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This article first appeared in Sharpe & Direct, the weekly direct mail marketing newsletter published by Alan Sharpe, direct mail copywriter to businesses large and small.
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How to write a website.
By Alan Sharpe
1. Think like a prospect
Why do prospects and current customers visit your website? What are they looking for?
Find the answers and then write your web content accordingly.
2. Organize your site for your visitors
Set up a simple navigation scheme that makes sense to your visitors and presents
your information in the way they want to find it.
3. Write for skimmers
Your website visitors want to find what they are looking for quickly. So write
your navigation links, headlines and first lines of copy in such a way that
skimming readers find what they are looking for.
4. Write in levels
If you have a lot to say (more than 250 words) on any given subject, break your
message into chunks of copy that a website visitor can read without having to
scroll more than once. At the end of each chunk, put a link to the next page and
a link back to the previous page. If you like, let the reader know how many pages
deep your message is, as follows:
You are on page 3 of 8. Go back. Next page.
5. Tell your visitors where to go
Not everyone will land on your homepage and start browsing from there. Many
will land on pages within your website, directed there from search engines. So make
sure every page of your website lets visitors know where they are in your website.
Also make sure your complete navigation system appears on every page where needed,
so visitors can go anywhere on your site (particularly your homepage) from any page
on your site. A useful way to show visitors where they are is the navigation system
used by Yahoo and others. Example:
Directory > Computers and Internet > Internet > Business and Economics > Advertising on the Web and Internet.
6. Write in keywords
Search engines rank web pages according to the frequency and kind of keywords contained
in the headings and body copy. To make sure your web pages rank near the top of search
engine results for your topic, write your headings and body copy using the keywords that
describe your product or service, or your prospect’s problem, which are the keywords that
your prospects search for.
For example, consider a website that promotes an enterprise security application. To write this website,
you need to include the most important keywords and phrases that your prospective visitors will
type into search engines. These include:
- enterprise management security
- enterprise network security
- enterprise information security
- enterprise security software
- enterprise integrated security
- enterprise security symantec
- email enterprise security
- architecture enterprise security
- enterprise manager security
Remember, these are the words that your website visitors are searching for–and looking
for when they land on your website. So make sure your headings include these keywords in obvious places.
7. Ask for the order on every page
If you are writing a website that sells a product or service, place a hyperlink to
your order page everywhere your prospects are likely to want to buy from you. This includes
product pages, naturally, but also your FAQs page and About Us page, since these may be the
last pages that prospects read before deciding to do business with you.
8. Think of everything
Your prospects and other website visitors search the web looking for information. So make
sure you answer all frequently asked questions, using a Frequently Asked Questions page
(FAQs page) on your website.
9. Think hyper
When writing each sentence, anticipate what your website visitors are thinking as
they read your copy, and what they need from the website. Then include hyperlinks to
these things in your copy. For example, your visitors may not know what an SS7 protocol
is, so this sentence includes a link to a page that describes what SS7 protocols are.
Visitors simply click on the underlined text for immediate enlightenment.
10. Think branding
Your website is part of your entire brand, which includes brochures, ads, signage,
visual identity and more. So make sure the copy you write matches the tone of voice and content
of all your marketing materials.
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Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter. Alan helps businesses generate sales and secure sales meetings with qualified
prospects using cost-effective, compelling direct mail marketing.
Subscribe to "Sharpe & Direct," his weekly
direct mail marketing newsletter
at www.sharpecopy.com. Discuss your next direct response marketing lead generation campaign during
a free 30-minute telephone consultation with Alan.
Book your consultation now by phoning 1 877 SHARPE COPY (742-7732).
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