With this post, we continue our journey into the heart of A Website That Works Wonders! Or, in other words, we’re going to explore the key elements your website must have if you want attract new fans, engage your audience, build your mailing list, promote your services and sell your stuff!
Your Website: Does It Know How To Hold ‘Em?
If I were to go to your website right now, would it grab my attention?
And if it did grab my attention, could it hold it? For how long? Is there something there that would compel me to stick around, keep reading, and (most importantly) sign up for your free download or mailing list?
In last week’s post, I briefly covered the 7 Active Ingredients to creating a website that works its pixilated patootie off for you. This week, we dive deeper into the first Ingredient: Captivate and Communicate!
If your website doesn’t grab and hold the attention and interest of your ideal fan, then it is failing to do its job. And we need to change that right now!
How?
Start here:
It May Be Your Website…. But It’s All About Them!
If you want to engage someone in a conversation, how would you go about doing that?
Would you drone on endlessly about yourself, telling tales about how incredible you are? Or would you ask questions and get that person to talk about what they love, what they do and what’s important to him or her?
Exactly! Well, your website needs to be as engaging, if not more engaging, than a thrilling conversation. It needs to center around your ideal fan… not you. Now, before you say “What? That’s crazy!” let me clarify.
Yes, the content of your website — your pitch, your message, your information — is about you and what you offer. But if you don’t want to bore your website visitor, if you want them to keep reading and take the next step, you have to focus on how what you do benefits them.
Let me say this in another way:
Your website is your stage. The show you present on that stage needs to captivate your audience, or there will be no audience. If you don’t engage your audience’s self-interests, if you don’t make a connection they can feel, they will sprint down the isles, into the lobby, out to their cars and speed home to get into their sweats and watch reruns of Law & Order. And the next time they dare to venture out, they’ll opt for someone else’s show on someone else’s stage. Someone who actually knows and cares about what interests them.
Yes, your website is your stage. But the “show” you produce there, which is your message, pitch, copy, content needs to make a direct connection with the interests, desires, needs, dreams, and goals of your ideal audience!
Your web copy has to speak directly to your ideal audience and let them know, yes, they are in the right place! This is where they are sure to find what they are looking for! This is where they will find the service, product, music or work of art they simply cannot live without! This is a place where they feel at home, where they belong. There is no way they can click away because they can tell that you understand what they want and need, and they’re going to stick around until you give it to them!
The trick is, in order to do this effectively, you have to genuinely care about your ideal audience! Sorry, you can’t fake it. You have to care enough to find out what it is they really need and want, their preferences… their amusements even. And you have to be able to communicate both your understanding of those needs and wants, and your ability to meet those needs and wants clearly, directly and in words your audience can understand instantly.
Communication, baby! Connection, mama! Engagement, daddy-daddy! These are the keys to all your marketing, including your website.
You may be asking yourself, “How am I supposed to know what my audience needs and wants?” Well, the best way is to ask them, via email, surveys and social media. But before we go there, let me share this exercise that may help you to get to know your audience.
When I was learning how to be a copywriter, one of my mentors, Lorrie Morgan Ferrero, gave me this exercise: I was to write a detailed description of my ideal client. While this could be a fictitious character, I had to write the description as if she were a real person. This included everything from where she lived and worked to the kind of clothes she wore, the amount of money she made, the magazines she read, what she did in her spare time, where her kids went to school, what she worried about, what gave her relief and a sense of well-being. Once I had this “person” in my mind and heart, I could easily write my sales copy. It was as easy as writing a letter to a friend! I could address her wants, needs, worries and dreams and speak to her in a language she could hear. I could reach her and hold her interest because I knew her.
Get into the skin of your ideal fan. What do they think about? What do they worry about? What do they spend money on freely and where do they get stingy? What kind of music do they listen to? Do they sing along? What art is in their house and where did they get it?
When you have this person in mind, revisit the copy on your website and ask yourself, how can I rewrite this so it will speak directly to my ideal fan? What will grab his or her attention and interest? What will rise up through the noise of her day, allow her to stop, take a breath, and say, “yes!” as she reads your website?
When people are searching and spending time online, they are looking for something. They are looking for something they need, like an answer to a question or a map to the nearest Trader Joe’s or the best way to get a coffee stain out of the carpet. They are also looking to be entertained and sometimes distracted from all the things they have to do that day. And you know how the Internet provides LOTS of distractions.
But mostly, they are looking for themselves. They want to recognize themselves in your copy, in your website. They want to feel seen, known, respected and cared for (who doesn’t?) and your website can do that.
So, sit down with your website and ask yourself: what do I need to change or rewrite so that my ideal fan knows I am the one they are looking for, that I understand his or her needs, wants, dreams, fantasies, and goals? How can my website get him or her to stop, pay attention, read on and take the next step by signing up for my free download or mailing list?
Hey, this doesn’t have to be grueling! Try creating a profile or description of your ideal fan, like Lorrie taught me to do. Get to know your ideal fan in this way. It will go a long, long way, not only in writing the copy for your website but for ALL your marketing and promotion… from email to social media to the posters you create for your upcoming event.
If you have questions, or if you want me to evaluate your website and show you how to radically increase its magnetic powers to captivate and communicate, please leave a comment below, and I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I can. You can also ask your question on the Firecracker Communications Facebook Page!
Okay, now that you’ve captivated the attention of your potential fan, what are you going to do with it! We’ll discuss that in tomorrow’s post!