Does your website need a Nordstrom's Makeover at a Fred Meyer price? 

Many people overlook the power of copywriting in website design.  What your mom told you is true - who you are on the inside is more important than how you look on the outside.  This was true when you were a teenager and it is true now that you are a business owner. 

Your website needs to be functional and practical instead of flashy, and copywriting queen and internet marketer Cathy Goodwin can show you how. 

I'll be taking Cathy's Extremely Frugal Website Makeover class over the next four weeks and implementing some of her strategies on my own website.  You can take the class with me by registering here, or you can wait for my report after I'm done and then decide if it is right for you.

I've worked with Cathy before, and she has given me some great ideas both on writing/marketing my book-in-progress as well as gaining more customers for my business.  She really knows her stuff, and I know for a fact she never has to leave her home to make a great living (though her dog Gracie does require regular trips to the dog park). 

If you decide to sign up for the class starting on Thursday let me know - I'd love to compare notes with you on our experience in class.  And if you want to wait for the recap before investing your bucks, stay tuned. 

Editor's Note: Today's post is courtesy of Cathy Goodwin, PhD, copywriting guru to online businesses nationwide. I've known Cathy for 2 years now, and she calls it like she sees it - which means more $$ for you.  Check out her newsletter and teleseminars with industry experts on a variety of topics relating to your business.

Have you ever felt yourself visiting a website and losing interest almost immediately?

It’s like getting introduced to a real live person. Sometimes you immediately feel like, “Wow – I hope we can be friends.” You feel energized and eager to set up a date.

But other times you exchange cool handshakes and go on your way, not even curious to learn more.

Like attractive strangers, beautiful websites can claim our attention long enough to say, “Hello.”

But after the “wow, it’s gorgeous” reaction has passed, your website visitors move into the exploration stage. One of the dangers of the exploration stage is to lose your readers before they get past the opening paragraph.

You lose readers who feel they haven’t established an emotional connection with you. It’s like meeting a gorgeous date who doesn’t seem to have enough energy to maintain a conversation. You find yourself yawning and you’re eager to escape.

Signs of Weary Websites

One sure sign of a limp, tired website: a big welcome mat. When you say, “Welcome” or “Greetings,” you think you’re being a gracious host.

But visitors know they’re welcome. After all, you bought a domain name and paid for web hosting. You promoted yourself to attract visitors. So why wouldn’t they be welcome?

Other signs of a Weary Website include:

- Focusing on you and your process instead of how you deliver client benefits

- Using abstract words, like “leadership” and “next level”

- Telling visitors how great you are instead of sharing your success stories.

What To Do

Here are a few suggestions for waking up a Wimpy, Weary Website.

Open with a powerful headline that signals to clients, “I feel your pain.”

What are your clients struggling to achieve? That’s the first draft of your headline.

(2) Beef up your benefits.

A sales letter targeting women promised:

“Learn how to view overwhelm as a blessing, not a curse.”

That’s not bad but let’s try:

“Discover why women's brains are hard-wired for time management (so you gain hours every day from a special kind of multi-tasking).”

(3) Step out on the edge to make a connection.

Have you ever visited the websites of the top copywriters? Some use language that would make Tony Soprano blush.

Are you offended?

No problem. You’re not the target market. But these copywriters are connecting very deeply to those who are.

Your visitors connect when you speak their language. Inevitably, one market’s native tongue seems like a foreign language to another market.

When you connect deeply with basketball fans, you might turn off baseball and soccer fans. You’ll probably lose those who think ESPN is a network for psychics who take ESP seriously. But the die-hard hoops fans will dig in and want to learn more.

Connecting with visitors will charge your website with energy. You’ll motivate your target market members to take action, signing up for your freebies and who knows? Maybe they will even rouse themselves to click on a “buy” button.

Now I’d like to offer you free access to 2 special Reports:

Secrets of Websites that Really Attract Clients and Browsers to Buyers. You can download them for free when you subscribe to the Copy-Cat Ezine here.

I also invite you to come join my free teleseminars, the Cat Chats, here.

http://www.copy-cat-copywriting.com.

Can you update and change your own website?  Do you even have a website?

Never fear!  It has never been easier or cheaper to have your own website. Over the next few weeks we will be discussing the do-it-yourself options out there so you can decide what works best for you. 

If you can't update your own website, you will always be at the mercy of a web developer who may or may not have the time to make the urgent changes you need right away.  While that may be okay for some people, I'm betting it is not an ideal situation for most of you.

Today's topic is SquareSpace, which is the website platform I use.  SquareSpace is more than just a website builder; it allows you to manage your content easily, host communities, easily add a blog, and includes hosting.  I spent about 2 hours building my initial website and then tweaked it a bit over the next several weeks.  This is in comparison to my old website, which required that I learn CSS and spend dozens of hours building and revising (and even losing a couple of times!). 

Take the free tour here. 

A few tips I have learned about SquareSpace:

• Design your website structure on paper first with plain old boxes and connecting lines.  When you start building your website, start from the bottom and work your way up.  That way all the pages are in place for you to add links as you go and you won't have to go back through every page adding them when you are done.
• Make a section of hidden pages in your architecture to include the pages that will not be shown on your navigation bar, such as download pages or thank-you pages.  This makes it easy for you to keep them all straight.  You will end up with many more pages than you think you will.
  
• If you decide to customize a template, make a copy of it first. That way if you make mistakes you cannot undo you can always go back to the basic template.
  
• Because the functionality works so well, you can spend the extra time and money on a copywriter and/or logo designer to make your message more compelling.
• Be sure to use Domain Mapping, which is a fancy way of saying you will be using your own domain name.  If not, your website address will remain something like www.betsytalbot.squarespace.com.  It is very easy to change it to www.betsytalbot.com if you already have the domain name.
  
• Don't worry too much about the design until you get your basic pages built.  Then you can fine-tune to get the look you want.  Remember, done is better than perfect.
  

SquareSpace has a great tutorial and online help as you go, and the best thing is the 30-day free trial.  Yes, you heard me.  With your 30-day free trial you can test it out to see if you like it before paying the incredibly reasonable monthly fee. 

Have you tried SquareSpace?  Let me know in the comments and share your website link.

Next up, Microsoft Office Live.  Stay tuned.

"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom."

~ Jon Stewart 

Catchy title, eh?  Well, don't blame me - that credit goes to Mr. Moneyfingers, aka Chris Haddad.  Chris has a way with words (hence his business of copywriting), and he has an opinion on almost everything. 

Sure, he can be a little blunt, but I've learned to listen.  He's the one who got me to give up hourly pricing, and now he's on a mission to help us all improve our websites.

Check out his article on why your website may not be working for you and how you can change that.  It's easier than you think.