Web Site Content Writing Will Give You:"7 Sure-Fire Ways to Keep Your Customers Coming Back For More!"
You already know how important it is to drive qualified prospects to your web site. What's even more important though, is finding ways to keep them there once they've arrived.
After all, what's the use of spending all that time and money on securing top rankings on search engines, setting up a network of affiliates, and building a 200-page site if nobody stays once they arrive? That's the hard way to learn the value of "sticky" content.
The easy way is to keep reading. The information I'm about
to share with you will show you how to USE WEB SITE CONTENT WRITING TO TURN VISITORS INTO SHOPPERS... and shoppers into repeat buyers!
We've boiled it down to 7 simple ways to keep your visitors
coming back for more. Put these tips into practice, and watch
your sales start climbing almost immediately.
1. Take Charge of Your Web Site Content Writing
It's important to spend a few minutes thinking about how often you really need to update your web site content writing. If your site sells reports on housing trends, your visitors may expect new content about the housing market on a fairly regular basis. If you're selling nails and screws, your content probably won't need updating nearly as often.
If your site isn't going to need web site content writing changes on a regularbasis, think about writing the content yourself. Nobody knows your product or service as well as you do, so who better to do the website content writing?
Of course, you'll want the content to have a strong FOCUS ON
THE FEATURES AND BENEFITS of your product, so here are a few
ideas for articles you could post on your site:
- Three ways your product can save your customer's time.
- Three ways your product has saved your customer's money.
- Interesting or unique applications for your product.
Okay, okay... I can already hear some of you saying "I'm an
entrepreneur -- I'm not a writer!" My answer: Why don't you
give it a try? You'll probably surprise yourself. Even if
your writing isn't as clear and flowing as something crafted
by a professional copywriter, your enthusiasm for your product will go a really long way.
There are a couple of situations where I would recommend hiring the services of a professional writer. If you simply aren't comfortable doing your own web site content writing, then this is definitely the way to go.
You will also probably want to look into the services of a
professional if your site is going to require frequent content updates. Writing can be very time-consuming, and as a business owner, you'll need to decide on THE MOST PROFITABLE way to spend your time.
Here are a few of the better resources I've found for tracking down copywriters:
http://www.elance.com
http://www.sunoasis.com
http://www.marketingtool.com
NOTE: Top-notch copywriters can charge up to $250 per hour, so you won't want to hire one just to proofread your web site. A writer, editor, or proofreader can be hired for between $17 and $75 per hour. Make sure to check references and establish deadlines!
2. Tell Your Visitors "What's New"
Let's face it... nobody spends even close to as much time
hanging around your web site as you do. Your visitors may
spend just a few minutes a month at your web site, so
you'd better be sure that their attention is immediately
drawn to where you want it.
If you're introducing a new product or service, it's
important to make sure that your visitors know it's new.
Remember, people scan web pages, they don't read them.
They're more likely to pay attention to an item with a "NEW"
icon beside it, or something labeled with the current date.
Unless you label new content as being special or important,
your customers have no way of knowing that they should
bother paying attention to it. But keep in mind that it's just
as important to remove those "NEW" labels every so often.
Your customers won't be very impressed by a flashing "NEW"
banner next to an item about last year's Super Bowl.
Want a great way to tell your customers what's new while
BUILDING YOUR OPT-IN E-MAIL LIST and CUSTOMER BASE at the
same time? Offer to e-mail your customers new content on a
monthly basis in the form of a newsletter. Of course, you'll want to include information about new products, upcoming specials, and current sale-priced items.
Place a box somewhere on your front page with a small blurb
explaining that, by entering their e-mail address in the
space provided, they'll be e-mailed exciting new content on a
monthly basis, along with exclusive offers available only to
subscribers.
The best part is, it's MUCH easier than you might think to
set up this kind of monthly newsletter. You've already got
the web site content writing, since it's up on your web site, so it's just a matter of making a few formatting changes and then mailing it out to your customers!
3. Get Your Visitors Involved in Web Site Content Writing
It's a proven fact that the more your visitors interact with
your web site, the more comfortable they become. And the more
comfortable they become, the more likely they are to make
purchases. Here are three tried-and-true ways to get your
visitors to interact with your site:
1. SET UP AN ONLINE SUGGESTION BOX. This is a great way to
get your customers involved with your products or services.
Let them suggest products they'd like to see featured,
recommend ways to improve your product, or tell you
what they think of your merchandise.
2. RUN A CONTEST. Ask your customers to submit a short blurb
about why they love your product, and offer a cash or
merchandise prize to the weekly or monthly winners. Not
only will you be getting your customers involved, you'll
be collecting testimonials to post on your site.
