Conrad Winter Copywriter

Given how many manifestations white papers have today, talking about best practices can be a challenge. It seems like the lines are becoming more and more blurry among white papers, e-books, case studies, research papers, and even brochures. So what are the best practices today?

Rather than lay down a rigid white paper template and restrictive definition, I wish to offer up a set of best propositions meant to free your mind, best preoccupations to keep your wheels on the tracks and best prospects for providing content that breaks through and supports your business goals.

Best proposition: Give readers what they want, but not what they expect.

Your readers need specific information that helps solve their problems. It depends on what stage of consideration they’re in. Ask your sales people and ask your prospects what that is. Provide the answers readers need and your company will be a hero. Here are some tips to help you avoid the 3 B’s (big, broad and boring) in creating your white paper.

1. Pick an angle. Go beyond the broad theme and speak directly to your prospects’ pains and burning questions. Look for a highly relevant slant that isn’t being featured elsewhere and you’ll have a ready audience. 
2. Focus on fresh, not evergreen. I love the value of a white paper that prospects will want and download for years and years. It’s the ideal. But let’s face it. Things are changing fast. Information gets outdated quickly. The competition is quick to imitate our successes. Be specific rather than broad. Zero in on a hot topic rather than trying to produce the definitive guide. So maybe adjust your expectations to a 1 or 2-year shelf life as opposed to 10.
3. Satisfy the snackers (while offering readers a real meal.) Be kind to your ADD readers by making your copy scannable: Include an abstract/executive summary at the beginning as well as an introduction, write subheads that identify the topics addressed in sections and chunk your copy into digestible paragraphs. That said, don’t hold back on giving the real readers a deep dive into the details of your topic. Do these things and you’ll provide an experience that satisfies all readers. Learn more about How Copywriting Contributes to a Great Customer Experience, in my recent TMSA post on the topic.

Best preoccupations: respect your readers and honor their trust.

The two biggest questions I see with clients are how long a white paper should be and how promotional it can be be. 

The first one is easy. Let value be your guiding light on length. If you can provide value in a one-page “major events affecting the transportation industry” white paper, great. However, if you’re introducing the world of third-party screen, test and repair services, it might take 5,000+ words. Make your white paper as long as it takes or as short as it can be—whatever it takes to educate readers.

The second question of “how promotional your white paper can be” is a little trickier. It’s an important question. I mean this is “content marketing” and it has to market your company in some way; however, there are degrees to which one might do this. At one end, you have information free of any promotional bias whatsoever. And at the other end, you have white papers that are essentially brochures.

I’ve seen good white papers from both ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between. The thing they all have in common is that they focus on the readers’ interests. Readers are expecting to find value in your white paper. Not providing worth and simply selling your product or service is a betrayal of trust. Not a good thing when two of the prime goals of white papers are to build trust and establish authority. 

I think it’s good to start a white paper project with a percentage in mind for how much of the content will be promotional. This will be determined by the stage of the sales funnel you’re writing to (i.e. awareness, consideration or decision.) For example, your promotional percentage in the awareness stage might be 2%, amounting to just having your logo on the cover and elevator speech at the end. A way to boost this slightly might be to add links to pages on your website or quote your company’s subject matter experts. 

The degree of promotionality of a white paper in the consideration or decision phases could be 10%, which usually means simply including your offering in with the list of potential solutions. Or it could be 100%, if for example, your product or service is unchallenged in the category or you have a totally new technology that warrants explanation. In all these cases, the value to the reader is your priority. 

Best prospects: think big, go beyond.

By establishing your authority and generating leads, white papers and content marketing in general, do great things for your business and brand. So how do you build on benefits like that? Lots of ways. 

I see smart clients using white papers as the centerpiece and foundation of extended campaigns. Companies will leverage the white paper content by splitting it into a series of blog posts, webinars and one-sheets. And in addition to promoting the whitepaper on their website, they’ll post about it on social channels and run ads for it. In doing so, a company might produce four white papers a year, promoting each one for a quarter. It’s a great way to juice a hot topic and create synergies that stretch the reach, value and momentum of your white paper. Running concerted and cohesive campaigns like this also helps you “own” the topic. 

