2 Golden Rules for an Engaging Website
35% of visitors fail to achieve their goal when they visit company websites! By following 2 simple rules, you can increase your web-derived revenue by 1/3 or more!
Renowned website usability researcher, Jakob Nielsen, today (Nov 24) published results of his latest study. His test subjects used 139 websites. On average, they failed to find what they were looking for 35% of the time. Shockingly, 37% of users couldn't even find company location details!
What was surprising was that users didn't give up. They generally found the information they were after ? but they found it at a competitor's site!
So how do you stop potential customers falling into the hands of your competitors? Nielsen is right when he suggests user research. Yes, it's imperative that know what your users need at your site. But what he doesn't say is how to structure your website so it meets users' needs.
There are two golden rules:
1) Write first, build later
2) Write to your customer
Write first, build later
The real message on most websites is in the writing. It makes sense, then, that the writing should determine the structure.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for most businesses. For them, the writing is an afterthought. They structure and design their website first, then try to fit the writing to the structure. This flies in the face of common sense. When you speak to someone, you structure your speech around your message. You don't decide on a structure, then change the message to suit!
For a truly usable website, you need to plan what you want to say before you create the site ? perhaps even write the whole thing. The message ? the writing ? should determine the structure.
Write to your customer
So how do you decide what to write?
Firstly, don't think, "What do I want to say?". When you're writing a website, you have to think, "What does my customer want to know?". It's a very subtle difference, but it's the key to engaging writing. And that's what you want to do? engage the customer.
Most customers will want to know the basics:
Your website has to communicate a lot of information. And to make matters worse, you're going to have limited screen real-estate. Ideally, your customer won't have to scroll ? especially on your homepage (all your information will fit within a single window). And you can't fill the whole screen with writing, either. The design and navigation elements take up about a third of the window, and you should leave a bit for white space (you don't want to overwhelm your customer). As a rule of thumb, you should expect to have about 1/3 ? ? of the window at your disposal for the writing.
Chances are, right now you're thinking, "How am I going to fit it all in?". Well, that's where your writing skills come in. Choose your words very carefully?
Websites can be an extremely powerful piece of marketing collateral. You can reach millions for just a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately, your competitors can do the same thing. It's a level playing field, but there are a lot of players. It's important that your thoughts are structured, otherwise your site will be a mess. If your message is clear, your site will be simple and easy to use. It's all in the words?
8 More Reasons to Write for Your Audience?
1) There are approximately 550 billion documents on the web
2) Every day another 7 million are added
3) Workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organisations $750 billion annually! (A.T. Kearney, Network Publishing study, April 2001)
4) Reading from a monitor is 25% slower than reading from paper. (Sun Microsystems, 1998)
5) Helpful content develops site loyalty. The average person visits no more than 19 websites in the entire month in order to avoid information overload. (Nielsen NetRatings in Jan 2001)
6) 79% of users scan read when online (Sun Microsystems, 1998)
7) Information gathering is the most common use of the Internet - 73% (American Express survey, 2000)
8) 48% of people use the Internet to find work-related information as opposed to 7% who use magazines. (Lyra Research, 2001)
About The Author
* Glenn Murray is an seo copywriter and seo copywriter. He is a director of seo copywriter and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at seo copywriter. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com or http://www.publishhub.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to purchase his e-book, 'SEO Secrets'.
eco-friendly cleaning service Buffalo Grove ..Making money with your web site is the dream and... Read More
Alternate medicine finds its own place in the hearts and... Read More
1. As the first step, "Hire a web designer."First create... Read More
Designing an E-commerce Web site is not as simple as... Read More
Losing website sales and traffic is sometimes simply a case... Read More
There's been widespread speculation about the new legislation being introduced... Read More
Wow, we`ve already taken a domain and chosen a web... Read More
Having an eye catching website is great, but are you... Read More
Setting up a website is the very first step of... Read More
When web content gets discussed on webmaster bulletin boards, the... Read More
With search engines putting a damper on direct reciprocal links,... Read More
What is CSS?CSS is a simple file which controls the... Read More
One of the most important parts of establishing a new... Read More
Most interactive websites nowadays require data to be presented dynamically... Read More
Every online entrepreneur I talk to is asking the same... Read More
Visitors to your site come looking for information or solutions... Read More
The growth in Internet usage around the world is astounding... Read More
When visitors add your web site to their Favorites or... Read More
Have you ever wondered what challenges are faced by other... Read More
One of the biggest mistakes that most online retailers make... Read More
After planning the design and content of your website, it's... Read More
1. Choose a big enough font size. A size 12... Read More
Everywhere you look these days, people are telling you that... Read More
When most people build a web site, they think one... Read More
The following is a list of patterns that many visitors... Read More
express cleaning service Arlington Heights ..Revenues are often lost because many business owners don't see... Read More
Does your website have a links/resources page?Do you exchange reciprocal... Read More
1. Address your targeted audience on your business site. Example:... Read More
When marketing your website, it's important to know which of... Read More
The first thing you will have to deal building your... Read More
Three way linking and concerns.For many years SEO experts were... Read More
There are many elements that are key to successful web... Read More
1. Splash pagesMost of the time splash pages are uncalled... Read More
I can't think of any business alive today that couldn't... Read More
Why do some sites succeed while the vast majority of... Read More
When a user signs up at your website, you may... Read More
So you finally decided to invest in a web presence... Read More
That's right. According to a recent study by Nielsen/NetRatings, Amazon.com... Read More
Q1.Why would I need a web site? A1.- Improve my... Read More
URL rewriting are major needs for your sites that produce... Read More
What is CSS?CSS is a simple file which controls the... Read More
If you're anything like most small business owners, you probably... Read More
Just like all things in life, the ways to run... Read More
Launching a new small business website is often a long... Read More
Starting an internet business can be confusing to non-veterans. The... Read More
What you should do and know if you are an... Read More
Everyday thousands of new businesses make the leap and take... Read More
Many websites I come across don't have a single link... Read More
This simple question can take on several different forms, but... Read More
Dan Kennedy once said that if you can't make money... Read More
Web Development |