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Writing Compelling Ads for Maximum Response

Advertising, whether online or offline, is only effective if people respond to it. Otherwise, it turns out to be a waste of time, money and effort. Here is a checklist to help you write ads which are compelling and get more response.

1) Identify Your Target Audience

Do you know who you are targeting? Unless you have a clear idea of who you are writing for, you can never come up with effective ad copy. Everyone in the world might be able to buy your product, but there are only some people who have an actual need for it. These are the people whom you should be targeting.

For example:

-If you are selling a business opportunity, you are targeting business people.

-If you are selling expensively furnished apartments, you are targeting families with a high level of income, living in a certain city.

-If you are selling dog food, you are targeting dog owners.

-If you are selling expensive leather adventure boots for men, you are targeting young adventurous males with a high income.

Keep the profile of your typical customer in mind when writing the ad. Write as if you are addressing that single person. This will help in giving your ad a personal tone and  increase its effectiveness. If people feel that this ad was written specifically for them, it will make them pay attention to your ad.

2) Arouse Their Interest

Once your target audience has been identified, you need to come up with an offer that would interest them. For this purpose, you must understand exactly what their needs are, or identify the problems for which they want solutions.

Sometimes you know instinctively what your customers want. At other times, you may need to carry out a bit of research. Asking your current customers is always helpful. In fact, at times they tell you what they want without asking. All you have to do is listen and listen carefully. Business owners, who understand their customers’ needs well, can never fail.

Let’s take the above examples again and look at the needs of the target audiences we identified:

-Business people typically want to make or save money.

-Rich families looking for apartments want luxury and convenience, along with saving time and effort.

-Dog owners  want happy and healthy dogs.

-Rich adventurous men are interested in high quality boots that look and feel good.

Now that you know what their needs are, you need to communicate clearly through your ad, how your offering can fulfill their needs and solve their problems.

3) Focus on Benefits

People don’t buy products; they buy benefits that those products offer. Successful ads always focus on benefits. Your customers should believe that your product will fulfill their needs or solve their problems. Tell them how your offering can benefit them and do so clearly.

The benefits of your offering are derived from the features of your products. Let us look at some examples to clarify this:

Feature / Benefit

-A sound business opportunity/ helps them make money.

-Nutritious dog food/ keeps their dog healthy.

-Well furnished apartments/ provide luxury and comfort.

-Sturdy boots enable them to/ go for the wildest adventure.

Once you have identified the most compelling benefit of your product, center your ad around that benefit and make your product sound desirable. The headline of your ad can either mention the identified problem or be a combination of both the identified problem and the product benefit. For example:

-Earn money from a reliable program.

-Live in luxury forever.

-Premium Nutrition for Your Dog

-Hike in Style and comfort

The second line of the ad should explain the claim made in the headline. For example:

-Do freelance work on your PC

-Our apartments are at premium locations and well furnished.

-Our water proof boots feel even better than they look.

-Our dog food contains all the essential nutrients for your dog’s health.

4) Call to Action

While you are writing the ad, keep the required response of the reader in your mind. To motivate your target audience to respond immediately, you can make special offers that are time sensitive. Examples of special offers are:

-Freebie with purchase for a limited time

-Discount or special price for a limited time.

Depending on your product and your target audience, you can come up with all sorts of creative ideas for special offers that will compel your customers to take action. Moreover, there must be a clear call to action. For example:

-Order Now!

-Call Now!

-Click here!

-Email Us!

It is also important to include contact information in your ad. It can be your website/ social media links or your email address . You may also include your phone number.

5) Formatting Guidelines

While writing an online ad some formatting considerations should be kept in mind.

– Simple and Short

The language used in your ad should be simple. Use simple words and short sentences. Write and rewrite your ad again and again, until it is concise, and the copy sounds crisp and clear.

-Character count

The maximum character counts for all social media platforms are different. To simplify, here is a rule of thumb. Limit your ad length to 100 characters and it will be good to post on any platform whether it is Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.

-Clickable Links

Make links click able so that it is easy for your readers to contact you. For website/ social links this can be done in the following way:

http://www.yoursite.com. (Remember to add the http:// part, otherwise the URL is not click able.)

