sometimes it has to do with the content, which can range from dense, complicated, and completely unclear to so broad and general it is meaningless. Oftentimes, though, the information is simply missing.

Whatever the case, if your website visitor can’t find what they need, they will go elsewhere – and probably not come back. As a copywriter who works on a lot of website content, here are 6 simple ways to improve your website so your customers can easily find what they are looking for:

1. About Us

Your goal: Provide enough information so that a website visitor knows if you are a good fit for them and can meet their needs.

This might seem obvious, but make sure you clearly state – in plain English – what  you do, especially if your business is more technical, as well as the benefit of working with you. Also include your target market(s); for example, if you only work with commercial clients, then a residential customer will know to go elsewhere.

2. Contact Information

Your goal: Make it easy for customers to get in touch with you.

When a company practically hides their contact information, I wonder if they even want my business – or if they are headquartered on Mars. Display your phone number, email address, social media buttons, and physical address where it makes sense – not just on the Contact Us page.

3. Explainer Videos

Your goal: Quickly illustrate how something works.

If your product or service is more technical, complicated, or a new concept, a video will quickly illustrate how it works – like Dropbox does in this video on their home page.

4. FAQ

Your goal: Answer questions before they are asked.

“What are the hardware requirements? How long does it take? When will I start seeing results?” If you get the same questions over and over again, be sure to add an FAQ page to your website.

5. Downloadable Instructions

Your goal: Cut down on emails and phone calls.

It’s a basic fact that people lose paperwork, and with products being sold second-hand on Craigslist and elsewhere, you want to make sure your product is used properly. Add downloadable instructions to your website – it’ll reduce emails and phone calls.

6. Policies

Your goal: Keep your customers informed to avoid surprises or angry phone calls.

A lot of companies have privacy policies, but if you have others that will affect your customers, put them on your website, like Zappos did with their fur policy. You could have a smoking, pet, child, inclement weather, or return policy, but whatever it is, just put it up on your website – and make it easy to find.

What other information do you feel like you have to hunt for on websites?

Image courtesy of clipartist.info

Tags: ,
Posted in Marketing, Web Design | 2 Comments »

6 Surefire Ways to Improve Online Marketing via Your Website

December 6th, 2011 ::

6 surefire ways to improve online marketing via your website

Websites, white papers and blogs – there are plenty of sources out there for improving your online marketing strategy.  They range from simple (set up a website) to complex (put together a fully integrated social media marketing program that uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn  and Foursquare to promote your business).

Let’s keep it basic, though, and focus on 6 things you can do to improve your website:

1. Create clear and concise website content.

This is something I write about a lot.  Be clear about the value you offer customers with straightforward, clean Web copy that focuses on benefits, not features, and avoids fluffy descriptions.  Simply list what you do and how you successfully solve your customers’ problems.

To ensure it really is clear, ask friends and family who are not in your industry to read it.  If everyone quickly grasps what your company does, great job!  If not, try again or ask them for suggestions on improving the copy.

2. Add video.

One of the best ways to engage your prospective customers is by including a video that introduces your product or service in a quick and easy-to-understand format.  You can make one yourself (just do a quick search for Web video templates) or outsource it to a graphic designer.  Just make sure your video does not auto-play when a visitor first lands on your website.

3. Stay focused.

Keep your website content tightly focused on the benefits of your products or services.  Do not expound at length on your background or why you started your company, or continually repeat yourself, a common mistake.  Save all thought leadership for your blog, social media sites or your website’s resource center.

4. Go mobile.

If you have an app that can be used on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, let customers know on your home page – and link to the app on the App Store, Android Marketplace, Blackberry App World or the Windows Marketplace to make it easy for them to find and download it. Mobility is a major selling point for everyone who is busy, so this is a great way to grab their attention.

5. Tout free trials or demos.

If you offer free trials or demos of your product or service, don’t bury it in your website.  Make that a visible, primary call to action on your home and contact us pages.  I love it when companies turn those calls to action into big buttons so you can’t miss them.

6. Make signing up easy.

Help your buyers get started with your products or services right away by allowing them to sign up easily on your “home” and “contact us” pages, or by walking them through the steps they need to take to get going.

Do some – or all – of these things, and more of your website visitors will call or email you – and turn into potential customers.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

How to Write Engaging Website Content That Will Generate Leads Part 3

August 30th, 2011 ::
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Writing website content that generates leads

Full notebook

Even though I regularly write website content for other companies without a problem, I know how hard it is to write your own copy.  In fact, I struggled with mine for a month till I felt like I got it right!  So, I put together a three-part series that details how to do it properly so you will connect with your target market to the point that they can’t wait to work with/buy from you.

