Building Your Website
Building Your Website
Building your website is easy with pajezy. The pajezy CMS is intuitive. There are, however, some fundamental, philosophical and practical things to consider in addition to the "purely mechanical" aspects of building your web pages.
Click on any of the links below to learn how to build the pages.
- Building Your Website Home Page
- Building Your Website About Page
- Building Your Website Products or Services Page
- Building Your Website Frequently Asked Questions Page
- Building Your Website SiteMap Page
- Building Your Website Contact Page
- Building Your Website Links Page
- Building Your Website Testimonials Page
- Building Your Website Partners Page
- Building Your Website Articles Page
Building Your Website Home Page
Your home page needs to accomplish these four things:
- It should quickly capture the attention of your target audience.
- It should vividly communicate your main marketing message.
- It should clearly employ a conversion vehicle.
- It should briefly outline the main contents of your entire web site.
If you are developing a new site, build your home page last. So, go ahead and read this now, but skip to #2, Building Your Website About Page and build that one first.
Following are the reasons the home page should be built last:
- You will have a better grasp on the overarching message of your site by building the other main content pages first.
- You will easily be able to build your brief outline (see #4 above) and guide your website visitors through your site if you have already built those pages.
- The process of creating your content pages will help you clarify your marketing message.
- Having your key content pages created in advance of your home page will help you create and refine a conversion vehicle.
Who is Your Target?
Everyone is not your target. If you need help identifying your true target market or demographic audience, sign up for 5 Minutes Marketing (it is FREE) and then make a special request for "Words That Work Wonders".
You must have a rock-solid knowlege of your target in order to market effectively, and that is never more important than when it comes to marketing your business via your website.
If you aren't confident of your target, then you will not be able to create an effective marketing message, commonly referred to as an "elevator speech."
Your target are those that need and want your products or services. Are they mostly male or female? What is their age? How highly educated are they? Where are they most likely to live? What do they value? What type of music do they prefer?
Add more of your own questions and get a clear picture of your target.
Craft and Clarify Your USP!
Your USP is your Unique Selling Proposition. How is your business BETTER than your competiton? What do you do DIFFERENTLY from the others? What makes you positively STAND OUT from all of the rest?
There are usually many other choices that your target has for your products or services. WHY should they buy them from you instead?
Develop and Refine Your Marketing Message!
Be sure and include your logo and then forget it.
You should have a properly developed logo and should brand all of your marketing vehicles with it, whether in print or electronic media. Just keep in mind that your logo needs to be present but need not be prominent.
Your logo will identify you, but it will not sell anything for you, so place it and forget it!
You need a good marketing message to sell.
Your marketing message should quickly seen as soon as your web page loads. In most cases, and for most small business owners, it should be embedded in the header or masthead of your website.
Your marketing message should be directed at your target and should include your USP.
Above the Fold and Beyond the Fray
See your webpages viewe as standard 8.5" X 11" pages. Now, take your home page (an 8.5" X 11" page) and fold it in half to create a viewing pane that is 5.5" tall and 8.5" wide. This area is "above the fold".
Your branding, marketing message and conversion vehicle should all be visible above the fold. When your target lands on your website, they should NEVER have to scroll their screen in order to see and/or hear your message to them along with your conversion vehicle or "call to action."
They need to see how or why you are better than your competition and have no doubts about the "button" that they should click!
What is a Conversion Vehicle?
What is a conversion? A conversion is the opposite of a "click away." When a new prospect (someone actually in your target) lands on your site, you often have about ten seconds to: 1. Captivate their attention, 2. convince them to read, listen or watch more on your website, 3. copy or click on button or complete a quick form for more information.
A conversion is when the visitor to your website accepts your invitation to "take the next step." These three things are ALL potential conversions:
- Complete a form requesting more information
- Pick up the phone and call you
- Place an order
Your conversion vehicle is the tool that you use to get the conversion, and it is often incentivised as a special offer or a limited time offer.
When someone visits your website, what do you want them to do?
Whatever that is, make dead sure that your website spells it out for them with a clarion voice.
Don't Make the Mega Marketing Mistake!
The biggest mistake that many small business owners make is trying to sell to soon. Put yourself in the chair of the person that does not know you that is looking at your website. Have you got their trust? Have you eliminated their risk?
They don't know you, and to "buy from you" they must first come to either trust you or at least not feel that they are greatly at risk.
So, along with a "buy now" button, be sure to offer a "learn more" button, too.
If their only option is to buy and they aren't sure they should, they will usually click away ... and never come back.
The Best Way To Arrest Attention & Present Your Marketing Message
No doubt it is video. A 30 to 60 second video of YOU talking to YOUR audience directly. Deliver your marketing message in the most often preferred medium: video, - like watching TV.
It is so super-easy to get video on your website today. If you have a $20 web cam, you have enough to make it work.
You can essentially have your own TV commercial running on your website for FREE. Just record your videos, upload them to YouTube and then embed them on your website. (Be sure and add your website address to your YouTube videos).
Write your script, weaving in your marketing message and then make an appeal for them to take the next step ... which happens to be the key missing ingredient from most small business websites.
The Key Missing Ingredient from Most Small Business Websites
If there is anything that small business owners are not doing today that they should be doing, it is using a quick form as a primary conversion vehicle, providing something of value to the target audience in exchange for a name and an email address. It can be as simple as a "keep informed" offer, but why not spice it up with the offer for a FREE Coffee Mug or some other item(s) to brand your business?
