Who is your audience and what do they want/need?
Asking those questions are fundamental to a successful website. Think about who your audience is and design the site for your audience. Determine what your audience would most want and/or need from your Website. The most important thing on your site is the information/content – it should be easy to read and understand – “bells and whistles” should be minimized.
Here is a great example of putting this in action… http://williamscopywriting.ca/
Helen and I met last summer to chat about her website. Her old site was ok, but her message was a little fuzzy, and her audience was… hhhmmm…. well, everyone. Plus, she offered photography services to go along with her copywriting. I told her she would be better off offering one service, and being clear on what exactly those services were. One last touch that I suggested was to strip the site down to just copy. I told her to use text formattting to “design the site”. After defining it’s purpose and audience, she now has a website that hits the mark!
(note: I actually did not build Helen’s website in the end…but happened to stumble across it the other day. Well done Helen… I love it!)
Beauty is only skin deep… especially when it comes to websites. Judging a website by its “looks” alone, is kinda like judging the quality of a cake based on how good it looks. The proof is in the eating… whether its my favourite chocolate cake or a website.
Here is a great article on
10 things that every Small Business Website must have to succeed
So, your Places page is setup, but when you do a search, it doesn’t show up in the results. Why?
Google ranks a Place on a number of factors:
- Time in business
- Time since the Places record was claimed
- Quality and rank of the website,
- Number of times a business is mentioned on the internet
- Quality of those mentions.
If you want to show up in Google, and your only concerned about local traffic, here is a great tip. Put the name of your city in the title tag. A title tag is the ”name” of the web page you are viewing. You can see it at the top of your browser window. The name of this page is “Getting found locally in Google by using your city name” People doing a search will often put the name of the city along with the service they are looking for.
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Never heard of this till now. A coffee shop in Kansas missed out on potentially hundreds of customers when their Google Places listing stated they were CLOSED. Problem… they were open, and had no idea it was happening. I will have to keep an eye out for this when it comes to my own clients…yikes!
To read the full story…check it out here in this New York Times article
One of the first questions a client will ask me is… “Can you get me on the first page of Google?”. My response is…”Absolutely!” But, and its a BIG But… it all depends on what keywords you want to be found with and how much money you want to pay.
For instance… if you are a divorce lawyer, and awant to be found on the first page of google for “Divorce Lawyer”… good luck. First, its a VERY popular search phrase, with lots of competition. Second, its a very lucrative industry, with lawyers willing to pay lots of money to be on the first page. Thankfully, for a typical small business in the Lower Mainland, it’s a different story. Your competition isnt as fierce.
The purpose of most small business websites is to get a visitor to buy your product or service. Most business websites have a home page that merely provides information about the company instead of compelling them to take the next step. the next step can be anything you want… CALL NOW, LEARN MORE, or even BUY NOW! Some Sample taglines include…
- Order now and receive…
- The next 100 callers will also receive…
- Order by [date] and we’ll even include…
Email has lost its lustre over the last few years. With the rise of social media giants like Facebook & Twitter, people are turning away from this tried and true communication method.
But, hold it. Before you think it’s time to abandon email, look at the stats.
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By now, everyone has heard about Google. The term “Just Google It” is a common phrase we hear. Well, how can it help your small business? I have clients tell me that they are 
frustrated with their Yellow Pages Ad… that its not bringing in customers. You spend thousands every year, and get little return. The reason Yellow Pages does not work anymore is because the majority of people now use the Internet to find what they are looking for.
When writing for your small business website… always remember… It’s Not About You!
It’s easy to do. You spend all day dealing with the intricacies of your products and services. You love thinking about your products, you love improving them, and you love talking about them. It’s only natural that you want to shout from the rooftops and tell the world your product’s story in all its splendor. Problem is, the rest of the world isn’t interested in your story.
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