Video stars

There’s no denying that video gets more attention.  Plus when you post videos onto your YouTube channel, you’re putting them directly onto the second biggest search engine worldwide.

But videos are expensive to produce - aren’t they?

They can be - but they don’t have to be.

Most of us have a good enough video camera in our pockets - the smartphone!  Invest in a little tripod and a plug in lavalier (clip mic) and you’ve got a set up that will work well for talking head videos.

If you have a Zoom account you’ve got the facility to record interviews, slides with voiceover or you talking to camera, a combination of any or all of those.

Get the basics right

• Make sure your chair is comfortable, quiet and the right height.
• Check where you appear on the screen - it’s more interesting if you’re not smack in the middle; try sitting slightly closer to one side of the screen instead.
• Make sure you don’t have a cluttered or distracting background.  If you don’t have a greenscreen, then sit in front of a plain wall.
• Wear what you would wear to meet a client - but ensure you’re comfortable.
• Ensure you’re well lit.  Bad lighting can result in ‘floating head. Effects, pale highlights, reflections in your specs or, worst of all a dark silhouette where nobody can see your face.  A halo lamp set up behind your screen is a good way to light your face and good lighting to either side of you so you don’t get half your face in shadow.  If your halo lamp is above eye level you shouldn’t get reflections in your glasses.
• The best spot for your mic is around the base of your neck or as near to that as you can comfortably clip it.  If you want to invest more in a free-standing mic, a Blue Yeti is a good choice.

Get the message right

Think of your presentation as the equivalent of standing on a stage and speaking to a room full of potential clients.  That means you need to think carefully about what you’re going to say and how you get your message across.

Planning pays off.  You don’t have to have a set script, but you do need to think about the main points you want to make and in what order.  I often use bullet points or even a rough script and have it in front of me while I speak, as nobody can see it on my screen!  It stops me rambling and losing track.

Remember your title should have the key word for your subject and you can tag the MP4 file with your keywords too.  When you upload it to YouTube use the title as the key phrase and the same keywords.

Your video doesn’t have to be long - say what you need to say to make your point - then stop.

As soon as you start padding it out to make some ‘magic’ number of minutes, you’ll lose your audience’s interest.  It can be one minute, a few minutes or a more in-depth presentation.  But whatever length it is it must have value.

Avoid delivering a direct sales pitch - there are ads for that!  Your aim is to impress the socks off your viewers with your knowledge, wisdom and approach.  If people like what you have to say and can see you know your stuff, they’ll come to you anyway.  By all means add your contact details on the final slide - at the very least your website.

Being an accomplished presenter doesn’t make up for a boring presentation.  And while you should make every effort to deliver good value, it doesn’t matter if your video isn’t professional level.  People will ‘buy’ you and your ideas if you’ve got something they want - even if you’re not using state-of-the-art equipment and are a polished presenter.

Tidying things up

If you use a Mac you should have inbuilt video editing software.  If you’re a PC user, you may need to get something like Lightworks and learn to use it.  Alternatively, look at Fiverr.com and find a video editor who will tidy things up for a small fee.

If you’re not particularly techie, outsourcing your editing is more cost-effective as it can take a while to do what you want if you don’t know what you’re doing.  A professional can do it in a few minutes and deliver a better result.  If you just want your video topped and tailed with your brand and contact information it’s not a big job and shouldn’t cost much.

With a little practice and some planning you should soon be able to put together videos that you can use on social media and your YouTube channel.

Open or delete?

Email marketing is a very effective marketing tool - but only if you know how to use it effectively.  

You may have seen some really bad examples of email marketing, where you’re bombarded with emails daily demanding that you ‘buy this’ or ‘subscribe’ to a webinar you know is a thinly disguised opportunity for someone to sell their stuff to you.

But I bet you’ve had email marketing that you may not have recognised as such.  The emails are friendly, chatty and often amusing.  You feel like the writer is talking to you directly and, even though there may be the occasional offer in there, they give away massive value along the way - without you having to part with any money.

How do you feel about receiving either kind of email?

My bet is that in the first example you hit the delete button or unsubscribe.  However, you probably read most of the emails you get from the sender of the second example.

Open me!

The secret of getting your email read is to have a great subject line.  People see the subject line and that is often the point at which they decide if the communication is worth taking a look at.

Effectively, your subject line is your headline.  Ted Nicholas said “You should spend 80% of your writing time on the headline.”  It’s the point at which people decide whether the rest is worth reading so it needs to get your reader’s attention.

If you know your audience well you should know what they’re interested in.  What are their pain points?  What will make them sit up and take notice?  What will intrigue them or engage their curiosity?  This is all good raw material for your subject lines.

Content

When someone has given you their email address they don’t want to be spammed.  My advice is to deliver value first and foremost.  

Put yourself in the reader’s shoes - what would help them?  If they’ve signed up to a lead magnet, that will give you an idea of their interests, so more around the same subject or allied subjects will usually work well.

By all means promote other things, but primarily aim to add value first.  If you add enough value, people will be open to purchasing from you.

Ask for action

If you don’t ask, you don’t get!  Also if your reader has to work hard to find what you’ve asked them to do, most will give up.

If you want people to do something don’t forget to ask.  Then make it easy for them to take action.  That means a button with a link directly to the web page you want them to visit.

Fill your funnel

If you aren’t a natural sales person, how do you find new customers?  There are plenty of ways to connect to your target audience:

• Cold calls
• Networking
• Advertising
• Social media
• Referrers/advocates

The right strategies all work - but my favourite of all is the sales funnel.  Why?  Because:

• Once you’ve built it, it continues to work in the background while you do the stuff you’re good at
• It showcases your expertise, educating your audience about your knowledge and experience
• It moves people from free to paid to long-term on automatic pilot.

Given that I am never going to pick up the phone and make a cold call, I have not yet found an ad that really works well and I already do networking, social media and value my referral network, I like the sales funnel.

It’s what could be described as influence marketing, but it’s more reliable than just hoping someone will like what you have to offer and get in touch.

The lead magnet myth

Most business people have come across the odd lead magnet or two.  This is where you’re offered a free document or webinar of value to you, in return for your email address.  If you haven’t actually got one, you’ve probably signed up for one somewhere along the line.

However, many people think that’s all they need - a decent lead magnet and people will not only put themselves on your list, but also pick up the phone and call you for the kind of help you offer.

This only works in fairyland!

In the real world the lead magnet is only the beginning.  You need the foundation sitting underneath to make it an effective marketing tool.

That means:

A series of automated emails, giving more value and signposting your next offer - generally something low cost (i.e. less than £50)

The low cost item - which might be a book, a webinar, an ecourse or online event.

A series of automated emails, following up the purchase and adding more value, with an invitation to join your next level offer.

