It’s something at which pitchmen like the recently departed and beloved Billy Mays was an absolute pro in answering.

And yet… few businesses even bother to look at the question, let alone put forth any effort in answering the question. Those who do answer the question only do so half-heartedly, as if it’s a stupid question.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s also the toughest questions to answer, particularly for a new company or business. I’ve struggled with it myself. But answer this question well, and you’ve handled at least 50% of the sales conversion process.

Case in point:

I was invited to review a demo of some new SEO software. The software looked fantastic – easy to use, comprehensive analytics, and helpful advice. All the features were there… everything, except the answer to this one lingering question…

“Will it really do what you say it does?”

Watch some of Billy Mays’ ads.  You’ll see that he does two things within the first 30 seconds:

1. He clearly identifies the problem.

2. He demonstrates that his product solves the problem.

Back to the SEO software for a second…

When I did a search for “SEO software”, the new software I reviewed was nowhere to be found. Granted, they’re new. But haven’t they been in development for the past year (or more)?  You’d think they would have been using their software and expertise to get into the top 10 for their primary keyword phrase.

Yes, it’s one of the more competitive keyword phrases, but NOT seeing them anywhere near the top 10 raises some doubts at an unconscious level, even if my conscious mind can rationalize the fact that they’re new.

Your prospects buy – or not – based on these unconscious signals… a fact that Billy Mays new well. He knew that he had to quickly dispell any doubt that the product would handle the toughest stain, hold an elephant by a thread, or do any other kind of miraculous thing.

Even if consciously the prospect is saying, “that’s bogus,” on an unconscious level, he’s saying “that’s really cool.”

This is what I found in the number one position in Google for “SEO software”:

Note their claim. Do I believe them?  In the immortal words of a retiring governor, “You betcha!”

Don’t underestimate the power of demonstration, and I don’t mean a “demo” of your product or software that shows how it works.  I’m talking about a real, live demonstration (ala Billy Mays) that proves your product DOES work. It does what you say it does.

And that gives me an idea…

Starting next week, I’ll be reviewing the top SEO Software tools, using their Google ranking as part of the equation of whether or not they do what they say.  I’ll separate out the tools that “tell you what’s wrong” from those that help you to improve your search engine ranking.

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• How to NOT SEO Optimize Your Web Site
• Quick, Practical B2B Copywriting Advice
• How to Play Nice With Google Adwords

A friend and colleague gave me a not-so-subtle reminder about effective web copywriting when he reviewed something I’d written for a client.

He converted my gab fest into this: “Want more customers? Get some here…”

There’s a beauty to this kind of simplicity. It addresses the primary concern of the target market and says, “get your solution here.”

And It’s All About the Desire

Advertising legend Eugene Schwartz said that you can’t create desire in your prospect. You can only connect with and amplify an already existing desire.

Although Schwartz never sold anything online, the principles are the same.  Here are a few bits of advice – things I’ve learned from what works and what doesn’t.

B2B Copywriting Tip #1: Find the already-existing desire.

It’s simple… and it’s not. What is the core emotional desire held by your target market?  Fame… popularity… to end loneliness… to be special?  These are the things that your customers really want. They are the CORE emotions that drive all of us to distraction and beyond.

They want more customers… but why? What’s the underlying motivation for getting more customers? More customers can mean more work, so maybe what they really want is the peace of mind that comes from not having to worry about money, and they know that more customers means more money.

So, perhaps the question I would ask for my client isn’t if their prospect wants more customers. Maybe they really want peace of mind.

B2B Copywriting Tip #2: Speak directly to their CORE desire.

You can do this through metaphor, story, or directly. Stories often work best, but the direct approach can work as well: “Follow these investing tips, or you’re likely to lose every penny of your retirement in the next ten years.“

Customer stories are great for speaking to the core existing desire. “Harry spent just one week using our secret process, and without knowing a thing about the internet made his first $467 online.“

The idea is that you don’t pussyfoot around with the core emotion. You hit it directly, and you hit it hard.

B2B Copywriting Tip #3:  Show, don’t tell.