Another thing I’m seeing is companies branding their white papers as a series as opposed to one-off publications. By having a consistent look and title structure, you encourage prospects to come back to your “library” for authoritative white papers on other topics they care about. The success you have in one rubs off on the other content you provide—and your brand.

Color yourself successful in your white papers by consistently focusing on the value you provide to prospects and by looking beyond the initial lead-generating potential. For an outside perspective of your content strategy or help keeping up with the demands of your content calendar, set up a short call with me to discuss how I might assist. 

The Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA) annual conference just unofficially kicked off in Florida tonight. Media biggies, JOC, SupplyChainBrain, Supply Chain Dive and AGILE are all in attendance. Editors from each will be panelizing tomorrow. 

This is my second year and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn more about the transportation and logistics industry and the challenges marketers in this space have—especially regarding content and copywriting. This year’s theme is customer experience (CX).

It’s an important topic. Last year’s keynote speaker Jeff Davis touched on it. This year’s conference promises to explode it. 

During last night’s speed networking and welcome reception, I spoke to TMSA’s new CMO and COO, Don Friddell about this year’s CX-focus. He emphasized the inseparableness of CX from business success today—and stressed that regardless of the data supporting this, there are still a lot of business leaders who have yet to be convinced. By the looks of the agenda, TMSA aims to change that. 

The speed networking was a good time. Andrew Gulovsen, Director of Sales for Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), kept it lively with his humor and bullhorn. 

Met some very interesting people (too many to mention here) and got to see familiar faces from last year’s conference. 

I networked with Carleen Herndon from Women in Trucking. This is a unique organization that I’m told has over 800 members at present, hosts a growing conference and even has it’s own doll, “Clare the Truck Driver Doll”available on Amazon no less. 

I talked to Denny Grim of SoundBusinessNetwork who was content marketing and podcasting before the two even existed. He once produced a transportation-related audio magazine which was distributed by audio cassette to a select C-level audience back in the 80s. 

I also had the chance to ask marketers their biggest challenges. I heard the same sentiment on a number of occasions: it’s a big challenge feeding the content machine with quality posts, white papers etc. 

That’s sort of my theme this year: “I help keep your quality content moving.” Speaking of this year, this conference I boothed up. That’s right. If you’re at the event, please stop by. While you’re there, you can pick up one of my limited edition “Keep your content moving” post cards that entitles you to 20% off your first project.

No one wants to do business with a computer, or have a relationship with a robot. It’s creepy. 

That’s why it’s important to keep your web copy, content, case studies and email communications personal. 

That’s not an easy task as companies become more digital and virtual. Nevertheless, making your writing personal is my number one tip for providing great customer experience (CX) through words. In doing so, you appeal to the emotional side of prospects, and that’s what creates a customer experience that builds strong bonds to your brand. 

Getting personal means thinking of your readers as people.

When writing for the customer’s experience, the most important things to keep in mind are their needs, problems and concerns. Provide a positive experience by being completely focused on their realities. Here are four ways:

• Write for humans, not for robots—No one ever read a post and exclaimed: “I love the SEO of this piece, it’s so good!”
• Rant for a reason. Yes, railing against fuel prices or unfair public policies can be attention-getting. But it’s better to give readers advice or information they can use like I did in this post for Trimble Transportation (formerly TMW Systems) about a recent court ruling affecting California’s motor carriers. 
• Use your superpowers of cleverness for good—i.e. not just to impress me.
• Keep it fresh. Don’t insult your readers by regurgitating old posts or your boilerplate copy.

So what does “getting personal” mean in practical terms?

It means letting your drivers, dispatchers or software developers author blog posts. It means fearlessly telling your founding story of how your company grew from one milkman to a fleet of truck drivers. It means boldly telling about your company’s quirky location—or that you’re a virtual company without a headquarters. 

People make up the heart and soul of your brand and your company. It stands to reason that prospects what to know those people. 