The second level offer - usually delivered one to many.  This could be a subscription to an information source (usually a regular email), a membership of a knowledge platform, or a course over a specific time frame.

This also needs following up to ensure that people are getting value from their purchase.

The final level in most marketing funnels is the premium level 1-2-1 service, where you work directly with the client offering a bespoke, personal service.

If you get this all set up you’ll have a system that virtually runs on its own.  Everything is created in the set up process and is automated (until you get to the final level).

What’s not to like?!

Are you a radio star?

When you think of PR - are you thinking ‘press releases’?  There are far more opportunities that are more effective than simply issuing press releases.

Press releases are hard to get published and you’ll need a really good story, not just a business announcement to get past the editor’s spike (the delete button!)

If you’re an expert and have knowledge to share look at your local radio stations.  If you’re business-to-business, most radio stations have a drive time show and/or a business slot somewhere in their schedule.  

If you’re selling direct to consumers you can find a presenter who is interested in giving their listeners good information.  Whether that’s how to make a wedding tree or the latest materials for sports clothes, you don’t have to do a sales pitch, just sharing your knowledge.

How to make the connection

Your local PR agencies will have a list of contacts, but if you want to do it yourself the first thing to do is to listen to the radio station.  You need to know what kind of content the various shows feature so you pitch your ideas right, if you’re familiar with the different show formats you’ll find the shows, slots and presenters that are the best place for you to start.

Most radio stations have an online digital feed on their websites and many have the option to replay programmes, so you can skip over the music and listen to the talking bits.

There are usually contact details for the station on the website and sometimes specific emails for different shows or presenters.  Bear in mind that well-established stations will have producers for one or more shows and they are often the best contact to approach. 

If there isn’t an obvious slot for your idea, but you can see that it would fit into a particular show, you’ll need to put together a pitch - even if it’s in note form for you to talk through on the phone.

The more specific you are about how you could help their audience the better.  You’ll need to have a good idea who listens to each show - and there often listener demographics available either online or in their advertising packages.

There has to be a win-win for the station and for their listeners, so be clear about how both of these parties will benefit.  Whether you get a slot to just talk or you’re interviewed by the presenter, ensure you keep this in mind.

Top 3 tips for radio

• Be flexible about time - turn up in plenty of time and be prepared for the occasional delay if new breaks or something comes up that pushes your slot back a bit.  
• Talk clearly and a bit slower than you would in normal conversation, but not too slowly or you’ll lose the energy of your message.
• Don’t chat with the presenter during off-air time (i.e. during music, ads or pre-records) unless they instigate it.  They will have other things to do, clips to schedule and may be watching one or more screens to ensure everything goes smoothly.  They’ll let you know when it’s OK to talk - either off air or on air - there’s usually a red light that indicates you’re live.

Once you’ve done this once on one station and ticked their boxes, they’ll be open to you coming back again.  Smaller local stations may even be interested in a regular weekly or monthly slot if you can deliver great quality material regularly.

Open, click or delete

If you send out a regular newsletter you want to know people are reading it.  Most of the email marketing platforms (e.g. MailChimp, AWeber, GetResponse, etc) send out stats showing how many opens and links clicked your message gets.  This should give you an idea about the success of your newsletter.

A newsletter has a number of elements you need to consider to make it work effectively.

The subject line

Om effect. This is like a headline; it’s what says ‘open me’ to your reader.  Honing your skill at writing subject lines that intrigue or engage your reader enough to get them to open the email is worthwhile.

There are lots of approaches that work:

How to [do something/get a specific result]

Have you seen the latest change in [something of interest to your audience]?

Time is running out … or 24 hours to go …

Do you make this mistake?

Would you like a special bonus?

These are statements or questions that tickle the reader’s curiosity and get them to open the email.

The header

I like an image at the top of my newsletters as it gives the message energy.  However, it does need to be an image that is relevant to the subject.

I know experienced newsletter writers who use a big headline and some info about the offer, special deal or whatever along with benefits.

It depends on what kind of newsletter you send out.  I like to lead with value (knowledge-based content) and follow up with a promotion.

The opening content

Like any other content your aim is to engage the reader as quickly as possible.  A conversational approach so the reader feels like you’re speaking directly to them usually works better than a formal approach.

If you have a knowledge-based article as your lead, you don’t have to publish it all in the newsletter, you can stop after 3-4 paragraphs and link it to the article on your website (e.g. on your blog).

Call to action

Every item needs a clear call to action.  If it’s your lead value-based item that might be a ‘read more’ button.  If you’ve got a promotion or special deal, it might be a button to take the reader to a sales page or an email link and/or phone number for them to contact you.

Long or short?

There are no hard and fast rules.  The main thing is to make it easy for people to access what they want.  In today’s digital world, short and to the point is popular with time-poor readers.  Links to longer versions of your content allows them to choose whether they want the short or long version.

A long first article can stop people getting to your offer.  However, putting the offer first may turn people off.  You could separate value and promotion into two different emails as an alternative.

The secret of great newsletters is to know what your list actually wants - then deliver that and you’ll get more opens, more clicks - and fewer deletes.

The 5 Cs of social media content

If you’ve dabbled in social media, know that it’s important, but have no idea how to make it work on a business level - or make it worth the effort you have to put in keep reading.

If you:

• Put in lots of effort with little result
• Spend hours trying to keep up with all the different social platforms
• Don’t know what to post

And think that social media is like a black hole - where you can spend hours for little or no return the 5 Cs will give you some guidance and a framework to start with.

Don’t bite off too big a chunk

The first myth I want to blow out of the water is that you need to be on ALL the social platforms.  First you need to identify where you target audience hang out and then be active where they’re looking. 

Start with one and get that working, then add another.  You don’t have to be all things to all people.

The secret of success is to have a strategy and a framework and then stick to it.  So what are the 5 Cs?

Creativity

Ordinary doesn’t get attention, so you need to get creative with your messages.  

What will get attention?  Is it a spectacular image that will catch the eye (but it has to be relevant) or a headline that gets people to want to know more?

Whichever (or both) you choose, then you need to keep the ball in play - that means you have to keep them coming.  

My tip is to have a list of subjects with:

• The most frequently asked questions you get
• The biggest pains your customer have
• The most successful results clients have had (from your products or services)
• Controversial quotes or opinions

Then it’s a case of how to frame these as posts for your chosen platforms.

Use Answerthepublic.com to find out what people want in relation to your key words/phrases.

Put your keywords into Google and see what comes up as the most popular posts.  There is usually a list of questions people ask in relation to a key phrase that will help too.

Colour

Colour doesn’t necessarily mean that you need pictures that are gloriously technicolour, but that you need to have images that pop and attract the eye.

Sometimes monochrome can have the same attention-grabbing effect.

In today’s social media world images are the hook that draws your potential client in, so make sure your images work hard for their living!

