|
Do you lull them to sleep?
If your home page loads too slowly, your prospects are either dozing off or, more likely, clicking their browsers' "back" buttons and finding your competitors' web sites.
What does "too slowly" mean? That depends upon a number of things:
How interested are your prospects in what you're offering? I'll wait a long, long time for the San Diego Zoo's koala pictures to load. But if you're trying to sell me a $25(US) Windows utility, and you have competitors who offer similar programs, you'd better pop something up on my screen in just a few seconds.
What's your reputation? If users discover that they really need an anti-virus program, they'll be fairly patient while waiting for Norton's or McAfee's home page to load. But if they're waiting for a Windows utility from a relatively unknown developer, their patience levels might not be nearly as high.
Who is your target audience? If you're offering software to medium and large businesses, it's safe to assume that most of them are using broadband connections. If you're selling entertainment software that's used in the home, you had better design your site for dial-up users, and fill their screens quickly with a compelling argument to buy your program.
Do you bore them to tears?
Tell your readers immediately how you can make their lives better. Tell them that you can save them time, or save them money, or help them relax, or help them leapfrog their competitors. If the first thing that prospects read on your site is your mission statement, then you're losing sales.
If you tell them about the latest features that you've added to your software, without first putting your program in context, they're not going to understand what you're saying. Tell them immediately what you're selling, and how their lives would be enhanced if they had your software installed on their computers.
Do you confuse them?
Talk to your readers in simple terms that non-technical people can understand. If you talk to them about clients and servers and DirectX and ActiveX and other mythical beasties, they'll be confused. They'll assume that your help files and program instructions are written in techie-talk, too. Confused people don't reach for their credit cards.
Do you frustrate them?
Your web site visitor wants answers immediately:
What are you selling?
Will your software run on my computer?
How much does it cost?
They don't want to waste time reading about features and benefits of an application that won't run on their computer, or a program that they can't afford. So, their eyes are looking for words like Windows and Linux and Macintosh. They want to see dollar signs, and they want to know if you're pricing your programs in US dollars or some other country's dollar-denominated currency.
Tell them platform and pricing information immediately. Tell them often.
The number of your web site visitors who will watch a Flash movie before entering your web site is roughly equal to the number of Staples shoppers who would watch a two-minute video before entering the store. On a rainy day. In New England. In February.
There's no need to include a link that says "Click here to skip the Flash movie". Your prospects already know that their browsers' "back" button will skip the Flash movie.
Do you make visitors want to call their lawyers?
If you make them agree to licensing terms before they can download your trial version, you'll turn away many - or most - of your prospects.
Even asking for their email address before allowing them to download your trial version will make many - or most - visitors type a bogus address, or simply hit their browsers' "back" buttons.
What's a web designer to do?
Make it as easy as possible for prospects to answer their questions:
Some prospects want to see screenshots. Some want to read bullet points. Some won't buy a program unless they can read huge blocks of text about every function that the application performs. Your site has to have all of this information. And it has to be simple for each prospect to find what they're looking for.
Some of your prospects speak English as their first language, and some struggle with English. The way to reach everybody is to use common words to form short, simple statements. Avoid slang. Avoid humor. Passive voice should be avoided .
Some people are technically proficient and some are newbies. It's not easy to create a program description that is understandable to newbies, and at the same time doesn't seem "dumbed down" to techies. Test different sales copy, and use what works best. Perhaps create a "Quick Start Guide" that techies will migrate to, while presenting an entry-level description to newbies.
Structure your website properly and sell more software
You have to get prospects' attention in the first few seconds. When they arrive at your home page, they have to think "This is a web site that can benefit me". Make people feel at home. Give them the important information immediately. Make an enticing offer. Ask for the sale.
Quick Links:
Lists: computer, business
, education, multimedia, game, programming, others
Ordering: place an order, prices and time frames, sample news releases, about us
Information: free newsletters, press release FAQ
Copyright © 1997-2010 DP Directory, Inc.
|
