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!
—————————————————
Sign up and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Lesleywriter or call us on +44 (0) 1245 473296

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.
————————————-
You can also find us at Lesleywriter or call us on +44 (0) 1245 473296

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!
—————————
You can also find us at Lesleywriter or call us on +44 (0) 1245 473296

Everyone seems to be obsessed with being ‘on the front page’ of Google, getting up the search engine rankings and getting hotshot AdWord specialists to increase the traffic to their website. Of course, getting traffic is important; it doesn’t matter how impressive your site looks if the only people that ever see it are your existing clients and your Auntie Flo!

The issue is that getting traffic is only half the equation – the other half is all about what happens to the ‘traffic’ when it lands on your site!

Keeping people is at least as important as getting them there in the first place. Not least, because search engine optimisation is an expensive art, takes time and effort, not to mention considerable expertise, updated almost daily as the search engines develop and rules change. If you’re investing anything from £50 to £5000 a month to get traffic, it’s money down the drain if people take one look and then hit the ‘back’ button.

So what should you be paying attention to?

1. A headline that reassures people that the site will deliver what they were looking for. If you have a targeted AdWord account, that means a landing page written specifically with each key word or phrase featured.

2. A design that makes reading easy – a clear place to start, no fancy distracting visuals, copy in the place that people naturally read – there’s a lot of ways to get this part wrong (sign up on the right for the Goldfish Report to find out more). If you have many different boxes on the page with a variety of messages you’ll just confuse people.

3. Compelling copy, focused on the reader and what they get if they buy your product or service.

It’s not quite as simple as 123, but if you’re investing in getting people to your site, you also need to invest in keeping them long enough to persuade them to take action. If you’d like to know more just give us a call.
——————————————–
Sign up to our in the box on the right and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Lesleywriter or call us on +44 (0) 1245 473296

A couple of posts ago I promised more about how people read different kinds of document. Here it is!

On screen people scan in an F shape with the top bar of the F starting about 2/5 of the way down the screen. On paper the scan pattern changes, depending on the document.

On a flat piece of paper most people scan in a Z pattern. This means that they get the headline, then their eyes run diagonally from top right to low on the left hand side. Anything on the right hand side is pretty much ignored and, to get attention on the left you’ll need to use devices such as subheaders and bullet point lists. Contact details across the bottom or in the bottom right corner work well. Bear in mind that a low percentage of people actually turn an A4/letter size sheet over – so think carefully whether you need a message on the back!

A trifold – an A4/letter sized sheet folded in on both sides to a standard envelope sized document. This is where you can use both sides very effectively, if you get the information in the right places. This is what needs to go where:

A postcard is a small area so don’t stuff it with information, however, use the front for attracting attention – a bright visual and a strong bold headline. The back can carry a few ‘what you get’ bullets and your contact information with a strong call to action, people do turn postcards over as we’re conditioned to expect a message on the reverse.

There are many more documents – the secret of success is to watch people handling them and see where they stop and read – then use that information to put your key messages in the right places.
—————————————————————
Sign up to our FREE data service and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Inside News

When you launch your shiny new website do you test it to find out if it works for the reader?

Ask a selection of customers, suppliers and associates to test it out for you and give you feedback.

Ask them to:

Then you might also ask them:

This feedback is invaluable and your test team don’t have to be experts, in fact, it’s better if they’re not. The less web savvy they are the better ‘real-life’ feedback you’ll get.

Remember the site is for users not designers – don’t be precious, if changes need to be made, then make them! The results will show up in your bottom line!
——————————————————————-
Sign up to our FREE data service and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Inside News

1. Headline – needs to be in prime real estate and bigger than anything else to get attention.

2. Simple, easy to use navigation – easy to find, consistent, no overwhelm, no guesswork!

3. Don’t underestimate the power of using the text as hyperlinks to aid navigation too.

4. Content – put your message up front – but in the readers terms of reference. Keep it short, clear, simple and concise.

5. Scanability – most people won’t actually read your copy, so put key information in bullet lists and key words or SHORT phrases in bold to attract attention.

6. Reading for the bots – keywords and phrases need to be repeated 2-4 times – but don’t bend the copy out of shape to accommodate this. Bots are getting quite clever these days and can tell when you’re keyword stuffing.

7. Readability for humans – DON’T use:

8. Fonts – stick to a sans serif font – like Verdana, Arial, Tahoma or Trebuchet. Serif fonts (Times, Palatino, Garamond) are too fussy for the screen resolution to present well.

9. Page layout – keep it clean and simple, avoid 2 column layouts and very wide or very narrow columns of text, put visuals to the right of your copy so they don’t encourage people to skip bits, put things where people expect them to be (ask me if you’re not sure) so they don’t have to stop and think about anything.

10. Tell people what you want them to do and then make it easy for them to do it.
—————————————————————–
Sign up to our FREE data service and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Inside News

If you’ve got visitors to your website you want to keep them! This is all about readability. Reduce your bounce rates and improve retention by paying attention to these five things:

1. Put the headline in the right place – it needs to be in prime real estate – usually around two fifths of the way down from the top of the screen (that’s the actual physical screen, not the webpage) and about 4-5 cms in from the left hand edge. That’s where people’s eyes generally connect with the screen.

2. Make sure that your headline is the biggest font on the page – it needs to be at least 18pt and should not be overpowered by fancy graphics and page names.

3. Do not include the word ‘we’ in your headline. If possible use the word ‘you’. Make sure it addresses the reader’s pain or gain, it must hit an emotional trigger to keep them reading.

4. Don’t write loads of ’stuff’ (web copy) about your services – focus on what the reader gets, what it will do for them and how much better life will be with your product/service in place. Stick to the point, short words, short sentences and short paragraphs. A good web page is no more than 2 screens – even better if you can get it on one!

5. Don’t put anything on the page that moves more than once. Moving images distract the eye and they never get to read your message.

6. Don’t present your copy where the web copy is in a lighter colour than the background – this will create ‘dazzle’ and make reading hard work. Many people just won’t get what you’ve got to say.

7. Paragraphs should be left aligned, not justified and not centred. This is the easiest format for people to read. They don’t get ‘lost’ and reread lines or skip lines as much so no frustration factor to overcome!

If you really want people to get your message – take action and you’ll improve your visitor retention rate.
——————————————————————–
Sign up to our FREE data service and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Inside News