Content Marketing Case Study: The Whole Seed Catalog
This week's content marketing case study focuses on an excellent example of content marketing: The Whole Seed Catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
If you're a gardener, then you probably know about Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This seed company, founded by Jere Gettle in 1998, sells heirloom, non-GMO, organic seeds. Sounds simple, right?
Their marketing, however, is anything but simple. The 2016 Whole Seed Catalog is like a symphony of excellent content marketing in one gorgeous, can't-stop-looking at it package.
Here's what this company's content marketing gets right:
- The catalog tells a story. From the first page, where the reader is introduced to Jere and his family and their life's mission to preserve historic seeds to the stories from the seed growers around the world, we're drawn into this amazing global community of gardeners. It made me want to run out and start gardening immediately even if it was only January.
- The pictures are gorgeous. The cover looks at first glance like gemstones stacked one on top of the other, but it's actually a close-up photograph of corn. CORN! Beautiful, gorgeous, multicolored Indian corn. Inside, each plant is featured in color photographs that also capture the people who raised the seeds.
- Throughout the entire seed catalog are sprinkled well-written, in-depth stories that support the Baker Creek story. These stories or articles explain what GMO seeds are and why the company believes they aren't good for the environment. Other stories share the history of various plant varieties or stories of the people who grow them.
- Each item's description includes all the relevant information you'd expect to find in a catalog, such as item number, price, growing season, cultural information, etc.
- The catalog's layout is clean and easy to read.
- The paper quality is excellent.
The catalog isn't free. I received a free copy because I am a member of the Garden Writers Association, but the cover price of this book is $9.95. I'd say it is well worth it. I actually brought my copy with me to the salon while getting my highlights done. As any woman will attest, that means hours of styling, coloring and drying...and I was engrossed in my seed catalog. Can you imagine reading a seed catalog so intently?
Content Marketing Tips
All in all, the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog gets an A+ from me for its expert content marketing.
Great content marketing hits the sweet spot between informing customers about products and services, entertaining and engaging them, and yes, selling products. Some content marketers talk about the undersell or soft sell, and some pretend that they don't want their content to sell anything at all. While content marketing isn't direct marketing (it's not about the direct sale), your content marketing programs should always support the consumer's choice to buy your products or services. Information is the key to helping people move along the decision ladder, ultimately choosing YOUR company to do business with among the many companies available.
That's where the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog hits all the right points. It's incredibly informative while simultaneously being entertaining, and that's not easy to do in a market saturated with seeds. Seeds aren't particularly high margin items, and it can be difficult to invest in marketing them. But because garden seeds are everywhere for consumers to purchase, you've got to make customers understand why your garden seeds are different or better than other companies'. And that's where Baker Creek gets it right.
They are selling a different product. They invest time, money and resources into finding heirloom seeds - seeds passed down through generations of gardeners, families and communities. These seeds are free from genetic tinkering by humans and are open-pollinated. Some are said to be more nutritious or tasty than commercially grown varieties. Others are quite difficult to find among the large commercial growing operations. Baker Creek tells a unique story, and because they tell it well, consumers understand what sets them apart and why they should shop from their catalog.
Would You Like Your Company Features as a Case Study?
I'd love to share YOUR company's content marketing case study here. Please contact me and share samples of your firm's content marketing program if you'd like to be featured on the Seven Oaks Consulting content marketing blog.
Five Reasons Why Your Business Needs Bloggers
Do you have a business blog? If not, why not? According to HubSpot, business who run a blog receive 67 percent more leads than those who do not. I don't know about you, but I'd sure like to get 67 percent more leads than my competitors.
Heather over at the Virginia Bloggers Club (of which I'm a member) has written a great post, The Five Reasons Why Your Business Needs Bloggers. A good blog can generate leads, improve your search engine rank, and drive more leads, traffics and visits to your website at a minimal cost.
Should Freelance Writers Complete Free Test Articles?
As a freelance writer, I'm often asked to complete a test assignment. Sometimes companies offer compensation, sometimes they don't. Here's my answer to such a request, and why.
Why Freelance Writers Should NEVER Write a Free Test Article
Last week, I submitted an application to a company seeking a content writer. A friend passed the ad on to me, and the company looked interesting and well-established. The ad didn't say how much each article assignment would eventually pay, but the professional tone of the advertisement was encouraging. So too was the fact that I had impressive publishing credentials in exactly the space the potential client worked in - and magazine clips to submit on the exact topics he wanted someone to write for. It seemed like a slam-dunk, a home run.
