Successful marketing ultimately comes down to WORDS

The longer I’m involved in the web industry, the more convinced I am about the importance of WORDS. In fact, if you put words alongside design, I would say 80% of your results come from the WORDS – and only 20% from design.

But so often, businesses overlook the words on their websites – and other aspects of their online marketing – and focus on design. People will obsess over cool design effects, sliders etc…. and then throw in some words that have been hurriedly put together, almost as an after-thought.

This is a huge mistake.

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS…. I really want to hammer than home!

• You need the right WORDS on your website to communicate clearly what you are selling, what is unique about your product or service, and why people should buy from you.
• You need the right WORDS on your website to tell Google what your site is about, so they can rank it highly in the search results for the relevant keywords.
• You need the right WORDS to write successful ads for Google AdWords (I recommend Google AdWords for virtually every type of business – it’s an absolute goldmine…. if you do it right).

Certainly, you need a certain amount of design so your website looks professional. But even when it comes to design, WORDS are still an importance aspect – because a crucial part of design comes down to choosing the right fonts, the right size of text, the right spacing between lines and paragraphs, choice of headings etc. In other words, a large part of successful design is helping to make the words look attractive and easy to read.

WORDS set apart the winners and losers in web marketing

The truth is, to design and build a basic website platform today is not difficult – and much can be outsourced to low-cost providers in the third world. But there’s one thing low-cost providers in the third world can never do – and that’s write a clear and persuasive sales message that reaches your target market and also hits the spot with Google.

The ability to write like that is a rare skill – one that is still largely under-rated by the masses but highly valued by those who are truly successful at marketing online.