BTB: Back To Basics
As the internet seems to be growing at a huge rate day-in day-out, it is becoming much easier to loose site of the simple principles of how to achieve conversions. So in this short series I will be going “back to basics” and looking at how you can really push your website and get those all important conversions… rather than simply drive traffic to your site. Today’s post is written as a short guide or reference, I won’t go into detail in this post, but rather I will tell you the basic steps which will be explained in forthcoming articles.
We all know the idea of marketing can be very complex, different people want for different things! However, you can boil down the principles of marketing to just 5 key points:
Who are your audience?
Where is your niche market placed, who are your services targeted at? Businesses (if so why kind) or the punter (if so who demographic)… this is your target audience… spend time listening to what they want and need, doing this will mean you can target them in a better manner later.
Where is the audience?
Do your research into what your target demographic does, where they “hang out”, what they read and/or watch… spending your time doing an analysis and talking to your audience will mean you can see methods of reaching them you may not have noticed before (or if you have it may improve your method of communication).
Building a Brand
When you build a brand you build a trust, authority and belief in your company. In essence you generate an image in the memory of your audience… if your audience hang around “networking” (social) sites then you should be there too … if they spend time in other forums of life such as seminars make sure you get an invite… and most of all be active (but don’t just plug your brand… contribute something real to the conversation).
Be in the mind of your audience Sounds odd to say I know, but think about it… you want bread… you think of your local supermarket or shop… I say some beer and you immediately remember the shop who last had the best sale, even if you did’t buy that day. It’s the same online, if you can “prick” the mind of your audience once or twice then they will notice you, and further than this when someone says something about your niche they will mention you or visit you!
Be Better It’s simple, if you are better or “more attractive” than your competition you will get the sale over them. You are just like your competition, but you should have a USP (unique selling point)… if you don’t then create one… be a few pence or pounds cheaper than your nearest rival…even if it becomes a loss leader into potential clients buying something else!
These basic ideas are all very well, however you now need to make your site the best it can be … and then a little more!
So how do you achieve this? Again there are 5 main principles of how you can make the most of your site.
Be Realistic
Your site will never make £1million in 1 day, you will never get a billion hits in 1 day… you will never get as many conversions as you think you should be doing. Remember to start small and grow, grow your community and attract more of your target audience, slow growth will continue for a long time, huge immediate growth probably wont.
Keep changing things
Ok so all sites need to have some constants such as logo, footer etc to keep your brand alive. However your call to actions need to be varied! For example if you say “free trial” you may want to say “try it for free today” or just “try me” … the more testing you do and analysis of stats the better you and your site become.
Build a site of substance
To attract an audience of any kind you need to offer more than what they want or need, you need to go the extra mile. Now if you own an e-commerce site this maybe as simple as cutting your checkout process down, or simply allowing guest checkout without registration… if your a larger international website with thousands of pages then you may just add a search facility, a site map thats easy to use or somethnig like this… if you can give the customer what they want your doing well… if you can make your site look nice, work better and go the extra mile then you’ve won.
Treat the user well
Pretty much speaks for itself, but if you mistreat your users then your website will get a bad press and you will have worked hard for nothing. Remember the maxim of sales… the customer is always right! A great example of treating a user badly is if someone signs up for your newsletter and you send them spam or a message with nothing it but sales speak… they will hit junk and you will be filtered out of their emails forever… they probably won’t return…. or if your site is so bad that they can’t navigate then they may go onto twitter and tell the world… and sales plumit… on the reverse side of the coin if you off that extra something they will network it and you get more clients.
Never Stop
Persistence is vital, if you give up your sales will disappear… if you stop marketing for even a few weeks sales will drop … all you need to do is keep plugging away making the most of what your site can offer and improving it. think of it this way: the day you stop is the day your site dies.
In Summary:
If you can understand the basic principles of marketing of finding an audience, spending time with them and where they gather building your brand then all you need to do is… treat them well, be patient and offer that little bit more and they will convert. Being patient is vital, your site is unlikely to be an overnight success but over the weeks and months you can grow your site into a business which is very healthy.
Yesterday saw the launch of the 2009 Poppy Appeal (officially).
This year I wanted to do something a little more than wear the Poppy myself, I want to spread the word of the Poppy and with some luck I hope to raise a bit of money for this very worthwhile cause.