Charisma

Charisma is difficult to define, but people with it attract others to them.  That’s what you’re aiming for with your social media posts.  It’s not an accident, you have to work at it.  People with charisma often dress in a signature style or have something that is memorable about them.

You might develop something that is a theme running through your posts or a particular style of presentation.

However, one of the most compelling ways to attract people is to consistently give them what they want.  If you’re the guru and show you really understand what they want, your posts will have charisma.

Congruency

This is all about posting content that is in line with you and your business image.  While I’m all for shaking people up a bit, I want them to take me seriously - so I need to match their expectations on at least some levels.

Whatever your products or services are, your online presentations need to reflect those and create the kind of response you want to get.

Don’t get me wrong I know a business consultant that turns up on a motorbike and a marketing specialist that specialises in getting your inner message right to attract more clients.  You don’t have to be boring - but there must be congruency between your posts and overall message.

If you fail to do this your credibility can suffer.  

The other part of the congruency equation is to post content that works for the people on that platform.

Instagram is focused on images - so you need some eye-catching pix.  Yes, you can add text, but most people will see the picture and read the first line or two, but that’s all.

Facebook offers businesses two options and you can choose both.  A Page and/or a Group.  A group sets you up as the expert - and people are more likely to see the posts if you encourage them to turn on the notifications.

Posts on a page are only shown to a very tiny percentage (less than 1%) of people who have liked the page, so you really need to keep delivering great content that interests the page followers.  The Facebook algorithms improve the results when you invest in paid for advertising.

LinkedIn posts appear on the home page feed - and also on your profile page under ‘activity’.  This also includes any posts you’ve liked or commented on too.  If you have a longer post, it might be worth posting it as an article.

Twitter - short, punchy and to-the-point.  Good for linking to your blogs or other website pages.  Also a good platform for journalists.

YouTube - video content, but one video isn’t enough. To be an influencer you need around 10 videos around your keyword or phrase.

The content needs to be useful - not too long and to have a call to action at the end.

Consistency

If you’re not consistent in your approach and your messages, don’t expect to get results.

It’s a bit like a production line - once you know what all the components are and know how to put them together you can keep creating successful outcomes.

To start with it may seem like an uphill struggle, but you have to start somewhere.  A plan, time allocated to creating the content, a regular posting schedule all build into a habit that is just part of your week’s marketing activity.

You don’t need a fancy blueprint; a spreadsheet is all you need.  Date, copy, link and image in columns and sections for each platform and you’ve got the basics.

What next?

Schedule the time in your diary and get started.  If you need some help - whether it’s a customised plan or a done-for-you service - you know where to find us!

Somebody’s watching you

Every time you attend a networking meeting, visit a client, show up on a Zoom meeting, post on social media - or even chat with a friend - somebody is watching.  And every move you make is measured against your reputation.

A few years back I was lecturing some students doing their post-graduate degree in marketing.  When I asked what they posted on the personal Facebook profiles, they were insistent that it wasn’t relevant to their professional activities.

When I pointed out that smart companies always check out the social media of potential candidates, they said ‘that’s not fair’!

My reply was that it doesn’t matter if it’s fair or not, if you choose to be present on social platforms, it goes with the territory.

People make judgments about everything they see or hear whether it’s something they’ve experienced in person or third-hand.

I know of a job offer that was NOT made because of what was posted on the candidates social media.  While he was an excellent candidate on paper and interviewed well, his social media featured the kind of language the company didn’t want in-house.

If you belong to a networking group and you’re always late or you’re disorganised on a regular basis, you may be teased, but other members of the group will also tag you as ‘late’ or ‘disorganised’.  Even if they don’t mean to be negative about you, this is what they expect from you so it becomes part of your ‘description’.

If your blogs are consistently combative or argumentative, that also affects people’s perception of you and your business.

If you constantly complain about things or tend to talk about things in a negative way - that’s what shapes people’s view of you and your approach to business.

You can see how even small things can affect your reputation.

I don’t think you should try to be someone you aren’t, but I do think that you need to think about what image you’re projecting with everything you do and say.  People are watching - not to catch you out, but simply to build their internal picture of who and what you are.  Make sure you’re presenting the picture you want them to see.

What is a blog?

‘Blog’ is a shortened form of ‘Web log’, and a log is a record of something.  Remember how episodes of Start Trek started with Captain’s log Stardate …?  That was a sort of diary of events - and that’s how blogs started as people’s online diary.

Of course, these days, a blog post can be anything:

• A knowledge share 
• A story
• A case study
• A testimonial
• A product overview
• Or an overview of your week/month

The secret of a successful blog is to know what the people you’re trying to reach actually want.  Better still think about what YOU want when you go to read a blog post. 

We all have different reasons for reading articles online.  These can include:

• An interest in learning more about a particular subject
• An interest in a particular writer and their take on things
• Wanting to be entertained

So, while we may be interested in a product, we don’t want a sales pitch, we want to know how it works and maybe some user experiences or ideas for what you can do with it.

If you’re writing a business blog then you can include what’s going on in your business - but very few people will be interested in reading it, unless there is some real value for them.  That means you’ll need to relate the events in your business to what that means for your reader.  For example:

• If you’ve moved premises, they want to know if it’s easy to find, has better parking, offers more facilities or products.
• If you’ve taken on a new member of staff, your reader wants to know how that person impacts on them.  Does that mean faster service, more in-house expertise in a particular area, a new service or something else?
• If you’ve won an award - so what?  What does that mean for your customer?  Maybe it’s a good reason to thank you customers and suppliers for their support.
• If you’ve had a busy week what have the achievements been - for your customers.

My clients are often nervous of sharing their knowledge - because they’re worried that, if they tell people how to do something, they will do it themselves, instead of engaging the company’s services.  In reality that doesn’t usually happen - people do what they’re good at and what they enjoy.  If it’s not in their comfort zone they usually realise that they need help - and they already have evidence you know your stuff, so it’s a no-brainer who to pick!

Remember that a blog doesn’t have to be long - 30 words is enough if you can’t package your message in that (but that might be better as a social media post).  My advice is to aim for 300 words - it’s less than one page of A4 and will tick the SEO box if you have focused it on one of your key words or phrases.

Keep it conversational - and remember that people do want to be entertained while they’re gathering information.

The importance of strategy

One of my mentors used to say to me “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”  He was talking about the importance of having a goal, before you start doing things.  

Everything you do should be taking you a step towards your goals.  Every phone call, every email, every 15 minutes of quiet thinking.  They should all have purpose.  If they don’t help you to achieve your goals why are you doing them?

So - I’m going to assume that, as a sensible business person, you have business goals.  But you can’t DO a goal.  You have to have activities or actions to complete that to move you along the path until the goal is realised.  And that’s where things sometimes come unglued.  Businesses often have an end goal - but don’t always have the strategy and tactics to support it.  

