Posts Tagged ‘First Steps’

What You Need To Know About Writing For The Web

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

When it comes to the world of web design, the website copy is often the last thing considered. Most people cut and paste in a section of their latest brochure or sales pitch, after all, it already showcases everything they need to say about their product or service, right? Wrong. Companies often get so bogged down by the look and feel of their website, they forget to spend the same time and focus on their web copy.

Words matter. You have 10 seconds to hook the reader and get them interested in what you have to offer. Users dive straight into the text and often ignore the images, so if a user visits your site and wonders what it?s about, you know you have some work to do. Consider the following web copy guidelines when tackling writing for the web:

? Assess your goal
? Consider your audience
? Authority
? Currency
? Objectivity

Assess your goal
Decide what goal you want to fulfill with your website. Is it a place users can come for information, or are you selling a product? Either way, by identifying your main focus, you?ll stay on track, and reach your target audience. The web copy is the hook to catch the user and keep them interested and engaged.

How can you assess your goal? Consider these tips when taking your first steps:
If you?re selling a product: Your goal will be to drive up online sales. Your focus: to create an online space that makes finding and buying your product quick and easy.

If you?re marketing a service: Your goal will be to offer useful information about your service that will build trust and customer loyalty. One great way is to design an online brochure.

You?re providing information: Your goal is to share information with a group of readers i.e.: telling your customers about your site. To meet this goal, you could develop web friendly information on your business. You?ll know you?re successful when customers report that they found the site helpful.

Consider your audience
How do you identify your target audience? Ask yourself some questions, such as ?Is the website geared to business professionals?? ?Is the information directed to novices or experts?? If your web content is directed to the right target audience, you?ll write in a voice they identify and relate to.

Determine what information a user will expect to find when they hit your site. Then, generate your website copy and test out the content with target audience members. No one can direct you like your audience, so use the feedback to guide you to the right approach. You can also check out other credible websites and use them as a resource to help get you going in the right direction.

Authority
Take responsibility for the content on your website. This will establish you as an authority and build your credibility with the user.

? Identify the author

? Identify your authority ? State any qualifications or professional standing that make you an authority on the product or service you are writing about. Make sure the qualifications can be verified.

? Ensure your contact information is up to date and easy to use. If you post an email address, ensure it is valid and checked often.

? Ensure a disclaimer is added when an author’s credentials are not appropriate or good enough to ensure the accuracy of the content.

? Indicate if the website is personal and has no commercial purpose. Let the user know if you are an educational institution or a not-for-profit company.

Currency
Keep the website fresh and current. It will also reinforce your credibility with the user.

? Make sure your website is always available. Consider changing service provider if you experience frequent down time.

? Keep content up to date. Indicate when pages are written or updated.

? Make sure it?s complete. Eliminate any “under-construction” pages or sections

? Check frequently for broken links to internal and external pages.

? Check to make sure interactive pages such as feedback forms work.

Objectivity

Maintain objectivity when you write website content. Provide accurate information and keep advertising and market-style writing to a minimum and you?ve succeeded in writing content for the web that is objective.

Give the readers what they want

Write copy that is scannable. Readers want to be able to scan text and identify key points and topics. Make the initial copy easy to navigate by using titles and fonts to highlight key points and topics. By being clear about what they?re looking at, the users will respond by digging deeper and getting into the content of your website.

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Rising Gas Prices And Internet Business

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Is An Online Business for You?

Rising gas prices have everyone looking at the way they spend a dollar. Do you shop at a mall, a store or do you order online? Is takeout an alternative to eating out, or is the higher gas price being passed along in the takeout fee?

Will your company allow you to work from home instead of commuting? If your employer will not allow working from home and you have a long, gas-expensive commute, what are your choices: Move closer to your job, change jobs, start an internet business? Is an online business for you?

Contrary to the ads and myths around the internet, there is no ‘magic bullet’ for instant wealth. Unless you’re incredibly lucky, in fact, there is no such thing as instant wealth. Like any other successful venture, an online business requires a considerable investment in planning, hard work, persistence and very careful spending. While a huge budget is not a guarantee of success, the more limited your budget, the more important planning, hard work and persistence become.

One of the first steps is to decide which of your interests are most likely to appeal to buyers. This is an important step because you need to enjoy what you’re doing and buyers have to want what you are offering. This is a large part of the planning phase and is usually called market research. Market research simply means look at what people are buying and where. Visit sites that offer products or services similar to what you would like to offer. How do they present themselves and their products. If there seem to be too many sites doing what you would like to do, how can you present yourself differently?

As you do market research, remember that the best product on the best-looking website will just sit there unless you have traffic — people visiting your website. Not everyone who visits your website will buy, but if no one visits there will be no sales at all. Consider the ways you can generate traffic. It’s best to have more than one traffic generating stream. Lists are well and good, but it takes time to grow them and not all list building schemes are beneficial to you.

Start your own blog. There are many free blog sites you can use that ‘ping’ to well-known search engines each time you add a new post. A blog gives you a chance to establish a relationship with your readers so that when you do launch a product, they’ll be more likely to visit your product website.

Writing articles is another way to build traffic. Your articles can be about your favorite hobby, your observations on the world condition, the best way to organize family holidays; whatever. The important thing is getting your name out there and guiding people to your blog or website. Once again, you are establishing a relationship with readers and that is the most important key to building traffic. Be sure to check with article directories and article submission sites to follow their guidelines.

Careful spending is critical to any long term business effort. The temptation will be to buy anything and everything that offers a shortcut to opening your business’s doors. Too few of those systems actually benefit anyone but the person who sells them. The first question you need to ask yourself is ‘has the person made their ‘fabulous income’ through using the system or by selling the system?’

Other ways to spend money will be on tools to get your website up and running. These tools may be useful and effective, but take the time to look for ‘free’ tools that do the same thing. There are plenty of them out there and these tools will do the job for you until you have the money to upgrade — if you still think an upgrade is necessary.

Is an online business for you? If you’re expecting instant wealth with little work, then quite probably no. If you’re willing to commit yourself to a consistent daily effort working for yourself harder than you’ve ever worked for an employer, the answer could well be yes. In the meantime, keep your day job until you’ve gotten your online business on a solid footing.

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