I already covered how to define your target market and services and write your value proposition in part 1, the beginning.  In part 2, the middle, I discussed what pages you need to include and in what order on your website and what to write on each page.  Now, we’ll put the finishing touches on the website.

1. Write the Home Page

The home page is always the last thing I write.  You need to be happy with the rest of your website content first.  So, on your home page, you immediately state who your company is, who your clients are, and what you do for them.  In other words, this is where your value proposition is going.

Then expand a bit on how, overall, you help your clients.  The very last thing you include is a list of the products and services you offer.

2. Write Calls-to-Action

So now you have all this great content that engages your target market and gets them, well, if not excited to buy from/work with you, interested in learning more and talking to you.

To get them to take that next step and do something by adding a call-to-action (CTA) on each page that urges them to contact you via email or phone.  It will read something like this: “If you are interested in taking your social media marketing efforts to the next level, contact us today.”  Hyperlink “contact us” to your Contact Us page.

You might be able to use one CTA on every page, but most likely you will want to customize it a bit for each product/service page.  You will also add one to the home page, and a really strong, longer one to the actual Contact Us page.

3. Integrate Keywords

Because you are going to optimize your website for search (please don’t say you are thinking about doing it – you MUST do it if you want to get found online), you need to integrate keywords into your content.  I do this last.

Ask the search engine optimization expert who is working on your site to do a keyword search based on your products, services, and other industry keywords that you use and are applicable to you.  Go through the list and choose the keywords that have the most relevance for you AND that get high rankings.

Now, read through your website content and make sure those keywords appear on relevant pages.

Image by Flickr user neil conway (Creative Commons)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

How to Write Engaging Website Content That Will Generate Leads Part 2

August 26th, 2011 ::
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Writing website content that generates leads

Notebook with some writing in it

If you wrote your company’s website content, you know how hard it is to get to the point where think you finally got it just right.  In this three-part series, I am walking you through the beginning, middle and end of writing website content that connects with your target market to the point that they say, Wow, I need to work with/buy from these guys.

I just covered the beginning, so now it’s time to move along to the middle.  Here are the next three things you need to do to write truly spectacular website content:

1. Decide What Pages You Need

Before you start writing the content, you need to set up your website’s navigation (site nav) by thinking like your customer.  What pages need to be in the main nav bar at the top of the page?  What pages can be subpages?  One must: Always have your About page front and center.  It is the most visited page on a company’s website.

In general, I like a site nav to go something like this (the subpages are indented):

Home

About

Mission/Values – if appropriate – depends on your business

Philosophy/Why We Are Different

Leadership

Clients

Products/Services

Subpage for each product or service you sell

Testimonials

Resources – if appropriate

Blog

Contact Us

One note about the Testimonials page: Sprinkle them around the site in the sidebar of the page, as people do not read websites like a book and may never check out your Testimonials page.

2. Decide What to Write

Now you finally start writing!  The first thing you want to do for each product or service page is identify the problem or challenge your clients have, explain how you solve those problems with that specific product or service, and explain how that benefits your client.  Then, and only then, you can discuss features of that product or service.

For your About section, clearly explain who your company is and what you do with an emphasize on the benefits you provide your clients.  Your leadership section should contain a short paragraph about each partner or  prominent executive.

Ask your clients for testimonials – 2-3 sentences – that explain how you helped them.  The resources page can contain links to industry news and blogs, company news, books, etc.

3. Make It Perfect

Now go back and edit everything.  Make sure you are not repeating yourself – really tighten it up so it’s short, sweet, and to-the-point.

OK, that’s it for now.  Next up: The End!

Image by Flickr user David Reber’s Hammer Photography (Creative Commons)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

How to Write Engaging Website Content That Will Generate Leads Part 1

August 24th, 2011 ::
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Writing website content that generates leads

Empty notebook

Ever try to write website content for your own business?  It is hard – really hard.  I am a copywriter, and I struggled to write content for my own website even though I write for other companies’ sites all the time without a problem.

I think the problem most people run into when writing their own content is they don’t understand one simple thing: You cannot write about yourself from one page to the next.  No one, but no one, cares about what you do and how you do it (OK, maybe your mom cares). They (really, us) just care what problems you solve for them (us).