When I’m talking to my business connections and clients I often get people saying ‘I need help with social media’ or ‘I need to be more consistent with social media’.  The problem is that if I ask why they are doing or intending to do with social media, they don’t really know.  The concept is that every business needs to be on social to stay competitive, but often there’s no actual strategy behind it.

Social media is not a marketing strategy

Social media is a tool - and it’s important that it’s only one of the tools that you use to market your business offerings.  So mindlessly posting on a Facebook page isn’t necessarily the right strategy for you - you may be better on Instagram or on LinkedIn or using Twitter to connect with influential media people.

All social platforms are not equal, 

A strategy starts with focus

Regardless of your end goal, you won’t get there without customers so the first step is to identify exactly what kind of customer you want.  

Step two is to understand what they need and what you can do to help them - what will the end results do for them?

Now you know who you’re trying to reach, you can start looking at where they hang out, what they read, who they follow.  That’s step three.

Step four is a proper tools review - what are all the various means of influencing these perfect clients?  Social media may be one, but what about articles in magazines, videos, podcasts, email, newsletters - and that’s just scratching the surface.

I call step five ‘Means, manpower and measurement’ - and this is where the strategy become tactics.  Who does what and how do you measure whether it’s working or not?

This creates your plan and ensures that activities are focused, consistent and scheduled.  Little steps take you a long way and if you keep take small steps in the right direction you will achieve your goal!

More than just a book

While it’s really good for your ego to be able to say you’ve authored a book, there is far more to a book than a little halo-polishing!  A book is the fuel for so many other things that will benefit your business.

So if you have already published a book - or plan to do so - here are some of the things you can do with it.

A powerful business card

If you’re in discussion with a potential client, presenting them with a copy of their book (don’t sign it until they ask, unless you want to look pretentious), gives a message that you are a thought-leader in your field.

A marketing tool

Send copies of your book to companies you’d like to work with.  Having an author as a supplier or consultant adds a little kudos.  Also if they read it and like your approach, the door is already ajar - and it’s a good reason for calling, to find out if they received it OK.

A structure to underpin consulting

If you’ve written a book that describes a framework, blueprint, techniques or a process, this can become the structure for your consulting system.  Give it a name and it will start to become known as your signature system.

The material for training

Your book can be converted into training programmes that can be delivered either face-to-face or virtually online.  You can add massive value by teaching people exactly how to use your information and can even tailor it to individual clients’ needs.  You can convert the book into workbooks with exercises and examples for your delegates to do or discuss.

A keynote speech

Most professional speakers write at least one book to sell at the back of the room when they present.  But it works the other way too.  If you’re an author you can be asked to speak on the subject of your book at conferences and industry events.

A podcast series

It doesn’t have to be an audio book, but you can convert it to a series of podcasts where you discuss a chapter or section and elaborate.  You could also invite industry experts to join you in the discussion to add more value.

A video series

In addition to your podcast you can make short video tutorials around the subject of the book.  If you don’t want to appear on screen there are all kinds of other options, from images, video clips, animation and slides that can retain people’s visual interest while you narrate it.

That’s seven different ways to leverage your book.  Why do all that work just to sell a few copies, when you can use that to bring in more, and very lucrative, business?

How can I help you?

If you could speak directly to the visitor to your website, this would be a good question to start with.  Unfortunately, you can’t do that live, so your website needs to deliver what that visitor wants.  Not only what they want, but you need to make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for and ensure that they’re not kept waiting while your pages load.

This is called usability - or UX.

The challenge is that, unless you’re a large organisation, it’s rare that websites built for smaller companies go through any kind of UX testing.  The result is that the website may look beautiful, but if it’s hard for visitors to navigate or there are irritating features, you could be losing potential business.

UX for small business owners

However, you can do some quick and dirty UX testing before signing off the final version of your website.

If you go networking the best place to get some help is to ask your regular networking contacts if they’re willing to give your website a test run.  Most people are happy to do this - but, before you do that, have your testing process ready.

If you ask any six people what they think of your website they will give you six different - and often conflicting - answers.  So that’s not the answer.

Instead think about what a potential client will want to know - or start the testing with a handful of people and ask them what they most want to find on a business like yours’ website. 

This might be:

• Specific products or services
• Costs
• Images of products
• Details of how a service is delivered
• Your contact info
• The company history
• Guides or templates for something

The list can be quite comprehensive.

THEN you can ask your UX testers to carry out specific tasks.  Give them a list of tasks and ask them to give you feedback on how easy it was to complete them.

You’ll soon get feedback on hard to find items because the menu didn’t have what they wanted where they thought it would be or frustrations in pages taking too long to load.

All this should be fed back to your web designer/developer with requests to improve the UX.

Navigation is the key

The navigation includes not only the menu tabs and options, but also any clickable boxes and links. 

• Big fat buttons or boxes fairly high up your home page for your core offerings is a good way to make finding things easy.  Stick to fewer than five or it will start to look cluttered, but it will make it easy for people to get where they want, without having to scroll back up to work through the menus.
• Have your contact information - phone and email - at the top of EVERY page.  If someone just wants to call you, don’t make them jump through any more hoops than necessary.
• Don’t bury core pages in a sub-menu.  Your About page and Contact page should be on the main menu and easy to find.
• Don’t give pages quirky names.  Stick to the obvious.  The aim is not to impress people with your creative labelling, but to make finding the right page a no-brainer.
• Stick to a maximum of eight tabs on your menu or it will look cluttered and confusing.
• Try to avoid lengthy lists of sub-pages.  People want to know if you’ve got what they’re looking for - so don’t give them too many options to work through.
• Avoid too much detail.  Your main copy on each page should focus on pain and gain - what problem does this solve and what will it be like when you’ve got it?  If products need specifications, then upload a pdf with the nitty-gritty.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a good place to start! 

Stress-free video

Video content is becoming the norm.  People expect to have video material in their social feeds and, of course, on YouTube.  But if your business hasn’t quite got to that point, it’s time to give it some thought.

You could invest in getting professionally made videos, but that incurs a cost and not every small business has the budget to keep generating this kind of video.  It is possible to do it yourself and today’s smartphones video cameras are excellent, but then you have to consider what kind of videos you want to make.

Not everybody is comfortable talking to a camera.  While there are many people who feel completely at ease chatting away to their smartphone video camera, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.  

If you’re one of the people who press record and then stumble over your words, get embarrassed and try again - and again.  Or you just can’t remember what you’re supposed to be saying, there are other ways to produce video material.

Animation

Everyone loves a good animation - they’re generally attractive and easy to make.  You can subscribe to something like Doodly, probably the best known (and currently on a special deal). 

Alternatively there are great free options like Powtoon which is excellent for explainer videos.

There are others such as Videoscribe and this article lists a selection with costs. 