The BEST thing you can do for your business is BUILD A DATABASE of contacts, and with email permission marketing, it is EASY to get your message directly to them at any time.
This is called email permission marketing.
I recommend the use of a professionally operated permission marketing program, such as A1 Email Marketing. They will custom-craft your email templates for you as well as create your data collection forms for your website, help with landing pages and much more.
Email Permission Marketing TRUMPS all social media put together, because it enables you to ALWAYS reach your very best audiece with your message at any time.
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Building Your Website About Page
Ordinarily, there should be at least a brief paragraph and a small image on your home page that links out to this page, in addition to the link being found in the main navigational hierarchy of your website.
The number 1 element that sways buying decisions is consumer confidence, and it is nigh impossible to create consumer confidence when a consumer can’t see you and learn about you. They need to first decide if they can TRUST you before they buy from you. A good about page will help.
Make it Personal.
Is your business only you or you and your partner? Or do you have a small or complete staff?
Whatever the size of your small business, your website should introduce all of you (ordinarily) in the first person.
The first business websites, created to be like an “Online Brochure” were typically created by an HTML programmer in the early days. This programmer or someone else interviewed the business owner(s) and then wrote a report, much like a newspaper columnist would write a feature story or an editorial. Thus. Third person. But that was then.
If your website has third person copy on it, get it changed as fast as you can. Why? Just let me reason with you a while.
Third person articles are distant. Do you want to distance yourself from your clients through your website or do you want to bring them closer to you?
Your Website is a Virtual Office for Your Business.
I’ll use my own business as an example for you. My business name is PROSBO. Think about it. If someone were to walk into my office and speak to my staff, and ask this question: “Tell me about your company”, do I really want my staff to say something like this:
“They provide products and services for small business owners. They have been in business since 1999. They are experts at helping small business owners effectively market their businesses and have developed some great software that enables small business owners to edit their own website. They have also created a search engine optimization program that is achieving outstanding results for its subscribers.”
NO!
I want my staff to say something like this: “Hi, my name is Doug, how may I help you today? To which the guest replies, “Tell me about your company”.
To which I respond, “I help small business owners attract new clients, increase their client’s satisfaction, and make more money. We do this by providing affordable and effective small business marketing education, products and services.”
Your website has not been written by an electronic newspaper reporter, has it? No? Then don’t make it sound that way. Websites can do many wonderful things for us, but by their intrinsic makeup they are NOT personal. They are cold. Warm them up and warm up your clients and prospective clients by warming up and personalizing your website!
Consider showing you or your staff on the home page -and maybe in the header. It does not need to be prominent, but it should be present.
If you operate your business from any type of brick and mortar facility, be sure and get a photo of it online as well. If you operate from a home office, then let them see you in your home office setting.
This is most important when you are hoping to secure business outside of your own city.
I have many clients that have both physical stores as well as online stores, and I always encourage emphasize the importance of showing their physical location on their websites.
People need to see that there are real people associated with your business, because there are more scam sites out there than there are real ones, I would say maybe even ten to one.
Your personal face should be a smiling face! Smiling faces sell. Just pick up any mainstream magazine and browse through it and you will see lots of positive, smiling faces. Smiling faces add a warm personality to an otherwise cold website.
Make it human.
Your "about" page should be about you as a person, not just as a business owner. The more you share about you, your family & friends and hobbies and such, the more REAL your site becomes. Share as much as you are comfortable with.
When I visit a website, I ALWAYS go to the about page first. I want to know who they are. If I have difficultly discovering who they are, I click away.
List your affiliations.
Are you a member of your local chamber of commerce or other business groups? List them. Are you a member of other service clubs or not for profit organizations? List them.
List your credentials and certifications.
Even though this is precisely the OPPOSITE place to start when first introducing yourself to a new prospective client, they need to get there eventually.
With your marketing message, you grab their attention telling them how you can solve their problems, but then have to convince them that you can. Your credentials and certifications help to validate that you are an expert in your vocation.
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Building Your Products or Services Page
If your company provides products.
... and you are selling products through an ecommerce store, it is most likely that what is viewed on the page is dynamically generated and therefore not search engine friendly.
So, if this is the case with your website, you will want to develop some static, HTML product pages and then link from those pages to your store, or bring the product from the page to the store via a .php include if your store will support it. (pajezy.com and the sites that we host will support .php includes).
If you are using the pajezy.com store, it is dynamically distributed HTML content, and therefore IS search engine friendly.
Enable Scan and Dig
Most people scan websites, they don't READ them. However, your product may need a juicy description to be read in order to convince your target to purchase it, so make the description sizzle as much as you can.
Start with a delicious, short description and an image no larger than necessary to display the product (so it loads quickly). Allow your website shoppers to either click to learn more and see more product photos (use on-page anchor tags (#) for a hypertext "jump" down the page.
Go ahead and provide a buy now button or link or an add to cart button or link, but always make a way for them to learn more if they are not ready to buy.
Don't try to make them read long copy at first glance - that forbids them from the "scan." Let them scan and let them decide if they want to read or learn more.
Provide Photos and Video
If your company provides services.
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Building Your Frequently Asked Questions Page
Building Your SiteMap Page
Building Your Contact Page
Building Your Links Page
Building Your Links Page
Building Your Website
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