For those of you who don’t know about the Poppy Appeal “Each year the nation expresses its unequivocal support for The Royal British Legion’s charity work through the Poppy Appeal. The 2009 Poppy Appeal is emphasising the need to help the Afghan generation of the Armed Forces and their families – today and for the rest of their lives.” (taken from The Royal British Legion Online).
The appeal isn’t just for people who died in WWI or WWII its for those whom have died in any confilct, including the Iraqi and Afgan conflicts of today.
Support The Poppy Appeal
Do you or someone you know have a loved one or friend in a current conflict or on active service anywhere in the world that you would like to send a message too? … The Poppy Appeal … So whether you want to write a note, search existing notes, or just want to find out more about this part of the appeal… click here today
The RBL Poppy Appeal each year create a field of remembrance at Westminster and in Cardiff, you can dedicate a cross (star or crescent) to those you love and miss whom have died in conflict.
Each year the appeal aims to raise as much money as possible to help everyone effected by conflict, from those who a serving or served to their families and friends. … So today I urge you to make a difference, do a good and gracious deed and donate anything from a penny to a pound to 5000 pound!
If you want more details please simply leave a note below and i’ll be in touch, or take the better option and pop over to the official RBL Poppy Appeal Site.
Ok so I took the idea of the title from the Website Owner’s Manual, written by Paul Boag … an awesome read and recommended whether your a developer, designer, seo or indeed as it says a website owner.
Its also the title of the book and what I’m considering to be missing content that has lead to my writing this article on what exactly a Website Owners role along side and SEO specialist is. Paul talks about what you can do to perform various SEO strategies on your site (pg 217 onwards), and thats fine… if your tech savvy enough to be developing the site yourself. However more likely than not you will want to consider consulting or employing the services of an SEO such as ourselves.
Also another more important reason for this article is that both AK Designs and you (the client) want the most from your site, so here are 5 tips as to what you can do to help your SEO expert.
1 – Trust Your SEO
Unless you were plucky enough to take a stab in the dark and chose the first company you came to on the internet or in the yellow pages then you will have done some half decent research into who you want to work with. Either that or your SEO will have come recommended from a friend of some kind! You should have a great trust in your SEO for the above reason alone, however consider this… if you don’t trust them, why are you working with them?
A good Website Owner / SEO Client will be willing to take a step back, understanding that their SEO knows best as this is their specialist field.
2 – Measure Results, Not Rankings
This is often something website owners don’t quite grasp… so here it is simply.
Just because you have a high “PageRank” or some kind of other Search rank means nothing… ok so you’re trusted, and you’re getting the footfall but what good is it if your not getting conversions of that footfall? None! … If all you want is footfall then maybe you should consider another role which isn’t being the website owner because you clearly don’t want the most from your site!
3 – Ask Questions
AK Designs like most great web agencies is an open book. We actually want your questions, we want to you question what we are doing and how we do it… the more you question us the more we think and more importantly the more we improve (and so will your results). AK Designs have no secrets from our clients, nor do we have the world, hence this website sharing what many consider to be “secrets of the trade”.
Website Owners should be involved in every step of the SEO process, from planning to implementation the owner/client should be involved. From day one you should work with your SEO to decide what audience your targeting, which keywords/phrases would suit them and if your call to actions also suit this audience. A website owner should also be involved in the writing of content, copy writing is a team effort of an SEO and the Client (and or the company as a whole). Further to this you should be involved in the link building strategies and implementation, as should the rest of the company!
If your not involved you could be seen as “just another pay cheque” to some agencies, this means they are less likely to give you everything they have to make the best of your site.
5 – Pay on time
This is pretty self explanatory, but I feel I need to mention this point. If you go with a freelancer (as I once was) then this point is very important, but its also just as important to an agency with multiple clients. Your SEO is working hard for you and your site, giving you a pretty high return on investment (ROI) … so in not paying them or paying late you are giving them reason to not try so hard in the future and so you are potentially stopping the growth of your website and company.
If you’d like to know more about what we do then please feel free to contact us.
As part of my role at AK Designs I am responsible for all the copy on the “home sites” as well as the copy on many client websites. In this role with clients I often face issues (and from some staff who think the same way) … One of the biggest issues that occurs on a regular basis is simply that the website owners or the company investors seem to turn around with ideas of what the copy should be, and I have always found (so far) that all they want to do is convince the end user.
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes this fits the site and the audience you are trying to get to understand something, but most the time it isn’t.
The battle generally means I turn around and compromise, I mention AB testing of the copy to see what will produce the best results. They agree to the testing and 95% of the tests end to come back in my favour. So to help everyone get to grips with this idea I’ve created 5 directives of writing compelling copy.