 

Erum Zehra is a digital entrepreneur and the founder of Prestige Interactive. Prestige Interactive specializes in creating stunning business websites for female entrepreneurs to propel their business in the limelight. Download her FREE Website Planning Template today to design your website layout for success!(https://prestigeinteractive.ca/freebies). 

Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/prestigeintca

Facebook/ https://www.facebook.com/prestigeintca

Twitter/ https://twitter.com/prestigeintca

LinkedIn/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/prestige-interactive

email/ info@prestigeinteractive.ca

Website http://prestigeinteractive.ca

Dos and Don’ts of Web Content Writing

How can you write engaging and persuasive web page content? Here is a checklist that can help:

  1. Benefits

Do start with the most compelling benefit of your website and turn it into a bold headline. Don’t start with a useless welcome slogan.

Bad: Welcome to our Jewelry store

Good: Unique Handcrafted Jewelry

 

  1. Empathy

Do focus on the needs of your website visitors and prospects. Don’t talk about your problems first.

Bad: This website was launched two days ago, so excuse the omissions.

Good: Please contact our customer service for prompt response.

 

  1. Consistency

Do follow a consistent formatting style throughout your website. Don’t make it look like a multicolored illustration with 10 fonts and 20 colors.

Bad: Use of different colors in each paragraph and different font types and sizes for each heading.

Good: One font color and size for text and one font color and size for headings (Arial and Verdana are the most recommended fonts for web content).

 

  1. Simplicity

Do make your web content sound simple. Don’t use difficult and confusing words. The visitors should get your message immediately. They are not going to make too much effort to understand if you are being too academic. They would simply click away and you may lose a potential sale.

Bad: Despite their current stature, the persistent competitors are doomed for failure due to their total ineptitude.

Good: The competitors lack the skills to succeed.

 

  1. Scan ability

Do make your web content scan able by including lots of headings and bullets. The visitors should know immediately what you are trying to tell them. Don’t put big blocks of text on your web pages, which are impossible to read, and very boring.

Bad: A block of text with no paragraphs, headings or bulleted points

Good: Bulleted points with headings and short paragraphs.

 

  1. Concise

Do try to be as brief and as concise as possible when writing content for your website. Don’t go on and on about a subject providing irrelevant details which do not interest your visitors.

Bad: A 400-word history of your company’s achievement

Good: A few bulleted points listing the major achievements

 

  1. Interesting

Do write in a friendly and interesting manner. Don’t sound boring and impersonal. Your visitors should enjoy reading your web content and get hooked to it.

Bad: Our Company is very efficient, reliable and affordable and we have been around for years. We also have a very impressive portfolio of clients that we have previously worked for. We are definitely the best choice.

Good:

Reasons we can serve you better:

Great customer service

Competitive prices

Vast experience

 

  1. Error free

Your web content should be free of spelling and grammatical errors and punctuated correctly. Don’t write the web content in a hurry and upload it without proof reading. If you have mistakes in your web content it would make you look unprofessional.

Bad: This ia an exclusive ofer

Good: This is an exclusive offer.

 

Erum Zehra is a digital entrepreneur and the founder of Prestige Interactive. Prestige Interactive specializes in creating stunning business websites for female entrepreneurs to propel their business in the limelight. Download her FREE Website Planning Template today to design your website layout for success!(https://prestigeinteractive.ca/freebies). 

Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/prestigeintca

Facebook/ https://www.facebook.com/prestigeintca

Twitter/ https://twitter.com/prestigeintca

LinkedIn/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/prestige-interactive

email/ info@prestigeinteractive.ca

Website http://prestigeinteractive.ca

How to Design Your Small Business Web Site

You are all set to give your business global exposure through the internet. It’s about time you started building your web site, right?

Wait…have you planned for your web site?

Planned??

Yes, imagine what would happen to a house if you built it without planning it first! Web sites meet the same fate if they are not planned before they are built. And yet, a lot of web sites are being built that way! They appear confusing and haphazard and have no focus.

But you want your web site to be different, right?