In this three-part series, I will walk you through the beginning, middle, and end of writing website content that connects with your target market to the point that they say, Wow, I need to work with/buy from these guys.

Naturally, we will start at the beginning.  Here are the first three things you need to do to write truly spectacular website content:

1. Define your target market.

Most companies think they know who their customer is, but they don’t because they are not specific enough.  You can’t just say, My customers are government contractors or professional services firms.  You need to drill down to specifics: revenue, employee size, geographic location, specialties, gender, age, income level, education level, etc.

Until you know exactly who you are trying to sell to, you can’t write anything.

2. Define your services.

Yes, I know you know what you do.  But do you explain it in the most straightforward way possible?  If your service is on the more complex side (financial advisor, let’s say), or sounds vague when you state what it is you do (management consultant), you need to break down your services and clearly define each one.  What are the problems your clients have?  What are the solutions?  How do you implement those solutions and save the day?

So, instead of saying, “I provide interior design services,” list that you do space planning, staging for home sales, work with contractors during renovations, etc.

3. Write your value proposition.

Your value proposition is what makes you unique.  It is the reason people buy your products and services.  So sit down and brainstorm all the reasons you are different from the competition.  If you want more inspiration, ask your clients why they chose you over everyone else.   (All those quotes can become testimonials for your website.)

When you write your value prop, focus on your clients and the benefits you offer them. First start out by saying what problems you solve, then explain how you do it.  It should be one sentence long, and it should flow nicely, as if you were actually talking to someone.

Your value proposition will go on the home page of your website.  It has to be really good (no pressure!).

In my next post, we’ll cover the “middle” of writing website content: what pages to include, how to lay them out, and what to actually write in them.

Image by Flickr user dtron (Creative Commons)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

5 Website Mistakes That Are Easy to Fix

May 4th, 2011 ::

ToolsBecause I spend a lot of time on websites, either writing new content or updating existing content, I see the same mistakes over and over again.  Small business owners tend to be the worst offenders.  Here are the 5 most common website mistakes and how to fix them:

1. Using “We” Instead of “I”

While you may be inclined to inflate the size of your company from one person to many, don’t.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong being a company of one, and, in fact, you could use it as a selling point.  Clients will deal with you directly, they’ll get to tap into your expertise, etc.

The biggest problem with inflating the size of your small business, though, is the risk of looking like a liar (worst case) or inauthentic (not as bad, but not good).  Remember that potential clients are people who like to work with and buy from people they like and trust.

2. Prove You’re As Good As You Claim

While you can use every adjective and adverb in the thesaurus to describe your company, product, or service, it is far better to show it than to say it.  Add a portfolio of your work, client testimonials, graphics and stats, and anything else that illustrates the myriad ways you help your clients.  And keep that info updated!

3. Skip Overblown Job Titles

If you’re small, you don’t need to give everyone a big, fancy title.  In fact, it looks kind of silly if you are the CEO of three people. Make up a funny title for yourself (Chief Thinker) or just call yourself the owner or principal.

4. Your Photo Should Look Like You

If there’s a photo of you on your website, it should look like you in real life.  You want potential clients to recognize you at your first meeting rather than standing there, puzzled as to who you really are.

5. Explicitly State Who Your Target Market Is

You will be doing potential clients a big favor if you state front and center who your clients are.  Put it right there on your home page.  If they don’t fit your target market, they can move on to the next company on their list.  If they do fit your target market, they will be compelled to keep reading, and—hopefully—contact you.

What other website mistakes do you run across that drive you crazy?

Image by Flickr user L. Marie (Creative Commons)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Marketing, Small Business | 1 Comment »

GrowSmartBiz Conference: How to Multiply the Effects of SEO With Great Content

November 15th, 2010 ::

One of the Marketing Track sessions I attended at the GrowSmartBiz Conference had a great title–Stories, Content, and the Search Engine Sword Over Your Head–and delivered useful information in spades.  No matter how new or established your business, this session was a great way to learn exactly how to improve your search engine optimization efforts and results.

Ben Cook, the SEO Manager at Network Solutions, moderated the panel of 4 pros, including Tinu Abayomi-Paul, principal of Leveraged Promotion, Dr. Alan Glazier, founder and owner of Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care, Deborah Ager, principal of ClickWisdom, LLC, and Liana Evans, CEO of LiBeck Integrated Marketing.    (You might be curious as to why there’s an optometrist on the panel.  Dr. Grazier has successfully implemented SEO at Shady Grove Eye and become a prolific blogger in the process.)

