www.delpir.com

I have written at length about the need to anticipate your visitors’ needs. I have talked about how the first screen of the homepage needs to connect immediately and directly with the task each visitor has on his or her mind. I have talked about finding the search words and phrases people use to find your site, so you can use these same words on your homepage. And so on and so on.

And I think it is all good advice. When visitors arrive at your site for the first time, the best outcome you can hope for is that they think, “Excellent, I’m in exactly the right place. I can find what I’m looking for right here.”

The problem is, the more you write the page to suit the needs of the reader, the less character it has.

There is a danger that you will become like that person at a party who roams from group to group, agreeing with everyone and simply reflecting back everyone’s opinions and views. People like that are boring and ultimately very irritating. They never risk expressing opinions of their own.

The same thing can happen with a website. The more you try to please people, the thinner the character of your company or organization becomes.

The web has always been a place where strong views and opinions are highly valued. Think about the newsletters you subscribe to and the discussion lists you take part in. The most valuable contributions are those that express real character, where people take a strong position and are not afraid to express it and stand by it.

So there is a balance here. Yes, write your homepage to appeal to the reader, but also let some of the character of your organization shine through. This doesn’t mean adding the mission statement, or shoveling the latest corporate sound bites onto your site. Heaven forbid.

But you can express some character. You can say what you believe. You can take a position and let people know what you stand for, and what you stand against.

The benefit? You’ll differentiate your site from others in the same space. You’ll stand out from the crowd. You’ll be recognized. You’ll earn respect for taking a position. You’ll catch people’s attention. You’ll make them want to tell their friends and colleagues about your site.

You don’t have to take it to extremes. You simply need to write in a recognizable voice.

Enough to set you apart from the ordinary.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You’ll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.

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What I always tell people is, “Use yourself as the measure.”
If you won’t buy it, why do you think others will? OK, so you might catch a few intellectually-challenged people but the adage is true that you can skin a sheep once but you can shear it many times. So ideally, you should choose a business model that will last.

Have you ever paid for a date or friendship? Will you buy used clothing even offline? Oh, but it worked in the States! Well, in the States, there are over 203 million people online so it is especially true for them that there is a buyer for everything. You, however, would need a lot of time, patience and deep pockets to be internationally promoting and funding an e-commerce site while waiting to find a buyer for something that you wouldn’t buy yourself. Of course, if your target market is the States, then pack your wallets and go brave.

If you would buy it yourself, ask a couple of other people who are likely to be part of your target market and find out if they would buy it online or better still if they’re buying it offline now. If your answers are for the most part positive, you might be on to something. If not, maybe you can start small with a simple website that just takes orders online but processes payment offline. That way, you wouldn’be be out of beer money too early.

Aleem Khan, a senior partner at Breaking News, is one of the few people in the world with a four letter domain name bn.gs. He is an accredited Agent of the International Internet Authority who speaks Spanish, French and English.

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Much of my consulting work comprises writing ‘Outside Opinion’ reports on the sites of large companies and organizations. Sometimes I review just a few pages, sometimes fifty or more.

I’m just finishing one up now and have recognized a thread that is common to many of reports.

Here is what I have noticed: On many sites we are too slow to ‘get to the meat’. Too much rambling and introduction on each page.

One of the things I do in each report is create some ‘copywriter layouts’ of key site pages. I do my critique, and then provide some sample page designs to give the client an idea of how I see each page; the key messages, the key actions etc.

But here’s the thing: I create just the first screen, not the whole page.

And within that first screen I make sure that everything that NEEDS to be said is said. I make sure the key messages are prominent. And I include one or more directions or calls-to-action.

How do I manage to get all the important points within one screen? I focus on what the visitor is expecting and hoping to find on the page. For that first screen I spend a lot of time trying to anticipate the frame of mind of the visitor. I know they are coming to the page with some task in mind. They are looking for something, some kind of answer. I either provide the answer as high up on the page as possible, or give clear choices and direction to help them click through to where they’ll find what they want.

When you look at it that way, one screen isn’t such a small space. It becomes small only when too much attention is given to promoting, explaining and applauding the company or organization. It becomes crowded when too many stakeholders are fighting for space.

And yes, I provide links starting with active verbs and get them into that first screen as well.

If someone finds what they want right there, I want to allow them to click through without having to scroll and search.

If someone is still one or two levels away from finding what they need, I want to get them on their way as quickly as possible.

When you keep the visitor at the front of your mind…when you recognize and understand what they are looking for…you’ll serve them best by getting to the ‘meat’ as quickly as possible and providing them with the links they need.

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Article Resource: Find out more about my Outside Opinion service here.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You’ll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.

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