There are real humans behind your business, no matter how virtual you are. Letting people know who you are does lots of good things:

1. Builds trust—I mean, don’t you trust people more than machines? (Remember Hal from 2001 Space Odyssey?)
2. Differentiates you—the product is the way it is because of the people who made it. How they are, their ethics, their passions and all the rest say everything about the product.
3. Compels prospects to treat you humanely—people don’t treat faceless companies the same as humans. Need proof? When’s the last time you thanked Siri or Alexa? 

CX is PX…Personal Experience.

Being personal means being friendly. Professional, yes. But friendly too. It’s possible to be both. How many people do you know who you can count with your life and who are actually nice, too? See? Keeping a conversational tone in your writing accomplishes that. 

Who doesn’t love a conversational CX?

Writing conversationally often involves letting your company’s guard down. That’s what we do when we converse with people we know. We speak easily. That’s what people like. They also like to be charmed and entertained—never simply sold at. So be a good friend and tell your prospects a story about a challenging load you hauled and the details of how you delivered like heavy-haulers, Bennett IG did in this post I wrote for them. In short – indulge your readers. 

People don’t read anymore, but they do experience.

Writing for CX can be hard when everyone on your team is pontificating about the economy of words and how no one reads or has any time anymore. To those who believe this, I have this message: people will read as much as you can write, as long as it’s entertaining or interesting or both. Storytelling is not fluff; It’s the stuff prospects and customers remember the best – because it’s the part they like the most.

Writing readable, enjoyable, useful copy is a big part of providing great CX today. What sort of experience are you providing your customers?

Awards shows play a crucial role in inspiring us to open our minds to new possibilities, they fuel the competitive spirit to perform to a higher standard and they teach us how it’s done.

The “textbook” of my first copywriting class was a One Show awards annual—the book that displays all of the winning creative work for the year. For my 20-something self, working an entry-level job in an ad agency, living in a trailer and looking forward to 50-cent tacos at Tortilla Flats, I was sure I couldn’t afford the $65 for the publication. It was an unjustified extravagance, and I really couldn’t understand the expense…until I received the book.

It was beautiful. Hardbound. Two inches thick. It had weight. And inside was a brand new and exciting world to me. The best advertising in the world. Sample ads and billboards, radio and TV scripts—even full campaigns.

The message was clear: this is good work—do this.

Being able to see how successful work is done is invaluable. And it’s a rare opportunity. With gated content and so much niche-work being done (as opposed to mass-market), we just don’t see a lot of the great campaigns and tactics out there. But as marketers’ media mix has become more varied and complex over the years, the educational aspect of awards shows has become more important, maybe even essential.

If you want to, say, see examples of email drip campaigns (and outstanding ones, at that), being able to check out an awards annual beats signing up for mailing lists so you can see how Audi, Crate & Barrel or Starbucks market to prospects.

There are many awards shows out there. They vary from local to international. Some are industry-specific or media-specific. I think the best ones emphasize the work by sharing the work and displaying the work—as opposed to just handing out plaques, posting podium shots and publishing a trophy count at the end of the night.

The One Show, Communication Arts (CA), Clios, Cannes and others do this either by publishing a printed annual, creating an online gallery or doing both. If you want to immerse yourself in the work, these are great options. They all offer great opportunities to see “how it’s done”—although compared to the One Show and CA (both under $100) the $99 per month subscription to view Cannes work can be a bit of a bite. Insider tip: you can check out Clios winners free.

For a more educational experience, you can’t beat the Effies, an award show revered by marketers across industries for its focus on results as well as for its case study format. Viewing the case studies requires membership, but the comprehensive details and insights make them invaluable tools. The Direct Marketers Association DMA International® Echo Awards have an online gallery of winning work that also makes for an exceptional educational resource—but you’ll need a membership to access them.

My area of copywriting specialty is transportation and logistics, and I was delighted recently to discover the Compass Awards (funny story) put on by the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association. The work is all in my niche and all the winning campaigns and content are available to members through TMSA’s resource library. Smart idea.

As someone who’s trying to learn more about this industry, I’ve been eating up the case study format. The Compass Awards were one of the many learning opportunities I discovered while attending TMSA’s annual conference. (Read my takeaways here.)

Even when you don’t win, you can still take something away from award shows.

