Oh,
and please don’t tell me you don’t have a website (or blogsite). Have you published a book? Do you own a
business? (No matter how small – home based qualifies.) You MUST have a website.
Are there true naysayers anywhere who disagree? I seriously doubt it.
It
doesn’t really matter how many pages you maintain because the top five viewed
are generally the most important. Why? For whatever reason – your marketing,
backlinks, their popular searchability – interest in their hype or content has
driven people to them. As such, they are your site’s foundation.
Good
for you! Enticing people to your website is difficult. Of course, keeping them there and ensuring
they click on your Buy Buttons is even trickier. But as an editor, I know one
element of your website that once created is often neglected in updates, and
just might be the biggest cause to losing your visitors’ interest.
I can just smell the
wheels turning in your head …
If
you’re thinking poor design and layout, you’re partly right. However, as you’ve
likely heard at some point, “content is king.” True or not, today’s ruminations are less about content and more
about – oh come on, you knew where I was going with this – editing! All
the pretty words in the dictionary won’t impress anyone if they’re spelled
wrong.
Where
are the errors lurking, unnoticed by you or your staff? Static pages. What are
static pages? I am not talking strictly about
“static pages” vs.dynamic pages in website building – by definition perhaps I should say "static text"; dynamic pages can be created and ignored for lengthy periods, as well.
The lurking though, is generally on your static pages that are created, posted or uploaded, and "out of sight, out of mind"; sometimes for years. Admit it – you have web pages with text that is rarely – if ever – updated. All websites have them; a few examples include the “about” page, perhaps a set of company history pages, your standard services, and your contact information.
The lurking though, is generally on your static pages that are created, posted or uploaded, and "out of sight, out of mind"; sometimes for years. Admit it – you have web pages with text that is rarely – if ever – updated. All websites have them; a few examples include the “about” page, perhaps a set of company history pages, your standard services, and your contact information.
What
you have to say must be of extreme importance to your site visitors, just to
get them there. But its content must also be presented properly – no typos,
glaring words out of context, general poor writing – otherwise, you’ve wasted
your time and money drawing them in. Not only do errors matter ... size matters.
A
typo or two for instance, is tolerable to most visitors. However, three or more on one page (or – I've seen it – in one paragraph)
shows sizable sloppiness, and if you’re careless with the quality of your website then
how can they trust that your service, product, or advice is of value?
What are your
most-viewed site pages?
Since
August is at its sweaty end, today I reviewed my Penchant for Penning stats
for the month. The pages with the highest number of hits in order:
The
first four were no-brainers – ‘tis the same with most websites. However, my
white paper about the “three Es of news releases”: energy, efficiency and
effectiveness, took me by surprise.
Since
I recently revised my home page I wasn’t toooo concerned about it; same with the
business services and I had also spiffed up the about page. But I don’t believe
I’ve reviewed the contact page or the three Es page since I first created them.
What if … ?
If errors lurk on my pages, I'm not alone. As
an editor I can’t help but mentally edit everything I read. It’s a curse or a
gift – you choose – I can’t. Over the past few years I’ve done more than make
mental notes on some of the sites I’ve visited. Just for fun (?) I started a
list.
Do
any of you recognize these blatant blunders? Yes, they still have not been
corrected and some are more than four years old!
April 2008 and today on a chiropractor’s about page:
… walk, run and play sports again.In addition, … He practiced
applied kineisiology. … attained through
chiropractic and kiniesiology … Maintaining
the bodies flow of
energy is everything.
All of these errors are in one
paragraph; in order: no space between sentences; spelling; spelling again;
should be “body’s”; and the spelling issue – which is it – “ei” or “ie”?
Neither! It’s spelled kinesiology.
June
2008 and today on a government archive page:
Until
January 1, 1820, the U.S. Federal Government did not require require captains or
masters of vessels to present a passenger list to U.S. officials. Thus, as a
general rule, …
Redundancy is common and easily
overlooked.
January
2009 and today on an information page of author services:
You¹re are the author.
What you need is …
Should read: “You are the author.” Not
a great way to sell your services.
June
2012 on a press release distribution
site:
You
dont need to be a expert write to draft a
press release.
But you do need to be an expert
writer if you are trying to sell that service.
And
the list goes on. I am happy to report that in reviewing sites for this
article, several had cleaned up their act or, ahem, disappeared altogether. I
wonder why?
With each new visitor
your flaws grow bigger, and bigger …
Isolating
these errors make them appear larger than they really are (driving pun
intended). Or does it? Every day their glaring errors slap hundreds, possibly thousands
of potential buyers or clients in the face … some won’t care … do you want to
take that chance?
For
most authors and small business owners, these are the pages with highest
traffic:
Home
page
About
Us
Contact
Us
Services
Testimonials
Ready
to fix the flaws in your website? First check out your site stats. Which five
pages attract the highest number of visitors? If you do not have access to a website statistics program, just begin with
the pages noted above.
Go
now. Start with them, especially if they’re static pages – those that have not
been updated or reviewed in a couple of months, or a year, or … really?! I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised
to find they’re still relevant and error-free. If not, don’t despair – you’re not
alone and you’ve taken an active step that could result in more business.
Challenge! Remember the pages
from my site I listed above? I’ll give a free 4,800-word editing service*
valued at $100+ to the first person who contacts me with a verified typo from
one of those pages. That’s how much I value my site visitors and my reputation.
Three runners-up will receive a free signed copy of my book, Blast from Your Past! Rock & Roll Radio DJs: the First Five Years 1954-1959.
($11.95 value)
I
have not reviewed or touched the website pages since I learned their order in the stats
list this morning (and yes, at least one page has been "up" for a year or more without review), and will leave them alone until the September 15th
new moon. :-) See below for the
fine print stuff and how to enter.
Cheers
m’dears!
*Must be a valid typo / misspelling, not a perceived or subjective editing or grammar item on any of these PFP web pages ONLY: Home page, Business services, Contact page, About page, ThreeEs-newsrelease. Email here with your name, phone number, the page link and error, copied/pasted in the email. Winners determined by validity of error AND date received. Editing prize can be applied to several small text items or an excerpt from a larger work – or your website! Total number of words, 4,800; discount for balance on additional text. Deadline, midnight September 15, 2012.
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