This is How To Tell If Your Web site Is All Bark and No Bite

You're getting the traffic, but not the conversion.

Does this sound like your Web site? If so, read on. You've jumped through all the hoops; you've taken the time and spent the money to do it right:

You've spent a small fortune on cutting edge programming.

You've spring for the latest in automated integrated components.

You've signed up for high dollar hosting with all the bells and whistles.

But not much is happening. What gives?

The First Thing People Look For

Usability tests have shown that when landing on a Web site, people go to the text first. They're looking for information-not ads, not hype, not banners, not slide shows, not gizmos.

How People Buy

It's a fact that people like to do things for a reason. Naturally, this includes making buying decisions.

It's also a fact that people make decisions for emotional reasons, and then justify those decisions with logical reasons afterwards.

The Misunderstood Concept

It's maddening, but the simple truth is that 95 percent of websites-many of them well designed and expertly programmed-are missing the mark. If yours is one of them and you want to join the ranks of the world's best-selling websites, you've got to grasp the most underrated concept on the web:

the difference between content and copy.

Very few people understand this and even fewer put it into practice. Once you get this and put it to work on your Web site, you'll see your conversion numbers climb.

Content and Copy Compared

Copywriting is the art and science of writing copy, that is, words that sell. It's an enlivening alchemy of empathy, language and needs. Here are a few ways to look at it:

Content	Copy
Left Brain	Right Brain
Objective	Subjective
Straightforward	Subtle
Quantifies	Qualifies
Tells	Sells

No other aspect of your Web site can produce the sales that your web copy can. SEO drives traffic to your site, content explains the nuts and bolts, but copy is what moves your readers to do business.

Content explains. Content is descriptive and informative, it's what satisfies your readers' search for information.

Copy excites. Copy is engaging and persuasive, it's what infuses your readers with desire for what you're selling.

The most effective copy employs powerful devices, that work below the surface. These devices harmonize the buying experience with human nature, through:

Attention grabbing headlines
Readability factors
Motivational integrators and triggers
Empathetic marketing
Brand positioning
Linguistic techniques
Suggestive preselling

The Single Most Important Investment

Because text is what your information-hungry readers look for first, professional copywriting is the single most important investment you can make on your web site.

Let me repeat that:

Because text is what your information-hungry readers look for first, professional copywriting is the single most important investment you can make on your web site.

The Customer You Want

Once you've got effective copy in place, your visitors will become long-term customers who will return to your Web site and buy over and over and over again.

Crafting your copy to earn your visitors' business will work for you because:

It's much less costly to keep an existing customer than it is to go out and find a new one.
Your satisfied customers will tell others about your offerings.

To sum it up, you can have the best content that money can buy, brilliant programming, fabulous design, sweet domain name, automated everything-and still just break even, or worse. Or, you can invest in expert web copy, sit back and watch the magic happen.