Voice over slides

If you prefer to voice over slides there are plenty of software options, such as InVideo and Wavevideo.  These allow you to build a presentation and add your words on screen to the combination of images and video clips.  You can upload your own images and video or use their library.

If you don’t want to use your own voice some software offers an automated voice or you can look on Fiverr for a voice-over actor and give them your script and/or slide presentation.  They will then do the voice over for you to upload.

You can even simply use a Zoom meeting - without inviting anyone and record it.  However, you might need something like Camtasia to do any editing.

Video clips

You may be wondering where to get video clips from.  Most of the image libraries, such as Shutterstock and istockphoto offer video as well as static images.

Even the free libraries like Pixabay, Pexels and PikWizard have video libraries too.

Initially, it will take time to put together a video, but as you become familiar with the tools and know what you’re doing you’ll be able to put together a short promo or explainer video in a relatively short time.

The secret is to explore the tools, find the ones you like best and then have a systematic approach to create a video once a week (fortnight/month) and you’ll soon grow a video library.

Use your videos on your website, on social media and on your YouTube influencer channel.

Does email marketing work?

There’s plenty of evidence that it does - and also plenty of evidence that it doesn’t!

The question is a bit like asking ‘how long is a piece of string?’  There’s no simple answer.

A better question might be ‘how can I make email marketing work?’

And here are my top 10 tips to improve your success rate:

1. Know your audience.  The more you know about the people you’re trying to influence the better your content will be.  Understand their problems, their dreams and goals and that will guide what you deliver to them.
2. Be clear about your purpose.  If you’re sending an email campaign, you must have a clear goal in mind.  What do you want your reader to do when they’ve read your message(s)?
3. Don’t swamp people with sales:  Think about how you feel when you get daily emails selling you something - you either delete or unsubscribe.  Plan your campaign carefully to spread the message.  If there’s an event or closing day, then by all means do a countdown - usually the last few days you can get away with emails on D-Day minus 5, 4, 2, 1.
4. Spend time on your subject lines.  Your subject line is the equivalent to a headline.  It’s the trigger to get people to open and read your message.  Pain and gain both work well (Are you suffering from … problem or The secret of … [big result]).  Refer back to tip 1 to really hone your subject lines to your target audience.
5. Deliver genuine value.  People aren’t idiots so pretending that your offer is limited numbers, has an end date or is a price drop (when it isn’t) are only going to damage your reputation.  Always present your offer in terms of benefits - what’s in it for me? (WIIFM)
6. Choose the right image.  An image brings your text to life - but when you’re trying to promote something it must be the RIGHT image.  It’s not visual candyfloss, it must work to help you to get the message across.  If you’re promoting a product it’s easier as you will have professional shots of your product - or someone using it (won’t you?)
7. Speak your reader’s language.  That doesn’t mean pepper your text with jargon, but it does mean writing copy that shows you get their challenges and why they are keeping them awake at night and that what you’re offering will solve their problem.  
8. Keep it conversational.  The best email marketers use a conversational style - as though they are talking directly to the reader.  Imagine that your ideal client is right in front of you and you were talking directly to them - and write that.
9. Don’t forget a clear call to action.  Tell people what to do next and make it easy for them to do that.  That means a live link - ideally as a button (links embedded in text can be hard to use on a smartphone).  If you want them to phone you - put the phone number right after you’ve asked them to do that.  In a perfect world you will have a dedicated number, but even if you don’t make sure everyone who might answer the phone is aware of the campaign and can answer questions and convert enquiries to sales.
10. Don’t add anything after your call to action.  This is a common mistake - some people think that, if people don’t take action you need a secondary offer.  However, all that does is downgrade potential enquiries to a lower level of action.  P.S.s do work well, but they need to be a second call to action for the SAME offer, not offer an alternative.

Happy email marketing!

3 marketing funnel mistakes to avoid

Whether you call it a sales funnel or a marketing funnel - the purpose is to bring in new leads who have a need for whatever you are offering.

These are a few of the pitfalls that prevent your funnel from working as well as it could.

1: A lead magnet that has a wide appeal

Most people understand what a lead magnet is - but not everyone understands how highly targeted it needs to be.  A general lead magnet will attract lots of people to your list, but it won’t bring in your ideal clients or customers.

A lead magnet that is targeted to attract your ideal customer will ensure that, when you move people along to the next stage, they’re open to it - because you’ll be offering them something they actually want - which will increase your sales.

2: No nurturing of your subscribers

Giving people something free that has great value for them is only the first step.  If that’s all you do before you start sending sales messages, your list will start unsubscribing.  As the saying goes ‘One swallow doesn’t make a summer’; similarly one item of value doesn’t make a customer!

Nurturing is easy - and there are various ways to do it.

My advice would be to set up a series of automated emails (autoresponders) that are triggered by the initial sign up - so once done you can leave them to work away in the background.  I often take the main points from the lead magnet and sent a series of email over a couple of months - every few days - reminding people to download it first, then highlighting the main points and encouraging them to take action.

Another way to keep delivering value is to send an email to your list linked to each new blog your write.  You can probably get away with this once a week - or put two blogs into one email every month or so.  As long as you write great value material in your blog posts, you’ll keep giving your list excellent, quality material.

3: Start without the funnel mapped out

There’s nothing wrong with launching your lead magnet without having ‘built’ the rest of your funnel - BUT that often means that the follow up is either long delayed, by which time people have forgotten the great value they started out getting OR it doesn’t happen as life/work gets in the way.

Good practice is to have a clear map of the four or five levels of your funnel mapped out, what you’ll offer at each level, how you’ll engage your subscribers, what the upsells will be and how they’ll be delivered as well as the nurturing focus for at least the top two levels.

This will ensure that the effort and time you invest in building your sales funnel will actually pay off in converted subscribers. 

Build your press list

What is a press list?  It’s a list of publications you would like to get coverage in.

Sounds pretty straightforward, but there are a number of key criteria you need to consider before you start assembling your list.

1: Are these publications read by your target audience?

The national dailies and high profile glossy magazines may be good for your ego, but if the majority of their readers are not your target audience it’s going to be an uphill struggle getting noticed.

This means you need to do some research into what your target audience actually read.  It might be their association or institute journals or a specialist publication for their industry.  Some people will read printed publications, while other prefer digital.  Be aware of which format your publications appear in, some only one or the other, some both. 

If you’re considering print advertising as part of your marketing investment a decent publication will have demographics for their regular readership.  If someone is going to spend money they want to know the details.  If you’re going to invest time and effort you need the same information.

2: How important are circulation figures?

If you’re comparing a big national daily with a circulation of millions with a niche industry journal reaching only a few thousand, it can be tempting to go for the quantity.  However, if you have a very specific audience, there’s no guarantee that many of them will read the national daily - regardless of how many pairs of eyes see it.  If they’re not the right eyes, it’s irrelevant.