5 Directives to Write Compelling Copy
Know Your Audience
Think of each page or email newsletter as being read by a single person, a person from your target audience. Give him or her a name, an age, a relationship status & maybe a background story. Now write you copy for this person alone, you are not wanting to convince her of anything but rather to feel compelled to visit again, tell a friend or even better to follow your call to action… if your audience feel preached too or spoken down too then they will switch off… where as if you can engage on a one-2-one basis then you will get some real business.
Use a present tense and Positive subject line
Imagine reading “10 websites were developed” … sounds boring and doesn’t attract your attention really, you don’t feel compelled to click and read it… now think about the line “We developed 10 New websites” notice it draws your attention it was us (we) the company and they are “new” so this implies a sense of importance, improvement and excitement. Other good words include “exciting”, “exclusive” and “introducing”.
Avoid sitting on the fence – it gets you no where
If your wanting to sell something, wanting to compel them to take an a particular action, be definitive. you are the “expert” otherwise they wouldn’t be visiting your site! So don’t use words such as “should”, “could”, “maybe” or “possibly” they have negative implications on most audiences, they make them question you and your product or site.
Be Concise
Don’t ramble on endlessly, get to your point quickly and clearly. Cut the rubbish and the jargon, no one wants to hear it or see it … it confuses the average person which is why there are so many sites claiming to be jargon busters or having jargon busters built in… save you and your customer sometime.
Connect
Connecting with your audience will never be easy, it will never be 100% successful even if you’ve got everything right on your site. What you need to think is that your customers will have something else on their mind, maybe someone is in hospital, maybe someone just knocked on the door or maybe they are hungry… a tiny little thing can distract and you will loose a sale (or however you call to action is built). So connect, make the user think positive thoughts, so even if they are distracted they will feel compelled to return.
I know these tips will help many of the website owners I know, and I know it will help your site be a success.
If you have RSI at any level then I want to share a little something with you, The Wrist Donut, a little device that will save you money, hassle and increase your work rate.
The Wrist Donut
Recently I had my RSI flare up, mainly in my right hand and arm, though it has begun to spread. Now I know there are all sorts of reasons for RSI and never just one of them alone will cause it… so I am attempting to fix various other issues I have which may cause RSI. However I spend a heck of a lot of time in front of a computer each day (actually a few of them at the same time), this doesn’t change at the weekend when I am doing other work…
Anyway with this in mind I went about doing a search for these gel pads you can get for keyboard and mouse, but I’ve never really liked the look of them nor the real estate they would take up on my desks… and I wouldn’t need just one i’d need 7 or 8 … so this solution just wasn’t practical and I would guess a lot of webby people are in my situation. That said I should emphasise this would also be brilliant for the average office worker or telesales person who spent all day on data input or the likes.
I eventaully after a while came across the wrist donut … a simple band that cushions the wrist, effectively being a gel pad without the gel pad and you take it around with you so regardless of the machine your using it works perfectly!
Now I admit I’ve only had them a few days and that you can’t buy them as a pair (they are sold individually) and they look like swimming armbands for your wrist but all the same for around £20 for 2 (including shipping) this product is worth every penny. I am already feeling the difference and am able to type at almost full speed once again… without them my type rate more than halves.
I also want to add that the customer service from these guys really is second to none, I ordered one afternoon, posted first class recorded and it was here the next day at 9AM … seriously superb.
After posting this review I was contacted by the lady at wrist donuts and a few things were mentioned I want to share. For example, should you require a little more support in one area of your band than another the material inside can be manipulated by your fingers or my rubbing it down the edge of a desk (quite handy since my keyboard was still a tiny bit higher than the normal… works a treat). Next is something I realised when I was eating lunch but was also mentioned in the email is that you can use donut to exercise your hand and increasing strength in the hand and flexing your tendons a little.
I also want to add at this point that you can visit the official website and if you buy 2 donuts you will receive 10% off, oh and you can customise the donuts! So hope over and visit WristDonut.com and give them a try for yourself.
Ok so before I begin this post today I want to pay tribute to an amazing web developer whom recently passed away, he will be massively missed by everyone who knew him and the web community as a whole… @leunix
Today I was looking around the web, nothing really exciting here if we are honest. However I stumbled across a site that I really with I had seen before because I scared the heck out of me… there are 73 Days until Christmas!!!! … its scary because I’ve not bought presents… the only good thing is I have already started my Christmas SEO strategy sometime ago.
