Making a Website more Profitable
If you have a website the chances are it’s not making you much money. Because statistically, some 90% of businesses websites DON’T make money but have the potential to do so.
The truth is, making your website pay its way is not quite as simple as you might believe.
Here’s why:
In the same way you can’t build a profitable and solid business just by printing a glossy brochure and waiting for it magically to drag in the business, you can’t simply throw a few “brochure” web-pages onto the internet and score an immediate success.
And, if you’ve been to a typical website design firm for your site, that’s what you might have: an online-brochure which has virtually zero marketing effect. Web designers are basically a new breed of IT gurus or graphic designers – and they are NOT marketing experts. That’s why most websites don’t make any money.
The good news is, making your website profitable can be achieved fast, as long as you stick to some simple but very powerful fundamentals. And you can start right now.
It all starts with your home page, because that’s the first thing people see when they hit your website.
Here are 3 tips:
To help you maximise the results you get from every visitor to your home page:
1. Ensure your home page passes the 8 second test. Research shows that you have just 8 seconds to grab your website visitors’ interest. They don’t call it “web-surfing” for nothing: if you don’t grab you visitors’ attention and break this pattern of behaviour, then they will hit your site, stay for a few seconds… and then they’re gone. Usually forever.
So, when they do hit your home-page, you need to present them with a clear and pressing reason to stay. And that means a headline and/or a strapline.
A headline is text, usually black, bold, and big which gives your visitor a big exciting and compelling promise that if he or she continues reading, you’re going to give them some significant reward for doing so, in other words. You’re going to have one of the few websites that keeps people for more than 8 seconds.
So think of a great headline or strapline for your home page, one which really sums up the “big promise” your business makes and encapsulates the overriding reason why people would want to do business with you and not your competitors.
2. Structure your web page copy according to the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) formula. Follow this classic rule and you can’t go too far wrong. Your home page should follow on from your headline and tell your story. Its got to be interesting enough to keep them riveted to the page long enough to get them over that 8 second “hump”.
So for attention, interest, desire, action, your home page and all of your copy whether it’s a letter, brochure or email, should follow this simple formula:
• You get their attention with a strong compelling headline offering them a clear benefit for reading further.
• Then you get their interest with strong opening paragraphs which spell out the problems they face and the benefits your products or service offers.
• You then fan the flames of their desire by “twisting the knife” of their pain and really showing them how you can ease it and make their lives better.
• Finally, you get them to take action on your offer with a strong call to action. On your home page, that will normally involve people giving you their name and email address in exchange for a free report or video etc (see below).
Every single page on your website should have a single purpose to justify its existence, and should therefore follow the AIDA formula. It seems too simple and too good to be true – but it’s used by the greatest copywriters and marketers, simply because it plugs into our natural human psychology, and it works.
3. Use the lead generation model. Too many business owners look at the Internet as nothing more then a virtual shopping mall. But we’ve already seen how your average visitor to your website is gone again within 8 seconds.
Do you really think you can persuade your visitors to become a paying customer in 8 seconds? It just doesn’t work.
The trick is to switch from a sales model to a lead generation model. When someone hits your site, your sole intention should be to get them to give you their name and an email address.
Getting a postal address, phone number and fax number is the holy grail but for now a name and email address is fine.
Then… once you’ve got their email address you can start emailing them with a targeted, relationship-building and, ultimately, money-making sequence of personalised, friendly, and informative emails.
3 very simple changes you can make to your home page right now to boost your website’s profits.