Web Design, Development & Online Marketing - Serving the Central and North Texas Markets

Sequencing Copy for Maximum Conversion

Whether its online copywriting or offline, don’t “sell” on your pages.  Rather tell a story to get significantly better results.  This method is referenced from Marketing Experiments.  The case study showed 200%+ conversion improvement using this sequencing process…just by changing the copy. 

Tell a story.  People respond to stories.

Each part of the conversion process is tied to the ideal story progression.  It’s a process of transitions from set up to confrontation & rising action to climax then resolution.  The following will help to outline the structure for your own writing. 

1.  THE HEADLINE   - setup  

The “story” might start with your paid ad, for example, that sets up the promise leading them on the next step to your landing page.

Start with the “why” they may be on your page, what is driving them to look and confirm that in the title and text.

Action/goal:

a.  Attention grabbing headline that will resonate with the target audience

b.  Get them to click through or read on to the next paragraph

 2.  THE SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH/S - confrontation, rising action intensifies

 On your landing page, continue emphasizing the pain/problem you can solve with your very specific value as unique solution.  Several transitions can occur on the landing page.  Keep clarity to the viewer’s level of understanding.

First paragraph  (do NOT skip this):

a.  Where am I

b.  What can I do here

c.  Why should I do it

Body paragraph/s:  (Intensify with these elements now)

Proof  (data)

Benefits (before features)

Features  (only AFTER benefits)

Incentives  (offer)

Urgency   (today, save $200)

All of these can appeal to the external and internal motivators

Example: Boss wants you to gain/solve xyz (external) vs. advance your career by gaining experience leveraging the Internet for lead generation (internal)

3.   CALL TO ACTION  - resolution, climax

The Call to Action is the request for physical action or interaction by the reader.  It can encourage a phone call, a form completion, view a video, add-to-cart and so on. 

The Call-to-Action (CTA) must:

Be VISIBLE

Apply VALUE

Encourage IMMEDIACY

COME IN THE RIGHT TIME IN THOUGHT SEQUENCE

Call to action is presented such as  “Add to cart”, “complete the form”.  But use text in the action buttons that reassure that their action will deliver on the value promise.  Do not put “submit” or “click here”; instead use words to further the promise.  (Ex: “to receive info…”,  “Learn the xyz”, “Get the product to improve your life”, etc….)

Getting started

This is easy and it’s not easy.  As with most things, the hardest part is getting started.  With practice and ongoing experimentation with your web copy writing, the data (analytics) will prove the results of structuring your content for clarity and connection to what the viewer wants.  In doing so, in the right sequence, you will get what you want.

We are uniquely able to help you evaluate and take action on the breadth of factors influencing conversion:  Web design, website development, Internet marketing, driving traffic, conversion tactics, applying business intelligence through data.

We are here to help you achieve great things online.  As for copywriting services:

1.  We can write for you or help guide you (or your designated writers) to ensure you have the greatest opportunity for conversion success with your text & graphics.

2.  We can technically SEO (search engine optimization) your copy so it will gain better visibility on Google and other search engines.

3.  We can strategize a plan for content topics and delivery channels for strong “inbound” marketing.

Contact us today and together we’ll evaluate your most important website pages.

A wireframe is the foundational starting point of where to start thinking about how a web page is going to convert the customer from a visit into a prospect to generate revenue.  It is often surprising to hear how little emphasis is put on creating a visual wireframe of a web page before thinking about the creative design. 

The Concept

Would you build a house without having blue prints?  I certainly hope not.  The same applies when thinking about how you are going to build a web page.  A wireframe is essentially your blue print for designing a page and formulating the ‘flow’ of your customers on the page.

The Goal

The goal of any web page is to convert visitors into customers.  The first step in the process is to think about the customers goal of the page.

The clearest way to achieve your page’s objective is to clearly define 3 answers for your customer.

1.)  Where am I?

2.)  What can I do here?

3.)  Why should I do it?

Next start thinking about what the customer’s primary objective is.  Is it to have the customer call a phone number?  Purchase a product? Sign up for a demo?  If you haven’t defined what your customer needs to do what makes you think they know what to do?

The Strategy

The strategy of wire framing the layout of the site comes directly from the goals you have defined above.  For instance if you know the primary goal is to have your customer signup for a free demonstration then every call to action on the page needs to lead the customer to this conclusion.  If designing a landing page for one specific product avoid having more than 1 call to action if possible. 

Rule of thumb is you have about 7 seconds to capture the attention of a visitor.  If they have too many options and too many things to think about they will bounce off the page.  Keeping one clear goal in mind for the visitor to accomplish will result in much higher conversion rates.

The How

One of the best free wire framing tools I have found online is www.Cacoo.com which offers free membership for creating professional looking wireframes and allows easy sharing options.

Once a clear strategy has been defined and a wireframe of the layout has been created it can easily be passed on to the creative team to make look elegant and beautiful.

