What is your website's message?

It’s a conversation that I have over and over again and it usually starts with “What do you want to say on your website?” when I’m taking a brief from a client.

The answer varies a bit, but almost always includes things like:

•  We want people to know about all our services/products.
• We want people to understand what we do.
• We want people to trust us.
• We don’t want to appear to be a small company.  
• We want people to ring us up and buy.

All these seem reasonable things to want and I can see you nodding in agreement!

Now could you just take off your Website Owner hat and put on the Website Visitor one?

So you’re visiting a website that you are interested in for some reason – what do you want to see:

• A list of things you can buy?
• The details of all the things you can buy?
•  Accreditations and testimonials?
• A lot of creative description on the About page?

Are you ready to buy now?

If the reason you visited the site was specifically to buy something the answer will be ‘yes’.  But what percentage of website visitors are planning to buy before they even enter the URL or click a link?

Most people are looking for information.

• They may have met someone from your company at a networking event, conference, exhibition or other business event and made enough of a connection to want to check you out.
•  Some people have searched for a particular key words to find out about what kind of products or services are actually available and get an idea of prices or specs.
• Some people have been delegated by their boss to do some research on a particular subject and have no intention of buying anything at this stage.

So how much effort will they put into reading your carefully crafted copy?

There are three key elements:

1. A website that looks professional – and up-to-date in design.
2. Good, strong headlines and section headers that hook the reader in and entice them to read more.
3. Enough information to satisfy the reader that you are ‘their kind of organisation’ and can deliver what they’re looking for.

Clearly if you want to sell products off the website you’ll need enough information on each one for people to understand the specifications – and a price.  However, if you’re selling services people buy YOU.  That means your website needs to in your voice and a good reflection of your company values and beliefs.

Most important of all it needs to tell people WHAT THEY GET – not what you do.

If you really want to impress visitors to your website you need to understand why your existing clients like using your organisation.  Ask some of them – and ask them what changed for them when you’d provided them with what they were looking for.  THAT’S what other people want to know – what it’s like working with you and what the results are likely to be.

It’s all about reader engagement – not just presenting information.

Lessons from the newspaper

Anyone who has watched a few old films will be familiar with the newspaper vendor on the street corner, shouting 'Read all about it!' in relation to the latest big story.  People buy newspapers to get the latest stories about events that are happening right now.  There are a number of reasons they read newspapers:

• They want to keep up with what's going on in the world
• They are interested in a specific story for some reason
• There's something that may affect their lives and they want to ensure they know about the latest developments

If you're producing a newsletter - whether a digital or hard copy publication - bear in mind that your readers must WANT to read it.

People who know you or deal with your business will be mildly interested in what's going on in your company

People who are interested in your industry may be interested if there's a good story

But the huge majority of people are not interested in investing time reading the happenings of your business - unless there's something in it for them!

Remember that journalists are trained to write compelling stories - and news is only news if people are interested in knowing about it.

What does this have to do with your newsletter?

Everyone is busy - they will only start reading your newsletter if there's a good reason to do so.  This means you need to lead your newsletter with something that will engage the reader; something that will impact on them in some way.  This might be an article that helps them in some way, a heads up about a forthcoming change that will impact on their business, an offer or sale.

It won't be:

• Your new office
• Your latest member of staff
• What's going on in your business.

While these are interesting - and possibly exciting - to you, most of your readers won't find that riveting!

Think about how stories are told - there is a beginning, a middle and an end.  There is a hook at the beginning to get people interested and want to know what happens next.  There is the meaty bit in the middle where you develop the plot and your readers get to know who is who and what is what, then there's the ending, where everything comes together and a nice satisfying conclusion occurs.  How can you write articles that fit into that formula?  Check out your newspaper and you'll see they have the same basic approach - even to news stories.

Think like a reader

Whatever you write keep asking yourself - will my reader want to know more?  It's really important to be focused on what the reader wants, what he or she will be attracted by and what will get them to start reading.

There's a subconscious theme running in the background ... 'What's in it for me?'  You must satisfy that with every item you write.

Admittedly, there are some people who have the skill to write quirky items about practically nothing - and there are loyal readers who love being entertained by them, but first you have to capture your reader by delivering something they'll read - the very first time it's delivered to them.

Take a leaf out of the journalists book and deliver a publication that engages your reader's interest and which, when read, will leave them feeling they've got some value out of it.

... every move you make ...

When you meet people networking or you’re networking online it’s usual that, at some point, you ask people ‘what do you do?’ 

Some people will answer with the industry they’re in, but people who are good at marketing will actually tell you what their clients get, rather than what they do.  It’s the difference between a description of how the mechanic will fix the leak in your radiator (yawn) and the benefit of getting your car back on the road fast, confident that it will be reliable (relief, reassurance, happy customer).

Most of us have marketing messages we use for both written and spoken material.  The question is – do our actions support our marketing?

As the Police sang ‘Every move you make, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I’ll be watching you!’  Whether you realise it or not, that’s exactly how the people you meet see you.

So what are your marketing messages?  They are, effectively, the promises you’re making to potential – and existing – customers. 

They include:

• The strapline that underpins your brand
• Values-based statements aimed at getting people to see you as trustworthy and the kind of company they want to work with
• Every word on your website
• Everything that goes into newsletters and email campaigns
• Your personal profile – including anything that you have on social media.

And that’s just for starters.

That means that you need to walk your talk 100% of the time.  No time off, no opportunity to ‘just be me’ – because, especially as a small business owner, you are always representing your business, whether you’re at a networking meeting or a family celebration.  You never know who else is there – and watching you!

The other side of this coin is that when you establish your business and are growing it, you should never make a claim that you are not prepared to stand by. 

Even if you don’t have a strapline or any big statements about how you operate – just ask your best clients how they see your business and you’ll soon discover that you’ve already got a reputation.  

Maintaining a good one is essential.

Take an audit of your website, your marketing material, your social media profiles and posts, the way you do business – are they all congruent?  Is it effortless to maintain the actions that support the words?  It should be.

If you’ve set yourself up to emulate your competitors, you could be making a big mistake.  The one thing that differentiates your business is YOU – so be you, be authentic and you’ll have no problem walking the talk.

As a small business owner it’s much easier to be authentic as people know that they’re getting you, your vision, your ethics and your dedication.  The bigger the organisation, the harder this is to define and deliver.  Authenticity may be a bit of a corporate buzz word, but smaller businesses actually have the edge in presenting this.