So I have began my next big long term SEO strategy with all of my clients (not so much my own sites if I am honest), and already with quite a few sites we are seeing the results we really wanted too… not least a good number of e-commerce sites turning up for number one for “gifting” keyphrases.
This year as part of my aim to help everyone out a little I will be posting a little tip or hint each day on twitter (which I will explain here every week).
The tweets have begun with the 12 days of christmas series at the time of writing this, by the time you read it there may be a few more tips online, generally I will post one or two a day … the final tweet it excitingly going to be Christmas day itself!
After what I must say 3 days of hellish stress, if i’m honest I didn’t really feel like writing an article today. However, my friend Sarah has written an article in my place. So I hope you enjoy this, please do leave your comments & follow Sarah on Twitter.
How can you talk to hundreds of thousands of people including celebrities without leaving your house? Twitter of course!
Twitter is one of the most used web phenomena that has captured the attention of so many people using 140 characters to blog comments and issues that affect them and what things they are thinking.
It has been the centre of all social networks, it is the daddy of them all in pro-actively mini-blogging news. You can gain so much information on a huge variety of things by following different people. Now that a collection of celebrities ranging from singers to sportsmen and artists to actors are on Twitter we can now enjoy talking to and reading their messages.
Having contact with these types of people makes things easier for us normal people to raise awareness of things for charity. For example if you are campaigning for or against something you could ask a celebrity to support it. As long as they believe it is a good cause they will RT (retweet) the message and they can potentially thousands of supporters for the cause. It is amazing and it actually works.
Her son Gary McKinnon has Aspergers Syndrome like me and Janis is a great person to get involved with because she cares about sufferers on the spectrum. She has done a hell of a lot of campaigning for her son in the recent months/years to try and get people to understand Aspergers and what it is like. I myself have told my favourite celebrities, via Twitter, about my Aspergers and they all seem to be comfortable with it and accept it.
The other thing with celebrities once they are on Twitter is you see them in a different light. Before Adam Woodyatt and Beverley Knight were on there I had always said I liked their artwork/music, but being able to chat to them is a totally whole new and exciting story. They are both polite and frankly very funny to chat to! It gives fans a real sense that the celebrities are actually pretty normal people and that is a very important thing.
Twitter is so friendly it is untrue and it is largely to do with the nature of the site. People Tweet useful and interesting/exciting things. I think it is an amazing idea and I hope whatever happens with Twitter over the next few years will send it into the history books as being the most informative blogging tool on the net.
By now you I am sure are sick of my continual ramblings, so to give you a break I want to recommend some books which I have read (and re-read a few times). Now I can’t swear that everything they say is up to date, of the minute, or even still relevant. However this is not why you are reading them.
By reading these books you will begin to understand the industry and how we think, you may see some interesting trends which help move your site to the next stage, or maybe you will just realise that SEO isn’t quite the walk in the park it once was.
Andy’s Top 5 SEO Books:
Get into Bed with Google – This is one of my most treasured books, its pretty easy stuff to understand.
Don’t Make Me Think! – Ok its a usability book, but get the experience right and you should have the SEO right.
An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation – Start from the beginning with this book, simple language in first few chapters leading to the jargon … it can be confusing if you flick to the end, so make sure you start from the beginning.
Finally, SEO Secrets – Ok this seems to be the next big boy, seriously appears to be worth its weight in gold. I’ve seen snippets from it and can’t wait for the full version next may … I advise you pre-order now.
Now none of the above are really that expensive and are well worth the few quid you will spend. I full advise you buy one or two of them if you are doing your own SEO or even SEO for a client’s website(s).
If you are a website owner you may prefer a book by our friends @boagworld, the Website Owner’s Manual I’ve read the pre-release ebook version and I can’t recommend this book enough. Paul Boag has done a fantastic job & When I can get my hands on the hard copy in a few weeks I will be sorting out a copy for each of my clients. I should add that this isn’t just for website owners it also has its place with designers and developers alike.
Want to recommend a book? Leave a Comment below with a like to the book on Amazon.
BTB: Back To Basics
As the internet seems to be growing at a huge rate day-in day-out, it is becoming much easier to loose site of the simple principles of how to achieve conversions. So in this short series I will be going “back to basics” and looking at how you can really push your website and get those all important conversions… rather than simply drive traffic to your site. Today’s post is written as a short guide or reference, I won’t go into detail in this post, but rather I will tell you the basic steps which will be explained in forthcoming articles.