Quality over quantity every time.

3: What kind of material does each of your target publications feature?

If they don’t have an ‘industry news’ section with short snippets, you’ll find getting a mainstream press release published hard work.  Especially if you’re servicing that industry, not directly part of it.  It will have to be something pretty ground-breaking to get noticed by the editor.

However, if they publish useful knowledge-based items or expert advice pieces you might have a better chance of getting into print.

4: Have you spoken to the relevant editor?

Don’t guess and submit unsolicited items. Get in touch with the editor (for bigger publications you’ll need to contact the right editor - business, finance, features, etc.)  For most industry publications the team is often fairly small and may be a commissioning editor and some freelancers. 

You’ll need to find out if they take content from external sources - or your efforts will be wasted.  You’ll also need to know their lead times - and stick to them.  With printed monthly publications the deadline may be as far back as 2 months before publication date.  Often the June issue is published at the end of May and the deadline will be mid-April - but every publication is different, make sure you know how they work.

Online publications may not have a deadline as such as they often publish articles daily.

Never phone a publication unless you’ve read two or three copies of their magazine and understand their content and style.  It’s good practice to have two or three article titles with a short description ready as they’ll want to know what kind of article you’ll submit.

5: Play by the rules

If you’re writing articles for one magazine, don’t submit the same item to another magazine or your credibility will go out of the window.

Keep your press list manageable and maintain your contacts - that means you need to keep up with what they’re publishing on a regular basis so your article suggestions are on target.

Dozens of publications are difficult to manage so cherry-pick your top 10 or so and only add another one when you’ve eliminated one of those.

You’ll need to submit reasonable well-written articles so, if writing isn’t your thing you could engage a professional copywriter to work with you.

If it all sounds like too much work, outsource the job to a professional PR agency.  They may already have relationships with your industry press and can jump-start your press coverage.

Why write newsletters?

What’s the point of writing and sending out newsletters?  They should form part of your marketing strategy - and there must be a purpose that fits into that strategy for every activity.

Ask most businesses that send out a newsletter ‘What do you want it to achieve for your business?’ and the answers are often:

“To keep people informed about what we’re doing.”

“To promote our latest offers/products/;services.”

“Because we’ve always done it.”

Let’s ignore that last one - it’s not a good reason!  Reminding people you’re around contributes to your marketing strategy and if you don’t tell people about new products etc. then how are they to know.  But are these really the focus of your newsletter?

Make your newsletter work harder

Improve your focus.  

• Who is on your list?  
• Are they actually potential customers or clients?  
• What do they want?  
• How can you solve their problems?
• What would be of value to then?

And, ideally, how can you grow your list so more people who fit your potential customer profile join it?  However, that’s more about your sales funnel than simply the newsletter.

Deliver value

More people read a newsletter if it has something of value for them.  That means that you need to lead with something of value to them in order to engage their interest.

This might be a ‘how to’ article, a useful tip or an idea they can use.  Anything that will give them something useful that they can use.  This will encourage them to read your next newsletter, because they are expecting more great value (which, of course, you will continue to deliver).

TOP TIP: If you write a blog that shares your knowledge and expertise (like this one) use that as your lead article.  I only use the first 2-3 paragraphs and then link it to the actual blog on my website.

Unsubscribes v. opens

It may come as a surprise, but people are lazy and often simply delete unwanted emails rather than hit the delete button.  The real success of your newsletter is in the number/percentage of people who actually open the email PLUS the number of clicks on any links.  Any good email marketing platform will give you this information - in fact, most of them will email you an overview of your campaign shortly after it goes out.

IF not many people open your email and fewer still click the links - your newsletter isn’t working.

TOP TIP: Improve the subject line to improve the open rate.  ‘Newsletter September 2021’ is not interesting!  I use the title of the lead article as it’s already been written to get attention and engage.  Controversial statements, scarcity, time running out, existing news - anything that will intrigue the recipient and make them want to know more - can all work. 

Remember, when you’re writing your newsletter - it’s not about you - it’s about the reader.  Give them great value, something to get them interested, thinking, engaged, impressed with your expertise - and you can also add your offers, promotions, etc - and they’ll be willing to open other emails from you as their perception is that you deliver great value.

 

Posting for business

Social media seems to get more complex every day - especially if you’re using it to raise your business profile.  Walking the line between promotion and engagement is always difficult - and every social platform is different.

There was a time when it was OK to put the same post on Twitter, your LinkedIn profile, and your Facebook page - but the algorithms seem to change weekly and what works on one platform doesn’t necessarily work on another.

The content of your posts depends on: 

• What kind of business you are
• What kind of customers you want to reach or influence
• Where your ideal customers are most active
• What they want to consume

An endless stream of promotional posts featuring your company’s products or services won’t engage people.  They’ll just tune you out.

LinkedIn

There are two strings to LinkedIn - your personal account and your company page.  Most people engage with you through your personal account.  That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t post on your company page, an empty company page doesn’t look good (and is just an opportunity for LinkedIn to put their ads in place).  

The company page should feature good quality information about your products and services, testimonials, tips and advice.  In contrast your personal posts can be more conversational and on a wider range of subjects including opinions on news items and comments on other people’s posts.

Facebook

Your Facebook page can be a great place to engage - or it can be a dead place where the tumbleweed blows through!  The challenge for most page owners is that even if you have 500 likes or followers, Facebook algorithms don’t show your posts to these people - unless you boost a post or advertise.

That means that people only visit your page if you pay or if they like your content so much that they come back to your page deliberately.  That means you need to build a community that keeps coming back - so your content needs to offer them something they want.  Your challenge is to work out what that is - and then deliver it. 

Instagram

This platform is image-driven - and links don’t work, so you need to be really creative about how you present your message.  You can put narrative into the text area, but people will only see that if they’re interested enough to click and open it up.  That means your images need to be interesting and generate enough curiosity for people to want to find out more.

Twitter

Although Twitter doubled the maximum number of characters from 140 to 280 tweets still need to be short, snappy and have energy.  As you can’t put long copy on Twitter you need to make your point succinctly.

Ideally, your tweets will link the reader to more information by adding a link to a blog or a place where the reader can get more information.

YouTube

You can’t ignore the fact that YouTube has a massive audience.  Many people use it as a search engine to find ‘how to’ videos or get visual information on a subject.  If you don’t have a presence you could be missing many opportunities.

There are all kinds of advice on the ‘right’ kind of videos to upload.  And lots of successful YouTubers that break all the ‘rules’ or make new ones.

You don’t need to upload 30 minute epics, but that doesn’t mean you can’t if you have something that needs that kind of time frame.  However, it’s good to have some shorter videos too - something around the length of the average song - so anything from 3-6 minutes works well.