Where possible, demonstrate proof that you can fulfill their dreams by showing instead of telling. Schwartz offered this example:

… Just picture the scene as these college horticulturists began this amazing flowering test of roses. For here gathered in a test field were all the highly-praised queens of rosedom… floribundas, hybrid teas, polyanthas… Just picture the astonishment on these experts’ faces when in the first month alone, Nearly Wild produced over 15 times more blossoms than the average of all other roses combined…”

Isn’t that more powerful than saying “Nearly Wild will produce 15 times more blossoms…”?

B2B Copywriting Tip #4: Pull the weeds.

My second draft of web copy is usually about half the length of the first. The third draft is even shorter.

Even when they’re reading an intriguing story, people tend to skim online. My friend was right-on when he cut my copy down to just a few words. You want to use enough words to paint a clear image in their minds, but not so many that their eyes go somewhere else on the page.

When they read a book, all they have is the book. Online, they’ve got ads, Twitter, E-mail, and a whole host of distractions. Give ‘em what they want and do it fast.

B2B Copywriting Tip #5:  Design matters.

And finally, design does matter. Eye tracking studies show that our eyes first go to the dominant image on the page, then to the dominant headline, and next to the site navigation (It’s like a big letter “F”).

If you use an image, make sure that it leads to your headline. Have your headline lead to the subhead, and the subhead to the body.

Put as few distractions on the page as possible. That’s why simple landing pages work so well to capture leads. They’re only one thing for them to do on the page – enter their name and email address.

On longer sales pages, use breakout boxes, blockquotes and images to break up the text on the page, making it easier to read and follow.

In other words, you’ve got to get their attention and hold it long enough to get them to take a desired action.

It’s not easy, which is why conversion rates online are getting smaller. There’s simply more competition for their attention.

Which brings me to the bottom line…

Want to be a copywriting rock star? Follow your customer’s already existing core desire…

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• B2B Copywriting - How to Guarantee a Sale
• 10 Internet Marketing Secrets For B2B Web Sites
• How to NOT SEO Optimize Your Web Site

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• Posts about Web Copywriting as of July 1, 2009
• B2B Copywriting - How to Guarantee a Sale
• Posts about Web Copywriting as of June 20, 2009

He asked if website copy was more important than website architecture.

The obvious answer (as a copywriter) is: “Well, duh…“

That’s the gist of the majority of responses to his question, with a few minor variations of the theme.

I’m not so black and white about it, though. I never am. It’s both the blessing and curse of being a big picture strategist at heart.

Below is my answer to his question. You may be surprised by my response…

You’re Asking The Wrong Question…

Bill, the question isn’t whether one is more important than another. The real question is “How can I get more leads and make more sales from my web site?“

When you ask the question in this way, you’ll come up with an entirely different answer, and as you know, the answers you receive are only as good as the questions you ask.

The answer isn’t a simple matter of choosing architecture over copy or copy over architecture. To optimize conversion rates you’ve got to consider a number of factors:

1. How do your website visitors find you? (PPC, social networks, search engines)
2. What is their perception of you, your products & your services before they arrive at your site?
3. What is the nature of their need or desire, and how strong is that need or desire?
4. How well does what you offer satisfy their need or desire?

Your conversion rate depends quite a bit on your ability to answer the above questions accurately. Your answers also help to determine your website architecture.

First, let’s talk about conversion rates. You want people who visit the site to take a desired action. This “converts” them from a visitor into a prospect or customer.

Now, let’s talk about archecture for a moment, then tie the two together.

Website architecture means different things to different people. For most, it’s all about “site navigation” and site design. That’s only one aspect of the architecture.

To me, “website architecture” encompasses your entire internet marketing system — primary web site, niche blog sites, etc. So, depending on the relative complexity or simplicity of your niche market, you can have a single web site or blog, or a series of linked and related blogs.

Why You Cant’ Consider “Website Conversion” in Isolation

The two actually go hand-in-hand because it’s your architecture that helps to optimize and organize the flow of traffic to and through your web site, and it’s the copy that creates the emotional response and leads to the desired action.

For example, if you know that they are getting to your site mostly from word of mouth (a referral) and that they have an already existing (and strong) desire for what you offer, AND they already know about you, then the copy can be as simple as “Want some? Click here.”