The potential client responded within 24 hours. "Congratulations! You've made the first cut. You're among 25 writers we're considering for this vacancy."
You've narrowed it down to...25? Are you kidding me? Already I had that prickling feeling on the back of my neck that warns me a potentially bad situation is looming. But the next paragraph clinched it for me.
"In order for us to select the best writer, we require you to complete the attached questionnaire and submit two sample articles. Each article will be keyword-rich and 1,000 words. Submit your articles within 24 hours to us at..."
How long does it take a professional writer to research keywords and topics, then write a really solid 1,000 word article? I would say at least one hour per article. So essentially, this company wanted two free hours of work from each of their 25 potential writers. Then, and only then, would one lucky writer be chosen to work with them. And by the way, they still didn't mention how much they planned to pay.
So I emailed them back and politely let them know that while I would be willing to complete a test, my rate for completing such a test is X, and I accepted PayPal and bank check.
They seemed absolutely flummoxed by my response. I received another email back, letting me know that it was standard practice within their company to ask applicants to complete tests. Writers, designers, computer programmers, whoever was going to work with them, they wanted a lengthy test.
Now while I can see such a test for a full-time position, for freelance work it is absurd. It is especially absurd when you consider that I had submitted published magazine articles on the EXACT topic requested in their test article.
I declined to write the test, and explained my reasons to them in this manner.
"Would you ask a lawyer to prepare a free legal brief for you so that you can assess his skills? Ask a physician to commit two hours at no charge to you so that you can assess his surgical skills? Ask a dentist to install a free filling and a crown so you can test his skills? No. So why are you asking writers to give you two free hours of their time?"
Their only response was to tell me that this was their standard method of assessing freelancers and so far, no one had complained but me. Well, I have news for them. The reason they haven't heard complaints yet is because the better writers packed up their keyboards and went elsewhere.
The sad fact is that many writers probably DID complete their test assignments. What guarantee do we have that the company won't use the two free articles produced as part of the test? None. Just their word that they have given the same writing prompts to all 25 writers and therefore couldn't use the resulting articles. After all, no one would want to publish, let alone read, 25 articles on the same topic. Right? Well, maybe...
Now I am not saying that this particular firm intended to get free content. It has been my experience, however, that companies who want lengthy free consultations or to "hear your thoughts" on their pressing problem before they hire you as a consultant are hoping to get free work out of you. Why companies think it is okay to do this with consultants and creative freelancers, such as designers, writers, photographers and others, is beyond me, but we (the creative types) do seem to get hit with this more frequently than say, other white-collar professions.
As a freelance writer, my experience is simply this: the best companies I work with are the ones who paid me a fair rate for a simple test assignment. Many paid me to participate in short online training courses to learn the ropes for their particular clients or content platforms. They paid me for my time.
If you are a freelance writer and a company asks you to complete a big free project, ask yourself (and yes, ask them too) why. Why do they want a test assignment? Offer clips of your work, links to it online, or a short paragraph if they truly want to assess your writing skills.
But don't give your time and talents away for free. You're worth more than that.
No, freelance writers should not complete test articles at no charge.
This article was written by Jeanne Grunert, president of Seven Oaks Consulting, and "The Marketing Writer". Jeanne is a 20+ year veteran of countless meetings which could have been handled by phone calls or emails. Her experience includes leading marketing department, writing books and magazine articles, and pushing cats off of her desk. Jeanne does not write free test assignments but she's happy to give you a satisfaction guarantee on your first project with her. If you're not happy with her writing, you're free to cancel and go elsewhere with no hard feelings and not a penny owed to her. For more information, visit www.marketing-writer.com, Jeanne's website.
Five Things Your Freelance Writer Wants You to Know
These are the five things that the freelance writer you've hired would like you to know but is probably too shy to tell you.
- Provide clear project instructions: When you're working with a freelancer, time is money. Every moment spent working on your project is a moment not spent working on another paying gig. So please respect your freelance writer, graphic designer, web designer and other freelancer's time. Provide clear instructions, including expectations, deadlines, and background information, at the start of the project. Your freelance writer will thank you.
- Stop tweaking: Most freelance writers, myself included, are happy to make edits. We are not happy when you begin sending the same document back to us multiple times with different edits. If a word choice, phrase, or product detail was correct in version 1, it should be correct in version 3. At some point, you have to stop tweaking a document and, to paraphrase Frozen, let it go.
