MARKETING How to Convert Visitors Into Customers: Five Keys to a Profitable Web Site by Michael Declan Dunn Copyright © 1998 Michael Declan Dunn. All rights reserved. As a WebMaster, I am amazed at how people consistently make the same mistakes. The most important part of your Web site is a clear and focused offer. Many Web sites try to be everything to everyone, which is impossible. Whatever you offer, focus on the word "just." "Just email marketing." "Just generating leads." "Just selling books." (Amazon.com is an example of this last item. Will they succeed by also selling music CDs?) What's the point of your site? Focus on what you deliver best, and deliver "just" that. Key 1: Save Time and You Save Money-Time Is the Most Precious Commodity You have 30 seconds to make a sale at your Web site. Make sure your home page text and graphics do not add up to more than a total of 40K (just look on your computer at the file sizes). That will take about 15 seconds to open up, which means you have to hit visitors with your message immediately. Think of three reasons for customers to visit your site. Focus on those three reasons and address them quickly with headlines that link to specific pages. There is an old rule of design called the "Rules of Seven": Never give them more than seven perceived choices to make, or you will confuse them. Keep it simple, and minimize your links. You can embellish on your other Web pages, but at your front door (your home page), orient and: A. Focus your customers on exactly what you offer, and why it will benefit them. Everything else is just commentary. B. Show why they should believe what you are offering. Back up what you say with testimonials-what other people say about you. Have a page in which you introduce the owner with a picture, or show the track record of the business. If you are new and have no testimonials, focus on success stories and show why you follow the same model. C. Make your site believable. Credibility is 50% of the reason anyone will stay at your site. Prove you can do what you say, and show the results. Put it in percentages, dollars saved or earned, or leads, and compare it to your industry. Make the examples so concrete that there are no questions left. If you are beginning, partner with others so you can benefit from their experience as well. After all, every business began sometime; don't let this stand in your way. D. Get them to contact you immediately. Put your free report on an autoresponder, and get them to fill out a small form on your home page immediately. Do not create a home page without such a simple form. Key 2: Color The Web brings color printing to anyone; this is a scary proposition. People put so many colors up, it distracts. Follow these rules and you'll be safe: A. Use just a few colors on your Web page. One trick I use is to focus on the color blue for my links-dark blue for a new link, a lighter blue after they have clicked on it. Try to use just three colors on your page; after all, computer screens are based on an RGB (red, green, blue) model for a reason. These three colors are the most reliable ones for looking the same on most screens. Too much color just turns people off. B. No more than 20 percent of your Web page should be in color. Use white backgrounds, black text, one color for links, and keep your colors simple. Avoid fancy patterns or gradients, because while it may look good on your computer, it can look awful on others. Use color for your left-hand border. For areas with extensive text, use white; it works. Black is a good alternative for a high-tech, entertainment, or "cool" site. Minimize the text you use on such backgrounds. Make the text light gray and yellow so it is easy to read. Avoid red text on a black background; it's tough on the eyes. C. Use simple color lines at the top or bottom of the page to separate sections. If you use text as a graphic, make it a different color to separate sections of your Web page. D. Use your color to accent what you are doing, for key points of action, links, and places you want people to go to immediately. Have one main color for your page, and use the other two sparingly. E. Color affects people psychologically, for example: Yellow promotes optimism, but too much makes people uneasy. White is associated with truth. Orange is associated with fun, while red promotes appetite. Black is the most dramatic color for backgrounds. Blue implies authority, financial responsibility, and security. (Blue is the most popular color.) Green means health and tranquillity. Key 3: Consistency The style of your Web site should be consistent from page to page. Select a background and colors, then stick with them. Web pages comes in one, two, or three columns. Ninety percent of the time, a two-column format works best. Make your Web pages about 600 pixels wide, with 20% (120 pixels) for a left-hand border. This is where you put your table of contents, or listings. Use the rest to put your text, headlines, banner ads, and key offers. Most of all, don't change your formatting from page to page. Use the same colors and standard look so people don't think about where things are. It should be easy to get around your site. If you use a two-column format, stick with it. Each time a Web page looks different, your visitors will be distracted. Get them to focus on your text by being direct, using the same sets of colors on each page, and formatting it the same way. HINT: The best way to test this is to create your Web site and invite people to go through it in person. Watch what they do and most of all, don't say anything to them. Sit them down to the Web site and observe; do not talk. Make sure you watch what they do. You will quickly find out what works and what doesn't, if you don't show them what to do. At your Web site, no one is there to guide them. Key 4: Ad Copy and Testing Like every other medium (print, radio, and television), it all comes down to your ad copy. Words are what make people respond and react. Spend time with your ad copy and test what works. See which headlines pull, both at your Web site and via email. Test and change these most of all, especially on your home page. Don't think of updating; think of testing your ad copy. Key 5: Design A Web site should be easy to navigate, which simply means breaking down your offer into its own logical structure. Try to make everything accessible with one or two clicks of a mouse. Write an outline of your ideas, then for each of your major subjects, write the name on a piece of paper. Put these on the floor in front of you, and circle them around your home page. If you find yourself branching out so much that there is little floor space, try to reorganize it. The further you get from the home page, the more you need to edit. If you can make everything available in one or two clicks, you will make it easy for your visitors to quickly get through your site. Make your files names descriptive as well, so people know what they are looking at. If you focus on writing a site simply, you will find that most sites break down into: A. The Home Page, i.e. Table of Contents, to center everything around B. Content that shows what you are doing, and that you know what you are doing C. Credibility-building pages, like résumés, testimonials, and company information D. Places to contact the business for emails, faxes, inquires, and phone calls E. Points of Sales, where they decide whether or not to buy F. Products/Service pages, to outline what you offer, the benefits, and the costs. When you target your customer base, you will find that they want only a few things. Give them what they want, and don't give them too much content. Education is good, but if you overwhelm them, you will lose a customer. After all, they come to your Web site to find someone who knows what they're talking about. They don't necessarily want to become the expert. That's why they're contacting you. Michael Declan Dunn is a Web publisher/trainer/designer online with a newsletter called The Web Letter. Stop by his other Web site, A Cybrary of the Holocaust. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Original source: http://wwwiz.com/html/article10.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -