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Let me repeat this: Pretty pictures and images DO NOT attract traffic to your website, but good sales copy does!

It’s true – they may help convert your visitors once they are there…but there’s no way in hell that images will get more traffic to your site from the search engines.

Granted, there is a place for pictures and images on your site, but not as the prominent features.

The best way to attract more traffic from the people that are actually looking for your product or service is with powerful, clear, and concise copy, in the right places. And that doesn’t include pictures.

There! – It’s something that’s been bothering me and I had to get it off my chest.

You see, lately, for whatever reason, it seems like everyone wanting me to critique their websites (ones I had nothing to do with) has a site that’s chock full of beautiful pictures and flash and animation and music – everywhere – but little or no useful sales copy explaining what they do and the benefits they provide their clients.

Unfortunately, certain web designers and developers think those clients a favor by setting their websites up like that. I dunno, maybe saves them money by not having to write or something…

And even worse…many of these designers and developers tout themselves as search engine optimization experts.

So how is it that if they are all about SEO that they can design completely ineffective websites for their clients, charge a hefty fee, and sleep at night?

Especially with the chance of many of these sites getting new visitors from search engines is slim to none.

Why?

Because Google and the other search engines scour the Internet looking for text. You know – words that it can read.

Basically – if you can’t copy and paste text from a web page, it’s because it’s embedded in an image, and it can’t be read by Google.

You could have paid thousands of dollars to hire the best copywriter on the planet to write your kick-ass web copy, but if Google can’t read it – it won’t matter one bit – because it’ll never be found!

In Summary:

Powerful copy and content is king when it’s put in the right places on your website!

Picture, images, movies, flash…well… they have their place, too, but as a supporting role to enhance the rest of the content.

So what are your thoughts?

I’d like to know.

To get more information about keyword strategy, SEO, the benefits of powerful copy, about this post, web/online advice, or about my direct response web copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.

And if you need offline direct response marketing copy and advice, go to www.crestviewmarketing.com

To your website’s success!

Merrill Clark
Website and Direct Response Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services LLC

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You’ve probably heard about landing pages, product pages, home pages, and probably even squeeze pages…

Lately, many clients are asking me “So what’s the difference between them?”

It’s a great question, and I’m going to answer it for you now and hopefully, clear up any confusion.

Home Page

The home page of your site is the main page and glue that holds the rest of your website together. It’s usually the first thing your visitor sees when they type the URL (website address).

If it’s designed and written properly, it gets your visitor’s attention, quickly telling them you can help them solve their problem and to compel them to check out your site in more detail.

With good and sensible links, it will help them navigate your site, guiding them to take the next step you want them to and via your links, give them the information they came for.

Product Pages

Product pages are just what it says. It’s a page describing the features and benefits of a specific product or service in detail with the goal of converting your visitor to a qualified prospect or a paying client.

Each product or service should have its own dedicated web product page. This way, your visitors will be more focused on a specific product, and the search engines will have an easier time finding your page.

Landing Page

Landing pages are usually a single page site that has one specific purpose – to sell something or get you to take a very specific action. Often, landing pages have longer copy than a home or product page because they are acting almost like a full-fledged sales letter with a powerful call-to-action.

Many times, visitors are directed to a landing page by a print ad, a link from an online newsletter, another website, or an online banner ad. Smart advertisers will split test multiple landing pages for the same product to see which ones perform better.

Squeeze Page

The primary purpose of a squeeze page is to collect contact information from a potential lead or customer.

Most often, the copy is very short with the sole purpose of persuading your visitor to give them their contact information in exchange for getting some valuable information such as a newsletter or free special report,

This is one way to build up an online e-mail list so you can market to them and stay in touch with periodic information or promotions.

I’d love to hear your comments about this.

To get more information about the benefits of powerful copy, about this post, web/online advice, or about my direct response web copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.

And if you need offline direct response marketing copy and advice, go to www.crestviewmarketing.com

To your website’s success!

Merrill Clark
Website and Direct Response Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services LLC

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As a business owner or website owner, are you even authorized to make any changes to your hosting account, contact information or domain options, if you wanted to?

There’s something very important I want all of you who think you have a registered domain name, even if you don’t have an actual site yet, to be aware of.

Here’s the scoop:

Lately, as I research domain name and website information for prospects and clients, I’m seeing an alarming increase in registered domain names that have been set up with someone else (not the business owner) as the official registrant, the administrative contact, and the technical contact.

And many times, it’s their web guy/girl or web designer that originally registered the domain name and set up the account for the business owner.

After talking with a few local web designers, I find out that some of them do it if they are the ones that pay the hosting and/or domain bill and then they bill the customer.

Now – I guess I understand their reasoning – a little.

Buy I don’t agree with it! As a matter of fact – I have a big problem with it.

If someone wants to register their own domain name, they should be the registered owner of their domain name, as well as the primary administrative contact plus know the account password. No matter who is paying the hosting company.

There’s no reason I can see that a web design firm can’t set up a domain name and hosting account for a client, pay the fees (reimbursed by the client obviously) and the design firm can charge the client a small administrative fee for the extra work involved.

So what happens when a client has a falling out with their web guy because they aren’t doing a good job? (By the way, this is why I get a lot of my clients and why I’m making you aware of it).

If the bad web guy is the administrative contact on everything, you, the client MUST deal with them to get the account contact information changed before you can even make any actual account changes.

