Harcourt Lane

Content consultancy.

Storytelling

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How to create a good impression with your website

Your website says a lot about you and your business. No matter how great your product or service may be, a poorly created website will drive away potential customers.

You should aim to create a good impression with your website. In this blog post, I’ll give you some tips to help you with that.

These ten things should describe your website.

1. Easy to read.

2. Proper and consistent spelling and grammar.

3. Clean design, with lots of white space.

4. Easy to navigate.

5. Tells a compelling story.

6. Consistent tone of voice.

7. Updated regularly.

8. Responsive (i.e. adaptable to smartphone and mobile phone screens).

9. Enables interaction with visitors (e.g. through a contact form).

10. Quick to load.

Which particular tips have you found helpful for your website? Please share with us in the comments section below.

If you would like a review of your website, we would be happy to help you. Please contact us here.

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What’s your story?

In an earlier post, I shared with you the idea of marketing as storytelling.

One can say that marketing is the story you tell about yourself.

But it’s not as simple as all that.

You see, it’s not just down to you the story you tell.

Your customers have a big role to play in this as well.

They are not just sitting there, mouths open, ready to drink in whatever story you pour down their throats.

No. They also contribute to the story about you.

So, in getting to the heart of your story, you have to get to know your customers.

This is where market research comes in. But this is also where psychology comes in. You need to know the psychology of your customer. Why will he choose your product? How does having your product make him feel? Crucially, how does not having your product make him feel?

All these things contribute to your story. These are all important elements.

When you look at your product, look also at your customer. Don’t just focus on the features and benefits of your product. Focus more on how these affect your customer. What emotions do they trigger in him? If you can connect to your customer on that level, you are well on your way to earning his trust.

So, what’s the story of your product or service?

Look at your target customer. That’s where you’ll find your answer.

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How to network successfully

In this blog post, I will give you three tips to help you network successfully with potential customers, clients, and business associates.

As a small business owner, you’ve probably heard that you should take every opportunity to network with potential clients, customers and business associates. This will include attending conferences and seminars relevant to your industry. It will also include attending relevant social events, training courses, and trade shows.

But it’s all very well turning up there. The question is: what do you do when you get there? How can you ensure you stand out and that you make memorable connections that will build trust in you and your business?

Here are three tips for you.

network successfully

1. It’s not about the business card.

A conference is not meant to be a ‘business card exchange centre’, where participants merrily swap business cards without much attempt to get to know the person behind the card. I have been to so many events where people just hand over their business cards without too much thought or engagement. I find that this does not work. Sometimes at the end of such an event, I look at all the cards that have been handed to me, and I cannot, for the life of me, put a face to any of the names. This sort of networking does not yield any benefits. It is far better to have a meaningful conversation with, say, three or four people, than to end up with 100 cards and no clear memory of the people behind the cards.

It should be about the quality of the interaction, and not about the quantity of business cards.

So, if it’s not about the business card, then what is it about?

business networking

2. It’s about the other person.

The key to successful networking is to try to get to know the other person. Even if you have only five minutes to talk with someone, make it a memorable five minutes.

Talk to people as people, and not as business prospects.

It’s best not to launch directly into a presentation of what your company can offer. In fact, it’s best not to launch into any sort of presentation.

The best thing to do is to ask questions. Show that you are interested in the other person. Ask him about his line of work, and about what brought him to the networking event. You could also ask him for his experience of the event so far. These are ‘safe’ questions that will allow even the most reserved person to say something. While he speaks, listen out for any clues that can help you ask follow-up questions. People like it when they notice that someone is actively listening to them.

While it’s good to listen actively, you also have to contribute to the conversation. Remember: talk to people as people, and not as business prospects. So, as tempting as this might be, do not start pitching your products or services. Apart from this being inappropriate, it is probably also ineffective. It’s highly unlikely that you will win a new client by pitching at a networking event, so it’s best instead to relax and enjoy the conversation. If you build up a good rapport with potential clients, that will lay the foundation for a solid business relationship down the line.

3. Follow up after the event.

business networking

This is very important. After the networking event, make sure you follow up with your new business contacts.

Again, this does not mean blatantly pitching your services to them. It’s all about building the business relationship. For example, if you have promised to do something (e.g. to provide some information), it would be good to do that as soon as possible. Or you could simply write an email saying how much you enjoyed the conversation, and that you look forward to keeping in touch.

