Site Visitors Don't Care About You. Sorry.

“What’s In It For Me?”

That’s All Site Visitors Want To Know

As a site designer, SEO, copywriter or some other someone working in the web world, chances are you have clients – clients who have objectives.

Umm, they don't care about you.
Sorry.

Some want to sell something, or lots of different things. Some want opt-ins for a FREE special report. Others want visitors to subscribe to their insightful newsletters or fill out a form. These are the objectives of the site owner – your client and person with the checkbook.

Naturally, these clients want their sites to meet their objectives. If the client is selling a vitamin supplement, her objective is to sell more jars of the product. If the author of a newsletter on precious metals publishes an “insider’s report,” he wants more subscribers.

If the site is soliciting donations, the objective is obvious – more donors, repeat donors, generous donors. Therefore, the site copy on the home page and landing pages is usually written to meet the objectives of the site owner and not the site visitor.

And the fact is, the objectives of site owners and visitors are distinct and, at times, even contradictory. The fact is that site visitors don’t give a whit about your clients, their web sites, their problems or their clever turn of a phrase. They want the answer to one very simple question:

What’s in it for me?

Let’s look at a couple of examples of site text with snarky, visitor comments inserted:

Acme Pest Control is a family-owned business (who cares, I got bugs) with deep roots in the Tri-City Area. (I said I don’t care. Bugs are eating my house.) We offer a variety of services to manage your pest problems (Can you get rid of my bugs?) safely, effectively and completely. (Umm, okay.)

We offer the latest in pest control technology (Huh?) and we guarantee our work. (OK, that part’s good.)

Out technicians are trained in the latest pest control technology, they’re certified and they’re friendly. (I don’t care if he looks like Quasimodo, I just want somebody so get rid of termites. Now.)

That little snippet of text is all about Acme Pest Control and closing another sale. Naturally, that’s the company’s objective, but it’s not necessarily the site visitor’s objective, which is to find a solution to a termite problem.

So, posture the text to meet the objectives of the visitor, NOT the site owner.

Got bug problems? (Why, yes, yes I do.) Want to get rid of them today? (That’d be great?) Want to keep your family and pets safe? (Well, of course. I hadn’t even thought of that.)

Tired of calling around trying to find a solution to your pest problems? (Oh, man, I’m so tired. Can you help?) We solve all of your pest problems quickly, safely and now. (How do I reach you?) You want to solve a pest problem, call us at (123) 555-1234. (I’m dialing, I’m dialing!)

We’ll be there today to help you. Guaranteed. (“Hello, Acme Pest Control…”)

In this case, the site text isn’t about the company (your client) it’s all about the visitor – solving their problems and serving their needs.

Unfortunately, even gigantic, global conglomerates use site text that’s designed to meet their global conglomerate objectives, not the objectives of the site visitor. I’ll bet you 99.9% of all 122 million web sites are designed to meet the site owner’s objectives. And that’s why so many sites crash and burn.

It’s blunt but true: site visitors don’t care about you, your site, your corporate history or you cool new headquarters. Those are the objectives of the site owners – to brag a little bit and “sell” the site visitor.

Forget selling. Provide solutions in your site text, focus on the visitors objectives not your objectives or the client’s objectives (this may take a little explanation and diplomacy on your part) but the results will be there in higher conversion ratios.

Don’t design a site to meet the site owner’s objectives. They’re different from the objectives of site visitors. Instead, write copy the simplifies achieving visitor’s goals and the site will convert, the client will make money and parades will be scheduled in you honor.

Need a little visitor love? Who doesn't? Stop by webwordslinger.com, drop me a line and let's get you some good lovin'.

Oooo, LET'S GET STICKY!

Always keep your site door open for repeat traffic and let's get sticky, eh?

Add Some Glue to Your Site:

Let’s Get Sticky

The world wide web is a jungle – especially for the start-up struggling toward profitability. With all of that heavy hitting competition, webmasters (you) have to spend increasing amounts of time marketing their sites and less time developing site improvements and adding new content.

The key to long-term success is to create site stickiness – a reason for visitors to return to your on-line shop over and over. Sticky content, by definition, provides benefit to the reader. It might be information, humor, the latest (very latest) news within a market sector, tips and suggestions – any information that keeps visitors returning and even book marking your site.

Sticky content could be as simple as the horoscope of the day, a Sudoku puzzle or even just a crossword puzzle. The objective? Less time on content development and more time on marketing while, simultaneously increasing site traffic. Think it can’t be done? Well here’s how to do it on bottle return money.

