What’s the first thing you want to know when you arrive at a new website? You want to know what’s in it for you, right? If the answer is not much, your finger, which is already twitching on the mouse button, is ready to transport you away immediately to another website that does have something for you. Your potential customers think exactly the same way. They want to know what you have for them and they want to know right now.
To get them to stay and even consider buying your products you must make them stay at your website at least long enough to hear what you are offering. If you don’t you risk them leaving immediately. This can therefore have a serious impact on your sales and the success of your website and business. Don’t leave it to chance. Make sure you have done everything you possibly can to ensure your success. You might not get the opportunity again.
The nature of the Internet encourages people to go to any website around the world with just one click of their mouse button. When they arrive at your website they probably don’t know the first thing about you and what you offer. They may have come from a link on another site, a search engine or typed in your web address after seeing your ad.
What they do is the same as you or i would do when we arrive at a new and unfamiliar site. They’ll look around and try to find out what’s in it for them. When they look at your homepage (or other entry page) on their screen they will quickly scan around and build a very quick impression and decide whether its worth them sticking around a little longer or not. Lots of things will help them build that quick impression, from how respectable you seem to how you describe your products. Even seemingly minor things and things that you don’t necessarily say, but they read between the lines, count.
They want and need to make a decision and fast right after arrival. In fact, the whole time they are at your site, they’ll continuously ask themselves ‘should I stay or go to another site that will have something for me?’ To make that decision they need some key information from you. You need to persuade them to stay. They want you to at least give them a clue of what you do and what you’re offering them, and you had better do it quick. Help them make the right decision easily and quickly and stay at your website longer. You need to be continuously telling them why they should stay throughout their visit to ensure they don’t leave and to keep reassuring them that they’ve made the right decision by staying.
They are being completely selfish and only consider their own urgent priorities in their quest. Their time is precious and they dont want to waste any of it. Their needs are inflexible. They certainly dont want to put any work in. They want you to do most of it and make it easy for them. Everything is naturally, and correctly i might add, about them and their needs and choices as the customer. You need to take this into account and cater to it at all times.
A key part of this should i stay or should i go decision is down to a very important part of your homepage. Its the top third or so of your homepage, the area that is right at the top of their screen when they view your homepage. This is the first thing any potential customer of yours will see on arrival at your website and is therefore very important. What you put in this critical area has a significant impact on the success or failure of your website and therefore your business.
Its a very valuable space and therefore you must use it to your advantage if you want to stand any chance of being successful with your site. If it isn’t good enough to really grab ’em and get their attention straight-away, they are going to leave immediately. That’s exactly how it happens. That’s how easy it is to lose customers. Keep them interested or wave goodbye to that potential customer and your lost sale.
An example. Lets assume a visitor arrives at your site. They are a potential customer for you. They arrive and read the first few lines of your homepage quickly. They get a snapshot of what you do and offer in those few lines. If you did it well, it grabs that potential customers attention immediately. They want to know more and stick around, for a little longer. If you didn’t do it well they will leave straight away. Perhaps never to return. Wave goodbye to your potential customer, sale and profit.
Lets assume they stayed to find out more. You have primed their interest and now in the rest of your webpage you are going to have to do a good selling job if you want to sell your product to them. They will only remain interested for as long as you keep their interest with valuable information about your product and how it benefits them. The moment you lose that interest you risk losing them once again.
How are you using this critical area on your website? Empty space, useless text that serves no purpose, your company info or logo, space-filler image, anything that’s not really grabbing your potential customers interest immediately? You are not alone. Its a common mistake and missed opportunity. A lot of website owners and webmasters just don’t seem to appreciate the importance of this area. They don’t use it to their advantage and that means low product sales and customers who just leave the site shortly after their arrival because there is nothing that really grabs ’em right from the start of their visit. This is something that needs to change if they want a successful website. Don’t let it happen to your site. Keep up that momentum.
What should you be doing with this critical area? You need to come up with something that really grabs ’em right from the start. Something that really creates interest and makes them want to stay and find out more. What you put there will of course depend on what exactly you are offering and your product area to some extent. It could be a whole host of things including a scene-setting image, an ad, text, a headline, an offer, your company mission, etc., or any combination of these.
Generally if you are selling a product or service then I find a headline works best. A strong attention-grabbing headline that is. When done well it creates strong interest in what you are offering, encourages them to stay and find out more and speaks to their needs directly. In effect it says ‘hey, are you looking for this product or hey, could you use this?’, ‘if so we can help you right now… all you have to do is stay and find out more…’
Key points to consider:
Consider the critical area and what you put in it carefully.
Consider who your customer is and what they are looking for.
Give them a taste of what they’ll be missing if they leave.
Where can you put the headline at the top of your webpage?
How can you sum it all up in a headline that’s a sentence or two long?
Who can you test it on to make sure it really grabs ’em?
For maximum results use text in your headline that speaks directly to your customer, as if you are having an in-person conversation with them. Try this kind of compelling format: ‘Ten easy ways to reduce your tax bill by at least 10 percent – guaranteed!’, ‘Triple your income working from the comfort of your own home.’ This kind of direct style is much more powerful than some useless one-sided corporate chat that doesn’t speak to anyone in particular. Start talking to your customers in this way and see if it works for you.
Have a look around the Internet for yourself. Take a look at some new and unfamiliar sites. Which ones really grab you right from the start and which ones don’t? What makes the difference?
A strong compelling headline or other grab ’em component, is a key ingredient in ensuring your potential customers stay at your website, at least long enough to find out more about what you are offering them. Rather than them leaving straight-away and losing them as a customer before you’ve even had a chance to tell them exactly what excellent products you have for them and why they should buy them immediately. Neglecting this critical area results in lost customers and that means lost sales and profits for you. Don’t let it happen to you.
Have another look at your critical area. Is it working for you? How can you change it to really grab ’em AND QUICK?
Good luck!
Peter Simmons is editor of the DYNAMIQ EZINE. GET MORE SALES FROM YOUR WEBSITE STARTING RIGHT NOW at http://www.dynamiq.co.uk/ezine or email me anytime to find out how i can help you at peter@dynamiq.co.uk