This is where you need to do some planning and consider what people might be searching for - then ensure your video title, tags and description all mention this key phrase.

***

OF course, there are many more platforms, Pinterest, TikTok, SnapChat - and every week another one surfaces.  Some sink quickly into oblivion and some become the next new thing.  The secret is to know what your audience is looking at and then meeting them on their ‘home’ ground.

How to be everywhere

When you’re running a business you need to be visible, so you meet potential customers and they find out how amazing you are!

When I say ‘meet’, I don’t necessarily mean physically meet people - that’s only part of the process; you also need to meet people digitally - and you can meet many more people digitally than it’s possible physically.  That means that whatever you publish or present is well-focused and helps people to understand the benefits of what you do.

Strategy first

Before you rush out and start posting and joining networking groups it’s important that you know where your tribe hang out.  For instance, if your target audience is stay-at-home Mums, you probably aren’t going to meet many of them on LinkedIn - but Pinterest might be a great place to get involved.

This means you need to have a clear vision of your ideal client, who they are, what they do, what they are worrying about, what they like to do best, their personal style and what they want - and anything else that will help you to get your message on target.  This will ensure that everything else you do is laser-focused on reaching people like this and delivering information that engages them.

Content is King!

The secret of gaining a good reputation is to share loads of value.  This ticks a number of boxes:

• It engages people who may become clients at some point
• It influences what people say about you (and may result in a recommendation or two)
• It sets you up as an authority or thought-leader in your industry
• It shows you know your stuff and positions you as an expert

So aim to deliver value in most of what you publish online - whether that’s posts on social media, articles and blog posts, your website content, newsletters, lead magnets and email communications.

The people who post thoughtlessly quickly tarnish their reputations as they post things on social media that may not put them - and their business - in the best light.  The concept of having a ‘personal’ account on a social media platform doesn’t work any longer - everyone sees everything.  If you choose to be on social media, you must be aware that everything you post or share says something about you - whether it’s a political news story or a cute kitty video.

Networking for business

During the recent period of being locked in our homes, networking has moved online.  In fact, networking has been online for a long time - that’s what social media platforms are for.  [Mini-rant: I’ve never understood people who don’t have a good headshot on their social media profiles - it’s the equivalent of walking into a networking group, making eye-contact and saying ‘Hello’.  You don’t go to a live networking event with a paper bag hiding your face!]

For some networking groups networking online, using Zoom or Remo or something similar, has been a temporary solution and as the rules relax many are going back into the room.  However, some have now got a hybrid Room & Zoom approach and some will never be ‘in the room’ as it’s not geographically feasible with people from all round the country - or, indeed, all over the globe - coming together digitally.

Regardless of whether you meet physically or digitally your reputation is built on what you say, not only in your one minute pitch or 10 minute presentation, but also in every conversation in breakout rooms or 1-2-1 situations.

It’s important to be authentic - it’s difficult to maintain a persona that isn’t natural, but you must also remember that, however friendly you get, you are always representing your business and may need to consider what you tell people - and what you don’t.

Every time you have the opportunity to speak to the group whether that’s for 30 seconds or 30 minutes, it’s an opportunity to educate them about your services and the problems you solve for clients - don’t waste it!

Polish up your prose

‘I can’t write’! This is a statement I hear people saying a lot.  In fact, it’s why we have a business - as that’s the service we offer, whether it’s a blog, copy for a website, social media posts, an email campaign or a regular newsletter.  However, if you’d like to write and want to polish up your prose here are my top 5 tips:

1: Use your blog as your practice ground

Writing improves with practice.  Before you embark on writing compelling marketing content, get comfortable putting your thoughts into sentences and paragraphs.  

There’s no rule that says you have to write 1000 words - if you’ve said what you want to 200 words is enough.

2: Know what your reader wants

Everything you write, certainly for business purposes, needs to give your reader something they want.  That means you need to know your target audience pretty well.

What kind of information do they want?

If you can deliver that it will give each item you write focus and clarity.

3: One thought per sentence; one idea per paragraph

People tell me I write like I speak - but I don’t!  When I speak, I ramble, backtrack and change course mid-sentence, but people can follow my tone of voice and the accompanying body-language to help them to understand what I’m saying.  My writing is much tidier - and this is because I learned this rule early in my writing career.

When your sentence starts running onto a third line, go back and find a place to break it into two (or even three).  Huge long paragraphs are hard to read too.  White space is a great aid to ease of reading.

4: Plan first, then write - and edit later

If you think you’re in danger of serious waffling, get out a piece of paper and a pen (so you’re using your creative right brain) and jot down your subject and the main points you want to make.  Numbered lists (like this one) help to keep things on track - or subheadings to gather facts and information around an aspect of your subject.

I like mind-maps for planning, but if writing a list does it for you - use whatever works.

If you’ve got ideas, but your concern is whether your English is correct, just get your thoughts down and go back and edit it when you’ve finished.  This way you’ll have a better idea of the item as a whole and will make better decisions about what needs to be added or taken out.

5: Read it aloud

Reading your written work aloud is an excellent way to find out how easy it is to process.  If you stumble in places - that’s where you need to edit.  

Reading aloud will also highlight places where you’ve become too pompous and are using stilted or over-complicated phrasing.

♦♦♦♦♦

The more you write, the better you’ll get.  Start practising now.

Put yourself in their shoes

Setting up and running a small business requires a whole bunch of skills - some of which you may not have learned - yet!

You’ll need to be able to:

• Strategise
• Plan
• Organise
• Manage the money
• Market
• Purchase the materials your business needs
• Sell
• Write copy
• Negotiate
• Deliver customer service
• Do research
• Understand statistics

… and that’s just for starters.

You have three choices - do everything yourself, hire staff with the necessary skills to do the work or outsource to specialists.

However, the responsibility for getting all of these right is still yours.  And, if you’re not doing it yourself, it means you have to communicate your vision and who you’re providing the services/products to clearly to those who will be doing the work.

This is tough - even for long-established businesses as you have to see your business through the eyes of your customer to really achieve success.  If you don’t know what they want, what their problems are, how your offering helps - removing pain and./or adding gain - how can you educate your staff or suppliers?

As a copywriter it’s the core of every piece of work I do for clients.  Who am I writing for?  Not the business owner - because the content I write isn’t for them, it’s for their potential customer.  If I don’t know who that is the message isn’t going to be on target.  And that applies to every aspect of your business.

Standing in your customer’s shoes

Everything you deliver gets better when you really understand your customer.  In relation to what you can help them with:

• What worries them about the issue?
• How important is this particular issue to them?
• What do they hate doing that your product or service could help with?
• What are the long-term outcomes for them if they carry on with things the way they are now?
• What would be different if they had your solution in place?

To understand your customer you need to get inside their heads and dig about!

The result for you is that everything you offer is highly targeted to their wants - and they get a service nobody else matches.