- Read every word: That said, read every word. Every. Single. Word. Read and double-check telephone numbers, email addresses, URLs, product SKUs and more. "But," you protest, "isn't that what I'm paying my writer to do?" Yes but your freelance writer is still a human being. Copywriters get tired, hungry, and interrupted a lot. Mistakes happen. You are the final approval person on any project, so check and double-check all of the copy that your freelance writer sends to you.
- Don't be surprised when your freelancer works for someone else. They aren't employees. They will write for other clients, oftentimes on the same topics. That's because freelance writers, marketing writers and other copywriters gain a reputation for writing about specific subjects, and as such, they're called upon by others to write on that topic. You wouldn't be shocked to find that the man painting your house is painting another house down the street, nor would you insist he sign an exclusive contract with you not to paint any other house on the block. By the same token, however, you do expect discretion; if he hears you discussing your medication on the telephone with your doctor, he shouldn't blab to the neighbors about it when he paints their house. Freelance writers should ALWAYS write unique copy for each client. They nearly always write for many clients in the same industry, but recycling text is a no-no. Expect freelancers to freelance...it's what we do. Otherwise, we'd be your employee. And you'd have to provide me with paid vacation and medical benefits.
- Pay promptly, and if paying by PayPal, absorb the fees. Unless you and your freelancer have agreed on specific net terms, payment is due upon completion of the project and receipt of the freelancer's invoice. Most freelancers struggle with an uneven cash flow, and they appreciate it when clients pay promptly. Another thing they really appreciate is clients who pay them the full amount by absorbing transaction fees in PayPal. Most freelance writers, myself included, accept payments via PayPal. I agree on my fees with clients as the NET amount I expect to receive. When they pay via PayPal and I am suddenly socked with PayPal fees, it's short-changing me. I always appreciate it when clients pay me the gross amount and absorb the fees on their end. It is thoughtful and considerate of their freelance writers.
Your freelance copywriter, marketing writer and other freelance professionals are part of your team. They may work from home with a cat draped across the keyboard or they make work parked at a table in the local library or coffee shop. No matter where they hang their shingle, they should be treated as professionals. Just as they treat your firm like a valued client, so too should you treat them like the valued team members they are.
If you are ready to hire a professional, experienced and diligent freelance writer, contact me today. I have over 25 years of experience as a writer and marketing manager. I specialize in long-form content for SEO projects, such as longer online articles, guides, papers and more. Visit Marketing-Writer Jeanne Grunert for details.
Retention and Loyalty Marketing Strategies
Today on my Blog Talk Radio Show, "Words That Work," I'll be speaking about retention and loyalty marketing strategies. In the world of direct marketing, there are three phases of direct marketing: acquisition, retention and loyalty building. I like to apply these concepts to the world of content marketing.
Most businesses spend a tremendous amount of time, money and attention to the acquisition phase of the business cycle. They emphasize bringing new customers and new business into the firm, and spend princely sums on wooing new customers in the door. The problem with that model is that eventually you do run out of new customers. Worse still, it's difficult to bring in new customers if you haven't put any emphasis on retention or loyalty-building strategies.
Your best marketing is conducted not by some fancy advertising or marketing agency, but by satisfied customers. Consider the following statistics, all gleaned from 7 Surprising Facts About Customer Referrals:
- 5% of new business comes from referrals – New York Times
- 92% of respondents trusted referrals from people they knew – Nielsen
- People are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend – Nielsen
Given these statistics, focusing on retention (keeping a customer for the long term) and loyalty (keeping long-time customers happy and eager to be your "brand advocates") makes good sense.
Encouraging Happy, Loyal Customers and Brand Advocates
Over the course of my 20+ year career as a marketing executive, I've found that the following 10 ideas and concepts will help any business grow their base of happy, loyal customers, customers who are eager to become your brand advocates. See if you can implement any of the following ideas:
- Reward existing customers first before offering deals to new customers: Satellite TV and cell phone companies are notoriously BAD at doing this. They offer great discounts to new customers but treat their existing customers badly, raising rates, hiking fees, and charging for every little thing. Instead of giving great discounts to your new customers, reward your longest and most loyal customers with surprise savings. Waive fees for them. Give them coupons, discounts, special gifts not available to your new customers. Let them know you value their loyalty.
