So go there today. Read it as if it wasn’t yours, and see if it’s giving your visitors a reason to stay and explore – or a reason to choose you and your product or service over all others.

I usually talk about real estate sites, because that’s what I write most often, but this applies to EVERY site.

If you offer goods are services that can be perceived as just like the goods and services others offer, you need to offer a reason why yours are the best choice.

Too often, consumers don’t realize that there really are differences. Until they’ve had a noticeably good or bad experience, they think that all real estate agents, all mortgage lenders, all insurance agents, etc. do the same work and provide the same services.

So today, read your web pages. See if they need some tweaking.

And if they do, get in touch. I’m a freelance copywriter specializing in helping independent business people dominate their local markets. (Even if “local” means “national.”)

But every now and then it’s a good idea to go back and take the time to read, checking for errors, ways to make the copy more effective, and opportunities for better SEO.

First – proofread for errors.

Mistakes are easy to make, and if your site has them, it reflects poorly on you as a professional. After all, when you’re writing an offer or listing a home, isn’t your attention to detail one of the important reasons why you were chosen? 

This morning I spent a little time just looking around the Internet – looking at various real estate websites. Far too often I found silly mistakes that showed the site had not been proofread.

For instance: “Joe Jones (not true name) have helped hundreds of Clients..” Farther down on that same page I found: “Here are a few of the sites we market our Listings:”

No one is immune to mistakes, but there’s no sense in letting them stay there!

Next, critique the copy.

Pretend you’re someone else and ask yourself if that website would cause you to choose the agent or agency it represents.

If your copy is filled with generalizations rather than specifics, you probably have some work to do. Most real estate sites are filled with meaningless words such as “excellent service,” “qualified realtor,” “top realtor,” and more.

Replace those trite words with your definition of what each one means – and how you provide it.

For instance: In place of “You’ll enjoy excellent service,” say something like: “When you work with me as your buyer’s agent, you can expect instant notification of new listings that fit your want list, …. ”

Weed out your “I’s”

Yes, you do need to talk about yourself on your about page. (But even there, you should refer back to what that means to your clients.)

Every other page should be about your clients and potential clients. If you’ve begun each paragraph with I or we, go back and turn them upside down – begin with “you” or some other word that will be interesting to your reader.

Trust me, they don’t care if you’d be pleased to represent them or if you’ll be happy when they view your video.

They care about how they’ll benefit if they choose you – so put that message front and center.

Use your flatiron..

(Do people still iron clothes?) Well, anyway… use whatever you need to smooth out the copy. Even when your individual statements are effective, when they’re all in one paragraph, they need to flow together. Then, your paragraphs need to flow from one to the next. Otherwise, the copy is choppy and difficult to read – because we as readers get confused, choppiness can destroy the message.

When you need to switch from one idea to another, use subheads or bullets. Our eyes see and recognize that as a switch, so we don’t get confused.

See where you can add a little SEO

You don’t want to overdo it, because your copy will end up sounding clunky, but you probably can sneak in words like “Yourtown homes” or “homes in Yourtown” in a few spots. And do check each page to see that your title tag and meta description contains the most searched keywords for your city.

Look for broken links and outdated information

If you’re anything like me, you make changes. You might even delete a whole page on your site. But sometimes you forget that you’ve added a link from somewhere else.

You might also have included information about an upcoming event – and that information needs to be removed when the event is over. Or, you could replace it with a story about the event.

If you spot an error on my site, please tell me!

Yes, I sometimes miss my own errors – and I always appreciate it when someone alerts me.

If you need updated pages or additional pages on your site, call me!

Helping agents stand out from the crowd by showcasing the benefits they bring to their clients is what I do.  

Here’s to prosperity,

marte@copybymarte.com
208-448-1479

Tonight I ran into a different sort of “Oops.”

I was going through old emails and writing follow-up notes to people who had inquired about copywriting but never followed through. I wrote one young woman and then, out of curiosity, clicked the link to go to her website.

What I saw was one franchise name listed in the title bar and a different one on her web page.

At first I thought perhaps the two companies had merged. But when the email I sent to the original address bounced, I realized that no, she had changed brokerages and forgotten to change her title bar.

