Writing Great Web Copy – it only Takes a Cup of Tea!

Published on March 28, 2010 in Web copywriting and Web Strategy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’ve been working for a little while now with Easthaven Group, an IT consulting company based in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Sheryl Newman, one of the Co-Founders, has been working on wording to define her company’s uniqueness for the value proposition that will go on their new home page. To be honest, she’s struggled a bit to get beyond the usual bland, generic “anyone could say this” platitudes.

Yesterday, she sent me an e-mail with some “thoughts” she’d been mulling. What she wrote was excellent, edgy, direct, and clearly stating how Easthaven’s approach is different from the competition. We can easily take this great start and polish it for publication.

Here’s the key – I asked her if she’d written this just “off the top of her head with a cup of tea” (she’s also a Brit!), and she said “Yes”.

I consistently find that writing in this way – just start by putting down what you’d like to say without judging or polishing it – really helps to get beyond the writer’s block issues.

Customer says “Can you Help Me?” You say “Nope!”

Published on March 15, 2010 in Emotional connections, Web Strategy and Web Usability. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

I’m working with a b2b client on a major redesign of their Website. As part of this, we’re installing the Google site search engine (paid version!)

I wanted to see what happened if I searched for a product that isn’t listed on their site. Predictably, I got the following result:

    “Your search – [ search term ] – did not match any documents.

    Suggestions:

      Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
      Try different keywords.
      Try more general keywords.”

Now, I do think that in general Google Search is an excellent product.

However, this feels to me like the ultimate in “Non-Customer Service”.

Imagine a customer or prospect sitting across from you in the real world, and asking if you can help them with a particular product or service. Would you just say “No” and stop talking until they tried to ask their question again differently? Would you really make it sound like it’s their fault that they can’t find what they’re looking for in your store?

I certainly hope not – and yet, this is exactly what the standard “no results found” search utility does. This might be fine for Google itself, which is a generic search engine serving a huge and largely undefined audience, but it shouldn’t be how individual businesses respond to their visitors. At the least we need to be providing links to our knowledge bases, phone numbers or live chat access, and e-mail forms for easy enquiries.

My client’s Web developers are concerned that reprogramming Google’s source code so that we can do this would make it difficult to implement updates. So we’re stuck with giving our prospective customers a brusque “No” when they ask for help. I’m not happy . . .

You Can’t Herd Cats On Your Website!

Published on February 11, 2010 in Web Strategy and Web Usability. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Last week I was talking with a company which helps owners of intellectual property to register trademarks and copyrights.

The client had requested a “Pick My Brain” session to talk about his plans for the reworked version of the site (which is still in process at time of writing this).

We discussed at length how visitors coming to his site will make decisions, how they might be persuaded to interact with him, and hopefully to make a purchase. Visitors will have different levels of knowledge about the law in this area, about the registration process and its benefits, and they probably also have different levels of readiness to buy. Some might be very price conscious and looking for the best deal (there are other companies who offer similar services), while some might be more concerned about the credibility and trustworthiness of the company that they choose to do business with.

My client started our conversation hoping that he could guide visitors down a fairly set path – that if they read Page A, they’ll naturally progress to Page B, etc. Along the way, he could provide answers to questions, and address their concerns in a logical sequence.

I had to tell him that in my experience, it just doesn’t work that way! People can come into your site at lots of different entry points, and they have all sorts of ways of thinking and emotional response. The best you can do is to ensure that they can access all content that will help them and drive them towards your goals on every page of your site.

Creating user personas can help you understand how various types of visitors might interact with your site, but trying to get every visitor to follow a set path is like herding cats – and I have a calico, so I know never to try that!

The Emotionally Connected Doctor’s Website

Published on January 30, 2010 in Emotional connections. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’ve been dealing with one of those annoying women’s issues recently, so I decided to do some online research to find a doctor who might be able to help.  I was looking for someone who wouldn’t just immediately recommend major surgery, and who would clearly look at all my options.

Most medical Websites which talk about treatment for specific conditions are full of jargon and complex language.  If you’re a layperson, it can be pretty scary stuff!  And if you read the bios of the practitioners, they’re usually very official, full of impressive qualifications, but impersonal.

So I was thrilled to find a site called “Alternatives in Gynecology”. This site belongs to Dr. Paul Indman, and I was so impressed by how emotionally connected it felt to me. When I met Dr. Indman, he told me that he had written the copy himself, so I was even more wowed!

