Making your website work for you Newsletter no 14

hollyband
A short Christmas message

It’s one of those Christmas jobs which is both a pleasure and a chore – writing and sending Christmas cards to friends and family, present and past work colleagues and partners. Some of these we haven’t actually met for twenty or more years so Christmas cards are a great way of keeping in touch with people who we still care about but our lives have just moved on in different directions.

I try and add a little note on each card with a very brief summary of the main events during the year – offsprings’ career and whereabouts, notable holidays, home projects and so on and in return we get a potted history of their year. However, the space to write on cards is generally limited and time is short with all the other Christmas activities so it takes a certain amount of resourcefulness, creativity and discipline to convey “a year in the life of” into a couple of paragraphs.

It’s good practice for writing website copy - keep your message short but say everything your prospects need to know.

I recently had an email from Microsoft who are offering some funds to start-up companies. The entry involves making a 6 second “elevator” video to explain what it is you do and why you should have the funds. That would take some planning and a lot of enthusiasm but the winners will be those who have a clear vision of what their start-up will do and what benefits it will offer offer and communicate that succinctly.

The “keep it short” mantra applies to website copy especially on the home page which is where most visitors will arrive.  Your home page should site quite clearly:

  1. what you do
  2. what benefits customers can expect
  3. where you are located or do business
  4. how prospects should go about finding out more or buying

All other supporting stuff, like your qualifications, case studies, recommendations, products you use etc. are important but can be on other pages. Don’t confuse people with a lot of options. Try to create that “elevator pitch” of a single sentence explaining what you do.

Mine is “I help my clients make their websites work for them”.  Of course I do lots of marketing and technical stuff – but all prospects really want to know is that I can help them with their website.

Anyway enough of this. It’s Christmas! Enjoy your hard-earned break and look forward to a 2015 achieving your dreams!

hollyband

I hope these tips on Making your website work for you are useful. Give me a call or email if you've any questions or if I can help in any way.

Best wishes

Sandra Dillon

If you found this useful and would like me to include any specific topic in a future newsletter please let me know sandra@realcom.co.uk.

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If you are considering a website for your business or organisation or would like professional help with an existing project please email me at sandra@realcom.co.uk or call on 01530 440000

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