If you’re a web designer, today’s article might have you sitting there going ‘puhleeaasse.’

Especially when you realize you’ve just spent two minutes reading about something you learned back in rookie camp. (do they have rookie camps for web designers?)

Anyway, for some of us, this might be an eye opener.

Google has many tools to help us measure the overall effectiveness of our website marketing. And this one I’ll tell you about in a sec is a bit of a sleeper that could have you rethinking a few things today.

Business owners are always on the lookout for more effective ways to engage readers on their website and convert them into profitable clients.

Now, I don’t know about you but where I come from, conventional logic suggests that someone is more likely to do something, buy something or take action IF they are aware of it.

Maybe you offer a free report. Or you’re soliciting donations. Perhaps you offer a free trial.

Because people use various browser settings, monitor sizes and screen resolutions, it can be tough to know when a key button, like a “Donate” or “Subscribe” is visible and easily reachable by your users.

Well, Google has taken a lot of the guesswork out of the equation.

Google Browser Size overlays a transparent image on top of any website, displaying what percentage of users (on average) will see your content without scrolling.

And the operative words are ‘without scrolling.’ Most visitors to your site are going to make a snap decision in a few seconds to decide whether to stick around or click away – from the screen they can see without making the tremendous effort of actually moving the cursor and scrolling down.  

That’s why I preach an “above the fold” approach which sees as much selling horsepower as possible in the upper part of the home page.  

Here’s how this tool works:

When you enter your site URL in the box, you’ll see the overlay.

On the top and left are numbers depicting the length and width of the screen, in pixels. In the middle you’ll notice an array of colors and percentages. Based on research Google did, they were able to extrapolate at what pixel height and width Internet surfers could see the page without scrolling, from 99 percent to essentially 0 percent.

If your sales ammunition is out of view for too high a percentage of readers, you’re not going to get the conversions you could.

I see this all the time. No benefit headline which is what the reader should always see first. Hidden testimonials. Huge graphics at the top and no copy. Credentials buried down below. Newsletter offer at the bottom

A lot this stuff is out of view – and, therefore, out of mind.

See how your site stacks up.

If your most compelling sales story isn’t hitting your visitor right between the eyes, might be time for a little chess.   

Many business owners don’t really have a clear understanding of what their website is supposed to do.

Some have lofty expectations. Some have very little. Some have never given it any thought.  

Unless you’re selling a product directly from your site as your primary business, you may find it helpful to look at your website in the following way:

Your website is a sales lead generator – not a sales closer.

Especially where first time visitors are concerned.

Think of your website as a sales funnel. The idea is to bring prospects in at the wide end of the funnel, separate those who are interested from those who aren’t and then collect their contact information (usually a first name and en email address) so you can continue marketing to them.

To identify a sales lead from a prospect, your website needs to:

1. Establish a “know like and trust” factor As soon as your visitors land on your website, they will make a decision to either click away or stick around. You may have heard the expression ‘ make your website “sticky”. The best way to grab attention is to have a clear benefit offer for the visitor along with a clean, professional looking site that is easy to follow. This will encourage them to read your sales story. 

2. Position you as a expert  People like to work with specialists and experts. If you have special industry designations or awards, make sure they’re visible on your home page. Publish reports or stories of any media recognition you’ve earned. The idea is to leave no doubt in the visitor’s mind that you are the go-to source for whatever service or product you offer.

3. Engage your visitors A very high percentage of websites are brochure style. They present information and don’t help web visitors understand how they will benefit.  A direct response website engages visitors by providing them with useful information and collecting information from them in exchange.

Your internet strategy will be dictated by your industry and your company. What is the length of your customers’ buying cycle? What do they likely know before they get to your website?  How many of your competitors will they check out? What sort of information do you want your website to collect from prospects?

The answers to these questions will provide you with a clear understanding of what you should be getting from your website.

That way, you’ll be in position to know if it’s performing up to your expectations.

Your ability to generate sales leads from your website and other marketing materials will be greatly enhanced if your copy contains a clear marketing message being delivered to a well-defined target market.  

A common trap many marketers fall into is trying to appeal to everyone with a vague message.