At the simplest level, you can have a single landing page with just a few choice words. Your audience knows you. They trust you. And, they have an already existing desire for what you have to offer.

On the other hand, if you’re relatively unknown, what you offer is something for which people don’t know they need, and your traffic source is mostly PPC, then your copy will be considerably more involved.

As an example of this, I worked a couple years back on a marketing plan for a small software company. They’d developed software for real estate investors to better track their properties from an investor and not a landlord perspective.

It was great software. Their problem was (and remains) that they were trying to solve a problem investors didn’t know they had (except for large investors who hired staff to do this stuff). They had to find an already existing desire within their prospects, then amplify that desire and demonstrate that they could satisfy their need with the software.

It was a tough sell.

They opted for a complex web site with tons of stuff about the software. I urged them to do a single landing page offering a special report that amplified the already existing desire to earn more from each real estate transaction.

I discovered later that their key competitors did what I suggested and were raking in thousands of dollars per month from a membership site, with the software as a “bonus.”

What created the sale here?  The copy, or the architecture?

Both.

The more complex architecture, regardless of the quality of the software, didn’t convert because it it created confusion in the minds of the visitor.

That’s Not To Say…

And, just so that you don’t think I’m just in favor of short, snappy landing pages, there are many cases where a more complex architecture with drop-down menus would work.

Architecture DOES matter because you want your visitors to easily and quickly find what they’re looking for.  If your company is well-known and you sell a number of related products or services, it makes total sense to have a more complex “Home” page.

The copy on the home page should be crisp, clear, and should excite the visitor to learn more. Then, they should be able to easily navigate to the specific page they want… and THAT’S the page where you really focus in on the copy for conversion.

Hope this helps.

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• How to NOT SEO Optimize Your Web Site
• Quick, Practical B2B Copywriting Advice
• B2B Landing Pages Versus Home Pages – Who Wins?

That was fun, but the best part is that they brought some illegal Washington fireworks with them.

Oregon fireworks are about as exciting as watching the rain fall… sparklers that fizzle out in 20 seconds… “rockets” that put out a few sparks and make an obnoxious whistling sound… and the ever popular poppers.

The illegal fireworks, in the other hand… man, they were fun! I loved the bottle rockets that shot 50 or 60 feet into the air, then burst into a cloud of color. I think the grandkids liked the display, too. I couldn’t tell, since Jason and I were busy being kids ourselves.

The Once-a-Year Celebration…

I heard someone ask if they have 4th of July in Canada. The respondent (not me) said, “No, they don’t.”

All joking aside (eh?), the Canadians do, indeed have a 4th of July. They just don’t shoot off fireworks and celebrate it the way we do. It’s too bad. I think every day should be a 4th of July.

I don’t mean with the fireworks and everything. I’d just like to see more celebration on a daily basis. We get to let loose a few times a year, party hearty, celebrate like mad fools… and then climb back into our puritanical “business suits” to slog through the rest of the year.

Sounds depressing, doesn’t it?

So, when I’m on the web looking for a company to give me a hand with a problem, I’d like to be celebrated!

Show me some fireworks. Light a big ‘ol sparkler on my behalf. Give me some web copy that sings MY praises and lifts me high into the sky on a rainbow of benefits.

For example, instead of telling me:

Smarsh provides proactive message archiving solutions that help your company manage: Compliance and Records Retention – the need to organize, index, retrieve, store and protect these electronic records is crucial… (www.smarsh.com)

How about this:

Starting today you can relax! Take a hard-earned vacation or focus on your business. You can even smile when some government wonk wants to audit your electronic records. It’s all taken care of for you – automatically, even when you’re on the back nine: E-mail records and even Twitter posts are encrypted, archived, and readily accessible ANY time you need them…

See what I mean?

Most web copy can use a little sizzle and spark. Like the state of Oregon, who thinks that we’re all out to burn the state down, business web copywriters think that compelling, lively copy is going to make them look “unprofessional.”

Hogwash.

Compelling, lively copy is what helps you to sell your products and services. People buy based on their emotions, and NOT their rational minds.

So, here’s what I want you to do this weekend:

Celebrate wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, and whatever is happening in your life. Shoot off a couple of mental fireworks if you don’t have the real ones.

