Building eCommerce

By Michelle Howe

A website is more than a brochure; it is an opportunity to start building a relationship with your prospective client or customer. The best way to do this is tell a story.

Everyone loves a story. As small children, before we could read, our teachers and parents used to read us stories. But even after we’ve acquired the ability to read, a story captures our attention and imagination. The most successful professional speakers are also known for telling engaging stories to their audiences.

A good website tells a story and engages the reader. The homepage of a website is probably the most important place to tell a good story. What you want to do is grab the attention of your visitor and keep them reading through the content of your homepage.

When you tell a story on a website, you are presenting the information with a beginning, a middle, and an end, as if you were telling a story to group of people seated in front of you.

Here is a simple plan to follow that will help you write better content for the home page of your website:

(1) Decide What the Purpose is for Your Homepage

This is probably the biggest mistake people make when putting together a website. Instead of targeting the homepage for a specific purpose, it becomes convoluted and the visitor becomes confused by multiple ideas that are presented in a disorganized fashion.

The information on the homepage may be excellent, but if it is put in the wrong order, without the right emphasis; the message is not clear.

Right now I’m working with a client who has excellent information throughout the whole website. However, that is the problem. In order for a visitor to find all the information they need to make a decision, they need to click through page after page to gather information. The homepage only answers some of the questions a visitor might have. It forces the reader to click from page to page to get answers. This is a big problem because people don’t want to take the time to click from page to page.

The first thing I did was ask the client what they wanted to accomplish as a result of having a website. The answer they gave me told me what was most important to emphasize on the homepage.

(2) Grab the Reader’s Attention

When someone lands on your website’s homepage, they need to immediately know that they have arrived at the right place. So make sure you have a headline that immediately captures the attention of your website visitor.

Create a headline that lets the visitor know you understand their pain or problem. You want a headline that in essence says to them, “Stop right here, you’ve arrived at the right place to get the answers to all your questions. We know what your problems are and we have the solutions.”

One way to do this is to ask a question. “Are You Looking for Innovative Sales Training?” is the type of headline that engages the reader and causes them to think.

Another type of headline technique is to use startling statistics such as: “Did You Know that One Out of Three Women Will Have Heart Disease in their Lifetime?” Headlines such as this will pique the reader’s interest and make them want to learn more.

(3) Decide on a Logical Order to Present Information

A homepage contains many ideas. It is an opportunity for a company to give an overview of who they are, what they do, and why you should do business with them.

Because you’re going to be presenting multiple ideas, it becomes very important that you have a logical order to your information. Here’s where you use the template or outline for creating a story to put the content together for your homepage.

The content of the homepage needs to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Each of these three pieces needs to be tied together so that there is a smooth flow and logical progression. One idea needs to flow naturally into the next idea without awkward breaks or disturbances.

Imagine you were telling a story to someone about how you discovered a new grocery store that had all sorts of interesting food. Just as you were getting to a really funny part, your cell phone rings. You stop telling your story and begin talking into your cell phone. The person who had been listening to your story with great interest, is now bored and walks away.

The same thing happens on a website. If you stick information in the wrong place on the homepage, it becomes like a cell phone ringing; the visitor becomes bored and leaves the site.

Conclusion

Use the storytelling writing technique for your homepage as a way to shorten the sales cycle. Give your audience the information they need to make a decision by keeping them engaged and entertained. Gently guide them to the right sales path without interruptions.

About The Author

Michelle Howe, MBA, president of Internet Word Magic, specializes in writing irresistible copy for websites. Transform the way you do business. Visit her website at http://www.InternetWordMagic.com for a FR^EE chapter download of her new book “Turn Browsers into Buyers.”

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An affiliate marketer may have all the things needed for him to be able to succeed in a business such as affiliate marketing. He may have the necessary drive, diligence and perseverance to be able to understand how the system works.

He may have all the tools necessary in maintaining the business, including a really unique and interesting website which could earn him a fortune if only the whole world could see it. However, all these would prove useless if he does not know how to drive traffic to his website. His business would sink into oblivion together with all the sales, fortune and dreams that he might have realized if he only knew how to do this particular task.

Getting people who matter to see ones website is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down.

The immensity of the internet as well as the affiliate marketing world has given birth to the fierce competition between affiliate marketers, each of whom has his own great product to offer. With all the websites piling on top of each other, how would one be able to stand out? The seven best ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to ones own website would help those who are bent on sticking it out with this business wherever it is bound to take them.

The first step in driving traffic to ones website is by relying on search engines and what they can do for the affiliate marketer concerned. Because they are popular for driving free targeted traffic, they should not be ignored by all means.

Having top search engine rankings is vital in building popularity links, and the use of the right keywords is important in attaining this goal. Once a website is on top of the list, it is easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it for himself.

The second way in driving traffic to ones website is by contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership. Locating websites that are related to ones own website is the primary task.

Once there, he should be able to establish communication by personalizing everything as much as possible. It is then possible to make reciprocal link exchanges between webmasters whichever way the affiliate marketer prefers.

The third way is through writing ones own articles. This is an effective way in promoting a website, because good content that are appreciated by readers will lead them to visit the writers very own website out of sheer interest.

The fourth way is through joint venture marketing. This is one of the most effective ways of promoting a product or a service. Having a partner through ad swap or link exchange is beneficial to both parties as it allows them to reach a wide customer base in a short amount of time.

The fifth is through joining affiliate programs. Having affiliates to do the work means allowing them to bring tons of traffic to a website. Skyrocketing sales would be realized as a result, and both the affiliate and the website owner will benefit from the situation.

The sixth is by having a list of subscribers that one can refer to every so often, because they are those which would prove to be valuable assets for the marketer concerned. The use of autoresponders and personalized newsletters is one way of keeping track of them all, and holding on to them by letting them know about new products and services is an essential task that should be done by the affiliate marketer concerned.

The seventh is by knowing ones market through and through. It is important for traffic to be targeted to those who might have a special interest in the theme or topic of ones website. This way, a solid customer base is going to be created.

Once a potential customer shows an interest in a particular website by paying it a visit, one must not waste time in trying to show him that his effort is worth it.

Traffic generating strategies are important in trying to make ones affiliate marketing career inch forward. It is always advantageous to plan ones moves in any business that he might undertake. This is particularly so in affiliate marketing. If one knows how to get people to see what he has to offer, then he is on the right track.

About The Author

Chris Peterson

Check out Chris`s Affiliate Program Blog today. Chris also gives you free affiliate info and also home business info at his sites