Do you need an editor?

If you’re writing a book at some point it will need editing.  If you successfully get a contract with a mainstream publisher they will have it edited by their in-house editors, if you’re self-publishing it’s down to you.

It can be tempting to skip this requirement, especially if you’ve been told you write well by readers of your blogs and articles.  However, editing is not about checking your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

There are three aspects of editing:

1: Concept

A good editor will look at the overall concept of the book and will identify how well the book ‘hangs’ on that concept.  They will assess how what you’ve written relates to that concept.  They will make suggestions about what is missing and what needs pruning.

2: Content

On a more detailed level your editor will look at how each part of your book works.  Sometimes they’ll suggest a subject needs further development or your opinion needs to be added or expanded (after all, it is your book and it’s you that makes it unique).  

Often this will be to explain something in more detail or to add examples, case studies, or the reasoning behind something.

They may cut some of the material - for a variety of reasons, either because it doesn’t contribute to the subject under discussion or it’s repeated elsewhere in the book.

An editor will spot ‘waffle’ and sharpen up your prose so it gets your message across in a way that makes it easy to read and understand.

3: Copyediting

Also known as proofreading.  This is the last thing that is done after all the other editing has been done, reviewed by you as the author and any additional work is done and you’re happy with the manuscript.

Checking for missing full stops, wayward apostrophes, typos and incorrect tenses is the final essential stage before your manuscript goes to print.

Typically, you’ll have a different person carrying out this stage to whoever has done the first two - as it needs a fresh pair of eyes that are ONLY looking for polishing the text, not changing it.  It’s a different, but very valuable, skill.

What would happen if you didn’t get your book edited?

It simply wouldn’t be as good.

As the author you’re much too close to your ‘baby’ to be objective.  A good editor can lift your book to a whole new level.  Some writers worry that their work will be altered out of all recognition and will no longer be theirs  but a good editor won’t take your voice away, they’ll simply enhance it.

The challenge for people who are publishing independently is that editing isn’t cheap - or perhaps I should say good editing isn’t cheap.  It does front-load your investment, whereas getting a contract with a mainstream publisher means they carry the costs of cover design, editing and page layout, self-publishing means you have to fund all those yourself.

But bear in mind that you will probably get around 7½% of net on each copy sold by your publisher, while if you self-publish that can be well in excess of 50%.

At the end of the day it’s down to how well you market your book - and you’ll need to do that regardless of how it is published.

Does your home page capture potential clients?

DISCLAIMER:  I’m not a graphic designer - and am in awe of their talent.  I dabbled a bit when I was younger and went to art school for a year, but I wasn’t very good.  So what qualifies me to pontificate about the design of website home pages (or any other page, come to that)?

I’ve spent years studying what stops people reading a perfectly crafted message - and it’s all to do with how the message is presented to them.

You can have an attractive website, with a powerful message and lots of traffic, but find it still isn’t working.  So what is the problem?

There can be many things that dislodge the visitor without them discovering what they need to know to make a decision and contact you.  After all, there was a reason they came to your website - why didn’t they follow through?

Above the fold

The fold is an old newspaper term to indicate what people see at first glance without having to unfold the newspaper.  Old broadsheet newspapers were always in racks folded in half, so only the top half of the page was visible - and when your visitor arrives at your website only the top of your home page is visible.  They have to scroll down to see any more.

What is visible at first glance needs to grab their attention and reassure them that this website is going to deliver the information they are looking for.  That means that the headline needs to be clear and engaging and the image needs to support that message.

Common problems:

• Candyfloss images that have little to do with the core subject or don’t make sense to the visitor (it doesn’t matter if you know what the picture is about, if the reader needs much more information to make sense of it).
• Headlines that don’t mean much as the first point of engagement.
• Moving images that move too quickly for the visitor to digest properly (they can be irritating at best, stressful at worst).
• Call to action buttons - it’s too soon to ask people to get in touch, they need to know a bit more first.
• No phone number visible.  Some people are just looking to get in touch - don’t make it hard for them to contact you.  Put your contact info into your banner, the right-hand end is where most people look for this.
• Menu tabs with obscure names.  Stick to the obvious - people don’t need to have to think about it, so ‘About’ not ‘Who we are’.  Is ‘Work with us’ your recruitment section or an invitation to clients to engage you?  

Below the fold

Another headline helps to keep people engaged - especially if it features a pain or gain that they’re looking for help with.

I always recommend that a home page features a short introduction before inviting people to move to specific pages.  This gives you an opportunity to reassure the reader that they’re in the right place.  It doesn’t have to be long; it can be just a paragraph or two.

This is usually the point where you offer the visitor clickable links to move them to specific pages related to their needs - in other words your products or services in particular categories.

Common problems:

• Dark backgrounds with lighter writing.  This is much harder for the brain to process and reduces comprehension quite a lot.  If you want people to get your message don’t make it difficult for people to read!
• Faint grey text on a white background.  Don’t make people squint to read your message.  90% black is optimum, but no less than 80% black.
• Headlines all in capitals.  Capitals aren’t read as easily as lower case, so big and bold, but sentence case works best.
• Very wide text columns.  If your content is 12 point, aim for a maximum of 100 characters per line.  Reading text with very long lines is uncomfortable on a bigger screen and makes it more likely that people will skip a line or reread the same line.  
• Hyperlinks embedded in text for key pages.  If people are using a smartphone, hitting a small piece of text accurately is harder than a nice big box or button!
• Too many options.  When you’re inviting people to move to another page, don’t give them too many to choose from.  Three or four is usually enough.

What else should be on your home page?

This is personal preference, but my advice would be:

Testimonials:  Make them big enough to read comfortably.  And, if you go for one of those scrolling marquees (where several testimonials flip or slide away) make sure that they stay still long enough for the visitor to read comfortably.

About:  It’s quite common to have the beginning of your About page somewhere below your core offerings.  Typically it will only be the first paragraph or two and usually has an image alongside.  If you’re a consultant or offer any kind of personal service this will be you, if you’re a bigger organisation it might be something relevant to your business - like a storefront or team shot.

Blogs: A blog is a great way to add fresh content and keep your website higher in the search engine’s attention, so it’s handy to remind people of it.  Typically, your last 3 posts with a thumbnail of the image and headline are enough.  Don’t let your web designer add part of the text, the headline should be good enough to draw people in and lots of text just starts to make the page look untidy.

Sign up form: If you have a lead magnet that you offer in exchange for a name and email address, this should feature well up your home page.  If it’s hidden at the foot of the page most people won’t see it.  These days an image of your lead magnet with a button is enough, so the form only appears when someone clicks the button, but it should either be immediately below the fold (usually to the right of the text) or even in the main image above the fold.

Check out your website and see if you can improve your home page to keep your visitor longer and give them what they want quickly and easily.