Keep the communication lines open without being upfront about selling anything. This way, you build trust within your network.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t market your services. Be sensitive to the moment, and act accordingly. If a clear opportunity arises to present your services, then do so. But be sensitive to what is appropriate in the moment. The important thing is to treat people as people, and not as business prospects.

Conclusion

Networking is a great way to build your business. But you have to do it right. Remember the personal element in all this, and don’t think too much about selling your products or services. Focus on creating a relationship and on building trust.

What tips do you have for successful networking? Feel free to share in the comments.

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Why you should hire a copywriter

A skilled copywriter can transform your business.

As I often say, it is not enough to create an amazing product or service. Without effective marketing, it will not succeed. Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. Do it right, and you can expect great success.

Marketing is all about the story you tell. And a key part of that is the words you use. Your words must convey empathy, authenticity, and trustworthiness. Empathy because you must show your customer that you understand his needs and his pain points. Authenticity because he must know that you are the real deal (and therefore he will not go elsewhere). Trustworthiness because if he is going to hand over his hard-earned money to you, he would like to know that he is making the right choice.

Any number of marketing surveys will tell you this one truth: buyers make decisions on an emotional level first, and only after that, logic kicks in to justify the decision. In other words, in deciding whether or not to buy, buyers engage first with the heart, and then, with the brain.

This means that a good copywriter should be able to produce content that engages directly with the customer. And that this must happen on an emotional level.

What is the customer’s greatest need? What are her fears? What are his aspirations? You need a copywriter who can key into all these and more, and then help you connect with your customer.

Why you should hire a copywriter

As a small business owner, you might be tempted to write your own marketing copy yourself. I advise against this. Even if you are an excellent copywriter, you are likely to be too close to your business to do it justice. You need to have a bit of distance, so that you can step into the mind of your target customer.

One of the major objections I hear from small business owners is that they can’t justify the cost of a copywriter, and so would rather write their copy themselves. The thing is, if you look at copywriting simply as ‘writing beautiful words’, you may, quite reasonably, balk at paying for it. However, copywriting is more than just pretty words on a page. A skilled copywriter will produce powerful, attractive content that will draw in customers and sell to them. Such content will pay for itself, many times over.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been consulted last-minute by panicked business owners facing a ‘copy crisis’. Typically, they would have attempted to write the copy themselves, and, after several rounds of writing and rewriting (sometimes even in a committee), they would have realized that the copy did not work. And of course, with a product or service due to launch, panic would set in.

That, at least, is better than the situation where the marketing campaign has actually been launched, including the weak copy. At that point, it becomes clear that the copy cannot perform. They then have no choice but to pull the entire campaign. One can only imagine the wasted time and effort.

For your business to succeed, you need solid, powerful content. Do not launch your marketing campaign until you are sure of the power of your copy. Sooner or later, every business owner will discover the power of great copy. Better to find this out early in the day.

Contact us here to know more about our copy consulting services.

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How to make your website work for you

In an earlier post, I wrote about the growing surge in online trade, and about the fact that more and more customers are using the internet to buy their goods and services.

This is only the beginning. It is expected that, in the next few years, consumers will buy far more over the internet than they will from physical stores and businesses.

So what does this mean for you, as an entrepreneur? Quite simply, this: you need a website.

In order to have a fighting chance of succeeding in today’s business environment, you need a website. You cannot afford not to have a website. Without a website, you are closing yourself off to a huge section of potential clients. It could be the difference between having a wildly successful business, and having a business that just gets by.

But having a website is not enough, on its own. You need a website that does the following three things:

  1. Finds and attracts potential clients.
  2. Convinces your visitors to buy from you.
  3. Makes it easy for your customers to hire you or buy from you.

In this blog post, I will explain these three points, and give you some advice on how to achieve them.

1. A website that can find and attract potential clients.

website traffic

This is obviously something that should be happening before ever the customer sets foot on your website. Of course, if you have customers who already know your website, they will just type in your address, and hey presto!, there they are.

However, those are not the customers I’m referring to here, although they are also important. I’m referring rather to your potential customers – those who have never heard of you, but would be likely to hire you or buy from you. The question is this: can your website find and attract such prospects?

The answer is yes. If you put the right things in place, your website will be able to attract people who may never before have heard of you.

There are different methods through which you can attract people to your website. Below, I explain two such methods:

(a) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques. Put quite simply, these are techniques that make it easier for the search engines (predominantly, Google) to become aware of your website, and to direct people to you. If your website is properly optimized, there is a higher chance that people who search for keywords relevant to your business will be directed to your website.

