How To Stop Your Ideal Customers Right In Their Tracks
Have you ever searched for a service you need and landed on a website that stopped you in your tracks? Did you think, “Wow, they have exactly what I’m looking for! They totally get me. It’s like they were reading my mind!”?
That kind of website engagement is hard to achieve, but we all want it. Should we use more images? Fewer images? Add more copy? Reduce the copy?
What’s More Important On A Website – Images Or Copy?
The human brain processes images more quickly than text. MIT neuroscientists discovered a long time ago that we can process entire images that are in our view for only 13 milliseconds.
But you shouldn’t interpret that to mean you can tell your business story in a compelling way just through images.
According to website eye-tracking studies, users spend an average of 5.94 seconds looking at a website’s main image. But they spend an average of 5.59 seconds looking at a website’s written content.
So, it’s a combination of images and copy that will make users stop in their tracks.
Why?
The Most Overlooked Aspects Of Website Design
I’ve reviewed hundreds of website proposals, and 99% of them are exactly the same. They outline page count, which platform the site will be built on, the site’s functionality, etc. They rarely include consulting on images. They almost never include copywriting. This leaves you, the business owner, pretty much on your own for what are the most important aspects of your site.
Website copywriting is a specialized skill that takes many years of practice. A great copywriter takes the time to deeply understand your ideal customers and what’s going on inside their heads the moment they land on your site.
Great website copywriters are intimately involved in helping you choose the images to will support the copy and stop your ideal customers in their tracks.
For the website below, I worked closely with the owner and designer. The owner wanted his ideal customers to be instantly engaged with the messaging:
The BEFORE version:
The AFTER version:
I worked closely with the business owner to understand his ideal customers. Through this process, we were able to create messaging that exactly mirrors what is going on inside the customer’s head when they’re searching for a power washing service.
For the home page, I was able to find an image of a home exterior that is similar to the dominant architectural style in the area. And, instead of their backs, the subjects face the viewer and one is even looking directly at the viewer.
These changes resulted in an increase in revenue of 40% in the first month – a huge ROI!
The Right Images & With Great Copywriting Pay Off
If you’re planning a new website for your business, I encourage you to find some extra dollars in your budget to hire a top-notch website copywriter (who also consults on images and design). It will totally pay off.
If you’d like to discuss your next website project, zip me an email at betsy@bevisible.co.
This is fantastic, thank you!