Have fun and enjoy your time. Yes, even you Canadians who don’t have a July 4th. Eat some watermelon and have a seed spitting contest.

Enjoy… and happy 4th.

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• B2B Copywriting - How to Guarantee a Sale
• Web Copywriting and the Too-Long Wine List
• Web Copywriting, Landing Pages and Bicycling in Italy

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• The Killer and the Poet: How to Get Rich as a Copywriter
• Posts about Web Copywriting as of June 20, 2009
• Freelance “X” Factor is Live

“She fidgeted with the clasp on her purse and mindlessly glanced up at the clock. Only three minutes had passed. Three excruciating minutes of waiting for the police to arrive. It was an accident, she kept telling herself, as if doing so would change the facts…”

Why is most web copy so boring? I wonder if the woman in the story above had murdered her web site copywriter, and now she had to suffer the consequences of both bad web copy and a murder rap…

It’s as if we think others actually enjoy reading mind-numbing monologues on the virtues of “interactive marketing,” as in this bit of copy:

BCD Group started out as Paulette Carter Design in the early ’90s and was transformed into a group of innovative visual designers and programmers. By 1996 we positioned ourselves exclusively as an interactive marketing agency, concentrating all of our efforts into progressing with the development of the Internet — an essential channel for communication, sales, brand extension and workflow applications. (BCD Group – www.pcdgroup.com)

Truly inspiring, isn’t it?

How about this one, from another of Portland’s fastest growing private 100 companies. I spent five minutes on the site, and I STILL don’t know what they do…

Audigy Group’s senior leadership team includes executives with deep expertise and experience from both inside and outside the hearing care industry. Recruited specifically for their proven ability to build and manage new organizations, members of the team have diverse backgrounds in business design and network development that will support them in bringing innovative solutions to our industry’s challenges. (Audigy Group – www.audigypro.com)

The True Value of Story Telling in Web Copy

The copy above is fairly typical. It’s what we’re supposed to write when we’re writing “Professional” copy, either for brochures or web sites. I really have no idea where this idea came from, and it certainly wasn’t from any of the masters of advertising or copywriting. Here’s what Eugene Schwartz says in his classic “Breakthrough Advertising“:

“From that moment on (after the headline), your body copy does the selling. It does this by altering your prospect’s vision of reality. It creates a new world for your prospect – a world in which your product emerges as the fulfillment of the dominant desire that caused this man to respond to your headline.”

In fiction writing circles, they say that your writing should “show” and not “tell.” Taking the copy above from the BCD Group, here’s how they “tell” you that they are innovative and creative:

… and was transformed into a group of innovative visual designers and programmers… concentrating all of our efforts into progressing with the development of the Internet…

That’s pure telling. To “show” they would tell a story that “creates a new world for their prospect.” For example:

… then we asked him to slow down. On the speaker phone, his excitement came across like a herd of elephants. “You’re telling us that your conversion rate doubled just in the last month?”…

Think of it this way: if you’re shopping for a used car, would you take the car dealer’s word that “this is a fantastic car… handles like a Porsche and gets the gas mileage of a Prius”?

No, you’d want to test drive the car. When writing web copy, what you’re aiming for is to give your visitor an experience similar to test driving the car. You want him or her to have an emotional reaction to what you’re writing.

Scwhartz says that your copy must expand or alter one or more of the three dimensions of his already-existing mental world. This enables you to build his desire for the product, feel comfortable or comforted by the product, and to believe what you’ve told him.

There’s something in our makeup that enables us to more readily believe a story than a statement. Most people (at least those I know) will remember a fictional and emotionally moving movie long after a documentary. Stories simply move us to an emotional state where we long for the experience the story depicts.

Let me leave you with this re-write of Audigy Group’s copy (still not really knowing what they do):

You’re in charge, but you’re not alone. Can you imagine having the luxury of choosing from more than 1,000 highly lucrative and exciting jobs — and then sitting back and watching as industry leaders fall over themselves to hire you? And can you imagine the thrill of becoming an industry leader yourself, running YOUR business with the help of a highly-trained team of experts? …

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• B2B Copywriting - How to Guarantee a Sale
• How to NOT SEO Optimize Your Web Site
• Web Copywriting, Landing Pages and Bicycling in Italy

I stare at the 15 page wine list, take a deep breath, and quickly scan for any bottle of red that is in the mid-priced range. It can’t be the cheapest, and I certainly can’t afford $120 for a bottle of wine. It’s doubtful I’d know the difference anyway.