- Surprise and delight your long-time customers: This is a corollary to item one, above. Surprise and delight your long-time customers. Waive a monthly service charge. Give them one thing free.
- Say thank you: This may sound corny, but in an age of fast-paced digital everything, an old fashioned, hand-written thank you note may really surprise and delight existing customers. This is especially good for service-based businesses. Let customers know you DO appreciate them.
- Ask for their opinions and ideas: Engage your long-time clients in customer panels, surveys and discussions. Call them and ask them what you can be doing better. They will be flattered and honored that you are asking for their opinion!
- Change only what's broken; don't change what you are doing right. You're obviously doing something right if you have customers loyal to your company for many months or years. Don't noodle around with what's working. You can add product or service extensions, but avoid the "new Coke" trap and don't mess with what's working. People DO like classic things and don't always crave the new!
- If you do add something new, offer it to your long-time clients first: If you do add a product or service, let the old timers know first. Make them feel like they are part of an inner circle of advocates by releasing new product information to them first.
- Go the extra mile: Set up a special hotline for your long-time clients. If they have a problem, prioritize your customer service by loyalty, giving special attention to customers who have been loyal to your company for a long time.
- Send a token gift: A small gift to say thank you may be appreciated by your customers.
- Share information freely with them: Add rich content to your website that continually strives to help your customers solve problems, learn new things, or interact with your brand. Make the content free. In the long run, you will reap new sales from existing customers that will more than pay off your investment in long-form, rich content.
- Integrity builds loyalty and trust: When all is said and done, it is professional integrity that builds loyalty and trust for your brand. All the free gifts in the world won't make up for a company that misses appointments or deadlines, sells products that break, or doesn't live up to its brand promise. Make your word and keep your word to build long-term loyalty.
This post was written by Jeanne Grunert, president of Seven Oaks Consulting and author of Pricing Your Services: 21 Tips for More Profit. Please feel free to share a link to this content via your favorite social media outlet. Thank you.
Online Marketing Trends
Today on the Words That Work podcast on Blog Talk Radio, we'll be discussing visual-based content marketing and storytelling: using photos, images, and videos to tell your brand story. Image-based content marketing remains a hot topic, and a good image-based marketing campaign can really boost your visibility, brand presence, and organic search engine optimization.
While researching a few facts for my show today, I came across a great article I wanted to share. Online Marketing Trend Are Moving Towards Visual Assets by Amber Alvi offers excellent insights and links to good content marketing resources. Find it on the Online Marketing Institute.
The podcast of today's "Words That Work" show will be available for all to listen to free at any time. Visit the Words That Work show page on Blog Talk Radio for more of my internet and content marketing related podcasts.
Image Optimization SEO
What is image optimization for SEO? It’s using various textual aspects of your online images to make your site more attractive to the search engines seeking to match online content to searcher queries.
You may know that search engines cannot “see” images. They “read” text; the words, phrases and letters used on your web pages, in your headlines, and tagged to images and pages throughout your site. They also use a variety of other on and off-page factors to determine how well your webpage content matches a user’s query.
Many bloggers note that visitors find their website from Google image search. I’ll never forget the time that my husband was walking out in our yard and was stung by a strange-looking caterpillar. We ran upstairs to the computer and began searching online to find out if the sting was poisonous, and how to treat it at home if it wasn’t. Although our description of the insect was fine, Google’s image search feature helped us narrow down the culprit. We clicked through from the image, not from the search term, to read the article. Many of your readers may find your website content or blog posts using this method, too - although hopefully, they weren’t bitten by a stinging caterpillar. (Hubby was fine, by the way. It was no worse than a bee sting.)
Image Optimization for SEO
Among the many factors used for search engine optimization, images are often the most frequently overlooked. That’s a shame, because by tweaking your images so that they’re better tagged with keyword phrases that match your site contents, you can improve your site’s visibility and traffic. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence from members of a blogging group that I belong to that they’ve doubled, even tripled their site visits by simply using these tips to boost their image’s search engine appeal. Image optimization for SEO really works!
The following tips can be implemented immediately by you or your graphic designed to boost use images for SEO more effectively on your website or blog:
- Use appropriate and relevant keyword phrases to name your images. I’m often guilty of this mistake - I forget to rename my images, and end up with uploads that have the creative moniker of “IMG 123” or something like that. If you’re guilty of such mistakes like I am, you’re missing an easy image optimization trick for SEO. Just rename your pictures so that they are tagged with relevant keywords.
