By Robert Gluckson, M.A.
You can't force people to read your whole website! Follow these guidelines to grab a readers' attention, keep them long enough to inspire action, and then give them everything you've got.
Capture their interest in thirty seconds and readers may give you three minutes more. Once they've decided to really explore – and to follow up on one of your "Calls to Action" – they may take a half hour more.
30 Seconds to Live
People want what they want, and they want it fast.
They'll give their Landing Page a 30 second scan to see if you have what they're looking for.
Scientific research has shown that they will:
- Look at the Pictures
- Read the Headlines and Sub-heds
- Read big-type italic Quotes
- Read the Photo Captions
- Read the Lead Sentence
- Scan the Links
Take another look at the website from the 30 second level. Do you make all your main points with the bulleted items alone?
Are the reader's needs considered first? It's not just about Services; Benefits should be featured in the headings and sub-heds.
Let your meta-tag keywords be your guide: get as many of these in the 30 second text and the first 100 words as you can. This improves Search Engine ranking, too.
Okay, you've got their attention. What should readers do? Read more!
Three Minutes More To Get Through the Door
If there's something they're interested in, they'll give you three minutes more. So, give readers a three minute level of info. Now's the time to inspire action!
"Calls to Action" are what you want the reader to do: for example, "Contact …" or "Sign Up …" or "Purchase."
It's not just about getting a sale. Use strategies to harvest folks at the three-minute level: Try a call to action that brings them back another time with a free newsletter, or direct them to another income stream like a book sale or affiliate program.
Bring Them Home with Your Full Site Read
If they're still interested, they'll really go for the full 30 minutes, reading your offers, your articles; now the goal is to provide them with the all the info to make the decision.
When they give you their full attention, you have the maximum chance to convert readers to clients. The entire site content is designed to get that commitment.
For many owners, sites are designed for just two things: to get them to contact you for more information or the conversion to a sale.
Thirty Seconds Strategies for Link Pages:
Visitors Can Land Anywhere, Not Just
the Home Page
People may show up at a Linked Page before they come to your Home Page. For example, they might be responding to your "Free Information" SEO strategy and showing up on your Articles page. That's great! But will they know that you offer services related to the content of that article?
Make it clear what you offer on every page. Help them get up to speed on the entire website. Tell the article readers where to go and what to do: read more, or "If you're interested in ABC then buy this product here." The Mission statement can go on every page.
Timing and Focus Help Communicate
and Motivate
Follow these strategies and your site will deliver your message to any reader fast AND the ready-to-buy folks will get what they need.
For support with internet marketing, copywriting, and design, contact Robert Gluckson at (949) 295-2045. See the Good Cause Marketing website to learn more about services, read more articles, and sign up for a newsletter, at www.goodcausemarketing.com.