If you’ve invested lots of time and money in creating a website and promoting yourself online, it could all be a bit pointless if people arrive on your site and then don’t stay long enough to get your message. These are a selection of things that stop people in their tracks – make sure your site doesn’t fall into any of these traps!

1. Don’t use justified paragraphs; quite apart from strange stretched words, people easily lose their place. Left aligned text works best.

2. Don’t test their eyesight with tiny text; anything less than 10pt makes the eyes work too hard, don’t make the reader work hard to get your message.

3. Long paragraphs look ‘hard’, so chop paragraphs into shorter chunks of no more than 5-6 lines long; all that white space will encourage people to read.

4. Light text on a dark background is really hard on the eyes, even though it may look ‘pretty’. The eyes focus on the darker colour and then have to refocus on dazzling text.

5. Lots of centred copy. This is good for headlines, but when you centre the main copy it makes the reader search for the beginning of each line – and they probably can’t be bothered!

6. Don’t risk using words they may not understand; keep the message jargon free and simple so anyone can understand it.

7. The word WE repeated many times. Inwardly focused copy is only interesting to the writer; talk about YOU (the reader) and ‘YOURS’, not ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’.

8. Splash pages (those entry pages that have whizzy graphics and a, usually well-hidden, note to ‘click here to enter) that prevent people finding out what you do or what you’ve got to offer quickly. Some people simply hit the ‘back’ button at this point.

9. Lots of boxes, all with different options give people too many choices and result in confusion. You need a single focus, so one headline or point on the page that is dominant and attracts the eye.

10. A headline that isn’t! If your headline doesn’t give the visitor a clear idea of what the site has to offer – or, worse still, no headline at all, don’t expect many people to make the effort to find out whether you’ve got what they want. No focus means your visitor will leave quickly.

11. Whizzy things that move either constantly or intermittently.  It takes people’s eye off your message. If you must have moving graphics, they should either move once and then stop or move continuously and very gently.

12. Clutter and general busy-ness. Keep the page clean and simple with lots of white space, make it look ‘easy’ and people will read.

13. Having a Home page that is really ‘About us’. Your visitor wants to know ‘what’s in it for me’ before ‘who are these guys?’ Talk about your visitor, what they get, how your product or service will benefit them and leave the information on the company for the ‘About us’ page.

These are just a few of the things that send people away from your site – if you want to keep their interest then don’t put obstacles in front of them that stop them getting your message!
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Advertising costs money – so why is it that so many people waste their money by creating ads that are ineffective, boring, and don’t have any focus? Before agreeing to advertise, whether it’s in a publication, online or in the broadcast media, think carefully about what you want the ad to do for you. If you don’t have focus, neither will your ad!

Here is a selection of tips that will help you to sharpen your focus:

1. Every ad needs an attention grabbing statement whether written or broadcast. It’s the ‘headline’ that tells people it’s worth exploring further.

2. What do you want people to do when they’ve read or listened to your ad? What do they need to know to want to do it? Don’t put unnecessary information in – make sure that every word and picture earns its space.

3. How influential is your brand? If you’re not a nationally known name, it might not need to be very big. If you have a well-known brand it may influence people to read more or even to buy, if you’re not known, your brand won’t help you and takes up valuable (and expensive) space.

4. It may seem ridiculous to say this, but don’t forget to include a means of contacting you and your web address. It’s surprising how many people forget to add a phone/email contact. The web address on its own just means people have to work harder than necessary to get in touch; they may not bother.

5. People will sometimes want to check you out so, if you want people to be impressed when they visit your website, make sure that the image is consistent with what is in the ad. Also make sure that the site is sticky and engages people when they get there. It’s no good investing all that money in an ad when people get to your website and don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them – or can’t see anything useful. They’ll just leave.

6. If you’ve got pictures in your ad, put them to the right and the copy to the left. We read from left to right and generally scan pictures from top to bottom, so pictures that have a message on their right often prevent people from reading it, they just scan down and carry on underneath the picture. Getting the layout right improves your chances of the ad being read.