Then let’s get to the process of planning a web site by answering these questions:

  1. What is the purpose of your web site?

We come to the foremost question in our planning process. Your website should have clarity of purpose. A common answer to this question is ” to sell my products/services”. But what can you do to make sure that you sell? Here are some ideas:

  • Attract a lot of visitors to your web site
  • Encourage repeat visits from the visitors
  • Offering useful information for your visitors
  • Have attractive photos and interesting descriptions of your merchandise
  • Emphasize the unique product features/benefits
  • Offer special prices/deals

Come up with a unique and clearly defined purpose for your web site. How can you achieve your goals if you have not defined them clearly enough?

  1. Who are you building your website for?

Again, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you are building it for everyone, for you will end up catering to no one at all. Possible target audiences for your web site can be:

  • Current customers/Targeted traffic
  • Potential customers/Search engine traffic
  • Suppliers of your raw materials
  • Retailers who can stock your product
  • Distributors
  • People interested in knowing about your company ( press/media etc.)
  • People interested in knowing about your products (researchers, advertisers etc.)

You may choose to design your web site for all the above audiences. However, a much better approach is to determine the type of audience which is the most important to you and then focus more on that audience. The more focused your web site, the more impact it wi;; have on your target audience.

Remember that your potential customers cannot be just anyone surfing on the net. They are people who have a need (whether realized or unrealized) for your product. Come up with a customer profile/avatar including demographics and psycho-graphics of your customers. This will give you a much better idea of the appeals you should be using to convince your customers.

Search for clues of unfulfilled needs. What do they want which is not being done? What are they dissatisfied with? What problems do they want solved? The answers to these questions may lead you to a winning business idea. All successful businesses achieve success through satisfying an unmet demand, the right way.

  1. What information should the web site have?

This depends entirely on your goals and target audience. For example, if you intend to gain repeat sales from your current customers through your web site, you only need updated and accurate information of your products and an easy and hassle-free ordering system.

On the other hand, if you want to cater to potential customers and want increased hits to your web site, you will need to provide valuable information to draw these customers to your web site. For example, a web site selling herbal soaps may provide informative articles on skin care and herbal ingredients etc. This will attract people interested in natural skin care to the web site. If they find the offered information useful, they just might buy from you. Even if they don’t buy, they might bookmark the web site and visit again. The more they repeatedly visit your web site, the higher the chances that they would buy from you.

  1. How should the information be organized?

The information must be organized well to ensure ease of navigation and usability. Remember to view your web site from your visitor’s perspective. Highlight the information which your visitors would find interesting and not that which you consider important. Group similar batches of information together and keep the navigation consistent throughout the web site. Do not build a menu with countless choices on your home page. This confuses people and they leave without exploring further. Don’t put more than 8 links in your main menu.

       5.What visuals and color scheme should be used?

This is the final step in your web site plan. People usually go through this step first. The result is an unimpressive and confusing web site with no obvious purpose or interest. If you decide the visuals and color scheme at the end of the planning process you can come up with original ideas which suit the content and image of your web site perfectly. Your design would seamlessly flow together, and your web site would give a well-organized and impressive look.

You might have come across numerous web sites with no obvious color schemes or consistent visuals. This is a result of bad planning, or more likely, no planning at all. Do not plunge directly into web design, without giving any thought to the planning process. There is no point in building a web site which is not optimized to achieve its purpose.

Are you ready to plan your website? Download our FREE Website Planning Template today to design your website layout for success!

 

Erum Zehra is a digital entrepreneur and the founder of Prestige Interactive. Prestige Interactive specializes in creating stunning business websites for female entrepreneurs to propel their business in the limelight. Download her FREE Website Planning Template today to design your website layout for success!(https://prestigeinteractive.ca/freebies). 

Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/prestigeintca

Facebook/ https://www.facebook.com/prestigeintca

Twitter/ https://twitter.com/prestigeintca

LinkedIn/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/prestige-interactive

email/ info@prestigeinteractive.ca

Website http://prestigeinteractive.ca

What are the Business Goals of Your Website?

Every website should be created with a goal in mind. This ensures that the website is focused and can help you achieve your business goals.

Start by asking yourself: “Why am I building a web site?” Is it because everyone else is doing it too? Do you have a specific purpose in mind for it?

