Your Site is all Direct Marketing

This may not be a popular view, but I think writing a web site is very similar to writing a piece of direct mail. I'm not talking about smash-and-grab fliers. I'm talking about those large mailings with brochures, a four or eight-page letter and a reply card.

And no, I'm not saying that the experience or the approach is identical. There are numerous differences too. But the similarities are significant, and can guide us in how we write for the web.

Here are some similarities:

1. We can guess that our conversion rate will be pretty low. In the area of one to two percent. More, if we do a good job.

2. We have very little control over the sequence in which people will read the information we provide.

With a direct mail piece, people might start with the letter, or the brochure. And who knows where their attention will settle first within either one. You never really know which part of a direct mail brochure people will read first. And the same goes for a web site. (If you have ever sat in on a web site usability test, you know what I mean. Sometimes it's hard to figure out why people choose particular links or pathways through a site.)

3. We know we are losing readers at every stage of the process and have to write in a way that is clear, engaging and compelling.

This is very true for both direct mail and web sites. Of the hundred people who start reading, we will lose the interest and attention of almost all of them before the 'task' is completed.

4. We can identify significant 'danger points' when it comes to losing a reader.

In a direct mail piece we know we lose readers at the end of pages...at the end of page one of a four-page letter for instance. Or after someone has completed reading a page in a brochure.

Online, we know we are losing readers when they read or skim a page and don't click forward one step closer to completing a task.

5. We know that we lose a significant number of people at the point of completing an application or purchase. They get that far and then back away at the last moment. This is very true for both direct mail and the web.

Now for one very significant difference between direct mail writers and web writers.

Direst mail copywriters KNOW all this and write accordingly.

- A direct marketing copywriter pays very close attention to the end of each page in a letter, writing in a way to pull people forward to the next page.

- A direct marketing copywriter looks through years of test results to write an application or purchase form that will yield the best results. (As does the DM designer.)

- A direct marketing copywriter writes in a way that is deliberately and carefully both compelling and informative.

A complex product takes several pages to sell. Knowing that, a copywriter needs to cover a lot of information for readers with a very fragile level of attention. The writer has to write in a way that is fluid, engaging, informative and persuasive.

- A direct marketing copywriter knows that key benefits and offers need to be repeated throughout the package. When you know that most readers don't read every word, you need to repeat key messages so that everyone gets to read them more than once.

What's my point?

I have two points to make.

First, there is a degree of sophistication in writing good direct mail that is rarely evident online yet. DM writers understand the nature of their medium and their readers in minute detail. At least, the good ones do.

However, online, while the quality of writers may be good, the sophistication with which they apply their craft just can't compete right now.

For instance, it's very rare to find a web page where you can see how carefully the writer and designer have worked together to maximize the number of people who click forward to another page.

In time, all this will change. It's just a factor of the relative immaturity of the online medium.

My second point is that DM copywriters live or die by results. Every single day. And to give themselves the best chance of success, they study the successful work of others, and they obsess over test results. DM marketers test everything and are always learning.

This is the second element that hasn't got up to speed online. It's so easy to test everything and anything online. We should be doing more of that and adding to our knowledge of what works best in given situations.

By way of wrapping this up, online writers can learn a great deal from DM writers. (The same is true for online designers, who can learn a lot from DM designers.)

Both media depend on action, repeated actions ? whether it is paper pages being turned or links being clicked.

Good DM writers are masters at driving action. We should learn more from them.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.

____________________

Advertisement: Honest Riches - Click Here!

Advertisement: Lost AdWords - Click Here!

Advertisement: Get $1 Million A Month In Google Pay-Per-Click Ads Free! - Click Here!

Advertisement: Who Loves Money? - Click Here!

Advertisement: SEO Elite, the GrandDaddy of SEO Software - Click Here!

---

Grow your Business with Emarketplace - Part III

Increase Company ProductivityAfter years of hard work, finally your business started to pick up. You are selling more products then ever! You have lined up a good... Read More

eCommerce, How Much Does It cost?

