Breathe
New Life Into Your Half-Dead Website By Using Words
That Sell
by: David Peterson
This article may come as a surprise to you.
Especially since it is written by a web designer.
Let me explain......
Rescue Your Web Site from Boring Words and Poor Design.
The difference between a successful website design
and a site that brings in zero or very little business
is not how nice the graphics are, not the colors you
choose. It's not the flashy animation, and it's not
your precious company logo.
I'm not saying to remove these elements. Some of them
are important. But they're mostly ego-driven. They
are "me" messages, and have absolutely nothing
to do with what you want your visitor to do.
And what is that you ask? The answer is of course.
You want your visitors to buy something.
People who are considering doing business with you
are only interested in one thing; "What's In
It For Me?"
One of the first steps toward a successful website
is writing copy that tells the reader what's in it
for him, in a style that is easy to read.
Make More Cash
Study any website that makes money and I promise you'll
see the following copy elements in place:
In the main body copy, the text color is always black
with a white background, making it easy to read. This
should be obvious, but it's amazing how many websites
out there do not follow this very basic guideline.
Testimonials, and other secondary elements commonly
use a contrasting font such as courier, courier new.
The background in light blue, beige, or yellow shade
to make it stand apart from the white background of
the main body copy.
Verdana is the most widely used font for your body
copy. This font was actually developed for use in
the web. Times New Roman, Arial, and Georgiana are
also popular. Never use more than two different font
faces in your sales copy.
The use of yellow highlights, italics and bold font-style
for emphasis.
Headlines and Subheads are usually a contrasting color
from the black body text. A shade of red, dark green
and dark blue are good colors. However, do not use
more than three or four different colors.
Sentence and paragraph font size is commonly between
8pt. and 12pt. Never smaller than that, and never
bigger.
Headlines and sub headlines usually between 14pt.
and 18pt.
Paragraphs never justified. Most common is left-margin
with no indent.
How To Write Successful Headlines
In your sales copy you need an attention-grabbing
headline and a compelling sales message full of benefits,
clearly describing what your product or service is
all about.
Legendary copywriter Ted Nicholas author of 14 best-selling
books including "Magic Words That Bring You Riches"
has these excellent tips on writing headlines
"Start with a well thought out headline."
"Five times as many people read the headline
as the body copy. It makes sense, therefore, to spend
the major portion of your effort on headlines."
"A good headline motivates action by stirring
an emotion"
"Write as many as 250 headlines before settling
on one"
13 Proven Headline Words
Announcing...
Secrets of...
New...
Now...
Amazing...
Facts you...
Breakthrough...
At Last...
Advice to...
The truth of...
Free...
How would...
How to...
How To Write Attention-Grabbing First Sentences
Joe Sugarman (of blu-blocker sunglass fame) and author
of best-selling book "Advertising Secrets of
the Written Word" has these tips on writing first
sentences;
"Keep it short, sweet and almost incomplete."
For example:
It's easy.
It had to happen.
It's time.
It's crazy.
The sole purpose of the first sentence is to get you
to read the second sentence.
How To Write Attention-Grabbing Ending Sentences
"You must plant seeds of curiosity for the reader."
"At the end of a paragraph offer a reason to
read the next paragraph."
Using sentences such as.....
But there's more.
So read on.
But I didn't stop there.
Let me explain.
Now here comes the good part.
These tips represent just the tip of the iceberg on
breathing new life into your half-dead web site.
We'll cover all of the other necessary elements in
future articles. Stay tuned.
I hope that you have found this information to be
helpful in your pursuit of excellence. Thank you for
reading.
Regards,
Dave Peterson
About The Author
Dave is not only a Professional Website Designer.
He also incorporates exciting state-of-the-art marketing
strategies and expertise that help clients put more
cash in there pockets. Providing great value to his
clients.
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