Small Business Resource Power Point Series The Importance of GOOD SALES COPY on a Website

Welcome If sales are down on your website then your site is not fulfilling its function. The most important factor in your site is your copy, or content, get this essential basic right and success will surely follow.

Consider Your Site When considering your website, whether it is to create a new one or simply to alter an existing site to increase sales use the following guidelines…..

Guidelines Write in short statements, emphasising benefits or using questions your visitors will fell compelled to answer. For example …..

Headlines Ensure headlines are short and to the point. Users wish to gain information quickly and easily. Try to see your site from the customers point of view, why are they there? They want to know that you can solve their problem easily.

Something for nothing… People visit the internet to obtain free information so that is what you must give them! Once they are a regular visitor to your site (5 – 10 visits) they will buy from you. Initially this may seem like a lot of work for nothing, but repeat business will soon build up, and you can move onto your next money making project!

Target Your Audience Aim your content at your selected target audience. Targeting too wide a range of people will mean you lose people’s attention and interest. So spend your time and money on specific groups of people first and you will soon become established as an expert in that field!

Come Back Soon! Stimulate return visits by putting new articles in your ‘free articles’ link, and draw attention to them by marking them as ‘NEW!’. Put in a new article at least every fortnight. Cause your copy to tell, persuade, and convince your visitor to buy!

Categorise Sort the articles you post on your site into a logical order. For example you could have:  Writing and Self Publishing  Online and Promotions  Web site sales copy  Web Promotion and Marketing

Bookmark Include a ‘bookmark this site’ notice on every web page and include a statement saying material is updated every two weeks. Then ensure updates are carried out!

Be Easily Understood Keep your language simple so it is easy to understand. Try to avoid jargon as it will quickly put off the uninitiated. Keep sentences and paragraphs short, particularly the first one, with no more than 4 or 5 lines. Remember that people want information quickly and a long paragraph can be off-putting.

Benefits Make a list of the benefits that your product or service offers. It should be at least 5 benefits long. Then take the first benefit and start by making it into a headline.

Features Make a list of the features your product or service offers. Again it should be at least 5 features long. Combine the features with a strong benefit in a bulleted list. These draw the eye and will be read by someone skimming the document.

Check Your Work! Before uploading to the Internet get a friend or colleague to read through your work. Ask them what would persuade them to part with their hard earned cash for your product.

Home Page On your home page don’t talk about yourself. Include benefits and questions for the visitor to answer. When writing your text direct it directly to the visitor, use “you”, to your future customer.

In Conclusion Don’t be dull, obtuse, or stale on your site. Your headlines and copy should excite, amuse and make your visitor think, “Wow! I want this amazing product!”

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