Making profits with your existing website design or creating a new online store can be exciting, affordable and most of all; rewarding. Mmmm . . . that's... Read More

Creating The Perfect Ecommerce Website

If you're thinking of jumping on the bandwagon and going into business with your own ecommerce website, you'd do well to look at a few examples before... Read More

Database: The Secret of Success

BENEFITS OF A DATABASEBy maintaining your list as a database, you can segment in many ways for targeting. Targeting improves the productivity of your offers. You can... Read More

Distinguishing Features of E-Commerce

E-commerce offers customers the chance to eliminate many stages in the sales/distribution chain. The mark-ups that occur between manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and consumers can add the... Read More

Online Payments Make It Easy For Your Customers To Buy

In the last column we discussed the process of credit card enabling your brick-and-mortar business. I pointed out that research has shown that accepting credit cards can... Read More

6 Steps to Attracting Black Customers Online

by Jamila White, "The E-Commerce Diva"In the rush to keep up with technology, many African-American business owners are so busy trying to add the latest bells and... Read More

Cyber Banking

The use of electronic cash as a means of transacting internet business may prove to be an acceptable alternative to credit card payments. It is reported that... Read More

Stakeholder Analysis and Stakeholder Management

What is a Stakeholder?Try "define: Stakeholder" in Google and you will be surprised by the huge differences in the way this simple word is defined. It perhaps... Read More

Selling Globally Through a B2B Exchange

Participation in B2B Exchanges is increasingly becoming one of the fastest growing marketing methods for businesses looking for augmenting their client base beyond their local markets. Any... Read More

How to Receive Payments for Your Online Sales

Once you decide which products you are planning to sell on the Internet, and what type of web store you are going to use in order to... Read More

Products for a Successful Web Business

There are F words in business. We have seen many small businesses on the internet flourish and fulfil their dream, but sadly we have seen some flounder... Read More

Guide To Safe Online Shopping

Online shopping can be a little frightening to people who are new to the internet,but as long as you follow a few easy rules you should have... Read More

The Lowdown On ECommerce: Making All The Pieces Fit Together

The Lowdown on EcommerceEcommerce is truly the most confusing aspect of purchasing web design services. This is unfortunate since most (if not all) businesses online would like... Read More

Shop: Is Shopping Online Secure?

Is shopping online becoming popular and safe enough for you and I to do the vast majority of our shopping on the Internet?As I contemplated, when I... Read More

How To Accept Credit Cards Without a Merchant Account

To increase sales on your website, you must accept credit cards. To process credit cards, you could apply for a merchant account through your bank or other... Read More

Overcoming Frustration with Technology

For whatever reason, when we get a new boost in productivity, whether that be from a tool, technology or technique...we quickly forget how much more efficient it's... Read More

Merchant Account Insider Secrets - Accept Credit Cards Online

The process of learning how to accept payments on the Internet is similar to the course of figuring out how to launch a business. What at first... Read More

Shopping Cart Usability

Usable Shopping Carts Increase SalesE-commerce has been around since 1993 under many different names, but one thing remains constant; shoppers want usable web sites. Without a usable... Read More

Does Your Shopping Cart Have a Squeaky Wheel?

Have you ever gone grocery shopping just before a holiday? The aisles are packed with people pushing carts, shelves need restocked, all the checkout lanes have long... Read More

Dont Get Ripped Off Getting A Merchant Account

Far too many people get ripped off when setting up a merchant account for their online business. The biggest reason is that they don't understand their options... Read More

How To Prevent Your 3rd Party Merchant Account From Suspension

What would you do if you were sent an email from your online credit card processor telling you that your account has been suspended or frozen? How... Read More

Tell Them Whats in The Can!

What does 'the can' mean? Well, its literal meaning relates to canned goods on supermarket shelves. If your can is up there among thousands of others, the... Read More

The Webmasters Assistant

There are many tools available to a webmaster to analyse website traffic allowing them to monitor the number of visitors, see what pages have been accessed and... Read More

How To Accept Credit Cards Online

Anyone with an online business, whether for auctions, services, or virtually any type of product, has asked the same question at some time during their quest to... Read More

10 Tips To Build, Manage And Profit From An E-Commerce Website

Just because you've built your e-commerce website doesn't mean the customers will begin to come. You need to bring in the visitors, showcase your products, convince them... Read More