(Speaking of awards, wondering what I’ve won? Or would you rather see the work?)

Use referrals, case studies, and video to demonstrate proof of performance.

Perhaps the greatest takeaway I received at the recent Transportation Sales and Marketing Association conference came during the shipper panel. It was the opportunity to listen to a panel of prominent decision-makers live and unfiltered. The panel members are part of a very elusive and mysterious group. To put it another way: it’s hard to get through to this group—and rare to have the opportunity to hear what they think.

So what was this great takeaway I received? It came from Troy Turner of Unilever who was answering the question, what it takes to become a shipping partner of choice?

He answered that it came down to “ease of doing business.”

In other words, how easy is it to do business with a transportation provider? A consideration that he admitted can only be demonstrated by actually working with the transportation partner in question.

His answer had most of us in the audience scratching our heads. But Turner was kind and didn’t abandon us to chase chicken-and-egg scenarios. He gave a couple of workarounds for demonstrating how easy it is to do business with your company…without actually doing business with your company, that is.

Referrals are the next best thing to proof of performance.

They’re golden to Turner. Get a referral from the right colleague and you’re in.

Referrals are powerful, but there are different ways to leverage this power—some more nuclear than others. An email introduction can open the lines of communication for you, but what if you took it a step further and asked a happy client to call your prospect directly? The extra effort would speak volumes about your client’s esteem for you while making the referral more personal. A voicemail from your client would have a similar personal appeal, and might be an easier ask.

The only thing about referrals…they can be hard to get. Plus they’re a one-time single use tactic. I mean you can’t expect to get a referral for every prospect.

Second best is case studies.

Turner values case studies that demonstrate how companies have addressed challenges and how they’ve worked with other companies. This tracks with what I’m seeing; carriers, logistics companies and NYSHEX are consistently asking me to write case studies that demonstrate how they help clients overcome their challenges and that bring their services to life. They’re also maximizing their use by repurposing them in blog posts, newsletters and white papers. Another nice thing about case studies is their staying power. Post them on your website and they’ll work hard for you for a long time.

So how else could you demonstrate ease of doing business?

Turner’s comments inspired me to consider what other alternatives are available to marketers who want to prove their value to prospects.

Don’t forget case studies’ little brother, testimonials.

Quick, scannable, 2^ndperson endorsements can create instant credibility for you. They have powerful name-dropping appeal, and their short format makes them great for home pages, inserting into emails and lots of other things. Always ask a happy client to give you a blurb. (Tip: ask right after you’ve done something great for them.)

Show ‘em in a video.

In the absence of great case studies, it came to me that another way you could demonstrate ease of doing business would be to capture the experience in moving pictures. Show your people working on a real problem. Demonstrate your processes. Provide visual proof of your standards. And introduce viewers to your culture. A lot of times these things are better shown than said anyway.

Aim for a case study on every project.

When you complete an engagement, ask your client if you can feature them. Better yet, during the project, plant the seed of a case study by mentioning that your client has a great story to tell and a lot of people would benefit from hearing it. Sometimes it takes a while for clients to give you the go-ahead, so ask early and pitch the idea in an appealing way, In other words, tell them how innovative, daring and agile it will make them look.

Need help keeping the case studies flowing?

I know the ropes from conducting successful interviews to creating a unique case study style for your brand—as well as the many ways you can promote and repurpose your great stories. Let’s talk. Email me to arrange a short call, or click here to see some samples.

At TMSA’s 2018 Logistics Marketing and Sales Conference, Chris Peer, President & CEO of Digital Marketing Agency, SyncShow delivered a highly-relevant presentation entitled “10 Reasons Google Hates Your Transportation Website.”

I can safely say that Chris’s tips apply to every site and every industry under Google’s sun today. As a classic cobbler’s son who’s prone to “set it and forget it” behavior with my own website, I certainly received a wake-up call.

First off: why Google and not Yahoo or Bing or anything else? Well, Google dominates—except in China where Baidu rules. (Maybe that will be the topic of a future SyncShow presentation, “Why Baidu thinks your site is bad.”)