We all know the idea of marketing can be very complex, different people want for different things! However, you can boil down the principles of marketing to just 5 key points:
Who are your audience?
Where is your niche market placed, who are your services targeted at? Businesses (if so why kind) or the punter (if so who demographic)… this is your target audience… spend time listening to what they want and need, doing this will mean you can target them in a better manner later.
Where is the audience?
Do your research into what your target demographic does, where they “hang out”, what they read and/or watch… spending your time doing an analysis and talking to your audience will mean you can see methods of reaching them you may not have noticed before (or if you have it may improve your method of communication).
Building a Brand
When you build a brand you build a trust, authority and belief in your company. In essence you generate an image in the memory of your audience… if your audience hang around “networking” (social) sites then you should be there too … if they spend time in other forums of life such as seminars make sure you get an invite… and most of all be active (but don’t just plug your brand… contribute something real to the conversation).
Be in the mind of your audience Sounds odd to say I know, but think about it… you want bread… you think of your local supermarket or shop… I say some beer and you immediately remember the shop who last had the best sale, even if you did’t buy that day. It’s the same online, if you can “prick” the mind of your audience once or twice then they will notice you, and further than this when someone says something about your niche they will mention you or visit you!
Be Better It’s simple, if you are better or “more attractive” than your competition you will get the sale over them. You are just like your competition, but you should have a USP (unique selling point)… if you don’t then create one… be a few pence or pounds cheaper than your nearest rival…even if it becomes a loss leader into potential clients buying something else!
These basic ideas are all very well, however you now need to make your site the best it can be … and then a little more!
So how do you achieve this? Again there are 5 main principles of how you can make the most of your site.
Be Realistic
Your site will never make £1million in 1 day, you will never get a billion hits in 1 day… you will never get as many conversions as you think you should be doing. Remember to start small and grow, grow your community and attract more of your target audience, slow growth will continue for a long time, huge immediate growth probably wont.
Keep changing things
Ok so all sites need to have some constants such as logo, footer etc to keep your brand alive. However your call to actions need to be varied! For example if you say “free trial” you may want to say “try it for free today” or just “try me” … the more testing you do and analysis of stats the better you and your site become.
Build a site of substance
To attract an audience of any kind you need to offer more than what they want or need, you need to go the extra mile. Now if you own an e-commerce site this maybe as simple as cutting your checkout process down, or simply allowing guest checkout without registration… if your a larger international website with thousands of pages then you may just add a search facility, a site map thats easy to use or somethnig like this… if you can give the customer what they want your doing well… if you can make your site look nice, work better and go the extra mile then you’ve won.
Treat the user well
Pretty much speaks for itself, but if you mistreat your users then your website will get a bad press and you will have worked hard for nothing. Remember the maxim of sales… the customer is always right! A great example of treating a user badly is if someone signs up for your newsletter and you send them spam or a message with nothing it but sales speak… they will hit junk and you will be filtered out of their emails forever… they probably won’t return…. or if your site is so bad that they can’t navigate then they may go onto twitter and tell the world… and sales plumit… on the reverse side of the coin if you off that extra something they will network it and you get more clients.
Never Stop
Persistence is vital, if you give up your sales will disappear… if you stop marketing for even a few weeks sales will drop … all you need to do is keep plugging away making the most of what your site can offer and improving it. think of it this way: the day you stop is the day your site dies.
In Summary:
If you can understand the basic principles of marketing of finding an audience, spending time with them and where they gather building your brand then all you need to do is… treat them well, be patient and offer that little bit more and they will convert. Being patient is vital, your site is unlikely to be an overnight success but over the weeks and months you can grow your site into a business which is very healthy.
Yesterday saw the launch of the 2009 Poppy Appeal (officially).
This year I wanted to do something a little more than wear the Poppy myself, I want to spread the word of the Poppy and with some luck I hope to raise a bit of money for this very worthwhile cause.
For those of you who don’t know about the Poppy Appeal “Each year the nation expresses its unequivocal support for The Royal British Legion’s charity work through the Poppy Appeal. The 2009 Poppy Appeal is emphasising the need to help the Afghan generation of the Armed Forces and their families – today and for the rest of their lives.” (taken from The Royal British Legion Online).
The appeal isn’t just for people who died in WWI or WWII its for those whom have died in any confilct, including the Iraqi and Afgan conflicts of today.