When I write web pages for clients I include my suggestions for their title bar, description, and keywords, because those items really are important for search engine optimization.

But I’ll have to admit that when I write new pages for myself I sometimes have to go back and change the title bars. It’s an easy thing to forget.

So… if you’ve changed agencies, or if you’ve added pages to your site using an old page as a template, go check. Each of your pages should have its own unique title bar – one that helps the web crawlers know what they’re going to find on the page.

Nearly every guru is touting the benefits of adding content to your website. Some say regular posts on your blog are enough, while others say you need to fill your site with content pages to attract the search engines.

As a marketer, I agree that the more content, the better.

But – unless the content is good, I think it can do you more harm than benefit.

True, any old content with the right keywords will attract the search engines. Get enough of it and it might raise your site to #1 ranking on Google for your keywords. That means more traffic to your site, which is a good thing. Right?

Yes, it’s a wonderful thing… with a big “IF.”

IF your visitors arrive at your site and read quality content, they’ll assume that yours is a quality business, and they’ll stay a while. They’ll take the time to read more and learn how your business can benefit them.

But IF they arrive and find bad content, they’ll assume that you:
* Don’t know what you’re doing
* Don’t know your own subject matter
* Pay no attention to details
* Hold no value for them
* Have “tricked” them into visiting you
* Are not the company they want to do business with

Just recently I was asked for a quote on search engine enhanced web copy. I replied with a price range, and got a letter back informing me that SEO copy could be had for far less. The writer sent me links to two sites where he had been quoted “bargain basement” prices for content articles.

Because I was curious, I followed the links to see what was offered. And I was astounded.

My first reaction was “Oh my gosh! I don’t even believe they’re offering to sell this!”

Apparently they weren’t ashamed of the copy, because their portfolio was extensive. And every article I checked was the same: Filled with typographical errors, misspelled words, and the kind of grammatical errors that made me stop to look again and figure out what they were trying to say. On top of that, the words were fluff, with no useful information for the reader.

In my opinion, spending money on that kind of copy is worse than holding your dollar bills out for the wind to take away. It may bring you traffic, but it will harm your reputation and your image in the process.

Be careful. Fill your blog and your web pages with good content that gives value to your readers.

According to a survey by a marketing association, roughly 60% of all Americans have high speed internet. But even this figure is skewed. The truth is, far less than 60% have actual high speed.

If you ever fill out surveys, you’ll see that the choices do not include satellite service. Possibly because it is advertised as high speed, satellite service is lumped in with broadband.

The latest figures I could find indicated that Hughes Net now serves over 500,000 homes, and since Hughes and Wild Blue each served a comparable number in the 2007 figures I found (700,000 combined) we can assume that Wild Blue also has over a half million subscribers.

While the ads promise high speed, it is far from the truth. In fact, every time I see a TV ad for either Wild Blue or Hughes Net I have the urge to throw something at the screen while yelling “You lie!” I mention both providers, because I’ve used both.

One of their techs explained to me that it just can’t be any other way – it’s the nature of satellite to take longer because of the way the signals have to bounce up and back. On the positive side, it is faster than dial-up over our ancient rural phone lines. So, I continue to pay a hefty high-speed price for “medium” speed.

The government stimulus package is supposed to bring broadband to rural areas – so that everyone will have actual high speed by 2020. But even if that happens, it doesn’t do your 2010 marketing much good!

So why is lack of high speed costing you business? Because when it takes too long to view your message, we go away.

The three mistakes that can drive visitors from your page are:

• Using video to the exclusion of text.
• Asking your visitors to click from page to page to view your message.
• Creating long load times with too many graphics or dark colored backgrounds.

In many, if not most cases, videos stream in short chunks. You’ll hear 4 or 5 seconds, then wait for 8 or 10 seconds for the next 4 or 5 seconds. How many people are willing to watch video that way? Not me!

Going from page to page is another problem. Just today I wanted to read a message that promised a list of 8 ways to relieve pain. Too bad. Each short point was presented on a different page, surrounded by advertisements that included graphics. I got as far as the 3rd point, and after using about 6 minutes to view 30 seconds worth of reading, I left.

Perhaps if all they’d had on those pages was text, it would have moved fast enough to keep me interested.