This hurts you in a couple of ways.

First, very few people “get” the value you offer so they mush on looking for a solution to their problem. But the real killer is your best prospects don’t get beyond this “stop me when you see something you like” approach. They simply aren’t going to take time to figure out why they should do business with you.

Your value proposition is hidden behind a mask of vanilla.

To really start skyrocketing your results, create a clear marketing message and match it up to what your target market is looking for.

Let’s use me as an example.  

My marketing message is: I work with small and medium size business owners who want better results from their marketing but don’t have the time it takes to create a marketing system that generates positive results. 

As for my target market, it’s “Mary”. 

Who’s Mary? Mary is a name I picked out years ago to represent my ideal client. Although Mary is not real, her wants and needs and hopes are often present in my real life clients. Mary is the audience I am writing to when I create sales copy for marketing my services. 

So, in that sense, she is very real. Over the past 8 years, I’ve gotten to know Mary fairly well. I know what kinds of burning issues keep her up at night. I know what her fears are. I know what her hopes are. She wants value and is willing to pay for it. She appreciates professionalism. She’s been overpromised to and underdelivered to. 

Here’s what else I know about “Mary”: 

        -She has enjoyed success in her business. 

·      - She has some marketing savvy and understands its importance. 

   -   She knows she could be doing better with professional marketing help. 

  - She is extremely busy and knows that I can help her get to where she wants to go faster because I can bring a singular focus to getting her marketing and copy in shape. 

    – Direct response copywriting isn’t her core competency. 

Male or female – many of my clients basically fit into the profile above. 

Spend 20 minutes and think about who your best customers are. Why did they buy from you? What problem did you solve for them? What do they have in common?  By doing so, you will see the elements you need to inject into your sales copy.   

Then, craft your marketing message so that it addresses the needs of your target market. 

You should see some exciting results!

If you aren’t using a lead magnet to attract more prospects, you’re not taking advantage of one of the most effective marketing tools successful marketers leverage to avoid leaving money on the table.

What is a lead magnet? You see them all the time in the form of reports, product samples, trials and a host of other offerings that usually have two things in common.

They have perceived value and they are free.

Why free?

Because that’s the way of the online marketing world when it comes to attracting attention and developing a relationship with prospects who are being bombarded by “stuff” every day on web sites and in emails and sales letters vying for their eyes and ears and a chance to move them along in the sales cycle.

Hmmmm….you might be thinking….’I give away a little something for free to let my potential customer “sample” my offering and my potential customer does business with me.’ Good deal.

Hate to be the one to yank you out of your Happy Bubble but it doesn’t exactly work that way.

Assuming your prospect decides to accept your free offer, you have succeeded in securing an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and ability to deliver value in a friendly environment your prospect invited you into.

This is the all-important first step to having your prospect get to know you.

After all, we do business with people we know like and trust. If you don’t use some form of lead magnet to reach out to your prospects so you have a chance to continue the relationship, trying to get them to buy will be like pushing water uphill with your nose.

You have no way of doing it because you haven’t earned their email address and permission to stay in touch.

What makes a good lead magnet ? Here are a few examples:

• Free Product Sample
• Free Downloadable Info Product
• Free Report
• Free Ebook
• Free PDF
• Free Trial Membership to a Program
• Free How To Videos

So why are lead magnets such a big deal?

It’s the best ammunition you can use against a formidable force that is working against you in your efforts to bring on new customers.

That force is human nature.

Most web visitors don’t buy something the first time they visit your web site or get your email And the fact of the matter is, most will never visit your website again unless you entice them to do so.

For proof, think about your own habits.  

People are busy, have lots of stuff on their minds, and generally have short attention spans. You need to get on their mind and stay on it so you can encourage them to revisit your web site or pick up a phone and call you.

That’s where the ethical bribe – or lead magnet – comes in.

Once they have agreed to give you their email address or physical mailing address in exchange for your free offer, you have a chance to:

• Nurture the relationship
• Build trust
• Get them to know you
• Encourage them to want to do business with you
• Grow your profits

Once your sales lead magnet has opened a line of communication, you can use an autoresponder to provide your prospects with ongoing useful information that gives them a better understanding of how you make their lives better.

