Your website deals with a lot of potential customers for you. It’s the passive salesman standing out of the way of the customer, but always there when needed. It’s very easy to forget about him and ignore the people he’s dealing with.

DON’T!

I just unsubscribed from a newsletter after seeing a fantastic example of a company with poor understanding of their audience. (at least the online marketing team)

The company in question I use to buy car parts; brake pads, calipers, spark plugs, timing belts etc. for the rare car I have. They are a nationwide company and very popular for the DIY amateur car mechanic, of which I am one.

Today I received their newsletter of offers, the first in 3 years of my dealings with them. The featured “grab my attention” article forcing me to open the email, wasn’t about squirrels chewing through brake lines, or budget vs branded air filters or the benefits of winter tyres, it didn’t introduce me to a new technological advance on biofuel engine conversion possibilities or a spark plug revolution. The article instead used 6 paragraphs of prime “let’s show ‘em what we got” newsletter space to tell me:

How to check your oil level.

I would guess that 90% of drivers know how to check their oil levels, so the 10% might be worth aiming for…  However lets go back, this is a company selling car parts, not air fresheners and baby seats, but wishbones, utility belts, distributor caps and suspension struts. Of the 10% of people who don’t know how to check their oil levels, how many are realistically buying these parts online?

If this were Halfords, or a similar high street car bits and bobs for your every day driver, then educating the 10% of people running on low oil will make them a small fortune, but this is a company who focusses almost entirely on selling parts to DIY mechanics. Any diy mechanic who can’t check the oil level should not be allowed within 10 miles of a motor vehicle.

Your website is a salesman, he should be completely up to date about your company or business, he should have all the information and be able to give it at the right time. If he is trying to educate people, make sure his information is tailored to the people standing in front of him. Don’t alienate 90% of your clients to attract the final 10% who wandered in by accident while looking for Homebase. Alienate the 10% and keep your 90% of good, quality, loyal customers coming back.

I will continue using this car parts company, they are good at what they do, but they’ve lost the ability to market to me despite me being their perfect customer.

… when it’s a product… not funny? it shouldn’t be, let me explain:

A man walks into DIY Emporium, he looks at spades, he chooses one, buys it and leaves. A perfect sale, no problems …except that he didn’t want a spade…

What this man really wanted was a hole in the ground to plant some potatoes. He wanted to cultivate some easy vegetables to cook at next year’s BBQs. He wants to be able to tell his friends ‘I grew them myself’ and hear about how much better they tasted compared to store bought. He will feel proud and inspired to try tomatoes next year.

He is a little worried of course, what if he plants them in the wrong place? what if the ground is too wet/soggy/dry/cold/dark/light? What if it all goes wrong?

He has such a beautiful idea, but the spade doesn’t come into that dream anywhere. He didn’t really want it. He doesn’t care if it has a brown handle or a green one. He doesn’t care if it’s stainless steel or carbon fibre.

Are you selling spades or holes?
Do you show a picture of a spade or of big earthy potatoes?
Do you talk about the spade’s dimensions, colour, weight, portability, ergonomics or do you explain how much easier/quicker/better/deeper the resulting holes will be?
Do you package it with a trowel or rake? Or with planting instructions and yearly calendar? Shed building tips or even recipes?

No matter what we sell, we’re selling to people… REAL people and REAL people have REAL hopes, fears, dreams and desires. REAL emotions.

[spade photo courtesy of Lee Jordan]

I’m constantly asked by people all over ‘How do I get to the top of Google’, ‘Company X promises a front page listing’ and the likes. What are the google tricks to get you to the top? Hopefully I’m going to dispel a few tricks with business logic.

Google is a search engine, they want to make money from advertising but for this to happen, they NEED the masses to use it for searches.

What would make you choose or stop using a given search engine? The results. To maintain your loyalty, Google works hard to make sure it understands what you’ve typed into the search box, and gives you a good answer on page 1 with x million not so good ones following. (just in case) Google is a computer program and so doesn’t understand human speech as well as we, or Google execs would like, but it’s slowly getting there.

So
Fact #1: It is in Google’s best interests to produce reliable results to keep it’s audience.

If you search now for ‘Plumber in Watford’, Google will show plumbers and directories in Watford. Sometimes you’ll see other things there, these websites are strategically incorrect. This could be them trying to cheat the system or just not optimised correctly where Google thinks it’s about plumbers.

Back to fact 1, we lead on to:
Fact #2: Google continuously monitor results to create rules to filter out non-relevant results thus satisfying number 1.

Assuming you run a legitimate business, for argument’s sake and accountant in Hemel Hempstead, and I am looking for an accountant in Hemel Hempstead, it is in Google’s best interest to show your site to me. Google doesn’t care about how it looks, or how much money you spent on it, it only cares about me and satifying my needs. If it works, I will come back and become a loyal searcher, which is exactly what Google wants.

Fact #3: Google isn’t there to penalise people not able or willing to spend money on SEO, it’s best interests are with the searcher.