Support The Poppy Appeal
Do you or someone you know have a loved one or friend in a current conflict or on active service anywhere in the world that you would like to send a message too? … The Poppy Appeal … So whether you want to write a note, search existing notes, or just want to find out more about this part of the appeal… click here today
The RBL Poppy Appeal each year create a field of remembrance at Westminster and in Cardiff, you can dedicate a cross (star or crescent) to those you love and miss whom have died in conflict.
Each year the appeal aims to raise as much money as possible to help everyone effected by conflict, from those who a serving or served to their families and friends. … So today I urge you to make a difference, do a good and gracious deed and donate anything from a penny to a pound to 5000 pound!
If you want more details please simply leave a note below and i’ll be in touch, or take the better option and pop over to the official RBL Poppy Appeal Site.
Ok so I took the idea of the title from the Website Owner’s Manual, written by Paul Boag … an awesome read and recommended whether your a developer, designer, seo or indeed as it says a website owner.
Its also the title of the book and what I’m considering to be missing content that has lead to my writing this article on what exactly a Website Owners role along side and SEO specialist is. Paul talks about what you can do to perform various SEO strategies on your site (pg 217 onwards), and thats fine… if your tech savvy enough to be developing the site yourself. However more likely than not you will want to consider consulting or employing the services of an SEO such as ourselves.
Also another more important reason for this article is that both AK Designs and you (the client) want the most from your site, so here are 5 tips as to what you can do to help your SEO expert.
1 – Trust Your SEO
Unless you were plucky enough to take a stab in the dark and chose the first company you came to on the internet or in the yellow pages then you will have done some half decent research into who you want to work with. Either that or your SEO will have come recommended from a friend of some kind! You should have a great trust in your SEO for the above reason alone, however consider this… if you don’t trust them, why are you working with them?
A good Website Owner / SEO Client will be willing to take a step back, understanding that their SEO knows best as this is their specialist field.
2 – Measure Results, Not Rankings
This is often something website owners don’t quite grasp… so here it is simply.
Just because you have a high “PageRank” or some kind of other Search rank means nothing… ok so you’re trusted, and you’re getting the footfall but what good is it if your not getting conversions of that footfall? None! … If all you want is footfall then maybe you should consider another role which isn’t being the website owner because you clearly don’t want the most from your site!
3 – Ask Questions
AK Designs like most great web agencies is an open book. We actually want your questions, we want to you question what we are doing and how we do it… the more you question us the more we think and more importantly the more we improve (and so will your results). AK Designs have no secrets from our clients, nor do we have the world, hence this website sharing what many consider to be “secrets of the trade”.
Website Owners should be involved in every step of the SEO process, from planning to implementation the owner/client should be involved. From day one you should work with your SEO to decide what audience your targeting, which keywords/phrases would suit them and if your call to actions also suit this audience. A website owner should also be involved in the writing of content, copy writing is a team effort of an SEO and the Client (and or the company as a whole). Further to this you should be involved in the link building strategies and implementation, as should the rest of the company!
If your not involved you could be seen as “just another pay cheque” to some agencies, this means they are less likely to give you everything they have to make the best of your site.
5 – Pay on time
This is pretty self explanatory, but I feel I need to mention this point. If you go with a freelancer (as I once was) then this point is very important, but its also just as important to an agency with multiple clients. Your SEO is working hard for you and your site, giving you a pretty high return on investment (ROI) … so in not paying them or paying late you are giving them reason to not try so hard in the future and so you are potentially stopping the growth of your website and company.
If you’d like to know more about what we do then please feel free to contact us.
As part of my role at AK Designs I am responsible for all the copy on the “home sites” as well as the copy on many client websites. In this role with clients I often face issues (and from some staff who think the same way) … One of the biggest issues that occurs on a regular basis is simply that the website owners or the company investors seem to turn around with ideas of what the copy should be, and I have always found (so far) that all they want to do is convince the end user.
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes this fits the site and the audience you are trying to get to understand something, but most the time it isn’t.
The battle generally means I turn around and compromise, I mention AB testing of the copy to see what will produce the best results. They agree to the testing and 95% of the tests end to come back in my favour. So to help everyone get to grips with this idea I’ve created 5 directives of writing compelling copy.