7. When including testimonials ONLY use the power statement, not the whole thing. The power statement is the bit that tells people what the customer got that made a difference, the information about how nice and friendly your team were doesn’t work anywhere near as well.
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The hot shot ad agency types will tell you it’s about something gimmicky, shocking or what’s hot today. They’re only partly right. There are many reasons people ‘get it’ – and plenty of obstacles that stop them getting it! Here are 7 tips that will help your copy to be read:

1. I don’t want to know what you do, I want to know what I get so write about what’s in it for ME (your reader).

2. If you give me lots to read I might not bother, keep paragraphs and sentences short and to the point.

3. When you start writing you MUST know why people buy you and tell your readers that’s what they get.

4. Most people don’t read online, they scan, so put easy-to-read devices like bullets and subheads to help them get your message – and whilst people tend to read more from paper, it’s a good way to draw their attention to the key points.

5. What do people REALLY want to know? Not lots of detail. Tell them what they want, not what you want to say.

6. What do you want people to do when they’ve read your message? Don’t forget a call to action.

7. Don’t make people work hard; tell them what to do and make it easy for them to do (i.e. make the words a link) or put the phone number right there (don’t expect them to search around for it).

There are many more reasons people stop reading – but just getting these right will make a real difference.

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I’ve been banging on about headlines a lot lately – so I might as well continue the trend here!

Most people think a headline is something found in a newspaper or magazine – but headlines should be on every written communication you create. That includes:

The job of the headline is to engage the reader – it should shout ‘read me’! It gets attention and creates interest. Here are 7 things to think about when you’re writing headlines.

1. Where does your headline sit? Is it right where your reader is looking? It should be prominent and where the eye connects.

2. Who does your headline target? Are they ‘we’ or ‘you’ focused? Banish the word ‘we’ from headlines!

3. Do they tell your reader ‘you need to read this’? They need to target your readers’ emotional triggers.

4. Do you know why people buy you? Find out and use that HUGE lever to get others to want what you’ve got too!

5. Are your headlines F, A or B oriented? F=features; A=advantages; B=benefits. Know your Bs and use them well.

6. Do your headlines address AIDA? A=attention; I=interest; D=desire; A=action. D is really important – make people want it.

7. How long does it take you to write a headline? Sales writer, Ted Nicholas, says you should spend 80% of your time getting the headline right! Invest in it; if people don’t connect with the headline, they won’t read any more.

Think about how you want people to feel and put that into your headlines and you’ll be on the way to writing powerful, compelling messages.
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When you present your business in writing there are a few critical things to remember:

Whatever else you do your website is usually the place people go to follow up or check you out. It needs to connect with people quickly and to be easy to navigate in order to keep people interested for long enough to get them to take action.

If you’ve got obstacles in their way, some of them will leave. So your website needs to be usable and readable.

If you’ve got a strong message it needs to be on everything you publish. You need to be consistent, clear and concise.

Finally, use your social networks, Twitter and your lists (you have got a list, haven’t you) to keep in touch.
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When you’ve gone to the trouble of getting a website set up,invested your money in it and probably gone through a certain amount of pain to create the web copy that goes on each page, you want people to stay on it and take action to either buy something or to contact you.

The problem with many websites is that, whilst they may look attractive, they don’t keep people on the site. I’ve had many clients who say “My site is on the first page of Google, I get lots of visitors, but I’m not getting many people contact me.”

So what’s the problem? It’s usually because the web copy doesn’t hold them – and that can be for two reasons:

1. The web copy isn’t good enough and doesn’t interest them. It doesn’t connect with them quickly and doesn’t tell them what they wanted to know.

2. The way the web copy is presented to the reader isn’t easy for them to read. The message may be in the wrong place, the wrong size of font or presented in a way that makes the eyes work very hard to read the words.

The solution to problem one is to work with a web copywriter who really understands the web and how people use it. There are plenty of good copywriters out there, but not all of them really write web copy that connects with the reader.

The solution to problem two is harder to resolve. Very, very few designers have studied web readability. The design and the words must work together and understanding HOW people read, especially web copy, is critical.

Download the report on readability and send it to your web designer or consultant – or ask them to talk to me, I’m always happy to help people to improve websites so that visitors stay put!
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Web users are lazy and impatient – think of yourself when you’re waiting for a site to download that takes a few seconds longer than you expect! That means that web copy needs to get the message across FAST.

The very first thing that your web visitor will look at is the headline – it needs to reassure the website visitor that the site will deliver the information they were looking for. If it doesn’t (or it’s hard to find) they’re gone!

