Category: Blog

Inbound or Outbound, Marketers are in the art of seduction.

No matter how you slice it, we’re all trying to seduce, or persuade, our target audience to give our product or service a shot.

In Inbound Marketing, it all starts with your website. So put aside those roses, chocolates, and slow-jams; here are 13 psychology-backed copywriting and design tricks to make your website more persuasive.

 

1. Use the Word “You”

The word “you” is one of the most hypnotic words you can use in your website content.

The reason it’s so powerful is because it directs your message right at the reader and makes the message feel more personal.

The human mind automatically places itself in the context of a message that includes the word “you”, so including it is an easy way to make your audience envision themselves using your product or service.

2. Disrupt, then Reframe (DTR)

Research in psychology has found the DTR technique extremely useful in social influence. The idea is to disrupt the way people normally perceive a message, then you reframe it — or redefine its value.

To illustrate, take this example of a local charity selling note cards from the study.

• The original message: $3 for 8 cards
• After applying the DTR technique: 300 pennies for 8 cards… which is a bargain!

The second variation sold twice as much. Although the amount of money is the same, pennies have less value than dollars and we automatically assume that anything priced in pennies to be cheap.

They also reframed the message by adding the statement about it being a bargain, which further emphasizes the lower value of pennies.

3. Speak Your Persona’s Language

To persuade your audience, you need to get inside their head and use words that will resonate with them. When you speak the same language, your message is more likely to stand out and your buyer persona is more likely to feel “understood” by your brand.

For example, whenever Encyclopedia Britannica introduced new copy that had featured descriptions pulled straight from their customer feedback, they saw an increase of 103% in conversion.

4. Capitalize on Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)

No one wants to be left out.

Fear of missing out is so common and powerful, that the acronym “FoMO” has become a part of mainstream culture, but more formally, it is known as loss aversion.

Loss aversion is a technique where you choose to focus on what your persona will be losing or missing out on by not purchasing, as opposed to focusing on what they will gain.

Try one of these simple ways to incorporate it into your Marketing:

• Focus on the time and money they lose by not purchasing
• Add a countdown timer or limited availability to your sales page

5. Tell the Right Story

By now, I’m sure you know that storytelling is a great Marketing tool to engage prospects to your higher mission. However, the type of story matters and telling stories just for the sake of doing so misses the point.

In the most underrated copywriting book that isn’t about copywriting, Made to Stick, the Heath brothers describe three types of stories that have the most stickiness:

1. The Challenge Plot: A story of the underdog, rags to riches or sheer determination to overcome the odds
2. The Connection Plot: A story about people who develop a relationship that bridges a gap, whether racial, class, ethnic, religious, demographic, etc
3. The Creativity Plot: A story that involves someone making a mental breakthrough, solving a problem that has plagued them or resolving an issue in a new way

All you have to do is plug your ideal buyer persona into the hero role of one of those plots and you’re golden!

6. Share a Secret

Humans love secrets. Whether it’s a FoMO or just an opportunity to gain a competitive edge, promising inside information is one of the most persuasive techniques in Marketing.

However, you can’t give away your “secrets” to just anyone or it obviously wouldn’t be a secret. To really entice people, you have to make them earn your secrets by subscribing to your email list, downloading an eBook, or gaining exclusive access once they are a customer. Their curiosity will get the better of them.

7. Remove Your Sidebar

Sidebars are distracting and take away from the conversation that’s being had in your content. Many businesses are removing the sidebar from their website and seeing a positive response (including us.)

Persuasion requires engagement from your persona and it’s difficult for them to stay engaged when there are too many things on the page competing for their attention.

8. Be Concise

With your web copy, you want to get your point across in the least amount of words as possible. Concise copy is powerful and persuasive, while long ramblings can quickly lose your reader’s attention. So, force yourself to choose words that have richer meaning and a greater impact.

This case study saw a 62% increase in sales by reducing the copy length.

9. Keep it Simple

Similar to being concise, your copy should be simple and easy to understand.

Big words might have impressed your college English professor, but in the real world, they can often be intimidating or alienating.

Persuading your persona is more than just impressing them, it’s about connecting with them and people can be easily confused and even turned off by corporate jargon or “buzzwords.”

Depending on the nature of your business, simplicity is also something to keep in mind when it comes to your design. If the look of your site is too busy or difficult to navigate, you’re likely to lose your audience’s interest before they’ve been read a line of copy.

10. Be Conversational

How do you seduce someone in real life?

You have a conversation with them. You ask questions to get them engaged, you tell them enough about yourself to spark their interest, but not enough to bore them.

Conversation in real life has a natural flow of back and forth communication. That’s what you want to create with the copy on your website.