And that’s the third thing that slows things down and causes visitors to leave – often before your page even finishes loading. Too many graphics or a dark red or black background spells SLOW. Your satellite or dial-up visitor has to really want to be there in order to stay long enough to see your page.

I’ve done it a few times – and rather than sit here and steam, I go find something else to do while the page loads. To give you an example, at different times I’ve folded a load of laundry, gone upstairs to get a cup of coffee, and carried a load of wood in for the fireplace – and come back each time to find that the page is almost loaded.

As I said, I really wanted to go there for a purpose. But there’s no way I’d do that to read your advertising.

Upon investigation I found that their web host, Imbris, no longer exists. It’s been gone since sometime around the end of last month.

According to news reports, no one knows why. There’s a sign in the window that says “Closed,” and they’re not answering any calls or emails.

They may be a victim of the economic downturn – perhaps too many customers couldn’t pay their bills. Or perhaps they had some kind of personal health or financial crisis. Whatever the reason, they’re not there and their customers are out of luck.

I was further surprised when I went to Who Is and learned that I’m still the contact person and admin for that domain name, even though I haven’t been with the group for several years. I thought I had changed that…

But they’re lucky, because I’m still here and willing to do the work to change it.

Hopefully the web designer who re-built their page a couple of years ago has kept everything in his own computer, because they’re going to have to start all over.

Another rescue I wrote for had bad luck with that one. Their web designer had used some kind of on-line service and NONE of their web pages were stored in his computer. When that host went away they had to start all over from the beginning.

Another danger of using small hosts lies in professionalism – or lack of it.

A friend of mine had her site with a local host who had also done her web design. And they refused to make corrections! This is not so good when one of the mistakes is an incorrect phone number.

Since they refused to fix the errors she asked me to do it, but they had control of her site and refused to give her the user name and password to get in. The whole thing made no sense, since the corrections might have taken all of 10 minutes.

She decided to discontinue their service, but with no copies of her web pages where she could get to them, we had to “steal” her pages one piece at a time and reconstruct them. The words were pretty easy, but the swirly graphics were in many pieces – putting them back together was a trick!

The next hurdle came when she tried to switch hosts – because her name wasn’t listed in the Who Is information. A computer-savvy employee had set it all up and used his own name as contact person and admin. Unfortunately, he had passed away, so my friend went through weeks of sending proof that she had a right to move that domain.

The lesson: Host with the big guys – and always, always, always list your own name as owner of your domain.

If someone else built your site and you aren’t sure, just go to www.whois.com and type in your URL – you’ll find out where you stand. If you find you aren’t there, contact your web person and have him or her go make the change. Don’t wait until they’ve moved away, gotten mad at you for some reason, or (perish the thought) passed away.

I purchase my domain names and host them with GoDaddy. Not only are they big enough that I think they’ll be around for a long time, their service is exceptional. That’s why I have an affiliate link to them on the sidebar – I trust that if I send them customers, they’ll treat those customers well.

One last thing: No matter where your website is hosted or how much you love or trust the person who maintains your site – keep current copies of your web pages in your own computer and in your back up.

Having those pages readily available could save you weeks of grief.

If you expect it to do that,  you need to take care in developing the website. It isn’t good enough to merely put up a page and say “Here I am.” Your home page needs to perform two functions:

• Clarify what products and services you have to offer
• Show visitors that you are the person to provide those products and services

Linking from that home page to a further explanation of your services and your products is good, and does add content to the site. But that isn’t enough.

If you want to be found by the search engines, you need to add some content pages. Further, those content pages have to have some “meat” so that the human visitors to your site will also benefit from them.

You can purchase content on line for pennies – but I don’t recommend it. Most of it will be what I would call “lame content.” I’m sure you’ve seen it – a few hundred words on a page that essentially say nothing.

If you don’t like to write and don’t want to hire a copywriter, you can also pick up articles  on EzineArticles.com – you can even use some of mine. But do be careful. Before you choose an article to use, make sure that it reflects your opinions about your subject, and that its advice is current.

For instance, right now in real estate, things are changing so fast that good information from last year could be completely false today. So carefully read the articles before you choose them.

