Do the Web Write. Dan Furman

because of that, the biggest chunk of my revenue comes from companies of all sizes that need their website copy written, and need their websites tuned up in a marketing sense. My style of writing just works very well for the web, and I am extremely knowledgeable about how to simply make a website work. Essentially, you can say that I answer the three questions — I help companies figure out what to say, where to say it, and then how to say it.

      In my time online (and like I said, I was on the Internet even before Al Gore claimed he invented it), I’ve studied what works, and what doesn’t work in regards to websites. So trust me when I tell you that what you say to a customer on your site matters, where your information is presented matters, and how you write matters.

      The principles I will be discussing in this book are rather simple; nothing too complex here. They are also easy to follow and implement, but the most important thing is, THEY WORK. For just about any website, too: small, large, or in-between. They work whether you are selling a product or a service; and they work whether your goal is to get someone to buy something, contact you, request more information, or all three. They also work whether you’re a giant corporation, or a small mom-and-pop organization (or in the case of the Night Crawlers, probably just Pop).

      I’ve spent years writing and consulting for website owners, and all of the websites I am involved with have one thing in common: they work, and they make money. In other words, I know what I am doing.

      What This Book Is

      In essence, this book is a culmination of my experiences with websites. In all the time that I’ve been writing / working with websites, I’ve come to realize a few things about them: what works, what doesn’t, and how to go about making sure your website has the best shot at success.

      This book is not scientific or technical — it is the opinions and observations of a real person who has real success on the Internet. In very simple terms, my website makes me money, without a million-dollar ad budget, without any “techno tricks” that nobody understands, and without any “piggyback sales” type stuff (such as affiliate marketing or the like). All I do is use my site to tell people about my writing and marketing business, and my phone rings (and my email inbox fills).

      This book is for any company with a website, or any company that wants one. It doesn’t matter what size your company is, and it doesn’t matter how large your website (or planned website) is. The principles I discuss here will help almost every website out there become more successful; and it will result in more sales, more customers, more contacts, and more money.

      I’m going to help your website in several key ways. I’m going to teach you what to say (what pages you should have), where to say it (the order of your pages and what to put on them), and, finally, I’m going to teach you how to write for your website.

      Let’s take a moment and go over these three things in a little more depth:

      1. What to say: This part is actually trickier than it seems — yes, we all know you need a home page. But what then? Do you know how to break up your services and logically present them on your website? How about reasons to do business with you? Should you have a page listing them, or should the reasons be worked into the text on other pages? A case can be made for both. How about answering frequent questions; should you have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section? (Yes, you should, and we’ll go over that later.) All of these aspects are part of the “what to say” question, and they are not easily answered. The prevailing thought most business owners have is to make their website an “online brochure.” That really doesn’t work well — you have to be a lot more targeted than that. Trust me, your visitors have a particular mindset when they come to your site, and there are certain things that they expect from your website. This book is going to show you what your visitors are looking for in terms of information, and how to make sure they get it.

      2. Where to say it: You’re proud of your company history. It’s even a part of local lore, and, in the case of Trigger McNulty’s Speedy Collections, it involves a tire iron that still hangs in the office (a reminder of a simpler, albeit more painful time). However, as fascinating as your story is, your online visitor probably isn’t all that interested. Nor are they overly interested in your awards, your staff, your building, your latest news, etc.

      Now, here’s the rub — these things DO all belong on your website, they just don’t need to get in the way of the important stuff (what you do, how much it costs, and how people can contact you). Trust me, clicking is NOT very hard. Your customer, if they are so inclined, will find the story of Trigger McNulty and the tire iron on their own. What I’m saying is your page order is very, very important. People need to be able to get clear answers from your website. Hitting them with a tire iron story (rim shot!) before they even know if you can help them isn’t going to get you business — it’s going to drive people away. So this book will go over the order your pages should be in, in detail, and how your information should be presented.

      3. How to write it: I get paid good money to write web copy for businesses of all sizes. The copy I write engages people, answers their questions logically, and drives them to take action. And in this book, I’m going to show you how to write effective web copy. Now, I’m not going to kid you — I’m not going to turn you into me. To begin, my wife probably wouldn’t like that much at all (and I also get the impression from certain people that one of me is more than enough). Second, writing is not something that can really be transferred from one person to another. You’re not going to write exactly like me (or anyone else for that matter) no matter what I do.

      However, that said, the basics of effective website writing CAN be taught to almost anyone. It’s more a style and format than anything else — I can take almost anyone and turn him or her into a better website writer, using his or her current writing ability. I’ll show you how to make your pages interesting and how to lead visitors to take an action. I’ll show you the formatting tricks that really work, and I’ll teach you to write so people feel comfortable with you. This might be worth thousands of dollars to you and your business.

       How Important Is The Writing On Your Website?

      Let me explain just how important website writing can be. There was once a guy I did some writing for. Before he contacted me, he had this flashy site selling an e-book. It had all kinds of moving graphics, popups, etc. Really snazzy. But he sold squat. I told him that for his particular product, besides needing better writing, all the stuff was getting in the way. He didn’t believe me, so I offered to prove it to him (this is back when I had way more free time than I do now. I could afford to take these kinds of chances in hopes of making a name for myself). I made a simple site (white background, black text; about the limit of my web design skills). It took me five minutes (literally). Then I spent a day writing the text.

      You know what I’m going to say now, right? Within a week, and with the same amount of traffic, my little nothing page outsold what his old site had sold in the previous two months. All the jazz and graphics and such were crushed by a simple white page with just writing.

      Words are THAT important. Give me a blank page and 3,000 words, and I’ll sell just about anything.

      Please note: This is just an example — and I don’t do freebie challenges anymore.

      I’ve broken this book up into ten chapters (and an intermission), and then within each chapter, I break things up into smaller, bite-sized chunks using subheadings (this is how I write on the web, so it’s fair that I write that way here). The first two chapters are the most basic, because I go over website conversion, targeted traffic, and the fundamentals of a successful website. These may seem simple at a glance (for example, in Chapter 2, I tell you your website needs to be easy to read. Well DUH!), but the truth is, if it were all so simple and basic, then every website would be perfect, and there’d be no need for me to write this book. Plus, the basics give you a foundation — I cannot talk about writing individual pages until I go over what people expect from your site in general. So if things sometimes seem a little “basic”