These days, it seems that no business can succeed without a website. But let’s be honest: Having no website may be better than having a bad one.
You heard me right: A website that doesn’t attact your ideal customers may actually drive them away. So it’s worth the time and effort to build a strong (and strategic) web presence.
How to evaluate your own web presence
A study by Kelsey Group shows that 97% of consumers use the Internet to research local products or services before purchasing. Another study, the “Global Online Shopper Report” from WorldPay, which studies online shopping habits across 15 countries, reports that 44% of global online shoppers buy from overseas retailers.
Clearly, whether you’re a brick and mortar store or an internet business, and whether your customers are local or global, you need a strong web presence to attract your ideal customers, or “drive traffic.”
The problem is, a bad site can actually drive people away. By definition, that’s still driving traffic, I suppose, but it’s certainly not the goal.
So how can you know if your site is driving people away? It’s almost guaranteed if you rely on tricks and gimmicks to make your site fancier or increase your search rank. Things like…
- Flash images
- Pop-ups
- Media that starts playing automatically
- Keyword stuffing
- Hard-sell tactics
- Hard-to-find contact information
You could also be driving people away by rely on outdated marketing and selling strategies. Let me explain…
From interruption marketing to relationship marketing
Think back to the stacks of direct mail we used to find daily in the mail box. Old-style marketing relied on hard-sell tactics: To get people to read an ad or open an envelope, it had to capture your attention with teasers and bold promises.
It was like war… the marketer against the world, trying to convince people to BUY NOW! Unfortunately, driving sales often became more important than ethical behavior, so the sales pitch might promise far more than it could deliver.
It didn’t fool anyone, though. Where did most of these promotions end up? The trash can. No one likes an over-the-top sales pitch, which is why marketing is changing — and technology is helping.
Today’s brands are being built around social media and user-generated content. The focus is on transparency, engagement, and two-way dialog. Marketers have finally caught the obvious: If you help people know, like and trust you, they’re more likely to choose you over your competition.
These days, relationship drives sales, so your website needs to be much more than an online brochure. Click to tweet.
Your website should keep people coming back for more…
Your website is the core of a strong online presence. Ideally, it will attract your ideal prospects, answer their questions, and keep them coming back for more. How does it doe that?
- It’s written for your readers, not search engines.
- It provides content your readers are looking for, and doesn’t just talk about you.
- It’s designed to be easy to use and intuitive for visitors.
- It is updated regularly, so it’s more of a water cooler where people can gather than an online brochure that you read and toss aside.
- It encourages interaction by talking with people, not at them.
- It focuses on helping, not impressing.
- It strives for relationship, not merely profits.
Need more in-depth information? These lessons, and more, are covered in Copywriting 2.0, the premier web copywriting manual written by Nick Usborne, a pioneer of internet marketing. If you’re interested in writing better web copy, I highly recommend it. Copywriting 2.0: Your Complete Guide to Writing Web Copy that Converts
Of course, if you’d rather work directly with an experienced web writer, contact me. I’ll help you create web copy that draws traffic rather than driving it away.