Specifically, the best practices that this site demonstrates include:

  • it provides clear descriptions of various conditions, with diagrams, in an easy to read style. We printed several pages for further study so that we were really well educated about what he might say, and the terms he might use.

  • Dr. Indman also lays out a number of different approaches that he takes to treatment, explaining his decision making process and the pros and cons of each protocol. Again, reading this ahead of time helped prepare us for the office visit.
  • It’s very clear that both the doctor and his staff are concerned to help patients to find the most affordable solution for them, and that they understand that many people are challenged by the cost of healthcare.

So the copy and presentation of this site very clearly understands me, the visitor, my needs and my concerns, and it addresses them all in a very empathetic manner. I told Dr. Indman that this was the most emotionally connected doctor’s Website that I’ve seen!

Of course, then I discovered that my health insurance company doesn’t include this practice and won’t cover me to consult with this expert – but that’s another story . . . :-(

Beware of SEO Experts With Silo Vision!

Published on January 6, 2010 in Search Engine Optimization and Web Analytics. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Last week I talked with a small business owner. She had just spent $6,000 over the past 4 months for search engine optimization services – which was a significant budget item. Of course, the SEO company was sending her ecstatic reports about her improved positions for targeted keywords, and increased click-throughs to her site.

So I asked her “How are all these new visitors responding to your site? Are they taking a good look around, or are they leaving immediately? Are you getting more calls and leads? Do you know which of the keywords that you’re optimizing for are performing best for you, and whether any are a waste of effort? Do you have any idea of what you’re getting back for your $6,000 investment?”

She replied that she didn’t have the answers to these questions, that she’d just assumed that things were going well because that’s what the SEO company was reporting, and then she sighed: “I think we just fell into the classic small business trap!”

Now don’t misunderstand me – I believe that the SEO company was doing exactly what they’d been retained to do.

But this company was only evaluating her success from their perspective – and they’re looking at her business from a pretty narrow silo.

I’ve seen this situation many times. Last year, I spoke for a group which included a manufacturer of kitchen appliances for the restaurant industry. They only sold to the trade, not to individual consumers. Again, they had an SEO company who’d got them to be #1 in search for keywords like “mixer”, and the CEO was thrilled with the increased traffic numbers that the SEO folks reported.

But the Director of Sales told a different story. Because the Website didn’t include any statements about who their customers were, or any language such as “minimum order”, the sales team were spending 25% of their time fielding completely unqualified leads! Now that’s what I call a leak in resources . . .

This type of scenario is why I argue so strongly for a “Website Ambassador” for any company. Outside practitioners (or less experienced employees) who you hire for one specific purpose can’t be expected to understand the ramifications of what they do on every other aspect of your Web presence and your business. Someone needs to have the 30,000ft view to ensure that all of your strategies and tactics are working together to maximize your ROI.

Otherwise, in plugging one leak, you could be creating several others!

“Did UPS Send Me To A For-Profit Business?”

Published on December 29, 2009 in Miscellaneous Musings and Web Strategy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I wasn’t going to post this to my blog, but my good friend Vickie Sullivan persuaded me that it’s a story that bears repeating . . .

I’ve been following up the leads from the cover story on effective Web strategy in the UPS “Compass” magazine for which I was selected as the sole expert (yes, free publicity is a wonderful credibility builder!)

One woman who contacted me described her business as the world leader in their field (which has to do with animal medicine). Her e-mail then said: “Sitting here reading your comments on Website functionality, and thought that I’d write and have you take a look at ours, and see what insights you can share with us.”

So I started describing my “Leaky Boat Website” review, which would provide her with exactly what I thought she was asking for.

She interrupted: “Is there a cost for this?” When I said there was, she was indignant – “Did UPS send me to a for-profit business?”

I was so stunned that I could only reply that I didn’t understand the question. In retrospect, I wish I’d asked her if she provides her world exclusive products for free!

Why Do We See Our Own Sites Differently?

Published on December 22, 2009 in Emotional connections and Web Usability. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

So I have a new client who is a major landscaping firm in the Chicago area. And I’m talking with her last week about the plans for the reworking of their Website.

Question: “Do we include bios and pictures of our designers?”