SEO takes two forms: on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.

Briefly, on-page SEO deals with how you structure and code your website, and what sort of content you put on it. This includes, for example, the hierarchy of your website’s pages and sub-pages, and whether and how you use relevant keywords (i.e. keywords that are relevant for your target market).

Off-page SEO generally deals with things that happen outside your website. The most predominant of these relates to links, i.e. whether other websites are linking to your website, and, if so, of what quality are those websites? This is important because it is one of the main criteria Google uses to rank websites.

We will go into more detail on SEO in another blog post.

(b) Social media. Social media platforms are a good way of directing traffic to your website, and I would advise you to make active use of relevant social media platforms. However, as a small business owner, you may well find it too time-consuming to maintain an active presence on all the major social media networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest), so I always advise to pick one or two, and then attend to them regularly. Depending on the sort of business you have, there will be some social media platforms that fit your business better than others. For example, if you run an IT consulting business, LinkedIn might be a more appropriate platform than, say, Pinterest.

However, it is not enough simply to attract people to your website. You have to attract the people who are right for your business. If your techniques attract people who, upon getting to your website, find nothing to keep them there, then there will have been no point.

2. A website that convinces your visitors to buy from you. 

website copy
This is a very important topic, and the success of your online business depends very much on getting this right. Your website must serve your visitor. If it does this right, you can expect great success. If it doesn’t, your visitors will go elsewhere.

At Harcourt Lane Agency, much of our work involves helping clients create website content that attracts customers and creates the vital connection between the business and the customer. This leads to higher sales and a successful business. We have seen, over and over again, that your website is your ultimate marketing tool.

Your website must convince your visitor that you understand his needs, and that you have the solution to his problem.

A visitor who lands on your website will have several questions on his mind. You should be able to answer ‘yes’ to them all. Here are the questions:

(a) Am I in the right place?

Your website should proclaim boldly what it is, and whom it serves. Your visitor should be left in no doubt as to what sort of business you are, and what products and services you are offering. Remember that not everybody enters your website via the home page. Every page of your website should make clear to the visitor where he is, and should show him how he can navigate to what he wants.

Many websites simply list their products and services. It is far better, and much more effective, to approach this from the point of view of your target customer. What problem does he have? How will you solve it for him? That’s what he wants to know when he comes to your website. Hand it to him on a plate.

This is not as easy as it sounds. It is not just a matter of good, plain English. Your words must build a connection between you and your prospects. Your words must convey empathy, authority, and trustworthiness. Through your words, you must build an attractive and compelling case for your business. Your words must attract, convince, and convert.

(b) Can I trust this website?

Many factors influence whether or not a visitor will trust your website. One of the most important is your website content.

Your content should be well written, and presented in simple and clear language. The grammar should be impeccable. Poorly written content is an absolute turn-off, and gives the impression of an unprofessional business. If a business owner cannot be bothered to present himself properly, why should anyone trust his products and services?

It is also advisable to use all standard internet protocols. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Here is an example to illustrate my point. Some time ago, I did some advisory work for a company that was launching a new online sales portal. They had set up a very good website. However, they had disabled the normal ‘Back’ button (located in the browser), and instead made their visitors to use one embedded within the website itself. The website attracted a lot of visitors, but very few of them bought anything. Most visitors left the website within several seconds of arriving there. I advised the company that failure to follow standard protocols was costing them dear. The non-standard Back button was the main reason for the poor performance of the website. It had caused the visitors such unease and inconvenience that they chose to click away from the website. The matter was quickly resolved, and sales flourished.

Your visitors will also want to know how easy it is to buy from your website. For more on that, see Section 3 below.

(c) Is this website easy to read?

Get to the point quickly. Don’t burden your visitors with too much information. Avoid technical jargon. Avoid unnecessary images and videos. If you have multimedia content, such as videos and podcasts, don’t let them get in the way of what your visitor really needs. Provide your visitor with the option of downloading these, to watch or listen to at another time. Basically, make a clear path for your visitor so that he can directly access what he wants.

(d) Can I find my way around this website?

Create a solid website structure, with a clear hierarchy of pages and sub-pages. Make sure your visitor does not get lost in the website. Organize your website so that your visitor always knows where he is at any given time. Make sure all your links work. As an added bonus, a website that does these things will also rank well in the search engines.

