Using Compelling Language to Encourage Engagement on Your Website

Small Business Web Design

The average Internet user spends an average of just over an hour a day online, with as much as a quarter of that time spent on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter¹. The remaining time that users spend on the web is divided between the remaining 644 million websites², and this reduces the time that they are likely to spend on any one site dramatically. The average time spent on individual websites now is just under five minutes³, and even less on mobile devices. This means that your small business web design strategy has to be centered on grabbing the customers’ attention quickly and making a compelling case for making a purchase.

The most effective tool that small business web design can incorporate is to have a clear and direct marketing message. Regardless of how great your website looks visually, if the message isn’t immediately apparent, then your readers will probably move on to the next website pretty quickly. Furthermore, average bounce rates of over 50%³ show that a lot of websites are probably suffering in this area. In most cases, this is because the language that is used in their sales copy isn’t being direct enough to make the reader take the actionable step.

We are all familiar with the power of affirmation and of positive thought and the effect that it can have on contributing to our success. Studies have clearly shown that the language that we use effects how the people think and feel about each other⁴, and so using positive language that clearly directs your readers to the action that you are seeking from them on your website is a vital aspect of the overall small business web design. This is especially important on squeeze pages where you have only a short window to convince your visitors to give you their details, like an e-mail address, so that you can send them more marketing in the future.

This means that the most effective sales copy is going to get right to the point. Rather than explaining all of the technical details of your products, it is better to explain what it will do for the customer and how it will add value to their life to purchase it. Language that is confident and positive will engender a positive and confident reaction in the reader. Be confident in your description of your business, promote yourself as the best that there is and as a brand that people want to interact with, and they are more likely to actually want to.

When visitors come to your website, the language that you use in your copy should make them positive that they at least want to know more about you and your products. Each page should have clear directions that lead to an obvious point of engagement with your website, and it should be phrased in positive terms so that the reader is compelled to take that action. Pixel Chefs is a small business web design specialist that can create the compelling webpages that will make your online marketing a success.

References for small business web design article:

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3. http://www.webperformancetoday.com/interesting-new-findings-about-page-views-time-on-site-and-bounce-rate-across-browsers-and-platforms/

4. Language As Social Action: Social Psychology and Language Use- Thomas M. Holtgraves