Before Editing Begins . . .
Perhaps because this is an editing website, you expected me play the grammar card first and foremost. Wrong. If you don’t attract the right prospects with the right message, you won’t even have the opportunity to lose a reader’s respect from bad grammar or misspellings.
Does Your Website Boost Buy-in Quiz
How do you know if you’re on target? Ask yourself—or better yet, your prospective customers—these 10 questions
1. What is your goal?
If you don’t begin your communication with your desired end in the mind you won’t achieve it. You need to decide up front who your readers are, why your message matters to them, what action you want them to take, and how you will prompt them to take it.
2. Who is your audience?
What characterizes them? What era are they from? Are they driven by lowest price or prestige? Did they barely graduate high school or did they earn their doctorate from an ivy league university? What facts do they need vs. what stories will they relate to? Where are they at in their buying process: problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, purchase, post purchase evaluation? Are they impatient or thorough?
3. Did you capture reader interest right away?
Readers do judge books by their titles. Online your headline is your first hurdle—it must get them in the door. Listicles are more popular even than question or how-to headlines. From there, you have 1/5 of a second to engage browsers before they go bye-bye rather than buy, buy.
4. Do you speak to your prospects in their language?
Are you using industry jargon? Acronyms may make for a great day-to-day shorthand for professionals in your business but turn off prospects—especially when you neglect defining them. Are you pummeling them with specs when they want a story? Are you baffling them with b.s. when they need basic information?
5. What problem of theirs are you solving?
How will their life be better because of what you do for them? Answer that question to their satisfaction and you’re in like Flynn. Forget it, and they’ll forget you.
6. Why should prospects choose you?
Prospects don’t care about you and whether or not you’re passionate about your business. They want you to tell them what you’ll do for them. Do you know your prospect’s must-haves? Do you adequately address them? What makes what you offer different and better than your competition?
7. Is your message skimmable?
Don’t consider that important? Think again! Use lots of sub-headlines, bullet points and short paragraphs, because
8. Does your copy follow a logical flow?
Imagine your prospective customer is on a journey. 34% of potential shoppers will abandon their cart because they aren’t ready to buy. Can you simplify the buying process for them? How will you guide them, step-by-step
- identifying their pain points
- providing the basic information they need
- detailing their alternatives
- incenting their purchase
- providing the means for an easy buy
- following up with them afterward
9. Do you close with a clear and appealing call-to-action?
Is your offer clear? Do you make one? If you do, is there a good-better-best set of options to choose from? Is there a sense of urgency—what happens if they don’t take you up on your offer?
10. Do you set the stage for a sale with many happy returns?
How easy is it for prospects to take you up on your offer?
- North America’s shopping cart abandonment stats show the rate is 74%.
- When your checkout process is too complicated, you can expect 27% of your would-be customers to leave without making a purchase.
- The lack of a good return policy will stop a whopping 80% of shoppers from sealing the deal.
Do you thank your customers after they make their purchase? Customers are 8x more likely to open order confirmations than any other email—the perfect time to say thank you and reward them for becoming a customer.
How Editing Makes a Difference
A good editor improves your content’s quality and readability. Simple errors like typos, poor sentence structure, and incorrect punctuation can be corrected by an editor. Click here to find out the likelihood you’re losing sales due to grammar or spelling issues. More broadly, a good editor brings life to your post by offering valuable suggestions. That’s why 52% of bloggers use an editor.