Here are their tips on using great content to boost your website’s search engine optimization:

Write for your audience! To produce great content specific to your audience, you need to understand what they search for when online.  Use Market Samurai, a keyword analysis tool, to help you figure what people are searching for.  Then you will be able to write content that addresses their needs.

Use long-tail search terms in your content. Long-tail search terms are the descriptive keywords people enter in the search box when they’re conducting research online.  For instance, “children’s navy blue cotton jacket” rather than “children’s jackets”.  The more pages your website has, the more content you’ll have, and the more chances you’ll have at being found for long-tail terms.

Content type is important. Blogs, videos, and podcasts are great for search engine optimization, thanks to plenty of chances for back linking (aka, links from other sites).  All search engines, including Google and Bing, measure how often content is linked and how many views it gets, so the more varied your content, the better.

Make it easy to share content. Twitter makes sharing content and getting links easy as your content is spread from one person to the next.  On your blog, make sure you add “tweet this” and “like” buttons.  Google rewards websites that have links back to it from both new and established websites.

Optimize video and podcasts. Because search engines cannot read videos or podcasts, add a transcript.

The importance of the URL. You can create custom URL shorteners for branding purposes (I had no idea!).  Awe.sm is the first company I found in search results that does this.  Also be sure that your blog’s URLs contain the title of the blog post rather than numbers.

Photo Courtesy Shashi Bellamkonda

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Branding, Grow Smart Business Conference, Marketing, Search Marketing | No Comments »

Say What?

June 14th, 2010 ::

Log onto your website, pick up your marketing materials, and open up your PPT presentations.  It’ll only take a minute, so I’ll wait here til you’re ready.

Ready? 

Megaphone with lots of words

Jef Aerosol/Flickr

OK, now read through everything quickly and, objectively as possible, tell me this: Are you saying anything? 

Way too much business writing out there looks all sleek and shiny and SAT-word-y, while in fact it is confusing and utterly devoid of meaning.  If you can’t, in plain English, tell me what you do and how your product or service benefits me, then, really, what is the point of your website, brochure, one sheet, or presentation?

Both Seth Godin and Jason Fried, co-founder of Chicago-based software company 37 Signals and newly minted Inc. Magazine columnist, recently wrote about the state of bad writing and communications in the business world.  I both laughed and cringed while reading their blog and column, respectively, because they are so right.  (Jason offered up some examples of really great writing, so definitely take a look at his column on the subject.)  And yet bad writing is continually, and proudly, put out there. 

Take this example of embarrassingly awful writing that Seth offered up in his blog post, But You’re Not Saying Anything:

“The firm will remain competitive in the constantly changing market for defense legal services by creating and implementing innovative and effective methods of providing cost-effective, quality representation and services for our clients.”

Huh?

Now, that law firm instead could have said, “We will defend you to the death.”  That would not only get them a lot of attention real quick, but it will give you, their potential client, the distinct impression that they not only take their jobs very seriously, but employ real people, not dictionary- and thesaurus-wielding robots.

My friend Ken Fischer over at Click For Help has a useful quiz that can guide your writing.  When you log onto a website, can you:

In 2 seconds, tell me what the company does?

In 10 seconds, tell me what the benefit of doing business with them is?

In 1 minute, be convinced that company’s product or service will benefit you? 

Apply that quiz to your own website.  If you answer no to any of those questions, well, you know what to do.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

How Much SEO Can I Do By Myself?

June 9th, 2010 ::

After months of procrastinating, I really need to get my website tricked out with some SEO.  Because it’s such a technical process and can be rather expensive, I started wondering how much I could do myself. I have zero knowledge of or experience in HTML and web programming, and a budget of…well, let’s say not enough to pay an SEO expert what their service is worth. 

Robot with Magnifying Glass

liferoiblog/Flickr

Based on my research, which consisted of my limited knowledge, a Google search, and finally asking SEO guru Ken Fischer of Click for Help, there is quite a bit you can do on your own.  Needless to say, it’s not going to be nearly as effective as adding all those tags and metadata and technical gee gaws to your website, but it will certainly help. 

Here’s what you need, in no specific order:

Keywords.  Research keywords for your industry simply by plugging words and terms related to what you do into any search engine.  You probably already know what some key terms are, but get really creative.  Ask friends and family for their thoughts—you might get even more ideas. 

