I use Google Adwords a lot, and I get a lot of success from it. So I have a lot to share with you regarding this.

Before we begin, let me state up front that this won't be the usual boring "maximize your clickthrough ratio by optimizing, analyzing, and prioritizing your selected keywords" For one thing, there are WAY too many "Z's" in that sentence for me to take it seriously.  It might win a scrabble contest, but it's a sure-fire way to scare off readers. 

Also, truth be told, I find that stuff as boring as you do.  I'd rather talk about things that both matter, and aren't snooze-inducing (clearly, I'm going for the "Z" record today.)

Anyway, here's today's tip:

Have more than one ad 

To many of you, this may seem basic. But you'd be stunned at the number of businesses that have one ad for all of their keywords.

That's usually not a great strategy - here's why: most businesses do more than one thing.

For example, a realtor typically helps people buy and sell a house (amongst other services.) That's two completely different things. 

For myself, I do business writing. I also do web content writing. And letter writing. And so on. So I have an ad for several of these writing services. It doesn't cost me any more, as the huge list of keywords I'd normally use if I had one ad now gets broken up. Oh, I'm sure there's some know-it-all math guy that will calculate that I'm losing a few cents, but I don't listen to people like that anyway, as they give me a headache.

Besides, math guy is forgetting the great thing about different ads: You can send people to the proper pages right off the bat.  

I can't tell you how important this is. Trust me, I've tested this. When people click on my "web content" ad, they aren't taken to my home page. They are instead taken to the page where I offer "web content". Genius, huh?

They clicked on a web content ad. Why wouldn't I send them to a page that right off the bat offers website content writing?

Same thing with the letter writing ads - they go to my letter writing page. Not my homepage. Not my FAQ page. Not my "about us" or "meet Dan" page. But the letter writing page.

Let me assure you, contacts and requests for a quote went up since I started doing this. Way up.

So break up your adwords into different groups / ads. Point them to the page that deals with the keywords you use for that ad. If you're a realtor (for example), have a "sell" ad, and then have the ad click to your selling page.

One last thing (and this is good for us writers - sorry, but it just works out this way): If you do this, the page you have them click to has to be written as a landing page. It has to be written assuming a person did NOT go through your homepage to get there.

There's no special secret here - just make sure you have a nice headline, and that you grab attention right away. See, many "interior" pages of a website don't have to grab attention - you already did that on the home page. But in this case, to a "website content" clicker, my website writing page sort of is my home page. I have to grab the attention of someone who is looking to hire me to write a website.

And with that, I'm off. See ya!

This is a revised article from my articles webpage. I'd like to get all of my articles here on the blog eventually, so this is a good start...

I recently bought a new pickup truck, and was looking online at truck-bed covers and other accessories. I found this one cool site that had some great stuff, and I spent some time there reading about the various types of covers and such.

Finally, one really caught my eye. I was excited, as I envisioned it on my truck. I read about it, read about it some more, read all the way to the bottom of the page, and then....

Nothing.

No "e-mail us for more info", or "click here to buy" or "available at these fine stores".... In short, the page did a great job selling - it told me everything about the product and why I would want one, but it offered absolutely nothing in telling me how I would go about getting one.

I was dumbfounded. I clicked around a bit more, and finally found a general "how to buy" page, but by that time, I had forgotten the exact model number and quite frankly, I lost interest.

And they lost a sale. Because they didn't ask me to buy when I was ready.

It amazes me how many businesses do this. They get all wrapped up in having a great looking page / brochure / proposal / etc etc, and fail at the most crucial moment: They neglect to ask me for action when I am ready to act.

It's this simple: If you don't ask for action, you are wasting your time.

Asking for action is simple. It doesn't always have to be quite as direct as "click here to buy" or "e-mail us for more info", but you should ask for some type of action. It could be as simple as "come visit us soon" or "open Monday - Friday. Walk-ins welcome".

The truck-cover place bombed because they figured I'd read the whole site before buying - nope, that didn't happen. I saw what I wanted and desired to learn more right away.

Don't be shy - ask for action.

Here's another website conversion tip:

Don't Preach to the Choir

This tip actually expands on tip #1 (which was solve a reader's problem.)  What I mean is this - in many cases, you need not "sell" a reader on the need for your service. Instead, sell them on your service itself.

Not so clear? Maybe this will explain it better:

When I first had my website, I greeted visitors with a lengthy treatise as to WHY they needed writing. I thought I had to sell the NEED for my service.

But wait.... didn't my reader already kinda/sorta decide they needed writing before even coming to my site? Why else would you even come to my site? I mean, you didn't come here to buy kitty litter or to find out how to get rid of slugs, did you?

Of course not - you came here for writing (by the way, you can get rid of slugs by pouring kitty litter on them.) 

So, since you came to my website for writing, why was I wasting the most valuable space on my website telling people WHY they needed writing? I should have been using that space to tell them why they needed MY writing.

By the way, I still have plenty of "why you need good writing" on my website (it builds credibility and shows I know what I'm talking about... I hope.) It's just not my lead pitch.

Instead, I assume that just by coming to my site, a visitor has already decided that perhaps they need a professional writer. I sell ME (or, more accurately, the results I produce) first and foremost.  

See the difference?

It may sound trivial, but the font you use on your website matters - a lot.

Font style will go a long way in making sure your writing gets read. One time, I changed the font (and just the font) on my website, and noticed an immediate change in how long people stayed on the site. A difficult-to-read font does you no favors. An easy to read one will go a long way in helping your website writing being the best it can be.

Now, obviously, I'm talking about business style fonts here. It goes without saying that fonts like "Kid's Crayon" or "Doctor's Chicken Scratch" are no-no's. So, to me, there are really only four fonts that matter in a business sense - Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, and Georgia. 

So which of the four do I like? Simple: Verdana. It's the font I use on my website, and it's the font you are reading now. In my opinion, it's the easiest on the eyes, without being gaudy.  I even use Verdana in letters and such. I really like it. So do my clients.

Arial is nice too, and it does look professional, but it sometimes just seems too "cold" for my taste. A little too machine-like, if that makes any sense. Perhaps that's because it's a "small" font. A page in Arial is smaller than a page in Verdana. Arial does look good when enlarged, though.

Times New Roman is a serious no-no for your website, in my opinion. How come? Because Times New Roman is the default font for everything.  It basically announces "website made in spare time at home". It just looks "cheap" online.  

Lastly, we have Georgia, which is like a cross between Arial and Verdana. I suppose it's ok, but Verdana is still more readable in my opinion.

Does anyone else have any fonts that they like?