Here’s my take on the 10 reasons Chris Peer of SyncShow gave:

1. Your site is too slow. He gave an example of how devastating this can be to your hits: a 9-second load time translates to 29% less visitors. How do you know how long it takes your site to load? Try this: https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com. The fixes: image optimization, check your server or your content delivery network, and lastly, reduce your redirects.
2. Your website isn’t optimized for mobile. Lots of companies do this as an afterthought, but mobile usage surpassed desktop usage of the internet three years ago. (Sidenote: the transportation industry has not passed the 50% mark…yet.) What does optimizing for mobile mean besides automatically sizing for smartphones? Fat finger design, no pop-ups, no Flash. (Glad to see the site I recently wrote for NYSHEX passes the test. Take a look on your smartphone.)
3. Link issues are making Google ding you. In short, good inbound links from reputable sites increase your ranking while bad inbound links from spam-filled, disreputable sites cause Google to penalize you. Chris’s tip for increasing high-quality links is to make sure the trade associations you belong to are linking to your website. He also gave some tips for “disavowing” poor inbound links so Google knows you aren’t associated with them. You can find them here.
4. Your content is thin. Surprisingly in the stripped-down copy days of today, Google wants 700 words or more per page. Yes, you read that right: more copy, not less.
5. You have duplicate content. (i.e. don’t plagiarize yourself or others.) The fix: rewrite your site content to make it more useful and unique. Google doesn’t like similar content, and it can outright de-index you if you steal text from other sites.
6. Your content is not optimized. Your content quality determines how Google grades you. So start with an accurate title tag telling what your page is about. Make sure your headers contain your keywords. After all your headers are optimized, look at your body copy and do the same. Don’t stop there: every area on every page can be optimized, so optimize your alt tags on every image as well
7. Your site isn’t engaging visitors. (i.e. your bounce rate is high.) The fix: change your focus to providing valuable content and giving visitors what they’re looking for. Specifically, think video (great for visitors, not so great for search value) and scrutinize your calls-to-action to ensure they’re action items.
8. You have poor site structure. This often occurs when websites evolve over time as businesses grow and new pages get bolted on. As a result, the navigation of the site – and the organization of the site as a whole, doesn’t follow a logical path. That confuses both users and Google. You need to have a structure that’s easy to navigate with pages organized by topic. Visitors should be able to get to any page on the site in two clicks.
9. You have “orphaned” pages. (i.e. pages that can’t be found through navigation.) I’ve seen this happen with companies who routinely create landing pages for promotions. Orphaned pages are a no-no because Google doesn’t know how to rank them. The fix: include them in your sitemap at the code level. (Chris suggests having someone submit them.) So what do you do if you want to keep your top navigation clean and user-focused, but have a ton of other pages on your site? Check out how we positioned the navigation for NYSHEX’s subordinate pages in the footer where they’re easy to find, but don’t crowd the main navigation which only lists the pages we most-wanted to direct visitors to. See it here.
10. Your site isn’t secure. These days, every site and every page (even “orphaned” pages) needs SSL certification. The good news: you can purchase and install it in 15 minutes.BONUS TIPS FROM CHRIS 
11. Make google love your site by driving social traffic to your site. Put a snippet on LinkedIn that links to your site. Make Google love your site by driving social traffic to your site. Put a snippet on LinkedIn that links to your site. And post your videos on YouTube, the 2^ndbiggest search engine. (And be sure and have your videos transcribed and posted on your site so you can get the search value.)
12. Lastly, ensure every page on your site has a strategy for what you want visitors to do and learn.

Chris said a lot more in his great talk. For any details that I might have missed, read his comprehensive presentation here:

Then round out your reading with my 3-part series on creating a customer-centric website.

Are you looking at a website refresh or rewrite this summer? I’d love to help. Email me to set up a short call.

Welcome to part 3 of my series on creating a customer-centric website.

In this interaction-packed post, I’m going to tell you how to get visitors to act – we’re talking “engagement” – as in give you their email or agree meet with you.

So. You got them to your site. Good job. Now what? You’re not just going to hand them a brochure and invite them to look around. No.

You’re going to lead them down a well-thought-out path that fulfills their needs as well as your own. This post provides you with tips on the elements that ease visitors’ journey and lead to conversions. Let’s start with the basics.