3. CONDUCT AN ONLINE SURVEY. They'll be able to voice their
opinions about your business, and you'll learn a lot about
what they like (and don't like) about your products or
service.
4. Check "ALL" of Your Web Site Content Writing
Remember, when we talk about web site content, we're not just
talking about the text on your site. We're talking about every single word, image, link, logo, and e-mail address.
One of the most important things you can do to keep your
site current (and drive sales) is to ROTATE YOUR FEATURES
AND SPECIALS. Is your best-selling product featured
prominently on your site? If not, visitors won't find what
they came for... and that's costing you profits!
Always keep your catalog up-to-date. Nothing will drive
customers away faster than receiving an e-mail from your
company saying that the product they ordered yesterday is
no longer available. It never ceases to amaze me how often
I come across sites with outdated, unavailable products still
posted online.
Check all of your links. Every last one of them. Even that one
at the very bottom that links to your privacy policy. If the
link through to your "Satisfied Customers" page isn't working,
how comfortable is a customer going to be entering their
credit card number?
And while you're at it, make sure that anything labeled
"Coming Soon" will be actually coming soon. If it's not
going to be ready within a week, take it down.
I'd also recommend going through your web site on a computer
other than your own. It's amazing what you'll learn. That
image that looks so great on your computer may actually be
broken when viewed on someone else's!
Make sure you take note of how long web site content and images are taking to come up... If it takes more than 10 seconds for
the image of your product to appear, you're probably losing
customers by the truckload!
The idea here is to MAKE YOUR VISITORS COMFORTABLE enough to
make a purchase from you. There is a direct correlation
between how comfortable people are and how likely they are
to make a purchase. And a web site where everything works is
a comfortable place to be.
5. Check Out FREE Web Site Content Writing Providers
Believe it or not, there are actually a number of places to
find web site content writing on just about every topic imaginable that you can post on your site at no cost. Of course, the quality of
this content varies tremendously, so be sure to choose carefully.
You should be aware that some free content providers will
try to take visitors away from your site. You may find, for
example, that the news headlines you've posted on your site
whisk visitors away as soon as they click on them. Obviously,
this is not what you want.
If you want to look into FREE WEB SITE CONTENT WRITING, here are a few good places to start:
http://www.freesticky.com/stickyweb/
http://certificate.net/wwio/index.shtml
http://www.web-source.net/syndicator.htm
http://www.ideamarketers.com
And, don't forget, you can always use the web site content writing you read in this newsletter at your own site or in your own newsletter.
Just follow the instructions later in this newsletter to find
out how!
6. Never Throw Anything Away
Want to know an almost effortless way to MAKE YOUR SITE 50%
MORE USEFUL to your visitors? Archive your web site content. A study by online usability guru Jakob Nielsen showed that an archive of past content increases a site's usefulness by about 50%.
And since you've already produced the web site content writing, it's no hassle to simply index all of those articles in an archive. And, believe me, your customers will be glad you did.
That's pretty valuable, isn't it? Now, why not offer the same
to your customers?
As your archive grows, you'll ADD CREDIBILITY to your
business, because your customers will be able to see
how long you've been around. With all those extra pages,
your customers should be hanging out at your site a little
longer - making them more comfortable and more likely to buy.
7. Look, Listen, and Learn
So now that you've spent all of this time getting your web
site as current as it should be, you need to find out what
kind of impact you've made. Of course, if you've done
everything right, you'll start seeing results right where
it counts - in your bankbook!
There are, however, a couple of other great ways to judge
the success of all your hard work. Invest some time in going
through your server logs (provided by your web host), and see
how much time people are actually spending looking at your
content.
If, for whatever reason, people aren't using your "Weekly
Updates" page, you probably shouldn't waste too much time
on web site content writing for it.
The online suggestion box that you set up is also a great
way to measure the usefulness of your content. If nobody
EVER comments on your "Monthly News" section, it's probably notworth your while to slave over it at the beginning of every month.
Final Thoughts on Web Site Content Writing
Having fresh web site content isn't about having today's news
headlines scrolling across the top of your homepage. As
always, keep your eye on the bottom line and ask yourself,
"Is this content helping my sales"? If the answer is YES,
you know you're on the right track.
REMEMBER: Marketing a product online means that your web
site is probably the ONLY way your customers will ever
interact with you. What you have posted on your site will
speak volumes about the kind of company you're running: a
site with relevant and current information will deliver
instant credibility to you and your products.
Keep your site current and your web site content writing relevant, and I
guarantee that your visitors will start spending more time there. And the longer they stay, the more dramatic the impact will be on your profits!
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