7 Principles you should be following to meet your goals online

Make sure your site is search engine optimized (SEO)

Since most people use search engines, it’s important that your site is optimized so that you show up in search results. SEO isn’t hard to do in-house.

Make sure you have taglines that quickly emphasize the benefit to the visitor

Since today’s users have shorter attention spans, they need something that answers the first questions they have in their minds which are: what is this site about and how does it benefit me?

A tagline is an answer to those questions, and it should be visible on every page where it can’t be missed. Your tagline is important because this will lead the visitor to continue exploring your website. In the future, I’ll talk about how to craft an effective tagline.

Write informative and compelling content

The core of the web is about information — your visitors are looking for answers. When a visitor realizes your site could be of some value to them, they will continue to search your site. Successful websites communicate their value proposition very clearly. A Value Proposition further answers the top questions in the mind of the visitor which are:

• Why should I buy from you, rather than another?
• What benefits will your services bring me? (not features, but benefits)
• I have fears about your industry, can you talk about these?
• How much effort will your service or product ask of me?

Because we know that users don’t read much on a page, successful websites present info in a way that makes it easy for the visitor to scan and get a gist of what’s being communicated. If they like what they see, they’ll slow down and continue reading in its entirety. Overall, concise copy that turns interest into action and browsers into buyers.

Have a strong call to action

Now that your value proposition has answered the visitor’s questions, the successful website calls for the visitor to take some sort of action — this is what a call to action (CTA) is.

CTAs are prominent elements and buttons on a page that tell the visitor what you want them to do. A CTA may follow long, short or mini copywriting, but in the end, a good CTA always communicates a clear benefit to the visitor in exchange for taking that action.

A real life example would be:

Sign up for a free, no obligation to buy, consultation that will help you discover helpful solutions to XYZ … or Subscribe to get access to over 500 pages of research absolutely free…

CTA’s are then usually accompanied by a prominent button or a short form for the visitor to fill out.

You should be building your email lists

Depending on your goals, email addresses are essential. As marketing research shows us, people don’t often buy the first time around, and once they leave, they may never return to your website.

By asking for your visitor’s name and email, you can retain their contact info and build a relationship with them after they’ve left your site. Email marketing generates leads, and soon we’ll talk about how to ask for emails and build relationships with your visitors.

You should be measuring your results and testing your pages

Smart websites have tracking software installed on their sites to review visitors’ behavior. Not only this, but successful websites test different taglines, subject lines, copy, and images to see which works best. So to succeed, you need to track, measure and test. In the future, I’ll show you how easy it is to track your visitors and the process of testing.

Your website should be well designed

Finally, comes design. It’s important to understand that design helps frame your message and brings clarity to it. Good design guides the visitor to take action and without consistent navigation, user-friendly design, a good color balance, your message, and credibility could be lost.

Your design should be unique because your content is unique, so this leaves very little room for default, pre-designed template websites. Successful websites are custom designed around their unique content.