Next, your content needs to tie in with your niche market, and it needs to demonstrate that you have the knowledge to help your prospects solve their problems. For instance, if you are a real estate agent specializing in short sales, you should include an article with advice about buying or selling short sales. If you sell waterfront mansions, you need an article or two with advice about buying or selling waterfront mansions.

If you’re an insurance sales person specializing in commercial liability policies, then your content should offer advice in that area; but if you sell life insurance you need something completely different.

Content, then, is not simply something to attract search engines. It should be something that enhances your personal image with the people who visit your site.

If you’re in business, it’s also a good reason to reflect on the past year’s marketing efforts and begin to implement necessary changes to make the New Year brighter. (Or, EVEN brighter if you’re already doing well!)

Look at what you did, where you spent your dollars, and the results you saw from those efforts.

Commit to doing more of what worked while you eliminate or repair what didn’t work.

Today, your website is a vital link and should be the hub of all you do – on line or off line. This is the place where customers and clients can come to learn more about you and what you offer. It’s the place that affords you all the space you need to showcase your products or your services, or both.

Even if you’re a small-town merchant or service provider, you need a website.

But it has to be done well, or it won’t help you at all.

If you already have a website, give it a critical eye this week and make the necessary changes. If you don’t have one yet, get busy with finding a good URL and getting going.

Check out these 5 Secrets to Effective Web Copy before you get started.

Then, wander around the web a bit and look at your competitors. Which of their sites is easy to navigate and pleasant to use? Which sites are irritating? And why are they irritating?

Often it’s because there’s too much clutter or the navigation links are confusing and unclear. Sometimes they take too long to load because they added flash and video and way too many graphics.

Capture ideas from the sites you like – and make note of the elements you didn’t like, so you don’t get talked into repeating those mistakes.

While you’re at it, look at sites for products or services different from yours – some of the best ideas come from other industries.

One more thing…

Before you stop working on your website, do the final step: Check your links.  Every one of your links.  It is unbelievably easy to make a mistake creating those links, and it makes you look bad when people keep coming up with “page not found” errors.

You have just over 3 days to whip your website into shape… so do it!

P.S. If you have trouble getting that web copy to come out right, get in touch… web copy is what I do.

My husband drives a 2000 Ford F-250 – a nice truck and looks almost new still. But an electronic part has gone haywire so I decided to see if I could find a replacement. It’s a little display screen that sits above the windshield and tells the temperature, how many more miles to go before the gas tank runs out, the direction you’re headed, etc.

I don’t know what it’s called, and it doesn’t have a name stamped on it. Just a bunch of numbers.

So I went on line. First I tried the “Official Ford Parts” website. Forget that. In order to look around I was required to register. I don’t want to register – I want to look around. Next, I could see that they weren’t going to help me unless I knew the VIN number from the truck. No way am I going outside in the snow to look for a VIN number.

So, I tried another website. To search on that site, I needed the name of the part. I left there.

On another one they asked for part numbers, but none of the numbers printed on this little plastic box came up as found. The only ones I didn’t try were the ones that said “patent number.”

So, tomorrow I’ll get on the phone and call a Ford Dealership and hope someone there knows what I’m talking about.

You can already see the moral of this story. Three different websites lost my business – because they didn’t make it easy.

What could they have done instead? Well, first of all, when I got to the Ford site they could have let me shop without registering. That’s like asking someone to pay a cover charge to eat in your restaurant.  An invitation to leave.

On the other sites, it would have been nice to be able to go straight to the F-250 parts page instead of stumbling through 3 or 4 other pages first.

Then, they could have listed categories of parts that might have given me a clue of where to look. You know – engine parts, transmission, exhaust, electronics. What could this part be called? Display, perhaps?

Look at your website. Are you making it easy for customers to find what they want? Do your tabs make sense, or do you have to know a secret formula to get around? Do you make it easy for people to contact you if they have a question?

Pretend you want to buy something you sell, and go to your site to look for it. Better yet, ask a friend to do it, because you already know just how to get where you’re going.

If  it isn’t easy to do, start re-arranging!

So, in case you use WordPress, this is a reminder. If you don’t update, you could end up like I did a few weeks ago, with a nasty worm running around creating havoc!

(You don’t want your web pages to disappear like mine did!)