11. Provide Proof on the Page

Case studies, testimonials, and statistics are absolutely crucial for persuading your persona.

Can you get by without them if your copy is great and you have a beautiful design? Sure, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of sales.

People actually want to be persuaded, but they only want to be persuaded into buying something valuable. We’ve all made purchases that we completely regret because we were misled. Providing proof shows helps prevent this from happening.

12. Add Elements of Trust to Your Design

The language you use can instill trust in your persona, but simply adding symbols and logos associated with trust can have a big impact on conversions as well.

Here are several examples of what you can do:

• Add a “verified” badge from a trusted industry watchdog, such as Angie’s List or BBB.
• Post trust seals such as TRUSTe or McAffe Secure on your checkout page.
• Add a “guarantee” badge that you create in-house on your sales page.

13. Create Urgency

The more time your persona has to weigh their options, the less persuasive you become. Seduction happens in the heat of the moment, people!

By adding urgency to your copy, you force your personas to make a quicker (more emotional) decision.

If you’re not convinced, here are several examples of how Marcus Taylor from ConversionXL increased sales by 332% by creating urgency.

14. Use the Right Colors

Color has emotional connotations.

Depending on what you want your audience to do or think about your brand, you can use color to help get them into the right state of mind to click or even convert.

For example, if you want to create a sense of calm and trust, you can opt for blues. If you want to draw attention to a call-to-action or pique someone’s interest try making it orange.

Post Credit : https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/13-simple-tricks-to-make-your-website-more-persuasive

 

Branding is key, regardless of your website’s focus. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a blog, an online store, or a service site – your brand will play a significant role in the way visitors perceive you, so it’s important to start developing it as soon as possible. That’s where a personal branding website comes into play.

With a powerful brand, people may begin to recognize your content simply by seeing your logo or your site’s other imagery. This kind of recognition is fantastic because it means that your audience knows and trusts you. As a result, you’re likely to have fewer problems attracting conversions.

In this article, we’re going to talk a little about what online branding is and the role your site plays in it. Then we’ll cover some tips for building a personal branding website using WordPress. Let’s begin!

What an online brand is (and how your website plays a key role)

our site’s logo, tagline, colors, and style are all pieces of its ‘brand’. In other words, your online brand is a combination of all the elements that people associate with your website and other presences (such as your social media profiles).

Do you know that there are over 1 billion websites (and counting)that are online right now? With competition among online businesses getting fiercer and stiffer, how can you set yourself apart from the rest? It comes down to personal branding. Because you’re dealing with people regardless of the industry you’re in, building a solid and unique identity for your business is imperative in today’s day and age.

Personal branding, unfortunately, is one aspect that most businesses tend to overlook. Most of our efforts are focused on ranking high on search engines, lead generation and conversion. All those things are of course essential to online success but personal branding is just as important. If you want your audience to trust you then you must learn the art of getting personal.

In this article, we’ll tackle getting personal with your potential customers by enhancing your website to reflect your personal brand in the best way possible.

The Importance of a Personal Brand

Whether you’re a one-man business or a mid-size company with several employees, establishing a personal brand in addition to building the company brand is what will make you stand out. Just look around you and how brands are everything today.

From the computer or the mobile device you’re reading this article from to pretty much every other product you’re using, branding is an ever present element. If you have an apple with a bite stamped on your devices, for instance, chances are high that you’re an Apple avid consumer.

No one really needs any introduction to one of tech’s biggest names. Why? Because the behemoth company was able to establish a personality that their target consumers can easily identify with. If you want innovative products that are different with superior quality, for example, look no further than Apple. This is how the brand continues to sell itself and beat the competition by a mile.

Personal branding is the same way. While you can’t compete the same way Apple can, you can certainly learn from today’s most successful brands. Regardless of the competition or the industry you happen to be in, you have a chance to stand out by creating a personal brand that will communicate how you and your company is unique, relevant and suitable for your target audience.

As Tom Peters, author of the Fast Company article called The Brand Called You, puts it, “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called YOU.”

Key Questions to Ask

In the online world, one of the best ways to stand out is by having a website which reflects your personal brand. But before we delve deeper into the process of creating a website for your business, let’s first ask these critical questions to help give you a clearer picture of your personal brand.

1. What makes you unique?

Getting personal no matter the business you’re in means that you need to dig deeper and find out what makes you different. Remember that you’re not the only person or business offering the same expertise, product or service. To stand out from the plethora of other brands that do what you do, you must present your business in a way that highlights your unique strengths and characteristics.

Do you remember Apple’s legendary “Think Different” campaign? Rumor has it that Steve Jobs did not really like the campaign but it was a turning point nonetheless that catapulted the brand to the next level. Taking cue from the campaign, you should also think different and be different if you want your business to succeed.

