Your website looks great: solid words, easy navigation, graphics just so, and maybe even a bit of flash with some multimedia.

But customers are not buying.

You wonder if it’s the writing. How can that be? You remembered the two key mantras for website content - “write for the search engines” and “write for the medium.” You used appropriate keywords to help search engines find you and traffic is up. Surely, customers enjoy reading your content because you laid it out with the internet in mind using short sentences, brief paragraphs, and bullets to list your key points. Customers might be reading, but they still are not buying.

Chances are your site copy has been optimized for technology not people.

Even on the internet, selling is still about connecting to people. So how do you press the flesh across broadband? Start where brick and mortar relationships do – trust. Why not become the trusted provider in your marketspace? You can use words to raise your credibility in at least 25 different ways.

Here are two of them:

1) write the way customers speak and

2) replace your pitch with a theme.

People instinctively trust strangers who speak like them. If you find this article useful, how would you tell someone? Are you really going to say, “I read an unusually amazing article that fundamentally increased my sagging sales”? Not likely. Weak copywriters, not people, use too many modifiers. “Amazing,” “fundamentally,” and “sagging” weaken trust. How’s your site for modifiers?

Give it the finger test.

You might not want fingerprints on your screen, so I suggest printing a copy of your homepage content. Now, put your baby finger on the first modifier you can find. Put your ring finger on the next adjective or adverb. Repeat until you run out of modifiers or fingers. If your page is a handful, you’ve got too many modifiers and your copy is hype heavy, not trustworthy. In addition to giving readers copy that matches how they speak, it helps to give them time to get to know you.

Customers need time before they trust.

They will get used to your site in tiny steps, so hold off selling; buy some time. Have a theme for your site, introducing your offer only after your customer feels comfortable. Themes are a subtle form of repetition because they continually reinforce a single concept. Repeated exposure to an idea usually makes it familiar and safe. Remember the first time you used instant messaging or the family car - not so scary now.

Let’s say your site is selling dental floss.

Instead of listing the benefits of DentaThread, you could tie the presentation together under the central idea “Some people have nothing to smile about.” The opening section could point out how the discomfort of gingivitis wipes the grin off a person’s face. Another segment would show how ugly cavities make someone too self- conscious to smile. Yet another piece would reveal how the high cost of root canal causes an individual to frown. In this way, three versions of one idea help the site grow on the visitor: one idea, three versions. Does your homepage have a theme? How many chances does your site give visitors to get comfortable with you?

In this article, I tried to use the language of my readers and hang it on a central idea, trust. Did it work? Did it help? If yes, I guess I proved my point. If no, I have 23 more ideas to go.


About The Author


Paul Matthews is The Rezon8or specializing in high resonance copy that sells …all click, no slick. For a FREE site copy analysis and a chance to win a FREE homepage makeover visit http://www.therezon8or.com.

Flash MX Invades The Internet

A large factor that contributed to the rich multimedia nature of the Internet is the Flash MX. It allows website designers add and flaunt their designs. Instead of the plain coding of the HTML, Flash allows a person to add colorful animation and brief int

Create Flash Slide Show from Your Photos

Flash SlideShow Builder (developed by Wondershare) is a fun and easy-to-use utility to create stunning Flash slideshows, complete with music, text, photo motion & transition effects and many selection album templates. With this slideshow software, you can

Flash Deadly Sins (that can kill your web business)

Looks like every client wants a Flash site these days but the reality is...as flashy as these sites may look, there are many negatives you may want to consider before delving into Flash.

Flash - To Use Or No To Use?

Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using flash for their needs. But the majority sites are not in this list. Let's summaries some facts about flash using on YOUR web site and after that it's you who will have to decide: to use or not to use. T

New Features of Macromedia Flash MX

In the times of yore, videos all over the web are quite disappointing. It is like delivering a mediocre performance to annoyed expectators. But then, a transition from the passé made a dramatic exposure. The release of Macromedia’s Flash MX marked a leap