When you can do that, your profits will soar!

As a professional copywriter and marketing consultant, I continually see two huge mistakes business owners make when creating their marketing materials.

First, they seem willing to plunk down a ton of dough for a website that isn’t going to generate sales leads. Second, they use  a brochure copy style instead of a prospect-focused, direct response copywriting approach.

The number of business owners who have told me about spending anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 on a website that gets them virtually no response is staggering.

No leads. No customers. No sales.

As soon as I visit their site, it’s easy to see why. The website is usually attractive. Has tons of colour. Often has a flash intro. Way too many different sized, multi-coloured fonts.  And the words “we, our and us” are plastered all over the home page.

Now let me ask you this: When is the last time you bought something from someone who asked you to wait before letting you through the door (flash), then jumped out at you wearing loud clothing (overdesign), spent five minutes talking about him or herself  (we/our/us)  and made it hard to follow what they were saying (multiple, multi-coloured fonts) ?

How ’bout…a long time ago or never!

A website is simply a virtual salesperson. The only significant difference between a face-to-face selling opportunity and a virtual sales interaction is that you – the  salesperson – aren’t there.

Most of us would never greet a potential qualified sales prospect by saying something like, “Hey Mr. Prospect, slow down. Before you can buy anything from me I want you to watch this little dog and pony show. Once you’re done, come on in and see how great I look. Once we’re done there, I’ll bend your ear about me. And if you’re still interested, try and find something that will help you solve your problem. But do it fast. I don’t have much time to explain things.”

Nobody would intentionally steer potential customers into the clutches of their competitors. And yet that’s exactly the effect this approach creates – costing business owners sales that should have been theirs!

That’s where direct response copywriting makes all the difference when it comes to converting a web visitor (or any reader of any of your promotional material)  into a sales lead.

I have people wonder out loud whether or not longer copy actually converts prospects into customers. Countless studies have proven it does beyond all doubt. But let’s pretend no such studies were readily available. Here’s a little common sense example that easily demonstrates the point.

Suppose you had $40,000 to buy a new car. Someone puts 10 new cars in front of you and they all look the same. Sleek. Shiny. Powerful. Blah Blah. And, they are all priced at $40K. How are you going to figure out which one is the best buy?

Answer: By getting enough information about each car that allows you to make the best buying decision. If 7 of the cars come with a bit of information, 2 come with more information and 1 comes with lots of information, who is likely to have a chance to seal the deal? Would you spend 40 grand without knowing what you were getting? Of course not. And that’s what we, as marketers, must always remember. Our offering is constantly being compared to the offerings of others.

So why do some business owners fear using longer copy? (by the way, copy is what many marketers spend the least amount of money on because they don’t understand the critical role it plays in converting a prospect into a customer – at least that won’t happen to you again!)

In my opinion, here’s why: They have it ingrained in their minds that most people won’t take the time read long copy. They’re too busy. They have short attention spans. They like their printed information in sound bite form.

All true. For most of the people who come to our websites. Or read our emails.

But it’s important to rmember: we aren’t trying to sell everybody. The thing many marketers fail to understand is that many of the visitors to their site or on the receiving end of their email marketing campaigns aren’t qualified prospects. They aren’t going to buy anyway. No real need. No money. No authority. Just tire kicking. Whatever.

The copy and information on our web site is for the qualfied prospect who has an immediate or future need, has the authority to buy, has the money to pay and is looking for reasons why he/she should buy from us.

They will read longer copy  because they have to make an educated buying decision.  But not just a bunch of words stuck on a page. No, to convert qualified prospects into buyers, you need to use the same balance of emotion and logic and selling structure you would use if you were standing there talking to your potential customer.

Go back to the face-to-face selling situation. Non-prospects display “I’m not interested” (or, “you suck, as a professional  salesperson”) signals very early on in their buying process. What do the interested prospects do? They ask questions. They want information.

That’s exactly what your qualified prospect wants when he or she visits your site.

If you are getting traffic but few sales results, take a look at your site from this new perpsective. You should be able to see the issues in fairly short order.

Next time, I will outline five simple things you can do to create direct response website copy so you can start generating more sales leads.