Then there’s the web copy that you want to get your reader engaged – and this where the ‘line’ appears. Do you write creative copy that gets the reader involved and ‘draws the picture’ of what it could be like for them to own your product or experience your services? Or do you write focused, sharp copy that tells them the facts and gets to the point quickly and clearly?

What a dilemma – what sort of web copy works best? There’s a case for both – and there’s some other issues that need to be taken into account; people read headlines, but don’t read all the copy – they scan it. That means you have to be very clever with your web copy.

The formula I use is to:

Taking into account that they’ll be scanning through this, draw their attention to key words. This may not be the ones they’ve searched on necessarily, but the ones that are emotionally charged, for instance in an ad for garden design:

You can add a room to your home by turning your garden into an area you use more and get more pleasure with less effort.

or

When the sun shines do you look at your garden and wish you could sit out and enjoy it instead of slaving over a mountain of weeds? A good design can take the work away and create a garden you can enjoy.

If you’re scanning down the web copy – the bold words stand out and your core message is clear. You can make your web copy walk the line if you’re smart – just don’t overdo it.

It doesn’t only work on web copy; it works on your paper documents too!
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If you’ve ever arrived on a website that is a mass of boxes, messages and pictures you’ll know what I mean by the patchwork quilt effect! Websites like this have many things to offer the visitor and the website owner is anxious to show all their wares up front. When it comes to usability it scores low.

The problem for most web visitors is that there’s far too much information, there’s often no single place that is dominant and the messages look very ’salesy’ so some visitors can be a bit unnerved and run away to a less pressured environment – the usability factor is too much effort for them, they don’t want to have to bother.

If you have a wide range of products or services it’s tempting to try to present as many as possible up front, but please resist the urge! If your services are vastly different or if you are trying to target two or more very different market sectors, then have different websites for each so you can focus on what that sector or potential customer is looking for. good usability is based on simplicity and clarity.

Put yourself in the user’s shoes (or in front of their screen) – they’ve searched for something and your website has come up as a possible provider of that. They click the link and they get information overload – much of it not what they were looking for anyway, from a usability point of view the user will see your site as very low on the scale. Most of us are lazy and impatient when we’re surfing the net – we want instant gratification and, if it looks like we’re going to have to make an effort – we’ll go somewhere ‘easier’.

So how do you improve your website’s usability?

1. Have a focal point – a headline that’s bigger than anything else that attracts their attention and gives them a place to start.

2. Don’t give them too many choices – it’s much too confusing! It’s easy to choose between 2, harder between 3 and almost impossible when there are 6 or more options.

3. Think about what they’re looking for and make sure that the web copy addresses that and reassures your visitor that they’re in the right place.

4. If you have visual images make sure they work for their place; they must have a clear message, not be just decoration – for example, if you are providing services to the academic sector a picture of students in mortar boards and gowns won’t help you to make your point!

Remember the KISS technique – keep it short and simple – it will make your website usability factor soar, your message clearer, have more impact and get better results!
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Most of us think of our online ‘presence’ as our website, but have you considered all the other places where web copy with your name and brand attached appears?

Your style, professionalism and expertise are all represented in every piece of web copy that you write. How well is your online presence integrated? Think about consistency in both your message and in how you appear.

And, if you’re not taking advantage of all these things – why not?!!
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Having a website is only part of your online presence; and the copy on your website must engage the reader and keep them there – but what other copy should you be thinking about online?

Blogs like this one are another way to engage potential customers, providing the information is not just a sales pitch, but offers real information of value to the reader.

Articles are another way to spread your knowledge and profile across the web and there are many sites where you can post these.

Social media profiles – and the use of them regularly are another way to engage with people and help them to ‘get to know’ you.

Twitter is microblogging – and the most well known of the many sites where you can post. Using this well has been a really successful business tool for many people.

These are all means of getting people to visit your site – and, if you have a tempting offer when they get there, they’ll sign up to your list. Your list is usually willing to receive your newsletter – and will continue to read it if it’s interesting and offers added value they’ll stay signed up. That also means that you can continue to build a relationship on a regular basis with autoresponder messages.

The secret is to get all these working together to really get your online marketing flying in formation.
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