Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’

November9

Photos

By: admin

No-one wants to put their photo on their website. To be quite honest, I don’t. I’d rather present a little blurb about myself and leave the photo off our about us page.

So why do I have one there?

Putting a photo on your site establishes rapport and trust. When you meet someone face to face, have a chat, and hand over your brochure you’ve had a chance to build up the start of a relationship. Online, you are simply handing over the brochure. Without presenting some personal information along with a photograph, they have no reason to trust you.

Make it personal, win trust.

Ben

Posted in: Customer Service, Design, Marketing, Networking0 comments

June25

Make it personal

By: Ben Kelly

Don’t have your picture on your website? No information about yourself?

Your customers are more likely to engage if you put some personal information about yourself on your website. This is true whether you are offering one on one services, or selling to a mass audience.

People don’t come to websites trusting you in the same way they will when they walk into a shop. Showing who you are and telling people about you engenders trust.

Ben

Posted in: Copywriting, Marketing0 comments

May26

Good Advice vs Right Advice

By: Ben Kelly

I know a guy who loves to give advice. He just can’t help but have an opinion on everything. We all know someone like that. They aren’t hard to deal with.

What’s far tougher is when we receive really good advice from people who are experts in their field, or whom we consider to be especially wise. But surely receiving good advice can only be a good thing, right?

Sometimes.

Good advice isn’t always the right advice. Making the distinction between the two is what’s difficult. If I listened to some of the very good advice I’ve had, from some very successful people, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today (I’d be earning less, making someone else richer, etc…). Yet, it was still good advice? Why? Because from their perspective, it’s what they would do.

Good advice always comes with two caveats:

  • People are looking at the problem from their point of view.
  • Sometimes you need to make a mistake, learn from it, and get better.

You can tell a child a hundred times not to touch the hot flame – but it’s far better to let him touch it once, feel the heat, and learn for himself not to do it again.

Still, it’s the first point that’s more important to discuss, because it has a direct impact on how you build your web strategy. There are hundreds, thousands, of excellent professionals out there who build really good websites. These experts will be able to offer you very good advice on how to improve your website. Most of this advice will be very good, I truly believe that. But will it be the right advice?

Often times, it will. Sometimes though, it will be very good advice, that’s fixing the wrong problem. A new design won’t help you if your content is poor. SEO won’t help you if your customers rarely buy online, and only use your website for product support.

So how do you know when advice is good or bad?

  • Go with your gut feeling.
  • Become informed.
  • Get as many quotes as possible.
  • And maybe, just maybe, hire someone to sort out your web strategy…

Ben

Posted in: Marketing0 comments

May21

If I notice your design, it’s failed

By: Ben Kelly

A website can be a thing of art. There are an ever increasing number of very talented artists who turn their hand to graphic art, and amaze us with gorgeous design. Ranging from simple black and white layout, to fully animated flash interfaces, there are a world of options available to the website owner when trying to revamp a tired site.

What if your website has so much artistic merit, that you win an award. Isn’t that the highest accolade an audience can bestow on a webmaster – awarding her for creating a work of art? Isn’t that what we should all strive for?

No.

If I notice your website’s design, it has failed.

Art works for the art industry. If you are a creative agency, sell art, offer fashion consulting, or even design necklaces for kittens, art is not only appropriate, it really does help. For everyone else, if your design is the most remarkable thing about your website – it has fallen flat on its face, as have you with it.

Too many people get swept along with the notion that a website must have an artistic design. Nothing could be further from the truth. The design for your website should be the framework within which your content is best placed to appeal to your users. Your content is generally text if you offer a service, or an image if you are selling a product. Design should be good (but not great), and should be lower on your list of priorities than strategic planning, usability, seo and copywriting.

Successful websites rarely win design awards. They count their winnings differently. They tend to be much longer numbers with a £ sign preceeding them.

Ben

Posted in: Copywriting, Design0 comments

May19

Appealing to everyone

By: Ben Kelly

Any business wants to sell its services or products to the highest number of potential clients, don’t they? We all want to find a global audience for what we do, and have as many satisfied (and paying customers) as is physically possible, don’t we? After all, isn’t that the way to make it big?

To this end, shouldn’t we make sure the text we write, the image we display and the language we use as appealing as possible to the highest number of people? Shouldn’t we avoid anything non-PC, that risks being offensive, or really that even takes a stance on controversial issues? That’s the way to appeal to your biggest target audience, right?

Wrong.

If you appeal to everyone, you’ll dilute yourself so much, you’ll end up appealing to no-one. Ultimately, you can never be anyone but yourself. Your business is unique too. No two businesses are the same. They have unique voices, unique ideas and a unique identity. Embrace your difference! Don’t be afraid to show yourself for who you really are. Rather than weakening your appeal to the masses, you will strengthen your appeal to the customers who are ideally suited to your service or product. These are the customers you want.

How do you make this work online? Here are some ideas:

  • Create interesting bio’s with pictures – show yourself, and write something interesting about you (something interesting that’s non-business orientated).
  • Write a blog. If you are going to write a blog, make sure it’s focused on a small number of people whom you can genuinely help or interest. This blog, for example, is focused only at business owners who want to improve their online marketing. Other’s may get some benefit (if you are in marketing, sales, or work for a business), but really I am writing to the informed business owner who wants to improve website strategy.
  • Make your blog personal. Don’t be afraid to let yourself creep into what you write. I love fast cars, and travel. I hate watching TV (apart from The Apprentice) and can’t stand cats (I’m allergic – which is a half-decent excuse). If any of these things put people off me – then they probably aren’t the kind of person I’ll be able to have a good relationship in any case – why try and pretend otherwise?
  • Actively dissuade the wrong type of customer from purchasing from you. This idea may sound off-putting at first, but it is real gold. Tell your prospects when not to buy from you. I make websites – if your budget is less than £1,000 over the course of the year – I’m not setup to help you. There are dozens of very good designers and programmers who can – but I’m not one of them (though I can help you find one if you need it). Why is it a good thing to tell this to prospective customers? If someone only has a £500 budget and I’m not aware of this up front – then we both waste a lot of each other’s time before discovering we’re not a good fit. If you sell flowers in Hampshire and not in Devon, make this clear on your website. You’ll save a lot of wasted time telling people "no, I’m afraid we don’t deliver to Devon", and you’ll also appeal even more to all the prospects in your Hampshire region – if I want flowers and live in Hampshire, I’m more likely to pick up the phone to you when I know you can deliver to my area.

Have a good long think about how you can make sure your unique voice comes acorss on your website. And if you still don’t believe me, take a look at companies such as lush and innocent – they are pretty unique, and last I heard they were doing pretty well…

Ben

Posted in: Customer Service, Marketing0 comments

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