Copy + Design do not = a website.
However, there is one thing that brings copy and design together. Without it, no published website will be successful.
Curious what that is? Simple: it’s strategy.
Today on the podcast, I welcome marketer Lorraine Ball to talk about the four types of questions people have in their buying journey – specifically, those questions that revolve around information, navigation, commercialization and transactions — and how we can ensure our websites answer those questions.
Here’s exactly what Lorraine and Erin have to say about how your website can answer your leads’ questions during their buying journey
- What the first thing people are doing in their buyer journey and how you can “meet” them in that moment
- How to determine where your product or services falls in your ideal client’s buying journey
- Whether your product or service creates a longer or shorter research period
- How people search for answers to their needs or problems
- How the information you create paired with the navigation you provide in your website design or SEO helps move leads through the decision-making part of their buying journey
- What on your website will help your leads as they’re doing comparison shopping
- If service providers (and product-based businesses) should consider sharing competitors or referral partners with leads
- How reviews, testimonials, and case studies can help your leads making buying decisions
- Where the answers to transaction-related questions belong on your website
- How to search your own website or do a website audit to determine the type of questions your leads may have
- What search platforms can tell you about your lead’s questions and the answers you need to provide
Quotes about how your website can help (or hurt!) your client’s buying journey from Lorraine and Erin
- “If you are are trying to get noticed, and you want people to find you at the beginning of their buying journey, you have to create information that will answer those questions.” – Lorraine Ball
- “So we all like to think that there is this one ideal client that is perfectly aware, perfectly ready to buy. But I always joke with people, you know, if you look at a car dealership, do they only sell minivans that they’re targeting to soccer moms? No. Do they only sell midlife crisis convertibles? No.” – Erin Ollila
- “Pretty words will do well. The message will do you well. But if you do not strategically move people and navigate people throughout your site to show them the information they need, where to go to get that, how to make that purchase when they are ready and primed, [they won’t buy]. ” – Erin Ollila
- “When somebody comes to your website, you need to be late night television host, they get to the bottom of the page, you’re like, Oh, don’t go yet. We’ve got more.” – Lorraine Ball
- “Marketing is like a science. But when I say that, I do not mean if you put chemical, a and chemical B into a test tube, this exact thing will happen. What I mean is we make hypotheses, we test them, we gather data, we adjust, and we just keep going.” – Erin Ollila
- “If you are talking to a copywriter or website designer, and they’re not trying to help you make those [website] decisions before working with them…they’re not the right person for you. You want someone who can think strategically from the get go.” – Erin Ollila
- “I have a group of friends and we started walking 20 years ago. And every Saturday morning, some of us walk. And we have firmly decided that there is no problem that a group of smart women can’t solve in five miles.” – Lorraine Ball
Lorraine’s homework assignment encourages you to find out what your leads are searching for
Have you searched your website to determine what your leads would find if they were looking for answers? If not, go do it! If you have, turn to different search platforms to see what type of questions your leads may have that you could potentially answer on your own website.
Other resources mentioned in this episode
Episode 025: How to Make the Best Website Investment with Katie O’Brien
Episode 026: How to Audit Your Own Website
Learn more about your guest expert, Lorraine Ball
After spending too many years in Corporate America, Lorraine said goodbye to the bureaucracy, glass ceilings and bad coffee and channeled into her passion of helping small business owners succeed.
Today, this entrepreneur, author, professional speaker, and host of a weekly marketing podcast, More than a Few Words, brings creative ideas, practical tips, and decades of real-world experience to every conversation. As the founder of the Digital Toolbox Club she helps business owners use internet marketing to grow. And in her spare time, she loves to travel, and take photos.
Connect with Lorraine
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LinkedIn
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Learn more about your host, Erin Ollila
Erin Ollila believes in the power of words and how a message can inform – and even transform – its intended audience. She graduated from Fairfield University with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and went on to co-found Spry, an award-winning online literary journal.
When Erin’s not helping her clients understand their website data or improve their website copy, you can catch her hosting the Talk Copy to Me podcast and guesting on shows such as Profit is a Choice, The Driven Woman Entrepreneur, Go Pitch Yourself, and Counsel Cast.
Stay in touch with Erin Ollila, SEO website copywriter:
- Learn more about Erin’s done-for-you website copy services if you want to skip the work and hire a professional copywriter to do it for you https://erinollila.com/website-copy
- Reach out her on Instagram, Facebook or on LinkedIn to talk more about showing up authentically online