Post Your Publishing Schedule

If your readership liked article #1, chances are they’ll stop back to read article #2 – especially if you provide the reader with a publication schedule. If visitors know that every Thursday you’re going to post your latest stock prognostications, then all of those self-directed investors just might stop by every Thursday and read this week’s stock picks over their morning lattes.

Don’t push yourself to the limits, promising green content every day. You’ll get tired of cranking out the words and, after a few weeks, the content won’t be as fresh as you and your one-time readers thought it was.

Syndicated Content

Want free, relevant content? Visit sites like goarticles.com and similar sites. Here you’ll find well written (and not so well written) articles on everything from keeping pet turtles to how to make money in currency exchange.

It’s content that might appear on a dozen sites at the same time, so it won’t do much as far as search engines and page rank (too much duplicate content), but it’ll be green to your visitors and that’s what keeps them coming back daily or weekly.

A Newsletter

Hey what’s happening in the heavy equipment industry? Well, if you’re an authority you can probably put together a one or two page newsletter once a week on the topic of your site. These newsletters would then be sent to visitors who have signed up for the information (they’re called opt ins because they opted to receive your newsletter). In your newsletter, you can cover your industry, hobby, avocation or whatever your site’s subject is.

The Site Blog

A few years ago, the blog was almost unheard of. Today, even small sites can have blogs. The better web hosts provide the blog software gratis, so all you have to do is upload posts. The programming is super-easy.

You can control blog content and allow visitors to leave comments. Controversy sells so if you can work in the latest controversy within your sphere, all the better.

The Forum

It looks like a blog but it’s open for posts from anyone – including the nut jobs who populate the W3 landscape. In forums, people can deliver their screeds, rant and rave about this or that and, ultimately, create dialogue between site visitors. Your site becomes a source of opinions, ideas, warnings and other useful information to keep your site sticky like super-glue.

Site Convenience

RSS feeds (really simple syndication) allows you to pick up content relevant to your visitors from many different sites and deliver all of it in one place for sheer convenience. So, the visitor who once had to stop by five or six sites for the latest goings-on in Washington, D.C. can now stop by your site for content from all of those sites and more, saving visitors time. Plus, the content is updated regularly.

To gather RSS feeds you need an aggregator (collector). It’s free. Then, all you do is visit sites offering RSS feeds, click on the ones you think readers will enjoy and present them on your site. And once a feed is in place, you’ll receive regular updates that will keep visitors coming back.

Fun and Games

You can find almost any kind of fun and games free for delivery to your site daily. For example, funtrivia.com will set up a 10-question trivia game on your site every day. It will also provide daily scores, weekly and monthly winners. And it’s free. Once you get a few competitors going head to head, they’ll be back for more.

One of our favorite sites is freesticky.com which offers dozens of features to keep them coming back. A partial list, in no particular order: cartoons and jokes of the day, competitions, games (change them every day), horoscopes and astrology for star gazers, lottery results, maps, tickers, On This Day In History, The Daily Phrazzle®, free articles, viral marketing content, guides and directories and more. Much more. All free and all very sticky.

All you have to do is Google “free site content” and you’ll find hundreds of sites offering games, industry analysis, the latest from the Hong Kong stock market – whatever your readers will find interesting.

The Point of Getting Sticky

First, it increases site traffic – something search engines like to see. Second, you’ll get a lot of repeat traffic – something else search engines like. Your site will receive more page views per visitor, which means they stick around longer.

However, the most important reason to add a little glue to your site is because repeat visitors eventually buy something. Oh, they may not buy on their first, second or third stop, but if they keep coming back each day, eventually they buy. There’s an old Madison Avenue adage that says ‘A buyer most hear or see a product six times before it even registers’ and that was back in the day when TV was the main form of access to information.

Get sticky. Save time in content creation. Devote more time to marketing your site. In time, if your site becomes really sticky, you may be lucky enough to start a site community – friends who use your forum or message board to talk to friends.

If you’re working on a shoestring content budget, there are still plenty of options to create and deliver sticky content to your regulars. And in short order, those regulars will become buyers.

You’ll also see a little boost in your search engine rankings as an extra kicker. So start adding some glue to your site and watch that site traffic grow like never before.

That’s what site stickiness is all about.

Want to keep visitors coming back time after time? Youneed to get sticky stuff for your site. Drop me a line and let's get sticky.

Later,

Webwordslinger