It’s a fact: People won’t use your website if they can’t find their way around it.

Yesterday’s Web looked far different from today’s Web, and tomorrow’s Web will look more different still. Amidst all of this change, however, one aspect of Web use remains the same: The sites that offer the best, easiest, most intuitive experience are the ones people visit again and again.

To ensure that your sites provide the best user experience, you and your web developer need the essential guide from Steve Krug “Don’t Make Me Think; A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability” (2nd Edition)  that distills his years of on-the-job experience into a practical primer on the do’s and don’ts of good Web design. His book is a quick read and while there are a couple of points I don’t agree with for SEO reasons, I agree with his basic concepts outlined below.

The number-one usability rule, most often expressed by users…  

1. Don’t Make Me Think. Basically your website visitor doesn’t want to venture into a site that requires them to figure it out. It should be self-explanatory. Web pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. Buttons should have short text and look ‘clickable.’ The default search for your site should be simple.

2. Design for scanning not reading. By observing users Krug found that people glance, scan some text, and click on the first reasonable option. People scan Web pages, they don’t read them. We don’t make optimal choices, we click on impulse.
 

** In our copywriting courses (Ford Saeks), I express that there are two main types of people reading your copy (text in print or online) and those are “scanners” and “readers.”  You should write your copy for both types of readers. Give enough headlines, subheads, and bullets along with limited use of bold and color to help the scanner get the gist of the main benefits or message, and then enough information for the reader to get the necessary details. Formatting is just as important as the copy. **

Okay, back to Steve Krug’s Book points…

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If you want to increase your sales, then improve your copywriting and target marketing skills. 

Start by putting yourself in the mind of your prospect.  Think about what they want and why they would take action.

Most importantly, target your message to each type of specific prospect.  This applies to your website, print materials, and multimedia.

Sending the same marketing message to multiple markets waters down the message and will most likely reduce responses.  Aim for sending specific messages to specific audiences.

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Can anyone write great copy? I get asked that all the time. I tell them all the same thing: You already know how to do it! Because you already know how to tell stories. I just have to teach you the proper structure, and UNTEACH you all the stuff your elementary and high school teachers taught you.

If you ever made up a story for your children, you’re a copywriter. If you’ve ever gathered with friends as a teenager and told ghost stories, you can write copy. Great copywriters simply paint visual pictures of events. Events that happened in the past, events that may happen in the future, or events that won’t ever happen, unless you buy their product. You either paint the picture of the joy the prospect will get using your product, or you paint the picture of the hardship he will continue to endure without it. Why?

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When one of my clients says to me, “Ford… I’m not sure what to write about.  Aren’t press releases just for big news?” I tell them that kind of assumption just isn’t true. You can create press releases for a wide variety of topics, as long as you keep a few key elements in mind.

One of the most important ones to always follow is to adapt your “story”(or theme) to a favorite media topic in the news. That will make it more interesting to your media contact, as well as to their readers. To help you get started, here are my TOP 5 topics that I use to increase the chances of getting publicity through traditional sources like newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. 

HEALTH is one of the most popular topics covered in the media. Can you find a way to tie your product, service, or media promotion to a current, health-related topic? One of my clients runs a successful pilates studio and even though it’s a local studio, her press releases and articles have been published in several national publications and on tons of sites.  

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