In marketing, knowing your prospect’s needs, wants, challenges and problems are important keys to selling them.

Now suppose you had a way to know almost exactly what your prospect wants when he or she lands on your web site or reads your email marketing message? Think that would be give you a better chance to make a sale?

OK. Well, the first two things your prospect is looking for are universal and if you aren’t taking them into consideration with all your marketing, start today and watch your sales jump.

Thing 1: People want useful information when they are looking to solve a problem or fulfill a need. Drop the welcome to your site stuff and the here’s a list of all the services and products we offer.

Thing 2: They want information quickly.

So, useful and quick. Understanding and acting upon that alone and will put you so far down the track ahead of most of your competitors.

However, you can leave them in the dust by supercharging your marketing with an understanding of what your prospect is experiencing or thinking at the time they are presented with your marketing message.

While you can’t know exactly what’s on your prospect’s mind, you can make some pretty good guesses based on information you already have. What it comes down to is having a clear understanding of who your ideal client is and why they bought from you.

Something tipped the scales in your favour that made your current clients pick you when it came down to making a buying decision. After all, they probably had many options.

If you aren’t quite sure, start asking. When you have an understanding of why they chose you over your competitors, you’re in a position to develop marketing messages that tap into your prospect’s brain.

And your road in is your prospect’s Reticular Activating System.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is the “attention center” of the brain. It works 24/7 and determines what we pay attention to by acting like a filter. It’s impossible for the brain to focus on everything it is exposed to during a day so the RAS keeps your brain on track by allowing it to focus on what’s important to you.

Here’s a common example of your Reticular Activating System in action.

You decide to buy a new car. Let’s say it’s a CHEVY TrailBlazer. From the minute you start looking for a place to buy it, you will see CHEVY TrailBlazers everywhere you look. That’s your Reticular Activating System allowing you to see them.

Now, think of how that can impact your marketing.

Your prospect has needs and wants. And he or she frames up many of those needs and wants in the form of problems that need solutions. By presenting your offering in the form of a solution to a problem, your marketing will tap into what your prospect is thinking -giving them EXACTLY what they want.

If your prospect is looking a service and visits a number of websites which are presenting the same pick-me sales message – here are all the products and services we offer blah blah – think about how you can cobble together a marketing message that immediately shows up on your prospect’s RAS radar because it matches up to what he or she is really searching for – a solution to a problem.

Think that will increase your chances of attracting attention?

You can bet it will! Which is why it’s so important for you to establish your main marketing message – your USP – and make sure you promote it on your website and in all your other marketing as a solution to a need or want your prospect is searching for.

That way, instead of surfing past your message because it looks like so many others, your prospect’s Reticular Activating System will send a message that says, “Hey, stop, that’s what you’re looking for!”

Happy selling.

Gerry Black is a marketing writer based in Canada who works with clients in the US and Canada.

There’s a time-tested school of thought professional direct mail copywriters draw upon to inspire them to create attention-grabbing and compelling promotions.

It goes like this: Picture your prospect sorting through his or her daily mail standing over a trash bin. The primary objective is simple: dump as much of the stuff as possible.

A typical sort might include the following three categories:

*’forget it, no interest’
*’this is a must keep.’
*’this looks like it could be of interest, I’ll take a closer look.’

A similar approach is used by people looking for products and services on the internet.

Your prospect arrives at your web site with his or her finger on the mouse.

Because they have been conditioned by a seemingly never-ending sea of boring, self-promoting, hard-to-follow web sites, many have very low expectations.

They are LOOKING for a reason to click away – almost as soon as the home page fills the screen. Unfortunately, many marketers make it easy for them to press the button.

The real tragedy is that many of those same marketers have everything the prospect wants. They just don’t know how to communicate online.

Selling is selling. Face to Face. In ads. Via email. And especially on your web site.

You can have all the traffic in the world but if your content doesn’t grab your prospects’ attention and lead them through your sales story, you may end up with very skinny children.