Networking is a long term relationship building activity. We like to trust in the people we buy from. Traditionally networking is face to face. Your elevator speech (60 seconds) for example, is a very brief opportunity at a networking event, where you are the focus of attention.Social media groups such as Facebook, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are great examples of how to take your offline networking online.

Here you must understand the “rules of engagement,” you must always be seen as professional and authentic. This can be a difficult balance to achieve online, when everything is written down or recorded for playback because online you are open to public scrutiny. It is important, therefore, to teach yourself and your staff the importance of acting responsibly online so as not to engage in any controversy. Your WSI Consultant can help you with this.

LinkedIn is the professionals’ choice of social media, and is something that you should consider using in your business if you do not already do so. LinkedIn is a great place where you can show case your testimonials, add videos, share files and so much more. There are huge benefits for uploading videos to video sharing websites like YouTube, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of them. Keywords play an important part in any SEO campaign, and YouTube is no different. Once you have your video you can embed this onto your website for additional benefits. A video on your website will:

Furthermore, here are some advantages to networking online:

For further reading on this topic more Click here.

Contact WSI today and start effectively building your online relationships.

30% increase in Local Online advertising.  Is your business adapting?

The shift to online is not surprising to us as Internet Marketing Consultants.  We see clients moving their ad and marketing efforts online due to the speed, control and tracking benefits. Some are making the move faster than others, but all are finding some or all of these to be true from their online marketing:

Kind of sounds like the perfect sales person, right?  So it is…or can be if done right.

Advertisers can be frustrated with cost and performance of traditional advertising.  How wasteful is it?
We did a study with one of our contractor client’s print directory ad by tracking and recording phone calls it delivered.  It was proved they got more calls from companies wanting to sell THEM something than they did from prospects looking to buy the product they were marketing.  100% to zero!  That’s horrible!

Most situations are not that drastic, and maybe you are finding some success with traditional marketing.  We don’t suggest going 100% digital.  But times, and channels, are changing so we recommend you consider shifting some of your ad spend before the end of the year or for next year and test it out.  The data will speak loud and clear.

WSI’s unique position is that we can craft an online marketing mix that is custom fit to your needs.  Businesses are overwhelmed with sales pitches and claims about digital marketing from businesses that focus on just one element or a cookie-cutter package.  You might be over sold or undersold.  Either way is a set up for failure.

If you need help, we can help you select some of the best options available and recommend a success template based on our experience with similar companies and set up the analytics that will undeniably prove return-on-investment.

Digital marketing is for Local Businesses wanting to stay in business…..like YOUR business!   Call for a chat today.

When is Exposing Yourself in Public a Good Thing?

Now, behave yourself.  What I am referring to is the urgent need for small business to get with it when it comes to Social Media in order to gain additional visibility into your business offerings and activities….and secure company branding.

Will Exposure Make Me More Popular?

In the case of Social Media it certainly will get you more attention.  But, like any “new” thing some think the jury is still out on the effort vs. rewards balance of working the Face Book, Linked In, Twitter and other popular tools and websites for promoting themselves or their business.

Just like in real life, some have to work harder or more creatively at being popular.  Easy or hard, we at WSI coach businesses in this process and, yes, you can be popular amongst like-minded niche market.  And doing so will pay off.

The Me Focusing on the You.

You have some sort of goal or objective that you want to get out of it, but it will never be successful unless you focus your actions towards delivering valuable content that is impactful to them.  For business, this can be an important announcement, tips that help your audience or even humor, to name a few approaches to messaging within Social Media.

I think one of the top-level goals for business and Social Media is to remain “front of mind” with your connections without being “in your face”.  The goal for Social Media is rarely a direct sale.  It is the constant “courting” of the relationship -  the “getting to know you” and “are we meant for each other” or “let’s hang out…and introduce me to your friends” kind of thing. 

Don’t be Annoying or You Will get Dumped

Find a balance of ongoing communication that doesn’t drive them to “un-friend”  or unsubscribe your connection to them.  Ouch. …The modern “break up”!

What do the Experts and Data Say About Social Media Right Now?

I like to refer to eMarketer because they give nice charts.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  And since no one would read a thousand words on line anyway, here’s the data they share by way of American Express OPEN survey.

What You Must Do Now!

Whether you buy into the mass rush to Social Media or not, you must take steps to secure your brand name online.  If you don’t your competitors or others may register your company name as their own.
It used to be the only thing a business had to secure was a domain name (www.YOURNAME.com) that matched their company name or product brand. 

Who’s in Control of Your Social Exposure?

Social Media sites now make the brand protection issue much more complex.
WSI is ahead of the trend on helping our customers secure a company brand across tens and hundreds of social media sites.   It is too affordable to let your company be at risk of your name being “high-jacked”.   Allow us educate you and assist.  Because you should be in control of how you choose to expose yourself and monitor what others are saying about you online.