Some sites appear higher in Google than others, this is because Google believes that they are more helpful. Old sites designed and forgotten in 1995 are unlikely to be in the top 10 so it needs to know that you’re still in business and that you can help me. Don’t be clever and skirt around the issue of what you do. I am a web designer, fact. I could call myself a ‘brand archetect’ or a ‘e-makeover expert’ to differentiate myself, but that’s not what my prospects will be searching for. It is getting better and understanding, but it’s not quite there. For example if I add ‘That let the cat out of the bag’, Google would have to understand that I am talking about trouble, I am not a vet, I don’t agree with animal cruelty, I do not rescue kittens from bags (although have been known to.)

Fact #4: Google makes no assumptions, it only knows what you tell it, word for word.

I will expand on that last one, Google also knows what other people say about you, but that’s for another blog.

So forget Google as the enemy, it isn’t. It wants to help searchers find what they are looking for so they come back time and time again and hopefully click on a few adverts making Google a small profit for it’s efforts. Google is a business and while there are ways of ‘tricking’ it or tweaking things, if Google doesn’t believe you can help solve a given problem, you won’t be shown in the golden position 1.

Fact #5: Google are constantly improving, there are ways to slip through the net, but these will be quickly filtered out and you could be penalised.

So don’t try fooling Google by adding 100 links to the bottom of the page going to the same place, or 15 identical pages with the place names replaced unless there is a genuine reason for doing so. Continue to write copy for your readers, not Google, but just dumb it down a little so it all makes sense to a robot. Tricks like these will only work for a short time, once Google find a way to filter it out, you’ll be dropped like a hot potato.

Likewise if you do operate in several areas, by all means do have separate pages for each area, but don’t over-link them, stay logical. Remember that EVERY page is your home page. When someone clicks through, they won’t necessarily go to page 1, they could land anywhere and need to know in an instant that they’re in the right place.

Google isn’t your enemy, it is a money making business. If you understand business, think like them and you’ll already understand.

Another fantastic website related blog from one of our favourite Copywriting sites; Copyblogger.com (http://feeds NULL.copyblogger NULL.com/~r/Copyblogger/~3/359509499/). This one talks about the psychology of passive selling, a sales method which all business websites work with no matter how well the website design is done where visitors are anonymous and make the most of that fact. Copyblogger I found fairly recently but after reading from article to article I found much of the content was well worth noting. They state facts and give advice to website owners and marketing alike and make the most of those facts… Anyway waffle over as per article, the blog starts here:

Have you ever stood in a store with something in your hand and then looked up to see if there was a clerk nearby you could ask for help?

Sure you have. We all have. Good help is hard to find.

Companies have been cutting costs by moving towards self-serve more than ever. Depending on where you live, you may have to bag your own groceries, pump your own gas, or bottle your own water.

Put yourself in the mind of the consumer. Consider what happens at that very moment you realize you need help. You were focused on buying two seconds ago, but then something happened—something very important.

Your brain skipped a beat.

“Find someone,” it said.

“Don’t buy. You have questions. Get answers.”

Your focus shifts. You aren’t thinking about buying anymore at all. You were almost ready to shell out your money, but now you’re in search mode. Now you’re seeking answers.

“Hello… Can anyone help me? Anyone at all?”

Now, think about your website. There are no clerks. No sales associate lingers nearby. The store aisles are empty and the cashiers are gone. There is no one who can help – not immediately, anyways.

The copy on your website is the single solution. Useful content mixed with meaningful messages is the only salesperson on staff. If your site content isn’t meeting, greeting, and convincing people, then it isn’t doing its job.

You need more than a website… you need a website that sells.

And to help you sell more, here are seven copywriting tips for a website that operates like a well-staffed store:

1. Get a professional salesperson – Overexcited content full of exclamation marks and sunshine-bright enthusiasm very often has the opposite effect of calm, confident copy. It just doesn’t work well. Tone down the cheerleading and collect your wits.
2. Eliminate the dress code – Calm and collected doesn’t mean bland and boring. It’s fine to show some personality, so get naked with your content. In fact, most consumers enjoy a good peep show (minus the pom-poms, that is).
3. Tell staff to talk less– Readers quickly lose interest in long, verbose paragraphs and end up walking away. No one likes the guy who can’t shut up, after all. Trim your content. Use concise sentences that create impact – not unnecessary fluff.
4. Inform consumers better – Tell consumers about your company. They want to know your story – the way they want to hear it. What makes you special? Why should they choose you? What can you offer more than the competition?
5. Bring in the specialist – The quality of your content reflects on your business image. If it isn’t well written, it isn’t going to help you sell. Do-it-yourself copywriting is fine for people with the skills. But if that isn’t you, then hire a writer to help.
6. Hire a clerk – Make sure people can contact you quickly and easily with a visible contact form. Ditch the coded (emails) supposed (to) cut spam, as well. That just forces consumers to take extra steps to contact you – steps they may not be interested in taking. There are other ways of verifying that a user is human without having to type out badly displayed letters!
7. Don’t goof off on the job – There’s a time and place for playing the class clown. Snagging a customer lead isn’t that time. Give straightforward information, offer a clear message and cut the clowning around.

Ending here, I would also like to mention a related article from the same blog entitled: ‘I don’t care about you’ (http://www NULL.copyblogger NULL.com/who-cares/) which in principal states that your website viewers want to find out how you can solve their problem and don’t want to sit reading about how wonderful you say you are!