Here are 7 questions your prospect wants answered:

1. What exactly is your service or product and why should I be interested? You have 3 seconds to answer this question. Otherwise, click: lost sales opportunity. Most home pages do a poor job which is why many business owners view their web site as a cost instead of an investment in what should be the most cost-efficient, productive salesperson they could ever hope to find. And make no mistake: it’s the “why should I be interested?’ part of the question you want to focus on. Put another way, they are really asking ‘What makes you different from your competitors?’

2. Will it work for me? The information on your home page must instantly send a compelling message to the prospect that says, “If you have a need for what our product or service does, we GUARANTEE it will work.” I’m not saying you must offer a guarantee but you must provide the kind of details that leave no doubt in your propspects’ minds that you can solve the problem or satisfy the need they’re bringing to you. Remember, you have the upper hand here. The prospect is looking for something. That’s why they came to your site. It’s your job to demonstrate why you have the best solution.

3. What kind of results can I expect? If you have won the “attention and interest battle”, you’re on your way to the front of the stage where you will have an opportunity to continue making your case. Make sure your answer takes the following into consideration: We think in pictures. That is, we “see” how a service or product can improve our lives. Your job, as a marketer, is to paint a picture that will allow the prospect to “see” how your product or service will improve their lives. Once we’ve done an effective job of engaging the prospect emotionally, we need to include logical reasons why this is a sound buying decision. As you know, people buy for emotional reasons (make me look better, feel better etc) first and then back up their emotional decision with logic eg. (these guys have an impressive customer list, the
organization has been in business for 11 years etc).

4. Who else has used this service and what were their results? This is where we need to offer irrefutable, third-party evidence that we can deliver. That means sprinkling compelling and meaningful testimonials around that leave no doubt in the prospect’s mind that they are in good hands. I wrote an article that I give to clients that offers a simple system for getting strong testimonials from your clients and customers. Not the “Mary was so nice and helpful’ blah blah that really does nothing to hammer home the true value you deliver but quantitative feedback you can use to extract winning testimonials. It’s simple to use. If you’re interested, email me and I’ll send you a copy.

5. How exactly do your services work? What’s the process and structure? This is an important part of the process. It demystifies your offering by helping the prospect establish some expectations. It increases the prospects comfort level. Especially if they have to answer to someone else. If you don’t do this, you run the risk that some
prospects will may away. Details sell and bring your offering to life.

6. Are you credible? Do you have the experience to help me? The prospect must be convinced you are the real deal. This is no time to be shy. Get your track record in front of their eyes – on the home page where it can win the day. I often see clients burying credentials in their site. Sadly, the reader never gets that far. That’s the kind of a selling ammunition you need on the front line – your home page. Make sure to highlight an industry awards you’ve received. For some businesses, a client list and numbers of years in business are other facts that can be used to convince the prospect.

7. What do I have to do next to get and use your services? Probably the second biggest mistake (and just as fatal) many web marketers make. They don’t identify the next step in the buying process for the prospect and invite him or her to take it. Huge mistake. And very costly. Prospects are lazy. Complacent. Easily distracted. Not self action-oriented. Guess what they do when we omit this step? Right. They just drift away after all the hard work we did to keep them in front of our message. Missed opportunity. Happens all the time.

Once your home page provides answers to the questions above, your conversion rates – getting your prospect to take the next step in the buying process – will increase.

Gerry Black is a marketing writer based in Toronto, Canada who works with clients in the U.S. and Canada.

There is no better new customer than a referral from a happy customer.

But most businesses don’t have a plan in place to generate referrals. They simply take them as they come without giving much thought to how they might be able to create a steady stream of referral business.

Before you can do that however, it’s important to understand the following referral truth.

Satisfied customers do not send referrals in droves. The referral avalanche comes from clients and customers who are enthusiastic, inspired and awed from their experience with you.

Bottom line: Being good ain’t good enough if you want tons of referrals. If you continue to simply meet your customer’s expectations, your referral rate won’t change.

So what can you do to have your customer rave about you?

Consider what one dentist did. He provides dental care to children. After attending a seminar on creative thinking, he identified a number of things he could do to tailor his practice to the needs of his patients.

Here are some of the things he did:

*He redesigned his office to provide maximum comfort to his target market. He lowered the reception staff into a pit behind the counter so they were at eye level with the patients.