- Use the “Alt” field for images, and tag that with both keywords and descriptive phrases. The ALT tags on images display text when the image won’t display for some reason. It is considered a best practice to tag your ALT fields with image descriptive phrases, but if you can tweak those phrases so that they’re reflective of keywords too, so much the better.
- Resize your images appropriately. This is a tricky bit of advice, but one that I have found useful. For certain types of content - retail sales, craft blogs, cooking blogs, gardening blogs - larger images are better, especially if they are unique and original images that you created. Larger images are more eye-catching than smaller ones and tend to be shared more frequently via social media sites such as Pinterest. You may need to test various image sizes to find the best ones for your needs.
- Make sure that all of your images serve a purpose and further your online marketing goals. Decorations are nice for parties, but every image posted to your blog or website should help you further your goal. Images can be funny, evocative, reflective or artistic, but they should be on your website to serve a purpose, and that purpose is usually to drive traffic to a site, sell products, or brand your company with its chosen image. Make sure that all your images are working for, not against you.
- One last word about images: learn the legalities about using images online. Blog Legally has some great information on the legalities of online image use.
Take time today to tweak your images. I’d love to hear from readers on how image optimization for SEO may have helped your website traffic.
© 2015 by Jeanne Grunert writing for Seven Oaks Consulting. Like this post? Contact us about our content marketing writing services, marketing consulting, and marketing training and seminars for business owners.
5 Project Planning Tips to Keep All Stakeholders Happy
These 5 project planning tips may not necessarily help you herd cats, but they will impress your boss once you get a stalled project up and running again or get a project back on track.
As a marketing manager, you’ll often be tasked with project planning and project management. Effective project managers are also good project planners. They know how to ask for, and gain, consensus. They know how to manage diverse talent and opposite personalities to get the job done. Part diplomat and part shepherd, they ensure that projects run smoothly from start to finish.
To make your new marketing projects run more smoothly this year, use these five project planning tips written especially for marketing managers.
Project Planning Tips for Marketing Managers
- Always start with the end goal in mind, and keep the goal visible and quantifiable. Without a clear-cut goal, projects tend to flounder. People lose interest. By creating a clearly defined and quantifiable goal for every marketing project you undertake, you’ll proceed with the end point in mind at all time. I used to write goals on big sheets of paper and post them at the front of the room during project meetings so that we could always point back to the goal when someone at the table agreed or disagreed with an idea presented. If the goal is visible and clear from the start, it helps focus the project and keep it on track.
- Identify key stakeholders, and then ask those stakeholders if they think everyone is at the table. Allow them to delegate someone else if they don’t have the time to work on the project or if they feel someone in their department is better qualified to work on the project. This also helps secure buy-in for the project, an important component for success.
- Use cost-benefit analysis or ROI to determine BEFORE you start a project if it’s valuable, useful and important enough to merit the team’s time. Show these figures to the team at the kickoff meeting or during the buy-in phase to make your case that they need to be part of the project. Not every great idea merits follow-through, and a cost-benefit analysis will help you weed out the time wasters from the potential projects on the marketing department’s slate.
- Scope out the project carefully, and include measurable milestones with details of who will achieve them on the team, how, and by when. Keep a running list of these details and follow up with team members frequently to ensure they’re on track.
- Communicate first, now and always. Just when you think you’ve communicated enough about a project, someone will complain they don’t know what’s going on. Communicate up to your supervisor about the project and communicate down to all the team members so they know what’s going on. You don’t need to write War and Peace every time you need to send a project email out; a short weekly follow up meeting where each team members speaks for 1-2 minutes and updates everyone on the project’s progress is fine, or consolidate weekly update emails into a bulleted digest email to share with team members. But do make sure that both the key stakeholders and the key approvers on the team are informed of the progress of the project.
Notice something missing from the list? Project planning software. While I’m not against great project planning or project management software, it’s not on my list because with even the best software in the world, people still need to manage projects, processes and other people. And that manager is you! If you’re a marketing manager, you will learn quickly that managing projects is mostly managing people and their divergent, creative, quirky personalities.
For more tips for marketing managers and business owners who handle marketing for their companies, listen to my free weekly podcast on Blog Talk Radio, Words That Work. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter too.
This post is by Jeanne Grunert writing for Seven Oaks Consulting. Like this post? Contact us about our content marketing writing services, marketing consulting, and marketing training and seminars for business owners.
