The Wizard Chronicle
How to Attract, Convert, and Delight CustomersBy: Wizard of Ads Partners Editor: Craig Arthur
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Entries in Online (26)
Grabbing Market Share: Marketing in a Recession
During
a recession, many companies react defensively: they tighten their belts
and brace themselves for slower growth. It doesn't have to be that way.
Click the image and it will take you to the Future Now Inc website where you can download the white paper.
Download. Read. Implement.
Thanks to Future Now Inc.
Nobody Reads Web Pages
By Wizard Partner, Dave YoungIt's a bold statement. When I first heard Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg utter it, my brain rejected it. They put it on a slide and my brain set it aside to chew on later.
Here's what it means: People who think that the internet is just print in a different medium are wrong. (Is your brain rejecting that statement?) Here's my little 'a-ha' demonstration
You are reading a book: read - read - read - backup to re-read a difficult passage - read - read - lick thumb to turn page - read - read - read - and so on.
You are reading a newspaper: scan - scan - read - read - scan - read - turn to page 8A - read - back to page 1 - scan - read - turn page - scan - continue.
I am reading a newspaper: find the comics - scan - skip - read (just the funny ones - why do they call the boring ones 'comics'?)
You are reading engaging a web site designed by someone who believes that web sites are just like print: scan - scan - read - look for nav link - look some more - click - scan - wrong page click back button -find another nav link - click - scan - read - click - back to search engine.
You are engaging a web site designed by someone who believes the web is different: scan - read - click - scan - click - scan - read - read - click - scan - click - type - click - type - click - wait for UPS truck to deliver merchandise.
Does that help?
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Why Your Retail Store Needs a Good Web Site
Even if you don't do e-commerce.
By Wizard Partner Dave Young
Thanks to Holly at GrokDotCom for finding this article on SearchEngineWatch.
Media measurement company, Nielsen Online, conducted a survey to examine the relationship between online research and offline purchases. They found that 80% of participants who had recently bought consumer electronics from a brick and mortar store whose site they visited first.
- 53% bought from the site where they spent the most time.
- 58% would choose the internet if they could only use one channel to conduct product research on consumer electronics. Only 25% chose the brick and mortar store.
I get asked all the time about the importance of having more than just a first generation "my nephew built it" web site for your LOCAL clothing store, plumbing shop, cafe, bank, insurance agency, etc. My answer is always, "I can't believe it's 2008 and you're still asking that question. " But, some people will only listen to the numbers.
The numbers are still speaking. They haven't changed their minds. I can help you.
Reduce Friction, Increase Sales
Adapted from the best selling business book, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark, by Bryan & Jeff Eisenberg. Chapter 3, page 21, Friction and Customer Experience."Your goal should be to remove as much friction as possible from your sales process. Friction is anything that prevents the customer buying from you. Smart business owners know the secret to success is not to make it easier for the seller, but to make it easier for the buyer."
Sales, Online, Words of Wizardom Web Strategy in a Nutshell
By Wizard Partner, Dave Young
Your website must...
1. Be findable in the search engines2. Have persuasive copy
3. Be designed for easy conversion
The non-SEO solution for Search Optimization
If you write your site in the language of your customers, talking about what's important to your customers, you'll likely need very little help from an SEO specialist. Because, if you are using the language and phrasing of your customers, your organic search results will do quite well.
One of the best ways to start getting good organic search results for this type of traffic is to start blogging. If you're diligent and smart about your phrasing, you'll start seeing results quite soon after your new content is indexed.
In addition, you'll need to follow good technical practices to make sure your site is easily indexed and the search engines can find your pages.
Persuasion
Having a persuasive site is much more difficult that it would seem at face value. Not all of your visitors are persuaded by the same information. They have different values, they have different needs and they have different levels of patience to let you tell your story. Persuasion Architecture is our preferred method to design a persuasive strategy for your site from the very beginning.
Conversion
Have you made it easy for your visitors to do what you desire them to do on your site? Do you have strong and easily-understood calls to action?
The above is simple... but not easy.
PS From the editor. Dave Young is our Online Persuasion Specialist. You could spend months, possibly years experimenting with Persuasion Architecture, or you could simply hire Dave's team to do it for you. Your results will happen much faster. (If you are an Australian company, contact the Australian office of Wizard of Ads at infoaust@wizardofads.com.)
Online, Copy, Customer Experience, Blog Is Your Website Answering Questions or Simply Looking Pretty?
People are looking for answers online.
Does your website provide these answers?
Your website needs to deliver: Information. Clarity. Truth.
Your website should be a window into the soul of your company:
1. Anticipate your customer's question.
This is why you must embrace persona-based writing.
2. Answer the question transparently.
Statements that don't ring true will score against you.
3. Make the answer easy to find.
This is a function of website architecture.
Does it surprise you to learn that most website programmers think exactly backwards from how customers think? An organizational hierarchy that's perfectly logical in the mind of a programmer is often frustratingly illogical in the mind of a customer.
Your website architecture dictates your customer's experience. Architecture has nothing to do with graphics. Did your website have an architect? Or was it designed by the programmer? By the graphic artist? By you?
A programmer asks, "Does it function?"
A graphic designer asks, "Does it 'feel right' and represent us well?"
An owner asks, "Does it say what I want it to say?"
An architect asks, "Did the customer find their answer?"
Mass media says, "Create traffic first. Answer their questions after they arrive."
Search engines say, "Create answers first. Store traffic will be created by the answers you provide."
Your website should be a relationship deepener. Having already interacted with your expert, open-all-night website, customers will walk into your store the next day already sold. We're seeing it constantly.
Are you?
CONFESSION: Most of what I've shared with you today was gleaned from my daily chats with the Eisenberg brothers. A few minutes with these guys saves me a lot of time and money.
Online Copywriting Resources
The Grok has gathered them all together!
By Dave Young, Wizard Partner
I LOVE Cheat Sheets! Don't you?
Our friends at GrokDotCom.com have gathered up a HUGE bunch of online copywriting resources and placed links in two convenient posts.
1. Online Copywriting 101: Ultimate Cheat Sheet #1
2. Online Copywriting 101: Ultimate Cheat Sheet #2
You'll find them neatly categorized and arranged with brief descriptions.
So, click through and bookmark both pages and plan on spending time reading and improving your online writing skills.
From the Editor: If you don't have the time or experience you can hire Dave Young to maximize your online results