Now you can guess how that might go over with the bad guy. He might be so mad you’re firing him, he won’t even give you the account password, and that would be bad for you. Where’s his incentive to help you now? Yea…right.

When I register a domain name or set up a hosting account for my clients, I do one of two things.

If they want to provide me their credit card info, I’ll set it up and pay using their payment information.

If they want me to pay for it and then bill them for it, I’ll do that too, and just charge them a $20 administrative fee.

But no matter what – I set up everything in their name, with their contact information and password, and just set myself up as the technical contact.

Then, after all the accounts are set up, I provide my clients a document that includes all the domain name and hosting account information. This includes registration companies, hosting companies, account numbers, vendor numbers, all contact information, expiration dates, login names, and all passwords.

This way…no matter what happens to me, them, or whoever…the client has authorization and credentials to make any changes they need to without involving me at all.

After all – it’s the client’s name and site, isn’t it?

Shouldn’t you, as the client, be able to change web vendors if you have to, without the hassle being run through the ringer by a disgruntled web guy?

What do you think?

I’m sure this may spark some controversy – but hey…it’s only my opinion!

I’d love to hear your comments about this. To get more information about the benefits of powerful copy, about this post, web/online advice, or about my direct response web copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.

And if you need offline direct response marketing copy and advice, go to www.crestviewmarketing.com

To your website’s success!

Merrill Clark
Website and Direct Response Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services LLC

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A carefully written and formatted autoresponder Thank You page can add some serious moolah to your bottom line (if you know how to take advantage of it).

You do have an autoresponder set up to collect prospects name and e-mail addresses on your web site, don’t you?

If you don’t, this is a good time to set one up. Chances are, your online marketing efforts will never flourish unless you build up a quality list of prospects.

So – what is this Thank You page I speak of?

You see, when a prospect signs up for your newsletter or to get your free report, their name and e-mail address go through an autoresponder.

This software or service verifies the information, and depending on the service, may require a double opt-in with a confirmation page to verify it was in fact them that signed up. (that’s the best way)

Then it automatically sends out a Thank You page or link to the email address. Most marketers only use this page to thank the prospect for signing up and providing the link to download their incentives but…

Using it just for that purpose is just a waste of prime selling real estate.

My reasoning is this: You’ve got a hot new prospect that’s given you their carefully guarded contact information so they can get something from you.

So you already know they are very interested in what you have to offer, possibly even in other products or services you offer, but might not be quite ready to part with their cash yet. They may be testing you and your free incentive to see if you deliver what you say or find out if it’s valuable as you say it is.

So why not go for the upsell right now on the Thank You page? You could offer a complimentary product or service to them with a special discount because they signed up to your list, good for one day only. Or how about promoting some other services or products they might not know you offer at all.

Maybe a freebie tip or advice. Oh…I know – how about providing links to certain other sales pages on your website, or links to another one of your websites?

The possibilities are truly endless. So why not take full advantage of a web page your prospects are going to see anyway? Make it fun and exciting, give a special deal – whatever – but do something besides just giving them their download link.

You are in business to make money. If it were retail floor space, you wouldn’t waste it, would you?

If you’re not comfortable with autoresponder technology and writing compelling copy to take advantage of it, I can help you take advantage by providing you those services and advice.

I’d love to hear your comments about this. To get more information about the benefits of powerful copy, about this post, web/online advice, or about my direct response web copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.

And if you need offline direct response marketing copy and advice, go to www.crestviewmarketing.com

To your website’s success!

Merrill Clark
Website and Direct Response Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services LLC

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I’m sure you’re aware of all the online directories you can sign up for – or maybe you’re not!

You can sign your business up on tons of online business directories; most of them for free. You’ve got Google Local Business Center, Local.com, Yellowpages.com, Yahoo.com, local business group sites such as BNI.com, and lots more.

Then, there’s the social media craze. Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and a bunch of others.

One common and important thread among all these resources is what’s called your profile, or your bio (short for biography).

Your profile or bio is a section in your account for each of these services giving you a chance to describe you, your business, your achievements, and sometimes your person interests.

Creating a profile anywhere you can provides you with one more chance to talk about what you do and it gets stored on each provider’s website for others all over the Internet to see.

People, hopefully prospects, look at your profile to see if you’re someone who they might want to interact with or do business with, so it’s important to create one that describes you and your services accurately.

It’s one of the places you can promote yourself for free, so why not take advantage of it. Some even allow you to post a picture, which helps with personal branding, a secondary marketing technique.

Many of these sites allow you to search profiles to find others in the same profession or professions that might be complimentary to yours.

Each has their own limitations on the amount of characters you can use to create your personal profile, usually between 140 and 350 total characters. Also, you can usually include one URL to put in your website, too.

So be clear and concise about your services.

Personally, I am on Twitter, and when people follow me, I’ll look at their profile before I follow them. Generally, if they aren’t serious enough to create a profile, I won’t follow them, but if I think they fit in with the types and personality of people I want to talk with and find their tweets interesting, I will.

So go for it. Take the plunge and set up some online profiles. It will get you some good exposure – plus you can’t beat the price! The only cost is a bit of your time.

I’d love to hear your comments about this, good, bad, or ugly.

If you want me to write powerful subject lines for your email campaigns, to get more information about SEO, the benefits of powerful copy, about this post, web/online advice, or about my direct response web copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.

And if you need offline direct response marketing copy and advice, go to www.crestviewmarketing.com

To your website’s success!

Merrill Clark
Website and Direct Response Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services LLC