KISSIN (Keep It Simple In Navigation?)

Opt for navigation that doesn’t make visitors think. (Have you read that book yet? Don’t Make Me Think) Avoid clever and punchy nav terms that might confuse visitors. I know, we’re all sick of the standard terms and I’m all for creativity, but it’s silly to ignore the data: intuitive terms work.

Get the good neighbor award.

Be considerate of visitors’ needs. Give them the information they need for their business and where they are in the buyers’ journey. Make it easy for them to find their own path: are they in the awareness stage or the consideration stage? You’re not going to sell a newbie who’s just browsin’ so offer them an informational piece. As for visitors in the consideration phase, offer them a demo or a comparison piece that guides them as they research their options.  And be sure and put these offers prominently and repeatedly throughout your site so visitors don’t have to search for them.

Don’t leave them hanging.

Suggest the next step—always and on every page. Provide relevant links to posts or other pages in your site that enable visitors to go deeper into a topic. And never-ever link them away from your site—at least not before they give you something, namely their email.

Don’t make visitors invite themselves to your party.

It’s your job to invite visitors to connect. So make it easy for them. Make it clear and don’t be shy about it. Visitors need to be urged along. Your priority is to make a sale. In business-to-business, it may be rare that someone is going to buy without any personal interaction, but you have to try. If they want to buy, you want to be able to sell. So have a clear and prominent “Get Started” call-to-action (CTA). Put it in the main nav and also in the footer.

Let’s take this relationship to the next level.

Most likely, your visitors are going to need to take an intermediary step, like a demo, before they pull the trigger, so offer that at least as prominently, or maybe more prominently, than your get-started CTA.

Consider a bribe.

The majority of your visitors who are in the consideration phase are seeking information. Don’t let this group get away without giving you their information. Offer them a high-value piece of content like an article or exclusive access to research. This “lead enticer” moves prospects closer to a sales conversation. It also puts prospects who are in the education phase on your radar to check back with them later on.  And if they’re in the comparing options phase, it enables you to follow up with a sales piece, case study or checklist–content relevant to them in their stage of the buyers’ journey.

No one leaves your site without giving you their email.

No one. So if they’re not ready for a demo and don’t need your content, get them on your email list. But don’t just make the mistake of saying “sign up for our newsletter.” Instead, tell them the value they’ll receive by allowing you to contact them occasionally. Here are some examples:

• Yes, keep me on the leading edge of what’s happening.
• Want to receive exclusive insights from industry leaders?
•  Be first to hear about our latest innovations and newest services.

For shy visitors, try being more social.

Some visitors just won’t give it up. For them, a less intimate means of connecting may be social.  Are you tweeting? Posting articles on LinkedIn? Invite visitors to follow you there. Any opportunity to stay connected and in front of visitors to your site is worthwhile. That’s how relationships are formed. It’s how they get to know, like and trust you over time. But that won’t happen if you don’t invite them. So do it!

Ready, Action.

Like the customer-focused tips you just read? Get even more by reading Part 1 for general guidelines or Part 2 for pointers on increasing the persona-appeal of specific web pages.

And if your website copy is high on your list of action items, then now’s the perfect time for us to talk. Contact me to set up a short phone call. I’ll get back with some times and you tell me what works.

(Part 2 of my 3-part guide to writing genuinely customer-focused website copy.)

Are you talking to yourself? 

I feel like I should interrupt, but I don’t want to be rude. It’s an easy trap to fall into when it comes to the copy on your website. We spend so much time defining a mission and identifying the ideal niche. All that strategic stuff, the inwardly-focused stuff, takes time and effort. Once it’s time to move to the actual pages of your site, you want to use it. I get it.

But you’ve got to put it aside and get customer-focused on every single page. Otherwise, you could end up with a website that suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder. Welcome to Part 2 of my 3-part guide to writing genuinely customer-focused website copy. Read on to learn how to bring visitor-centricity to the web pages that matter most.

Home Page: Wemember the weader.