Improve your digital and email marketing success by taking into account these facts.

These points are taken from a recent article on research done by MailerMailer and based on 900 million email marketing messages.

Because open rates are falling over the years, you much do what you can to get the most out of your efforts.    So, keep in mind these tips as you work your next email marketing campaign.

Every situation has its exceptions.  The point is…measure and experiment with your email marketing.  Want to know more about email marketing tactics? Download our white paper and use it as a tool and apply some of the suggestions.

How Can You Make Money Off Website Visitors Who Find You By Mistake

I happened across a company who is seizing the opportunity to do just that.  They have set up one of their websites to earn residual income from useless visitor traffic.

It is a genius idea and probably makes the company a good bit of money.  If your company name is a common misspelling of another popular company consider doing what this company did.  I’m sure there are other ways this tactic can be applied.  Look for creative ways to make money from your website.

Here’s the story:

I was in search for a replacement for my lost Canon HD camcorder AC adapter. I could not find it through normal retail channels here in Dallas and no generic power cord will work.  Apparently Canon does this on purpose.  Smart for them, very frustrating for me…but that’s another blog topic.

So like 99.9% of the human race (made that up, but probably close), I went to the web.  Since I knew the brand, I assumed I’d just type the website address directly rather in the browser rather than going through a search engine query.  Problem was, I misspelled the name.  Instead of canon.com, I typed cannon.com.

The 2 “n” company obviously gets tons of spelling-challenged visitors, like me, to their site who are looking for cameras, printers and imaging products produced by the 1 “n” company.   What they’ve done in response is brilliant, in my opinion.

Creative solution to an annoying issue:

The company may have just gone on living with the hassle of unwanted volumes of global website traffic and let those visitors just jump back to another search query.   Rather, the company provided an easy “sign-post” for those who’ve taken a wrong turn on the Internet highway.  As one of those lost shoppers, I knew immediately where to click towards my objective – maybe even before I realized I was on the wrong site.

The next page is their money-maker.

Besides having a courteous message informing you that you cannot spell, the page is filled with Google Ads for the products you ARE actually looking for.

As an Internet Consultant, I recognize that these are not just helpful links, they are Google Ad Sense ads.  The company is allowing Google to place text ads from the Google ad network on their web page.  These ads are relevant to cameras, printers and imaging – remember, these are things the company is NOT selling.

How do these lemons (non relevant traffic) turn into lemonade (cash)?

Every time the lost visitors move to this page and click on these Ad Sense ads, the company earns a portion of the ad’s click cost.  These Google sponsored ads are Pay Per Click advertising available through Google.  (Other engines have similar programs).  The advertiser gets visibility for their ad through Google network channels but only has to pay Google if someone clicks on the ad.   This company, allowing the ads to show on their web page, earns a portion of the click cost for each and every click.  Click cost for these ads are around $1-3 per click. 

I applaud the way Cannon (two “n’s”) found a way to make money off of Canon (one “n”).  The useless traffic, even though it’s not in quest of their industrial products, is now money-making traffic for them.  It also goes to show the  power of owning a good domain name.

Now I must go correct my spelling and find that AC adapter!  Happy Internet Marketing.

Is Your Website Missing the Grocery Bags?

This may be a nit picky thing from an A-type personality, but it drives me nuts at the grocery store when I have to search for bags in the produce department.  It spoils the joy of my grocery shopping experience (those who know me will laugh at that comment) when I have selected the perfect handful of apples and can’t find the darn bag dispenser anywhere close by.   Close by to me means, within 1 step.  The level of frustration is enhanced because I’m normally in a hurry.  But, isn’t everybody?

When you’ve invested in building website traffic, you want them to turn into leads and customers.  If a visitor is interested in taking the next step with your business, you don’t want to frustrate them or make it hard for them to know what to do next.   They are probably in a hurry and if the site is confusion or there are too many steps, they are likely to just jump to another website that is easier to understand.

Internet Conversion – keeping the bag within 1 step

There are a lot of factors to consider when implementing a good visitor to conversion strategy for your website.  But for simplicity here, once the visitor is persuaded and interested, you’ll want to clearly offer next step guidance so your visitor will flow easily toward your next step call-to-action.  Don’t make them search for “the bag”.  Of course this is obviously important for e-commerce sites, but it is just as important for all business and service websites who may want to build an email database or encourage a phone call inquiry in pursuit of lead acquisition.

Adjust, Measure, Repeat - for more successful conversion rates

Our recent white paper on Conversion Architecture goes into detail on experimenting and testing for conversion improvements.  But some of the on-page factors that influence flow toward action which can be critiqued include:

Depending on your business, you may want to get an Internet Consultant to interpret your analytics and make recommendations.  But don’t discount opinions of a few valued customers who may be willing to offer onsite ease of use suggestions.

With improved conversion fundamentals in place for your website, success is in the bag!