More than two years ago, I wrote a series of blog posts about the importance of having a clear, optimized website to attract more business, whether you’re marketing pet products, veterinary services or supplies for pet businesses.
A lot has happened on the web since then, but the web-success fundamentals have not changed. In fact, the fundamentals are even more critical now, since competition has exploded in the pet industry.
Recently I conducted a “First Impression Audit” of just over 300 pet and veterinary related websites, and found that just a handful of them (22 or so) met the basic must-have criteria regarding content best practices, use of keywords, the message flow, etc.
Wow. This means there’s all kinds of potential for the rest! 🙂
Soon I’ll be finishing a Special Report on my pet industry site-audit findings. Stay tuned!
In the meantime — I’m running one of the original blog posts again here because it might be the first time you’ve seen it. Enjoy.
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First and foremost, an optimized web site includes content written for your customers, telling them how you’ll solve their problem.
Customers are not excited about a company that talks all about itself. “We do this, we do that.” (This is known as business “we-we.”)
The number one rule of successful web site content is that it must tell customers how your solutions will meet their needs.
For example, let’s say you sell a series of programs specifically designed to help new dog owners learn how to train their pups for the first time. Your first instinct might be to say on your home page:
“We offer courses on training your dogs to behave. We’ve been doing this for years. We’re really great at it.”
The customer will see this and say, “But what kind of courses? What will I learn from them? How easy or hard are they? How will the courses help me?”
Instead, if your content is written for the customer, you might say the following:
Puppy owners:
Help your puppy master basic obedience skills in just 3 evenings.
With our easy, helpful tools and guidance, you’ll know how to get your dog to sit, stay, come when you call, and not jump on people.
See the difference? This content clearly identifies the audience (new puppy owners) and offers a unique, specific promise that solves their need.
Now it’s your turn. Dig deep to determine the needs your customers are looking to solve when they surf the ‘Net — and then make sure your web content immediately offers a clear solution.
Until next time,
Here’s to a clear and prosperous site!
Pam
P.S. Contact me anytime at pam@petcopywriter.com if you need help in making your web site work harder for you … or for coaching on how to write optimized content.