The success of your home page hinges on how well you express the 3Ws (what you do, for whom and why you’re different). Be clear, as in stick to your key message and the big benefit it brings. Be creative, as in not strategic-sounding. And be empathetic, as in address your customers’ pain points and help them to envision themselves using your product or service.

(Insider tip: To ensure every word you write is relevant to your readers, tape your buyer persona to the wall right in front of you. Look at it before, during and after you write. (And if you haven’t done a buyer persona, just visualize your ideal customer, and write to them.)

The About Page: Make it all about them.

There are many ways to spin the story of your company. The best is the one that imparts the biggest benefit to visitors. Yes, accentuate your positives, tell a personal story (not just a timeline) and find an interesting angle—but most importantly, make your “about us” actually “about them.”

Services Page: It’s better to lose them than confuse them.

Your website plays an important role in bringing you qualified leads—ones who know what you’re selling and are interested in buying. So be clear in explaining what you offer, even if it means alienating the visitors who aren’t a good match—it will save you the expense of following up on unqualified leads. You can’t be all things to all visitors, so be the best candidate for your ideal customers.

Direct visitors to the information they need in a quick scan or in the least number of clicks possible. But remember: being clear doesn’t mean being generic. Your job isn’t to make yourself dismissible; it’s to make sure the value of your unique features comes through loud and clear. So market to your visitors. If you feel the need to expand on points or offer substantiation (e.g. testimonials, case studies or research) provide a link.

Why Me Page: Don’t be afraid to sell.

There are times when prospects need (nay, want!) to be sold; they need you to tell them your service rocks, that it will most definitely work for them and no other option they’re looking out will deliver the results you can. Your Why Me Page provides you the opportunity to inspire confidence and excitement.

But be careful not to let narcissism grab the wheel and turn visitors off. All of the information you provide should address prospects’ hot points – just telling them you’re an award-winning service provider isn’t enough. For everything about you that’s great, tell them why it matters to them.

Careers Page: Let them in.

People pick jobs for a lot of reasons other than the compensation package and company’s prestige. Think of the best job you ever landed. What was it that made you fall in love with the company in the first place? If you’re like most people, it was some personal connection you made, whether it was with a person you gelled with, a workplace feature that felt like home or the opportunity you saw to make a difference. In short, the clincher is often something that you connected with. It wasn’t, “This place is so vanilla. I know I’ll love it here.”

No, somewhere in the recruitment process, the organization let you in by letting its guard down. Whether it was some character that you met, some kooky tradition you learned about or that peanut butter machine they put in the breakroom. So be bold and let your company’s credentials shine, but also let them see your company’s humanity.

Other pages: show how well you know them.

Visitors want to know you “get” them. With the myriad other options out there, they won’t have it any other way. Know your market and write to them at the risk of losing people who aren’t in your market. Seth Godin refers to it as reaching the weird outliers who make super fans and brand advocates. Those are the people you want. Talk to them.

Want more pointers for sharpening the customer focus of your website copy? Read Part 1 of my series for general tips, or read Part 3 to see how to write CTAs, navigation terms and more with genuine persona-appeal.

Want to talk website copy? I’m all ears.

Contact me to set up a webside chat. We’ll talk about your goals and see if I can help. Just reach out and I’ll suggest some times.

Part 1 of my guide for ensuring your website content is genuinely customer-focused.

There’s an anecdote in How to Win Friends and Influence People, where author, Dale Carnegie recounts the story of meeting someone at a party who talked nonstop about themselves. Carnegie hardly said a word, but after the party the person recounted to a mutual friend what a joy it was speaking with Carnegie and what a great conversationalist he was.

We all love it when it’s all about us, and we love people who make it all about us.

That’s important to remember when it comes to your website copy.

Visitors care less about your ace credentials, unparalleled product features and level of expertise than you think. But they’ll remember if you can show that you “get” them and understand their needs, concerns and joys.

I realize that’s way easier said than done even for the most empathetic marketers. So I’ve written a little 3-part series to help you ensure your website copy is genuinely customer-focused.

