The objective of a website is to present your product or service in a way that motivates your site visitor to contact you. I've developed my design philosophy based on established principles of advertising, marketing, and copywriting from some of the best, and well known marketers and copy writers in the advertising business. These principles are just as important when writing copy for your website as they are for print or direct mail advertising. After all, selling is the goal of any website.
Common mistakes other web designers make that reduce the selling impact.
- 1. No headlines, or meaningless headlines, that do not get attention, and do not lead into the copy.
- 2. Copy that is overly wordy, not compelling, and is poorly written.
- 3. Flashing graphics, sliding headers and moving things that distract from the main purpose.
- 4. Important headlines placed on a 'slider' which change too quickly for them to be read.
The purpose of a website is advertising!
And the purpose of advertising is selling.
No headlines or meaningless headlines.
"Welcome to our website," is not a compelling headline. It doesn't get attention, doesn't arouse curiosity, does not create interest, and is a waste of "ink". It has zero advertising impact. Yet, many web designers insert this for the main headline! It is trite, and it is ineffective. Worse, there is no redeeming subhead.
Headlines are the most important part of any web page. To be effective, a headline must be meaningful and compelling. The purpose of a headline is to lead the reader to read the first line of copy.
Some designers omit headlines altogether, plunging right into the copy. This is a big mistake. With nothing to draw the visitor into your copy, it may never be read, and your message is lost.
Copy that is not compelling does not sell.
Much of the copy found on websites is just fluff. This is because most designers, and 'IT Specialists' are not copywriters. They have never taken a class or read a book about writing copy, much less, advertising. Their only goal, as 'SEO experts,' is to stuff the copy with as many keywords as possible to achieve good search results. This not only results in poorly worded copy, but copy with no compelling selling message. The reader may recognize the fluff, and move on to your competitors site.
Also to be avoided are trite phrases like, "Please feel free to look around." Your website is on the public Internet, and is freely available to all. One doesn't need an invitation.
Another trend today is toward type that is too small, and so pale that it is barely visible. Copy that cannot be seen, will not be read. If it isn't read, your message is lost. Copy exists to be read.
Flashing graphics, pop-ups, and moving things do not sell products.
Simple is better. web designers have a tendency to want to show off their creativity rather than help you sell.
A notion that prevails among web designers is that the goal of a website is to provide the site visitor with an "experience."
Consequently, we have hundreds of sites on the Web with flashy graphics, slide shows, pop-ups, and other bells, whistles, and 'thumb suckers' which do nothing to sell the product or service, but are a distraction, often annoying, and at worst, they may actually drive visitors away from your site. Important headlines are often contained within these sliding graphics, only to be whisked away and replaced by another before the first words can be read! These things may be clever, but they do not help you sell.
This notion is especially found among "IT Specialists," those who may have been formally educated in IT (Internet Technology), but have no knowledge of, nor exposure to advertising.
The goal of your website is not to create a "User Experience." It is to sell your product or service.
The goal of a business website is to sell your product or service.
Our main service area is northeast OH, including Trumbull, Mahoning, Ashtabula and Geauga counties, and western PA, including Mercer and Lawrence county. However, if you are outside this area, we can serve you too, as it is usually not necessary to have personal consultations for website creation, but everything can be handled by phone, Email, and US mail. This is our usual way of working.