I quickly look for anything remotely familiar in my price range. Of those, I select one I can pronounce without sounding like a complete idiot. Finally, I find something. It’s from California, so I can’t go wrong.

“We’ll have the ‘02 Cline Cellars Syrah, please.”

He makes a quick note, nods is head, and lets us know that he’ll be right back to take our food order. No “nice choice.”  Nary a “that’s my favorite.”  Not a peep out of the guy. Did I make the right choice? Or, am I simply another wine illiterate who probably should be hanging out in a pub where I belong. Truth is… I prefer a good microbrew anyway.

Here’s The Web Copy Question  of the day for You…

Does your web site look like that too-long wine list to your web visitor?

I’d estimate that about 80% (or more) of the web sites I see are like the lengthy wine list. They’re packed full of options, services, products, and gizmos that will do everything from cure your cat of hair balls to make your computer run faster.

I wonder if your web visitor takes one look at your site, turns glassy-eyed, and hightails it back to dodge for a stiff shot of something more familiar. If so, here’s what you need to do:

Think of Every Page as a Landing Page

Your web visitor “lands” on a page, typically from the search engines, and perhaps from an advertisement you’ve placed. Either way, he or she is searching for something specific.

They “land” on the page because Google (or Bing, Yahoo, etc.) thinks the page has something to do with the search query. What if they get there and are confronted with a hodge-podge of options that may or may not have anything to do with their present need?

Simple… they’ll go away if they don’t see what they’re looking for.

That fancy restaurant with the 15 page wine list can get away with highly-inflated prices and a too-long list because you’re captured prey. You won’t get up and leave because the wine list makes you look like an idiot.

Not so with a web site. When they “land” on the page, they’d better see something familiar that quenches their thirst, or they’re off to the next site on the list. The purpose of a landing page is to offer a solution to a specific problem.

What this may mean for many companies is that they need not one, but MANY web sites, sub-domains (or better: blogs). Each subdomain website or blog handles specific niche products and services. All these sites will in turn point back to the “main” web site that has a simplified and easy-to-navigate design, and that ties all the various niche sites together.

For example, a company that finds jobs for job seekers, helps companies find qualified employees, offers resume services, and other services to employers might have a number of different websites or blogs, each dedicated to one area of their business.

All of the sites are connected to each other, and each is connected to their “mother ship” site.

This technique will help with the search engine placement, since the site offering help with resumes will be highly focused. Someone seeking help with his resume will more easily find this site, see that it is dedicated to resume services, and will be more inclined to trust the site to solve his problem.

You can see what happens if…

The alternative is what most companies do – put everything on one site. It’s confusing to your web visitor, and it doesn’t put your best foot forward. Plus, it’s harder for the search engines to rank your site for a particular niche. Instead, you get ranked really low for a number of keyword phrases.

If someone does find you for a particular keyword phrase, such as “resume writers,” what they’ll find is that big wine list with stuff they’ve never heard of. When that happens, they’ll click the “back” button and go to the next site on the list.

I suggest you take a good look at your site from the perspective of EACH visitor, especially if your company offers multiple products and services. Do you think they’ll find exactly what they’re looking for within seven seconds?

Look at your site and let me know what you see.

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• B2B Copywriting - How to Guarantee a Sale
• 10 Internet Marketing Secrets For B2B Web Sites
• How to NOT SEO Optimize Your Web Site

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• Posts about Web Copywriting as of June 19, 2009
• Posts about Web Copywriting as of July 1, 2009
• The Killer and the Poet: How to Get Rich as a Copywriter

Share on Facebook

More from Internet Marketing

• Posts about Web Copywriting as of June 20, 2009
• Posts about Web Copywriting as of July 1, 2009
• The Killer and the Poet: How to Get Rich as a Copywriter