It is, of course, possible that a link might no longer work, and that your visitor then ends up on a 404 error page. Make sure your 404 error page contains very helpful information to help your visitor find his way to what he really needs. Your page should not just say ‘Sorry, Page Not Found’. This can be frustrating. Provide some useful information. Consider publishing a site map.

3. A website that makes it easy for your customers to hire you or buy from you.

ecommerce easy

Your website should make it easy for a customer to hire you or buy from you.

Make sure the ordering process is straightforward and uncomplicated. For example, visitors should not be required to set up an account simply to buy from your website. They should be able to buy without first having to register, or to fulfill other unnecessary requirements. If it is strictly not necessary for visitors to register before buying, don’t make them do it. By imposing cumbersome requirements, you could drive away willing buyers.

Also pay special attention to the shopping cart. Make sure you use an automated system from a reputable provider. A malfunctioning shopping cart is bad for everyone. Your buyer will be left frustrated, and you will lose out on a sale. Even worse, it could create distrust in your website. Make sure you use a shopping cart that is fully supported by its provider.

Also, at every step of the buying process, tell your customers where they are in the process, and how many more steps they need to take in order to complete their order.

And make it easy for customers to get in touch with you. Display your contact form in a prominent place on your website. Also, provide for alternative means for customers to get in touch with you, for example, an email address, and telephone or Skype details.

Conclusion

Your website is your storefront in the online world. It should project the right image of you and your business. Your website should attract visitors, convince them to buy from you, and then make it very easy for them to do so. As a matter of good practice, you should review your website frequently, so that you are sure that it is achieving these objectives. If you would like us to review your website for you, you can contact us here.

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Your website – your ultimate marketing tool

The internet is stealing the show as the prime platform for doing business. Only a few short years ago, this was not the case. However, it is now fairly common for consumers to order goods and services directly from the internet. In the past, consumers tended to order online only from those businesses they already knew in the offline world, for example, as a result of having visited their physical stores or business premises. This has now changed, and shoppers routinely place orders from businesses that they have seen only on the internet.

A lot of this has to do with trust. Thanks to robust online security measures, consumers are now more at ease with buying from the internet. There is also the added benefit of convenience: the ability to purchase – in a secure online environment – with only a few clicks of the mouse. In addition, thanks to a multitude of apps, and optimized websites, it has become incredibly easy to shop online using a smartphone. All of these factors have led to the surge in the volume of online business.

Every year, United Parcel Service (UPS) conducys a survey known as the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study. The 2016 study surveyed 5,000 shoppers across the United States. The Study found that, for the first time ever, the percentage of purchases made over the internet exceeded the percentage of purchases made in physical stores and businesses. The shoppers surveyed reported that they had made 51% of their purchases using the internet. (In the previous year’s Study, the percentage of online purchases reported was 48%.)

This is truly remarkable, and, in my view, indicates very strongly the direction in which things will progress over the next few years. (If you would like to read the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study, click here.)

What this means for you as an entrepreneur is that you cannot afford not to have an e-commerce website. So, not only do you need to have a website, you also need to be able to transact business using your website. Your website must be set up to welcome your potential customers, to present you and your products and services in the most attractive way, and then to enable your customers to buy from you.

web shopping

If you do not have a website, you are closing yourself off from a huge portion of your potential market. If online business continues to exceed offline business, you will end up targeting only a small segment of the market. You could be seriously outpaced by your competitors who have set up shop online.

By the same token, if you do have a website, it must be truly fit for purpose. More on that below.

Of course there are technical aspects involved in setting up a website (such as finding a good web hosting service, etc), but that is only a small part of the story. The real question is this: what impact will you make with your website?

Your website is your ultimate marketing tool. If organized well, it will have an amazing impact on your potential customers, leading to higher sales, and serious business success. On the other hand, a poorly organized website will not only fail to make sales, but could even drive away potential customers.

So what makes a successful website? By successful, I mean that the website must work for you and for your business. Your ultimate aim is to fulfill your client’s needs, and your website should assist you fully to do that. If your website is doing its job properly, it should achieve the following things:

  1. It should find and attract potential clients.
  2. It should convince your visitors to buy from you.
  3. It should then make it easy for them to hire you or buy from you.

If your website is not doing these three things, or is not doing them very well, you will need to address this.

In an upcoming blog post, I will discuss these three things in some more detail. I will explain to you exactly why they are important, and how you can go about achieving them.