5 Directives to Write Compelling Copy
Know Your Audience
Think of each page or email newsletter as being read by a single person, a person from your target audience. Give him or her a name, an age, a relationship status & maybe a background story. Now write you copy for this person alone, you are not wanting to convince her of anything but rather to feel compelled to visit again, tell a friend or even better to follow your call to action… if your audience feel preached too or spoken down too then they will switch off… where as if you can engage on a one-2-one basis then you will get some real business.
Use a present tense and Positive subject line
Imagine reading “10 websites were developed” … sounds boring and doesn’t attract your attention really, you don’t feel compelled to click and read it… now think about the line “We developed 10 New websites” notice it draws your attention it was us (we) the company and they are “new” so this implies a sense of importance, improvement and excitement. Other good words include “exciting”, “exclusive” and “introducing”.
Avoid sitting on the fence – it gets you no where
If your wanting to sell something, wanting to compel them to take an a particular action, be definitive. you are the “expert” otherwise they wouldn’t be visiting your site! So don’t use words such as “should”, “could”, “maybe” or “possibly” they have negative implications on most audiences, they make them question you and your product or site.
Be Concise
Don’t ramble on endlessly, get to your point quickly and clearly. Cut the rubbish and the jargon, no one wants to hear it or see it … it confuses the average person which is why there are so many sites claiming to be jargon busters or having jargon busters built in… save you and your customer sometime.
Connect
Connecting with your audience will never be easy, it will never be 100% successful even if you’ve got everything right on your site. What you need to think is that your customers will have something else on their mind, maybe someone is in hospital, maybe someone just knocked on the door or maybe they are hungry… a tiny little thing can distract and you will loose a sale (or however you call to action is built). So connect, make the user think positive thoughts, so even if they are distracted they will feel compelled to return.
I know these tips will help many of the website owners I know, and I know it will help your site be a success.
If you have RSI at any level then I want to share a little something with you, The Wrist Donut, a little device that will save you money, hassle and increase your work rate.
The Wrist Donut
Recently I had my RSI flare up, mainly in my right hand and arm, though it has begun to spread. Now I know there are all sorts of reasons for RSI and never just one of them alone will cause it… so I am attempting to fix various other issues I have which may cause RSI. However I spend a heck of a lot of time in front of a computer each day (actually a few of them at the same time), this doesn’t change at the weekend when I am doing other work…
Anyway with this in mind I went about doing a search for these gel pads you can get for keyboard and mouse, but I’ve never really liked the look of them nor the real estate they would take up on my desks… and I wouldn’t need just one i’d need 7 or 8 … so this solution just wasn’t practical and I would guess a lot of webby people are in my situation. That said I should emphasise this would also be brilliant for the average office worker or telesales person who spent all day on data input or the likes.
I eventaully after a while came across the wrist donut … a simple band that cushions the wrist, effectively being a gel pad without the gel pad and you take it around with you so regardless of the machine your using it works perfectly!
Now I admit I’ve only had them a few days and that you can’t buy them as a pair (they are sold individually) and they look like swimming armbands for your wrist but all the same for around £20 for 2 (including shipping) this product is worth every penny. I am already feeling the difference and am able to type at almost full speed once again… without them my type rate more than halves.
I also want to add that the customer service from these guys really is second to none, I ordered one afternoon, posted first class recorded and it was here the next day at 9AM … seriously superb.
After posting this review I was contacted by the lady at wrist donuts and a few things were mentioned I want to share. For example, should you require a little more support in one area of your band than another the material inside can be manipulated by your fingers or my rubbing it down the edge of a desk (quite handy since my keyboard was still a tiny bit higher than the normal… works a treat). Next is something I realised when I was eating lunch but was also mentioned in the email is that you can use donut to exercise your hand and increasing strength in the hand and flexing your tendons a little.
I also want to add at this point that you can visit the official website and if you buy 2 donuts you will receive 10% off, oh and you can customise the donuts! So hope over and visit WristDonut.com and give them a try for yourself.
Ok so before I begin this post today I want to pay tribute to an amazing web developer whom recently passed away, he will be massively missed by everyone who knew him and the web community as a whole… @leunix
Today I was looking around the web, nothing really exciting here if we are honest. However I stumbled across a site that I really with I had seen before because I scared the heck out of me… there are 73 Days until Christmas!!!! … its scary because I’ve not bought presents… the only good thing is I have already started my Christmas SEO strategy sometime ago.
So I have began my next big long term SEO strategy with all of my clients (not so much my own sites if I am honest), and already with quite a few sites we are seeing the results we really wanted too… not least a good number of e-commerce sites turning up for number one for “gifting” keyphrases.
