Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION xv Let’s Start at the Beginning xv What Do I Mean by “Now What?” xvi Okay, Who Am I, and Why Should You Listen to Me? xvii What This Book Is xviii What This Book Isn’t xxi About the Pictures xxii A Note to Web Designers xxii A Few Disclaimers xxiii Say It Again, Dan … xxiv 1 Understanding Website Conversion and Targeted Traffic 1 Website Conversion Basics 1 Hits versus visits 2 What is an “action”? 2 Establishing your conversion rate 3 So what is an acceptable website conversion rate? 3 How to Use Conversion Rates 4 Let me tell you a quick website conversion story 5 Website Conversion Rates are a True Indicator of Success 6 v CONTENTS vi Do the web write Targeted Traffic 7 What is targeted traffic, and why is it important? 7 How do you get targeted traffic? 7 Wrapping up targeted traffic 12 2 The Fundamentals of a Successful Website Today and Tomorrow 13 The Early Days 14 How the Web is Currently Used 15 Okay Dan, So How Exactly Do You Let Visitors Know They Should Use You? 15 Laying the Foundation of a Successful Website 16 A Successful Website Answers Six Basic Questions 16 Who you are 17 What you do 17 Why someone should do business with you 18 What locations you service 18 How someone goes about using you 18 When? 18 A Successful Website is Simple to Use, and Does Not Frustrate Users 19 A Successful Website is Easy to Read 22 Font size and style 22 Formatting 22 The writing itself 23 The “Furman 21” Website Questionnaire 25 To whom should you give the questionnaire? 25 So what do the answers mean? 26 3 Page Order and Information to Include 31 A Word on Navigation 32 What Type of Website Will You Have? 32 Service websites 33 Product websites 33 “Informational” company websites 34 Information (Pages) Needed for the Three Types of Websites, and the Page Order 34 Contents vii Page order and page information for a service website 35 Wrapping up the service site 41 Page order and page information for a sales website 43 Wrapping up the sales website 48 Page order and page information for an informational website 48 4 Dan’s 11 Rules of Effective Website Writing 50 Rule 1: Web Copy Must be Scan-able 51 Headlines 52 Subheadings 56 Bullet points 61 Rule 2: Use Short Paragraphs 62 Rule 3: Don’t Dwell (Keep Your Pages Short) 69 Formatting 69 Content style 71 Rule 4: Throw Out the English Rule Book 74 The way we are taught to write is wrong (for business) 75 How many rules does your reader know? 75 Write like you talk 76 Okay, so what rules of English do you need to know? 76 Commonly misspelled words and misused phrases 77 In closing 77 Rule 5: Do Not Preach to the Choir 78 Targeted traffic revisited 79 What’s your problem? 79 What are they expecting from you? 80 Rule 6: Keep Your Audience in Mind, but Don’t Alienate Anyone, Either 81 Write so your audience understands you 81 Don’t alienate anyone 82 Dancing between the two 82 Lose the corporate jargon, again 85 Rule 7: Write with Confidence 85 Confident words and phrases 86 viii Do the web write Rule 8: Use the Word “You” a Lot 89 How often to use the word “you” 90 One more “you” myth dispelled 91 Rule 9: Bolds, Italics, Underlines, Parentheses, Dashes, and Other Formatting Tricks 91 Bolds and italics 92 Different color fonts 93 Highlighting 93 Underlining 93 ALL CAPS 93 Dashes 94 Ellipses … 95 Overdoing punctuation 95 (Parentheses) 95 Why asides are important 96 In closing 96 Rule 10: Lots of Escape Hatches (Calls to Action) 96 Rule 11: Be an Oreo® 98 What do I mean by “be an Oreo®?” 98 Intermission 101 Short Recap 102 Moving Forward 103 5 Writing for Your Home Page 104 The Three Main Things the Writing on Your Home Page Needs to Address 105 Tips on Layout 105 Keywords and Keyphrases 111 Wrapping Up the Home Page 112 6 Writing for your About Us/Why Use Us Page and your Products/Services Pages 113 Your About Us/Why Use Us Page 113 Straight about us page 114 Using a why page also 115 Products/Services Pages 116 Contents ix Services page(s) 117 Products pages 119 7 FAQ You 120 Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) 120 8 SEO and “Traffic”-type Writing (Blogs, Articles, Press Releases, Pay-per-click Ads) 126 SEO (Search Engine Optimization) 126 SEO Explained 126 The keyword myth 126 Beware of SEO companies 127 SEO Writing 129 Press releases 129 Articles 135 Blogs 138 Some final thoughts on SEO 140 Pay-per-click (PPC) Ads 141 A very quick primer 141 Writing PPC ads 141 9 Alternate Landing Pages and Microsites 143 The Concept Behind Alternate Landing Pages and Microsites 143 Alternate Landing Pages 144 Alternate Landing Pages and PPC Ads 145 Microsites 145 Other advantages of using microsites 147 Domain names and hosting for microsites 147 10 Dan’s Bonus Chapter (Even More for Your Money) 150 Why All of This Website Conversion Stuff Matters 150 Do Not Put Up Roadblocks 151 Stop Hiding Your Phone Number 151 Stop Scolding Me About Copyright When I Right Click 151 If You Aren’t in a Band, Don’t Play Music 151 x Do the web write Keep Dates Updated 151 Answer Your Email / Quote Form 151 Turn Off Your Spamblockers 152 Make Sure I Can Do Business with You From Anywhere 152 Re-Read Chapter 4, Rule 7 152 Join and Participate in Online Forums for Your Industry 152 Write and Post Articles 152 Look At (and Learn From) Your Competition 153 Be an Oreo (Again) 153 Give Something Away 153 Internet Success Comes in Small Increments 153 Keep the Focus on Your Website Visitor 153 Check Under the Hood Often 153 Understand the Changing World 154