Once you have a list of keywords, add them to your website’s content wherever possible.  To make your content both readable and effective, you’ll want to craft your messaging and positioning statements around the keywords rather than just randomly inserting keywords into your content. 

Strong, original, well-written website content.  If your content is poorly written, no one’s going to click through your website, let alone contact you.  Remember that the reason you want your site to be optimized for search engines is not just so people can find you, but so those people become customers.  Without good content, that goal is a lost cause. 

If you’re not a good writer, find someone who is.  If you think you’re a good writer, find a good editor.  Make sure your content uses plain English rather than jargon and is thoughtful and original.  Most importantly, make sure your content speaks to your audience’s needs.  Explain to them how you are going to solve their problems and how you are going to do it better than the other guy. 

Links from other websites.  Link from websites to yours (aka, a backlink) are gold in the SEO world.  Think about it: why would someone provide a link to a website if it didn’t contain useful or interesting information?  Links drive traffic to your website and make web pages more likely to appear at the top of a search engine’s results page, which, in turn, pushes more traffic to your website.  It’s a nice little cycle once it gets going.

Publish articles to the LinkedIn groups you belong to and to an online article distribution service like EzineArticles or GoArticles.  As long as what you are writing is relevant and interesting, it will be shared over and over again.  You can also distribute press releases, sprinkled with backlinks to your website, to an online news release service like PR Web.  It will get picked up by news services, and because PR Web is recognized as an authority, backlinks from their website can drive a lot of traffic to your website.

Social media.  When you post to your favorite social media platforms, be sure you are offering advice, tips, and success stories with relevant links back to your website.  Avoid outright sales pitches at all costs.  Of course, if you’re running a special promotion, a sale, or launching a new product or service, you’re going to advertise that.  But people are more likely to pass along good advice than an announcement regarding a new product launch.  If your company sounds interesting, people will visit your website.      

Blog.  As with social media, blog posts that offer useful, relevant information and contain links back to content on your website will spur web traffic.  Publish a great blog, and people will pass it along, post it to Facebook, tweet it, and refer to it and ultimately drive traffic to your website.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, small business | 4 Comments »

How to Kill Your Business, Or Lead Generation Gone Awry

April 29th, 2010 ::

During this past month, we, the Network Solutions bloggers, have been relentlessly driving home the fact that inbound marketing is vital to any business.  The whole point of inbound marketing is to continuously drive leads so that your sales funnel, and by extension, your back account, is always full.

So, I have to ask: Once you get those leads, what are you doing with them?  This is where you say, “I’m talking to them via email, Facebook, and Twitter and answering their questions. I’m also gently feeding them our value proposition while finding out what their needs are.  As a result, I’m converting them to new business.”

But if you’re not saying that, what’s going on?  It can be easy to focus so intently on the needs of your current clients that you forget about cultivating potential clients.  If you want to kill your business, here’s what to do:

  1. Ignore comments and messages on social media. You already make time every day to reply to email, so set aside additional time to answer direct messages on Facebook and Twitter and reply to comments left on your blog.
  2. Only market your business sporadically. To keep a steady flow of potential customers coming in the door, so to speak, you have to be consistent in your marketing efforts.  That means setting up an online ad program, making sales calls and going to networking events even when you’re really busy, and so on.
  3. Send out newsletters and blog posts randomly. As stated above, you have to be consistent.  Publish your newsletter and blog at regular intervals.  Your newsletter should go out at the same time every month and your blog posts should be published on the same day(s) every week.
  4. Don’t bother with a mission statement. You need to know what problem(s) you solve for your clients, so potential clients will instantly understand why they need your product or service.  You also need to have a concise elevator speech so you can quickly answer the oft-asked question, “What is it your company does?”
  5. Confuse people once they’re on your website. Is your company’s mission statement front and center on your home page?  Is your website easy to navigate?  Do you make it easy for people to reach you by phone and email?  Are the benefits of your product(s) and/or service(s) clearly stated?   If people have to search for any of this information, kiss them goodbye.  They’re busy, and they’re not going to bother.
  6. Keep messaging inconsistent. Use the same language, industry terms, tone of voice, and style in all of your messaging, including on your website and in your marketing materials, newsletter, and blog.
  7. Un-brand yourself. Not only does your messaging need to be consistent, so does your look.  If your company looks sloppy and disorganized, potential clients might think your work is, too.  Find a graphic designer you like, and use them for everything: logo, stationery, business cards, website, brochures, etc.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Branding, Marketing, social media, Web Design | No Comments »

« Older Entries