This year as part of my aim to help everyone out a little I will be posting a little tip or hint each day on twitter (which I will explain here every week).
The tweets have begun with the 12 days of christmas series at the time of writing this, by the time you read it there may be a few more tips online, generally I will post one or two a day … the final tweet it excitingly going to be Christmas day itself!
After what I must say 3 days of hellish stress, if i’m honest I didn’t really feel like writing an article today. However, my friend Sarah has written an article in my place. So I hope you enjoy this, please do leave your comments & follow Sarah on Twitter.
How can you talk to hundreds of thousands of people including celebrities without leaving your house? Twitter of course!
Twitter is one of the most used web phenomena that has captured the attention of so many people using 140 characters to blog comments and issues that affect them and what things they are thinking.
It has been the centre of all social networks, it is the daddy of them all in pro-actively mini-blogging news. You can gain so much information on a huge variety of things by following different people. Now that a collection of celebrities ranging from singers to sportsmen and artists to actors are on Twitter we can now enjoy talking to and reading their messages.
Having contact with these types of people makes things easier for us normal people to raise awareness of things for charity. For example if you are campaigning for or against something you could ask a celebrity to support it. As long as they believe it is a good cause they will RT (retweet) the message and they can potentially thousands of supporters for the cause. It is amazing and it actually works.
Her son Gary McKinnon has Aspergers Syndrome like me and Janis is a great person to get involved with because she cares about sufferers on the spectrum. She has done a hell of a lot of campaigning for her son in the recent months/years to try and get people to understand Aspergers and what it is like. I myself have told my favourite celebrities, via Twitter, about my Aspergers and they all seem to be comfortable with it and accept it.
The other thing with celebrities once they are on Twitter is you see them in a different light. Before Adam Woodyatt and Beverley Knight were on there I had always said I liked their artwork/music, but being able to chat to them is a totally whole new and exciting story. They are both polite and frankly very funny to chat to! It gives fans a real sense that the celebrities are actually pretty normal people and that is a very important thing.
Twitter is so friendly it is untrue and it is largely to do with the nature of the site. People Tweet useful and interesting/exciting things. I think it is an amazing idea and I hope whatever happens with Twitter over the next few years will send it into the history books as being the most informative blogging tool on the net.
By now you I am sure are sick of my continual ramblings, so to give you a break I want to recommend some books which I have read (and re-read a few times). Now I can’t swear that everything they say is up to date, of the minute, or even still relevant. However this is not why you are reading them.
By reading these books you will begin to understand the industry and how we think, you may see some interesting trends which help move your site to the next stage, or maybe you will just realise that SEO isn’t quite the walk in the park it once was.
Andy’s Top 5 SEO Books:
Get into Bed with Google – This is one of my most treasured books, its pretty easy stuff to understand.
Don’t Make Me Think! – Ok its a usability book, but get the experience right and you should have the SEO right.
An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation – Start from the beginning with this book, simple language in first few chapters leading to the jargon … it can be confusing if you flick to the end, so make sure you start from the beginning.
Finally, SEO Secrets – Ok this seems to be the next big boy, seriously appears to be worth its weight in gold. I’ve seen snippets from it and can’t wait for the full version next may … I advise you pre-order now.
Now none of the above are really that expensive and are well worth the few quid you will spend. I full advise you buy one or two of them if you are doing your own SEO or even SEO for a client’s website(s).
If you are a website owner you may prefer a book by our friends @boagworld, the Website Owner’s Manual I’ve read the pre-release ebook version and I can’t recommend this book enough. Paul Boag has done a fantastic job & When I can get my hands on the hard copy in a few weeks I will be sorting out a copy for each of my clients. I should add that this isn’t just for website owners it also has its place with designers and developers alike.
Want to recommend a book? Leave a Comment below with a like to the book on Amazon.
AK Designs is proud to support The Poppy Appeal
, written by Paul Boag … an awesome read and recommended whether your a developer, designer, seo or indeed as it says a website owner.
– This is one of my most treasured books, its pretty easy stuff to understand.
– Ok its a usability book, but get the experience right and you should have the SEO right.
– there is also and 
– Start from the beginning with this book, simple language in first few chapters leading to the jargon … it can be confusing if you flick to the end, so make sure you start from the beginning.
– Ok this seems to be the next big boy, seriously appears to be worth its weight in gold. I’ve seen snippets from it and can’t wait for the full version next may … I advise you pre-order now.