*He hung giant photographs of each dentist and dental assistant along with descriptions of each person’s hobbies and interests, so new patients could pick their dentists and assistants based on having something in common.

*He gave away free bicycles! Every patient got a “homecare follow-through Report Card” for his or her parents to fill out. If the Report Card came back to the dentist with all As, the child got the bicycle. (Imagine – there’s little Johnny riding around the neighborhood on his new bike and people ask him who got it for him and he answers, “My dentist.”)

*He called each new patient at home the evening after treatment to see how the patient was feeling.”

*He called each parent the day after the the child’s treatment.

*Each new patient left the office the first time with an autographed “8 x 10″ glossy of his dentist and dental assistant.

The result of his creative thinking?

He multiplied his practice by ten in just one year without any  increase in his advertising budget.

Gerry Black is a marketing writer based in Toronto, Canada who works with clients in the U.S. and Canada.

A past client of mine, whom I’ll call “Brian,” is a business coach and a excellent one.  

He’d had a web site for several years that pretty much served as an online brochure for his company. When Brian came to me, he was looking for a way to convert more people from qualified prospects to happy purchasers of one of his coaching programs.

The problem?

He was attracting people to his web site and getting them sign up for a free coaching session. But when they discovered at the end of the introductory session that his coaching programs cost several thousand dollars, many ended up thanking him and going on their way.

They simply weren’t ready to plunk down that kind of money so early in the relationship.

After learning about the problem, I asked Brian what he was doing with the people who didn’t decide to invest in his coaching program.

I can still remember the frustration in his voice when he told me that there was really nothing he could do at that point. He didn’t have an answer. Which, for Brian, was a real dilemma because, like most us, he has a genuine passion for wanting to help people.

So I introduced him to the strategy of using a marketing funnel. If you picture a funnel, you know it’s wide and open at the top, and narrow at the bottom. At the top of the funnel, where you offer free stuff, is where most of your prospects will enter. At the bottom of the funnel is your HIGHEST PRICED service or product. The middle should offer in-between levels of services/products and prices.

The idea is to create a marketing funnel that gives your prospects the option of jumping in where they want, and then move them along so they can benefit from your higher priced products and services.

In Brian’s case, he had three things in his funnel: his free coaching session, a hardcover book that was priced about $300 and his coaching programs that ranged from $4,000 – $10,000.

He had the first step down pat: Get your prospect IN the funnel.

Offering something FREE is the ideal way to get lots of people into your funnel. Most business owners collect prospects by giving away something free, suchas a report, an ezine, or a teleclass. When people sign up for these valuable giveaways, you get their names and e-mail addresses, allowing you to contact them again.

At the top of Brian’s funnel was his offer of a free exploratory coaching session. And at the bottom were his pricey coaching programs. But there was really nothing in the middle.

Many self-employed professionals, such as coaches and consultants, fall into this trap. There’s either free or high-fee. This is the reason many of them have so muchtrouble converting prospects — people usually aren’t ready to make that big jump from $0 to several thousand dollars.

Without a less expensive way for prospects to sample the value Brian had to offer, the prospects simply fell by the way side.

I recommended he create several information products (“info-products”) along with a home study coaching program for do-it-yourselfers that would allow him togo back to those who weren’t ready to jump into a coaching program and offer them a less expensive way to get started.

It has expanded his marketing funnel and created a passive income stream he didn’t have before.

You can do the same thing.

By packaging your knowledge into info-products, you give your prospects the chance to “sample” you at a lower price, filling the middle of your funnel.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

* Books
* E-Books
* Special Reports
* Manuals
* Workbooks
* Audio downloads, CDs
* Video downloads, DVDs
* Home Study Courses

Creating and selling these products on your web site gives you passive income which means you aren’t trading time for money.

But most importantly, it gives you a practical means of converting interested prospects into lifelong clients instead of having to turn them away because you don’t have a less-intimidating way they can test the waters.

Take some time now and see where your marketing funnel could be adjusted so that it’s easier for your prospects to sample your expertise and buy from you.

Gerry Black is a marketing writer based in Toronto, Canada who works with clients in the U.S. and Canada.