Clearly defining your web business goals ensure that your web site is optimized to achieve them. After all, you can only meet your goals when you know what they are.

Of course, defining a web business goal may not be as easy as it sounds. It comes naturally to some of us while it is a lot harder for others. Here is a list of common web business goals:

1. Product Sales

You want to sell products to online shoppers. These products might be your own or you might be selling them as a sales representative of a company. But why would people visit your web site and not thousands of others selling products similar to yours? What makes you different from your competitors?

To create website traffic you need to promote your site. It may also help to offer something useful to your website visitors. This could be special offers or bonuses etc. For example, most web sites selling software offer a free trial download.

One good way to draw visitors to a web site, is to offer unique and useful product related information to them. For example, Amazon.com offers a number of customer reviews for each book it is selling. This serves as useful information for people who might be thinking of buying that particular book.

Observe the sites of your competitors closely and see what they are doing to draw visitors to their sites and make sales.

2. Brand Awareness

Some web sites are built to create awareness for a brand. Let’s take the example of Coke’s web site. Is it there because the Coca-Cola Company hopes to sell coke bottles on the web? No, it is there to create brand awareness and assert its brand identity.

You may decide to bring your business to the web for the sole purpose of reassuring your customers that your company is willing to evolve with the changing times. The web site that you build will center on the purpose of enhancing and reasserting the image of your company.

3. Cost Reduction

Another business goal for building a web site can be cost reduction. A web site can result in cost reductions for you in a number of ways. You may reduce

  • your customer services costs by having an online customer services system,
  • your order processing costs by having an online ordering system for distributors and retailers, and
  • your printing and paper costs by having brochures or product manuals online.

If your business has no offline presence, building a start up business on the web will involve minimal costs as compared to building a brick and mortar store. This is a major reason why many start up businesses are emerging on the web.

4. Providing Information

A web site can be created for the sole purpose of providing basic information about your company. Such a web site can take the form of an online brochure. It will result in cost savings from advertising for you and will be easy to build.

5. Facilitating Communication

You may build a web site to make it easy for your customers or prospects to communicate with you. A lot of television channels and periodicals have web sites where they conduct online surveys on different topics. An online survey is very easy to conduct and compile in comparison to an offline survey, and is a good source of eliciting customer opinions about a product or idea.

Moreover, traditional mediums of communication like fax, telephone, snail mail etc are expensive and time consuming. Through a web site or email, your customer can easily get in touch with you.

6. Affiliate Commissions

Another reason for building a web site may be to make money through promoting affiliate programs, which offer you a commission on sales. If you plan to build a web site for this purpose, do keep the following in mind:

  • Choose a program that offers useful and legitimate products/ services.­
  • Promote programs that cater to the same target audience.
  • Offer information in the form of articles or compiled links that this target audience would find useful.
  • Do not try to over stuff your web site with banners and popups. Visitors find them very irritating.
  • Informative articles and reviews get more attention than a usual ad.

7. Revenue from Advertising

You may want to earn money by advertising other businesses on your web site. However this is not as easy as it sounds. The foremost concern of advertisers is the amount and quality of traffic your web site is drawing. You need to promote your web site well to ensure that it has a high amount of traffic. Moreover, you need to offer information similar to the advertisers’ products to ensure that they are getting the audience they intend to target. A good way to make money is to sign up for Google Ads.

No matter what the purpose of your web site may be, make sure that you keep track of the visitors of your web site. A traffic tracking system like Google Analytics gives you valuable information about your web site visitors. It also enables you to make important decisions related to the optimization of your web site.

Erum Zehra is a digital entrepreneur and the founder of Prestige Interactive. Prestige Interactive specializes in creating stunning business websites for female entrepreneurs to propel their business in the limelight. Download her FREE Website Planning Template today to design your website layout for success!(https://prestigeinteractive.ca/freebies). 

Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/prestigeintca

Facebook/ https://www.facebook.com/prestigeintca

Twitter/ https://twitter.com/prestigeintca

LinkedIn/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/prestige-interactive

email/ info@prestigeinteractive.ca

Website http://prestigeinteractive.ca

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