Your Web Site is the crown jewel of your social networking campaign. It provides information on your products, services, location, and how to contact you. Most important of all, it tells your audience what you can do for them. Please do not make the mistake of telling people what you do. Always, tell people what you can do for them. A subtle change in words? Yes, but a vast difference in the marketing effectiveness of your Web content, Web site, and social networking campaign.
Here's an example. Let's say you're a carpenter. Your Web site says:
- "I'm a carpenter." This does not tell people what you can do for them. It only tells you that.
Compare that with telling your audience what you can do for them. Like this:
- We can build you a garage.
- Build, or enlarge, your deck.
- Put an addition on your house.
- Redecorate your kitchen, install custom cabinets, counters, lighting, and appliances.
- Redecorate your bathroom.
- We also provide you with the related plumbing and electrical work.
Do you see the difference? When you say, "I'm a carpenter," the reader does not know that means because the reader is not a carpenter. In the second example, you list enough about your services to cause the reader to ask the ultimate question, "If they do that, maybe they do __________ ."
That question can make your phone to ring, lead to a construction site visit, a written estimate, and to a successful business. Do not underestimate the marketing effectiveness of telling people what you can do for them.
Your Web sites needs to have these characteristics.
- It must be written in an easy to understand language using everyday words.
- Do not use jargon unless you are sure that your audience understands it.
- If you are writing your own content, have it read by someone you trust in your target audience. Asking staff or family is a big mistake. What do you think they're going to tell you?
- Include links to your online social networking campaign.
- Verify that the copyright date is current. Failure to do this can make it look like you are no longer in business. Ask your Web master to install a script to keep the copyright date current. We've used one on all of our sites for years.
- Include contact information where ever you ask the reader to contact you. Don't make the reader go looking for your phone number, or E-mail address.
Give you Web site our 30-second test here, http://webcontentrx.biz/web-content-30second.htm.
Savvy marketers use the words you, your, and yourself in their copy. That those words appear here is not an accident. We cover this in Web Content Rx, A Quick and Handy Guide for Writers, Webmasters, Ebayers, and Business People. Knowing how to write Web content to sell your products is not optional. The quality of your content will determine your online success.
As Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Starship Enterprise so often said, "Make it so."