• Part 1 presents general guidelines
• Part 2 provides tips for your high-value web pages
• Part 3 goes into action items like your navigation, CTAs (calls-to-action) and more

Ready for part 1? Grab your buyer persona by the hand and let’s get customer-focused:

Less is more helpful.
You have a full course to feed visitors to your site, but remember, prospects like to nibble. If they like something, they’ll dig in. But that will never happen if you present too much text. Opt for short paragraphs with bold subheads. Avoid dense, lengthy copy chunks that require reader effort.

If there’s simply too much to say, create a separate page or blog post with the information. (Hint: don’t worry about having to add another section to your already-crowded navigation bar. It can be hidden like this page. Just as long as people who want more information can click a link and get it, you’re good.)

David Ogilvy told me to tell you to “Be interesting.”
The father of advertising would want me to remind you that you’re always selling to a human being. And humans like things that are different, unexpected, intriguing and entertaining. Concision is critical in writing for the web (see above), but not if means you have to resort to jargon and cryptic shorthand. Strive to address customers’ challenges and needs – and don’t be afraid to bubble a bit.

Ask yourself, “Do people really speak like that?”
Keyword-stuffed messaging is a turnoff to readers. It comes off as overly strategic and jargony. Keywords are for attracting the robots and getting ranked high on the page. But robots don’t purchase your product or service. Write conversationally, like humans speak…if you want to attract humans.

Reveal yourself.
Give prospects something unique to remember you by: “Oh, they’re the ones who donated their trucks to deliver aid after the hurricane, “Oh, that’s the logistics company with the female CEO.” Business buyers make decisions for emotional reasons, too. So have an about page that lets people in by letting your guard down.

Excuse me, but your strategy is showing.
Your strategies, mission statement and value prop are important…to you, but not to your prospects. The words that provide powerful motivation to your team internally can have the opposite effect on prospects. To them, those elements just come off as B.S., no matter how sincere you are about them.

Showing beats saying.
Ironically, the same consumers who want it short and sweet today also want proof. Here are a few ways to provide it:

• Back up your claims with case studies (a.k.a. social proof).
• Demonstrate how much you value your employees by featuring them on your about section.
• Show how you treasure your customers by addressing every complaint you receive on social media.
• Prove your commitment to the community by pasting your sustainability certificate on your home page.

Make a difference by making it all about them.
If your bounce rate is a virtual super ball or your conversion rates are barely bouncing along, hopefully these tips will help. Want more pointers? Check out Part 2 to learn how to make your high-value web pages more customer-centric or Part 3 to see how to write CTAs, navigation terms and more with persona-appeal. And if an outside perspective would speed things up for you, just reach out. I’d love to assist.

One of the best things about freelancing at this one company was the copious snack collection offered free to all workers. Granola bars, fruit, juice, chips, artisan coffee—and yes, fresh peanut butter right from the machine.

So when it fell upon me to write a career page that portrayed the company’s outstanding opportunities as well as its personality, naturally the peanut butter machine had to play a role.

Peanut butter to me is the ultimate comfort food, sustaining while treating—an incomparable combo with bananas, granola, yogurt and more. And the fact that they had this machine: I mean it was this beast, a real commercial model with a stainless flip switch. When you turned it on, the floor shook as ribbons of gooey goodness swirled into your awaiting cup.

It was a natural metaphor for a company that knew a quirky-but-good idea when they saw one. And it said so much about the wholesomeness of the culture and the company’s extravagant generosity toward its employees.

Don’t take the usual route on your company’s employment or culture pages. Every company wants to portray itself to recruits as a work-hard-play-hard innovator that cares about its people, but if you don’t back it up, your words won’t ring true. You have to dig into the details and “personal” aspects of your company that you may take for granted. The little things can say a lot about you.

So take a chance. Prospective employees make decisions for a lot of reasons outside of company name and compensation. They look for cues. They want to know how they’ll fit into your culture and big plan. They’re human after all. That’s why the human stuff matters…like a peanut butter machine.

When you’re writing your company’s culture page or “work for us” text, are you shining a light on your company’s unique personality as well as your growth plans, mission and values?

Stand out by letting the real you out.

And if you’re having a hard time looking at yourself from the outside in, contact me. I’ll be happy to help you find your own personal peanut butter machine.