At first, my client said that more of their business is on the maintenance side, and she thought that this type of content would be overkill.

Then I reminded her that plenty of research shows that people respond to information about a company’s personnel, their history, photographs, etc. After all, “people do business with people . . .”

And she said: “Now that I think about it, I do click on those sections when I go to a Website where I don’t know much about the business”.

Which brings up one of my favourite questions: Why are we so convinced that people will behave differently at our site? Why do we lose sight of everything that we know – even about our own behaviour – in making assumptions about what visitors will or won’t like? If we know how we instinctively move around other sites, why don’t we apply that knowledge when designing our Web presence?

After all, we’re all human . . .

Are Marketers Not Spending On Analytics, Or Are They Just Not Talking About It?

Published on December 10, 2009 in E-mail marketing, Social Media and Web Analytics. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

There’s an interesting article in today’s eMarketer about business executives’ plans for integrating social media and e-mail marketing in 2010. The report quotes from the “2010 Marketing Trends Survey” by StrongMail, which lists the various marketing tactics on which executives plan to increase spending.

But there’s no mention in the spending table of analytics or any method of evaluating the ROI on these activities. And the report states that 23% of marketers admitted that they didn’t know how to measure their results. Bill Wagner, Executive Vice President of StrongMail comments that “. . . companies need to adopt new tools and strategies to properly measure and monetize their efforts.”

So what’s going on here? Are marketers spending on analytics, and that’s simply not listed in the report? Do analytics come under a different budget? Or are executives really willing to put money, time and resources into campaigns without any idea of their return on investment?

Let’s say it again: 95% of the Websites that I’ve audited were leaving money on the table – and their owners had no idea . . .

Do your Online Markets Challenge your Traditional Business Model?

Published on December 7, 2009 in Web Analytics and Web Strategy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Last week while visiting the UK, I sat down with the Operations Director of a small academic institution.

We started to review their Google Analytics. As often happens, we were immediately faced with data that directly challenges the business strategy they’ve followed so far.

To date, the college has concentrated on delivering high-quality programming to in-person groups – and their marketing and fundraising has reflected this model. Yet without any focused online promotional efforts, their Website is attracting traffic from all over the world – far outside their physical catchment area. In fact, 35% of all Web visitors could not easily get to their campus.

This is a scenario that I’ve seen many times. There will always be visitors to your Website who at first glance don’t belong to your established target market or demographic, and your instinct may be to let them go.

However, in this case we can clearly see from the inbound search terms and the pages visited that these people are specifically looking for the college, or for the subject matter that they teach – this is highly qualified traffic. And 35% is a pretty big number of potential customers to turn away!

Of course our discussion turned to the creation of virtual courses, webinars, podcasts, e-books and other offerings that could be delivered anywhere in the world. This would be a major shift in strategy for the college, and like many non-profit organizations, they’re underfunded and tend to move cautiously.

From what we saw in the analytics, I believe that they’re missing significant potential revenue and outreach opportunities – which in my language means that their Website has some major leaks. At least there are proven visitor numbers to make that case to the Management Team and the Board – I’ll be interested to see how they go forward.

Starting to Take My Own Medicine . . .

Published on November 27, 2009 in Web Analytics. 0 Comments Tags: .

As of today, my brand new Website has been up for 10 days, and it’s time to do what I recommend to all my clients, and start looking at my Google Analytics for some useful, actionable information.

This is a pretty salutary experience – my site is literally new and has almost no presence in search engines (Bing seems to be picking it up faster than Google) – so traffic numbers are pretty small.

I do see a couple of interesting things.  One is a great illustration of something that I tell my audiences a lot – there are always people who get to your site by mistake, and you need to decide whether you want to do anything about them.  I noticed a visitor who did a search for “Birkman study” and came to my site because I have a success story from some consulting that I did with Birkman International. This visitor left right away, which makes sense because clearly they were looking for Birkman’s expertise, not mine!

I’m also intrigued to see a few referrals to my site from Twitter, all of which record a 100% bounce rate (that is, visitors leaving immediately), and zero time on the site. Since someone retweeted the article that I’d referenced with a comment, I know that at least one person read the page, which meant that they spent time on it. Hopefully as the site traffic builds, I can shed more light on this.

Other than that, nothing earth-shattering, but there’s also not enough volume to make any findings statistically significant yet – there’s my next challenge!