5 Ways to Write Persuasive Web Content

By: Lisa Young, CEO & Founder of Multifamily Zone, LLC

Persuasive web content is what makes your website successful. You should use a combination of appropriately sized images and verbiage to get attention, hold it longer, and make a perfectly timed call to action. When all of these facets work together, you will have persuasive content.

You need to know your target audience, so you can design your content to persuade. Market research will tell you the kinds of people who are likely to visit your site and determine the best way to keep your visitors there long enough to convert them into prospects or residents. You need to determine just what your potential residents need and how to give it to them in a unique way that grabs and holds their attention.

Don’t make them think too hard to grasp the information they need. Gone are the days of ‘call for pricing’ – this frustrates the user as they want the information “now” to know if they want to proceed with a phone call or visit. Because visitors do not want to think too hard, here are five principles to persuade them to remain on your site long enough to potentially convert.

Make Your Message Clear

Make the most important item on your website or landing page an image or verbiage that will create a positive attitude and let the visitor know this is what you do. Tell them why they should choose your property or services over all others.

The time you have to make a lasting impression is a fraction of a second. Images speak louder than words (but, make sure they are true to form – you will lose them quickly if what they viewed on your website is not what they discover when they arrive). Don’t use superlatives or clichés. Make sure your visitors are not confused about what type of property you have.

Use Interesting Graphics

Again, first impressions will win them over or send them packing. If your site is too busy or complex, has poor navigation, slow-loading pictures, small print, or too many words, you will lose visitors’ attention. User-friendly navigation is a major visitor concern. Also, sites should be visually attractive.

Studies by Google showed that people prefer websites that are simple with a familiar type of format. You want your site to have some unique qualities, but familiarity is appealing to your visitors.

Use Images That Sell

Make sure visuals encourage them to want to take the next step. You do not want to use those first milliseconds they spend on your site on an obscure image or being overburdened by too complex a framework. Remember, they do not want to think that hard.

In spite of what you may have heard, specific colors do not make visitors buy your products. The most important color may be the open white space. Don’t try to fill up space. Keep it simple.

If your goal is to convert them, ensure a “Call to Action”, or “Register now” button. That is a good place to use a splash of color to make sure they find it easily and fulfill your objective, which is to convert this visitor into a prospect.

Got Their Attention? Keep It!

Studies show that people spend most of the time on your site “above the fold”, or closer to the top of your website. Also, since most visitors read left to right, the most important information or images should be aligned to the left.

Change things around. People like to see new things, and it makes their brains take notice. Possibly align photos and text left, then right, and back to keep the visitor engaged.

Use some filtering so visitors can find the type of information they want easily. Product images need to be large enough for details to be noticed, not in long rows of small images. People usually make decisions based on how something looks.

Your web design can help you get what you want if you use these ideas to persuade visitors, with and without words, to choose what you offer. Clarity of objective and interesting images and content, paired with a decisive call to action, can make sure your content persuades visitors to linger and to become your customer.

Have a Decisive Call to Action When the Visitor is Ready

Know what you want the visitor to do and offer that action when they have had time to get motivated. Don’t ask visitors to commit too early. When you feel the visitor has reached their highest motivation to act, that is where to place the call to action. Examples may be the floorplan page – add a ‘reserve now’ or ‘make an appointment to tour today’ button.

There a larger number of qualified vendor partners that offer solid website templates or have customized options and are well educated to assist you in your website strategy. As a marketing consultant, our team has worked with some major players for onsite property websites as well as vendor and corporate websites. Just be sure your website provider has a clear understanding of your goals and always be open to their recommendations. We choose vendor partners for their expertise and expect them to share best practices. Understand and review your analytics often, so changes can be made to enhance your website and user experience as needed.

Lisa Young, CEO & Founder of Multifamily Zone, LLC provides Marketing, Sales & Project Management Services to the property management industry. MultifamilyZone.com is all-inclusive resource, offering everything multifamily professionals need, including industry information and news, products, services, technology tools, marketing trends, training opportunities and much more! Our goal is to assist individual owners, as well as fee and national management firms in the operations of their assets. Contact Lisa at [email protected] or 650.279.9799.