Guest Post By Michel Fortin
“What am I supposed to do?”
You may not know it but that’s a question your readers, visitors and prospects may be asking right now. And it’s also one you need to avoid at all costs, or else it will cost you in wasted traffic and sales. In other words, if people become lost on your website at any point, or while reading your copy, you in turn will lose them.
Forever.
Granted, your copy may compel your reader’s attention and present an irresistible offer. But if it fails to propel their actions too, you will probably wonder why it’s not producing any sales or why it’s getting such a poor response. If that’s the case, here are three quickie suggestions you can implement.
#1. Does Your Website Ask For The Order?
One solution is to visually take readers “by the hand.” Tell them or show them what you want them to do, even if what you want them to do is simple or obvious. Adding simple “hand-holding” components to your copy may seem trite. Some even discount the use for they believe, for example, that a website should be intuitive.
“My clients are not dumb,” they exclaim. “They can guess their way through!” Or “I don’t want to insult their intelligence.”
Thinking this way may be more insulting than you think. People have comfort zones. And their defense mechanisms are always alive and kicking, waiting to justify their non-decisions by drumming even insignificant, negative and totally erroneous perceptions about you. Therefore, fail to lead them, and you are placing your copy at the whim and mercy of your reader. (Not to mention your pocketbook.)
My friend, copywriter Peter Stone, said it best: “The aim of good copy is to temporarily suspend disbelief, but GREAT copy is to temporarily suspend critical thinking.”
You see, it’s not about obeying the rules of web usability, it’s about using common sense. It’s about avoiding procrastination, not compelling let alone praying for action. And today, it’s also about surviving.
For instance, I often make the case that a book or magazine is limited by its front and back covers. But a website, however, is not. If the goal is only to inform your visitors, and like the closing of a book once it’s finished, the only thing left to do will be to close the browser window or leave the site.
But if you require some kind of response, even if it’s to just to keep reading, then you must integrate words that direct the reader and elicit some kind of response. Whether it’s to join, subscribe, buy, call, email, fill out a form, download or just click a link, incorporate words like “click here,” “download this,” “buy that,” “join now,” “read more” and so on.
Besides, tests show unequivocally that response rises dramatically when the copy is what I call “directional.” Even when the copy aims to sell a sophisticated crowd, like engineers and scientists.
We are all desperate to be lead. It’s an instinctual part of the human psyche, regardless of the intellectual level of your target market.
#2. Give Your Visitors a “Head” Start
In order to encourage longer stays, repeat visits and, above all, online sales, you need not only to direct your audience to take some kind of action but also to make it easy for them to do so. And the most important step in accomplishing that is to first direct your visitors’ attention (i.e., their eyes).
How can you lead them when you haven’t got their attention in the first place? Remember this: online, people don’t read. Not at first, anyway. They scan, skim and scroll. So unlike a book that’s read from cover to cover, people don’t read entire web pages from top to bottom.
How often do you read entire newspapers, for example? You likely scan them and stop at a headline that captures your attention, piques your curiosity and pulls you into the article. Reading web copy is a more wearying task.
So don’t write to be read. Write to be scanned.
Keep your paragraphs short at around four to five lines deep, and incorporate many headers throughout your copy by adding one at every two to five paragraphs. Use different sizes, colors or fonts that make them stand out.
Centering also helps, because it’s different than the traditional left-justified text of the rest of the copy. Being centered, it draws attention to itself — rather than drowning in one big trance-inducing blur of sameness as people skim through copy quickly.
Ultimately, you want them to stop scanning.
A friend of mine, copywriter Brian Keith Voiles, once reported that using red headlines and headers don’t work. Of course, he’s right, because he’s referring to offline copy. Brian says, “Red means ‘Stop!’ And you don’t want them to stop.” But online, it’s perfect. Because people never read anything at first, and therefore they need to stop scanning — and start reading.
#3. Pull Them In to See What’s “In”
When scanning, what people will read the most is what stands out the most, including headlines, headers, bullets, boxes and text links. Therefore, use words that are inviting, invoking and intriguing with these components. The words you use must force them to stop and feel what follows cannot be ignored.
Avoid overused and hackneyed expressions, like “Welcome to [Whatever].” Start with an active verb that tells your readers exactly what to do or what they will be doing, or use picture words that paint vivid mental pictures.
For example, if it’s for a product description, don’t use words like: “Here’s a Description of Our Widget.” (Or worse still, “Widget” or “Features.”)
Instead, use: “Discover how to get [benefit] with our widgets now!” Or, “Learn the secret behind the [widget or benefit].” Or, “Can you really get [benefit]? The answer may surprise you…” Or, “Here’s how to put an end to [problem the widget solves].”
Here are more examples:
Rather than, “Professional Debt Resolution,” write, “Break Free From Debt And Sleep Better at Night With Our Guidance!” Or, “Backroom Tactics Used To Eliminate Debts Exposed.” Or, “Rediscover Financial Freedom By Simply Following These Simple Steps.”
Instead of “Home-Based Business Success,” use, “Uncover Profitable Business Opportunities Hidden in Your Own Home!” Or, “Unearth The Kitchen Table Millionaire In You.” Or, “Here’s How To Put An End To Dreadful Days Spent Inside Your Soul-Sucking Cubicle.”
In the final analysis, when I conduct copy critique consultations, about 97% of the websites I analyze are lifeless, confusing or unproductive, or fail to adequately lead visitors to take some kind of action. As an example, many of my clients tell me, “Our website is for branding, not sales!” But then they wonder why people aren’t joining their mailing lists or returning to their websites.
Whether your website is for branding or direct marketing, the fact remains that you probably still want to elicit some kind of response from your visitors. Direct your visitors to take some kind of action or lead them to a specific outcome. Write your copy by integrating some form of direct response formula (i.e., words or mechanisms that compel readers to act).
For instance, add calls to action, even if they’re as simple as asking your visitors to continue reading. Don’t distract them with too many things to do, including too many external links or marketing messages. If you offer too many choices, visitors will find it hard to make one. Instead, offer choices later on based on the specific path or paths a user follows.
Ultimately, transform the words on your website into blinders that will steer visitors in the direction of your choosing.
— About Michel Fortin —
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.