2. What can you offer better than everyone else?

Many of the best brands today have something great to offer to their customers. Apple, for example, is known for their most innovative products. When building your personal brand, another important element is to think about one thing that you do better than everyone else in your niche. Highlight that one thing whatever it is because that’s how you will continually stand out in a world where competition will get more intense as the years roll along.

3. Who are your target customers?

No one brand can cater to everyone else’s needs. Even Apple can’t do it. When building your personal brand, you must focus on finding out your target customers. Who are the people who will benefit most from your services? What are the types of customers who will find your products or services useful?

Remember that personal branding is about being personal. This means that your goal is to be selectively famous to the set of customers who need your products or services. Don’t try to gobble up the entire pie. Instead, focus on a portion of the market where you know you can reign supreme with the right business strategies.

Refining your Personal Brand

Maybe you’re starting to build your personal brand from scratch. Maybe you’re here to enhance what you already have at the moment. Either way, one of the best ways to get your personal branding across your target customers is through your website. But how do you enhance your personal brand with your website?

If you need some help, let’s not look further than some of the best websites with the best personal branding.

Take for instance, Lewis Howes’ personal website. Dubbed as a “true online marketing champion” by Ryan Holmes, Howes created a website that reflects exactly what he does – a lifestyle entrepreneur who is living the dream and who wants to inspire and help other achieve theirs. His website is a perfect reflection of his personality starting off with a video of Howes himself sharing his story to the images and other details included in the first page. What you can take away from Howes is the importance of knowing your audience.

Chris Ducker is another personal brand worth learning from. Ducker believes that “your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Ducker positions himself as a virtual mentor who will show you how to start, run and grow a business in the 21st century. That’s exactly what his website says. It’s simple, straightforward and perfectly on point.

We could list more names here that seemed to have mastered the art of personal branding. Some other websites to check out are that of Marie Forleo, Nathalie Lussier, John Chow and Seth Godin among others. In any case, you’ll see that they’ve included key elements that helped make their website reflect their personal brand in the best way possible.

To get started with refining or enhancing your personal brand through your website, below are some hacks you can try:

1. Start with a professional head shot

Nothing says more personal than a good head shot. When people visit your website, it should be the first thing they see – a head shot that looks professional and that captures your personality to a tee. Trust is also easily established when your visitors and potential customers know exactly who’s running the show. You might even want to a hire a professional photographer to get the job the right. The goal is to make you look like the best representation of the brand you’re trying to sell.

2. Grab attention with great headlines

If a good head shot is what captures your audience’s attention, great headlines are what will make them stay longer. So, rather than bore your audience with lengthy and boring texts, make them stay and linger longer by grabbing their attention further with great and exciting headlines. Your headlines obviously should zero in on your target customers and what they need and want. If you’re in the business of offering financial advice, for instance, you may want a headline that reads something like this “Are you ready to be rich and happy for the rest of your life?” Then back it up with a great web copy.

3. Add a video to get even more personal

To get even more personal, there’s no better way to communicate what you do and who you are by including a video starring none other than yourself. Remember Lewis Howes? He has a great video that tells his story and what he does. You can learn from what he did and make your video where you focus on what makes your brand different and you talk directly to your visitors. Keep it short and snappy though. It’s not supposed to be a full length movie of your life in case you have other ideas.

4. Layout and design matters

Your job doesn’t stop with a great photograph, video and attention-grabbing headlines. Your website’s layout and design are equally important elements if you’re trying to enhance your personal brand. While cheap web designs and layouts won’t cost you much initially, skimping on this aspect of your website may cost you more in terms of loss in profits. If you really want to stand out, hire the best designer you can afford. A good design sometimes is what it takes to convince visitors that you have indeed something valuable to offer.

5. Inject some testimonials

Talking about yourself in your video is one thing and having another person talk about you is another. Both elements are important if you want to build a strong and solid personal brand. Simply promising your customers with great products that will meet their needs and wants is not enough to fully establish trust. To really establish your reputation in your niche, what you need are powerful testimonials of people who have tried and tested your products and services. One powerful testimonial from a reputable name is usually enough to help with your personal branding.

6. Keep going with a content strategy

At this point, your personal brand should have been clearly defined and reflected on your website. Those who’ve been to your site know who you are, what you do and what makes you different. But how do you continually convince your customers that you’re the best in the niche not just today but for a long time? You can do so with a good content strategy. To keep the ball continually rolling, you must have a content strategy that will shift the focus from you to your content, products and services once trust has been established.

Post credit: https://usabilitygeek.com/does-your-website-enhance-your-personal-brand/