Words Make Your Website Worth Visiting

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Seven Words That Will Make Your Website Worth Viewing


Seven. It's just a number like any other, but it does seem to
come up on a fairly regular basis. There's the Seven Wonders of
the World, The Seven Deadly Sins, and the Seven Dwarfs: Happy,
Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, and my personal favorite,
Grumpy.

Phone numbers are seven digits, and they say the optimum brand
name should be no more than seven letters long. Seven it seems
is a magical number, as the average human brain can only grasp
seven things at a time. Interesting, my wife says I've got
trouble with two, never mind seven, but that's another story.

So I've been thinking, what are the seven most important words
associated with Web-marketing. I'll give you a hint: Search,
Engine, and Optimization don't make the cut.

So what words do make the list? What are the seven words that
will make your website worth viewing?

Words Can Move You

By someone's count there are 171,476 entries in the Oxford
English Dictionary, plus another 47,156 words that have fallen
out of favor. This of course doesn't count the 9,500 additional
permutations, that don't deserve their own special attention.

Fifty percent of these words are nouns, twenty-five percent are
adjectives, and 14.285% are verbs, with the rest made up of all
those other things, the purpose of which most of us have long
since forgotten.

Others may find fault with these numbers, but no matter what the
total, it's a lot of words. Of the several hundred thousand
words to choose from, the average person recognizes less than
ten percent, while the average teenager seems to only be able to
handle about half that amount; of course that doesn't count
slang, instant messaging jargon, or the ever-popular four-letter
variety.

Why the heck are there so many words if we all refuse to use
them. I mean why waste all those perfectly good words on English
teachers and college professors. By the way, they say swearing
is the refuge of the feeble-minded, people who can't express
themselves in a more articulate manner, but to be honest, I
really don't give a damn.

Here's the thing, words have meaning and impact, and they
provide the emotional context of our communications, to which we
can add subtlety and nuance through their delivery by means of
tone, cadence, and gesture.

So as important as words are, the way they are delivered is even
more important.

What Website Design Is Really About

The other day I was listening to a local all-news radio station.
It is mostly rip-and-read wire service stuff that they repeat
over-and-over like some kind of psychological torture, but they
do provide traffic reports on a nauseatingly regular basis. You
only have to wait ten minutes until they repeat everything, so
if you want to hear what traffic snafus to avoid just wait a few
minutes; but here's the problem: the announcers talk so fast
that no matter how hard you concentrate, you can never quite get
the particular information you need; and if you're driving, you
have other things to consider, like the idiot in the Hummer who
just cut you off.

None of these guys ever uses a period, let alone a semicolon or
comma. Either they have very small bladders and are under
pressure to finish quickly, or they're late for their afternoon
pilates class. They seem so intent on rushing to the commercials
that they never deliver the content in an appropriate manner.
And your website just might have the same problem.

Too much information is as bad as not enough. Information
overkill leads to information anxiety, buyer's remorse, reduced
satisfaction, unattainable expectations, and purchase-decision
paralysis.

Website owners have been told that visitors won't wait for
anything, that they are impatient, and you've got to get to the
point fast, make the pitch and close the deal; well that just
isn't going to work with any sophisticated product or service.

Your website presentation needs to slow people down so they hear
what you have to say, and you have to say something worth
hearing.

Website design is about more than layout, markup language, and
technical wizardry. Website design is about communication, it's
about turning advertising into content, and content into an
experience that viewers will remember.

Seven Words To Remember

1. Communication
People are always asking us what's wrong with their websites,
and the answer in the vast majority of cases can be summed-up in
a quote from the movie, "Cool Hand Luke" (1967): "what we
have here is a failure to communicate." Communication is the
key to success, and that doesn't just apply to your website, it
applies to almost everything you do both inside and outside your
business-life.

If your website isn't communicating on both a rational and
emotional level, if it doesn't provide the psychological and
emotional context of your marketing message, then exactly what
is it doing?

2. Audience
I can't think of too many people who actually like being sold.
In fact, sometimes customers get so irritated by sales tactics
that they end up not buying the thing they came specifically to
your website to purchase.

Solving the problem is merely a question of altering your
perspective; the average buyer is predisposed to dismiss and
ignore high-pressure tactics, and meaningless sales pitches. So
instead of treating customers like customers, try treating them
like an audience. Audiences want to be engaged, enlightened, and
entertained. And that is the most effective way to make a sales
impact.

3. Focus
All too often websites inundate their Web audiences with facts,
figures, statistics, and an endless list of features, benefits,
options, and whatever else the sales department can think of
throwing in. All that stuff just confuses people.

Focus your message on the most important elements of what you
have to say. If your website can embed that singular idea in an
audience's mind, then it has done its job.

4. Language
The words used, and how they are put together provides meaning;
they inform personality; they provide mental sound bites; and
they make whatever you are saying, worth remembering.

Language is one of the critical elements of 'voice', the
ability to convey personality; and writing without a 'voice'
is instantly forgettable.

5. Performance
Even the most articulate prose can be lost in a befuddled
delivery. Communication is more than words; it's a combination
of language, style, personality, and performance.

Things are rarely what they seem. Even our memories are a
stylized version of what we've actually experienced. Creating
a memorable impression is about managing the viewer experience,
and providing the right verbal and non-verbal cues that make
what is being said memorable.

6. Personality
Every business has a personality. The first problem is, few
medium-sized companies ever attempt to manage that persona, and
as a consequence, the buying public forms its own opinion. And
that opinion is often not the way you want to be regarded.

The second problem is companies either don't have a firm grasp
of who they really are, or they know, and they are afraid to
promote it. If your company's identity isn't worth promoting,
it is time to think why that is, and change it. The bottom line
is, a company without a personality is a company without an
image, and that makes you instantly forgettable.

7. Psychology
The most important feature you can offer your audience is
psychological fulfillment, not deep discounts, fast service, or
more bells and whistles.

The real reason people buy stuff is that it makes them feel
something. Cosmetics make women feel attractive or sexy, while
cars make men feel they've achieved some level of status. Even
services make people feel important, as in "I've got a guy,
who does that for me." Finding the psychological hot spot in
your marketing, and promoting the hell out of it consistently
and continually should be your primary marketing goal. All those
features and benefits are merely the excuse for a purchase, not
the reason.

The Web Is Fast Becoming A Video Environment

Websites are not just marketing collateral; they are not just
digital brochures. They are a new presentation medium that
requires specialized communication skills, and knowledge of how
best to use the medium.

You may be a great salesperson, and nobody knows your business
like you do. You may even be skilled at delivering speeches at
conventions and seminars, but performing effectively in front of
a camera is a whole different ball game, and for most people,
it's way out of their comfort zone, let alone their skill
level.

The same old methods that used to work won't work any more.
You're no longer competing with just the company down the
street; you're competing with the entire world.

Web-businesses may never actually meet their customers
face-to-face, or even talk to them on the phone, so it is
imperative that they use marketing presentation methods that
deliver an experience worth remembering.

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