Do the Web Write. Dan Furman

      Too many websites do the web wrong. I’m here to help you do it right (write)!

      Really — there are millions of websites out there that are just kind of sitting there, not helping their company in any way. Oh, they may look nice, but they don’t do the one thing that you really need a website to do, which is to make a visitor take an action (buy something, contact you for your service, fill out a form, request more information, or similar).

      In general terms, a website that doesn’t generate action is completely useless. And most websites are just that — completely useless. This is because far and away, companies spend their resources (both money and time) on designing the website, and not enough on what information / content actually goes into it.

      This book is here to change that.

       A note about “CD Files”

      The print version of this book is packaged with a CD containing samples and other files I’ve mentioned in the book. It’s tricky to package a CD with a digital book, so the publisher has added a link at the end of this book where you can download those CD files to your computer.

      Remember, when you see “CD” mentioned in this book, those references are to the files you can download.

      Let’s Start at the Beginning

      Okay, so you have (or want) a website. Now what?

      In all honesty, that’s probably the hardest part of having a website; answering that “now what” question. Making a website isn’t all that tough. If you know HTML, you can do the nuts and bolts yourself. And if you don’t know HTML, you can just go online and one of perhaps 4 billion web designers (most with clever ’80s names like Trevor or Dustin) will be happy to help you.

      But they can only make the website — they can’t answer the “now what?” question.

      What Do I Mean by “Now What?”

      Before I go any further, perhaps I should explain what I mean by “now what?” “Now what” encompasses three very general questions:

      1. What will your website say? (Self explanatory.)

      2. Where will your website say it? (What pages, page order, etc.?)

      3. How will your website say it? (How will you write it?)

      These three questions have nothing to do with the nuts and bolts of actually making your website, but they mean everything in regards to its success.

      They are also the hardest questions for any business owner to answer. This is because generally, a website developer will seek to get these answers from YOU (and not the other way around, like many people hope). In fact, here’s how the conversation usually goes:

      Web Developer: “Okay, I can make you the site … so, what pages do you want, what order do you want them in, and what are you going to say on them?”

      Business Owner: “Errrr … ” (Translation: “I have no clue — I thought you were doing this part.”)

      What happens then is the web developer (who almost always isn’t a web marketing person) will attempt to do this part by asking you a few questions about you, your business, and your life. They’ll find out that you are a family-owned business, that you have a great reputation, that your customers love you, and that you have two cute kids, all of which will make it onto your site. They’ll also attempt to figure out what your business does (having a business name like “Uncle John’s Live Night Crawlers” helps a lot) and make a page for that too.

      The end result will be a nice looking, somewhat boring website that pretty much tells people all about your business. Which is really, really bad. Know why?

       It’s bad because nobody cares about your business.

      Really, they don’t. Nobody came to your website to marvel at your company history, to read about your reputation, or to find out the good works your company has done. They don’t even care about the Golden Turnip award you won last year (I know, I know … it’s a big honor. Listen, if it means anything to you, I care, okay?)

      This isn’t to say this information doesn’t have its place. Of course you need to mention things about your company — even the Turnip — on your website. The trick is in how you do it. How (and when) you do it means everything.

      This is because your visitor is decidedly selfish; he or she came to your website with a problem, and your website needs to solve that problem, pronto. In other words, your website needs to engage your visitor, address the reason he or she came, and then drive him or her to action (buy, contact you, bookmark you, just get that mouse clicking). Anything less is failure. Make sense?

      Remember this — the goal of almost all business websites is to get visitors to click in some fashion. That’s it — that’s the goal. Don’t ever forget that.

      And that’s the crux of this book — to help you craft a successful website (whether you are actually making it or you hired a website designer). I’m going to help you decide WHAT to say, WHERE to say it, and then I’m going to show you HOW to write it.

      Okay, Who Am I, and Why Should You Listen to Me?

      As you probably surmised from the cover of this book, my name is Dan Furman. I am a professional business writer, business and marketing consultant, and business author (my last book is entitled Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business, also published by Self-Counsel Press, and is available anywhere you buy books). I generally work out of my home, writing sales and marketing copy for all kinds of companies (“copy” is another word for “writing,” in case you didn’t know). I’m also an expert on the Internet and websites, and what makes them work.

      I do not make that claim lightly — I am good at this, and looking back, I have a lot of experience.

      To begin, right now, I make my living online. I sell my service (writing) to businesses all over the world. I have clients on several continents, and I rely on my website for almost 100% of my business. And this isn’t some “systems” business, or affiliate marketing or anything like that. I simply use my website to tell the world about my writing service. People go to it, read what I have to say, and contact me to write for them — it’s really that simple (come see me at www.clear-writing.com to see exactly what I do, although you’ll see plenty of my website in this book). In other words, because I know how to make a website work, a good percentage of the people who land there are compelled to contact me.

      I’ve also been around a long time. I’ve been online since the early ’90s, and I had my first website in 1995. In 1997, I had the number one tech support humor website on the Internet, getting close to 20,000 visits a week. I’ve sold products online, I currently sell my service online, and I help others do the same. I’ve seen the Internet explode into the mainstream, and I’ve watched thousands of websites both succeed