How to Create Memorable Content for Your Blog or Website
Learning how to create memorable content for your blog or website is a matter of figuring out what will stand out from the crowd. And what stands out whenever you write something is passion - passion for your subject matter, passion for your audience, passion to solve a problem your customers have.
Passion means more than slapping several exclamation points on the end of a sentence or telling folks how wonderful something is. Passion, like art, is contagious. Passion seeps through the written word and oozes from every letter, every comma, every sentence.
We disbelieve people who tell us, "I'm passionate about great customer service."
We believe them when they actually SHOW us what that looks like.
If you want to write great content for your website, articles, blog posts or social media shares, find the person in your company who is most passionate about what you do. Find the person with a passion for writing. If you can't find that person in-house, then find someone like me, someone who writes daily, who plays with words for the sheer joy of it, and who has an inquisitive sense that enables her to learn new industries and delve deeply into the nuances of your product.
Whatever you do, do it with passion. Your passion for business is what helps your online content stand out from the crowd.
5 Tips to Create a Customer Focused Website
Why This Website Wows, and 5 Tips to Make Yours Wow, Too
Five years ago, I tried to make jam for the first time. I'd received a bag full of persimmons from a neighbor and had no idea what to do with the fruit. So I opened my cookbook up and followed the recipe to make jam. Unfortunately, if you know persimmons, you know that one under ripe persimmon can spoil the entire batch of jam. I must have had several unripe persimmons, because the jam not only curdled, it tasted like fiery gasoline mixed with lemon juice. Yum, yum. I threw out the entire batch, jars and all, and swore I'd never make jam again.
Until July 4th, that is, when the wild blackberry bushes flanking my driveway yielded not one, but two quarts of luscious blackberries. I felt brave. But my cookbook didn't have a good recipe for blackberry jam! What to do? Search online for one, of course.
And what website did I stumble upon? The Ball Canning and Recipe website.
And this, my friends, is a website that WOWS - and I'll tell you exactly why, and not just because I made an awesome batch of tasty jam.
Why the Ball Canning Website Work
Here's the website: Ball Canning.
These are my top 5 reasons why this website works to acquire, retain and create loyal customers for the Ball Canning Company.
- It's super EASY to navigate. Many times I enter a website and find myself poking around odd corners of the site looking for what I need. I end up on virtual dead ends and digital alleys. With this site, everything I needed as a home cook was just one or two clicks away....easy!
- It made canning SIMPLE. I'm new at canning. This was the first time I've ever tried to make jam with blackberries. Pectin? What the heck is pectin and why do I need it? Why are there several kinds on the shelf at the grocery store and which one do I need? The Ball website seemed to anticipate my neophyte questions and answer them easily and quickly.
- The tone in the text was just right...neither too advanced to confuse me nor so simple that I felt talked down to. Instead, the copywriter made me feel like he or she was taking me under the wing and guiding me through the steps of the recipe...like I had a trusted friend in the kitchen!
- The site had handy calculators that meant I didn't have to think - the site did all the thinking for me. Plus it was fun to play around with the buttons and dream about making strawberry jam next.
- Speaking of fun, Ball makes canning your own food seem like a blast. The pictures on the website made me want to run out and buy new Ball jars - colorful ones. The entire site encouraged me to try new things and delight in my thrifty, creative canning projects.
What is the secret that makes this entire website work so well? The Ball corporation knows and understands its target audience - people like me who are new to canning.
My neighbors are country women; they grew up learning how to can food. They know intuitively how to make all sorts of tasty, delightful things. They don't need this website. They like the recipes, but the pectin converter? The explanations? That's for the likes of me, a former Manhattan executive who never learned to cook who now loves to explore home cooking and crafts.
The secret to a great website is to always keep the end user in mind. The target customer, your marketing manager might say. The entire website, from start to finish, should be about the visitor - not about you, not about your products.
Ball's site could focus on its nifty caning jars, it's useful jar lifters, or its canning products. All well and good. But that gets boring, fast.
Instead, they focus on ME and my PROBLEMS - my problems were:
- I'm new to canning and making jam.
- I'm confused about this thing called pectin.
- I only have 2 quarts of berries and the typical recipe calls for more; how do I adapt it?
- How do I convert the amounts to my smaller quantity?
- I need an easy recipe to feel successful!
YOUR KEY TAKE-AWAYS
As a business owner, you may be doing a lot of your own website work or blogging yourself. To make your website work FOR you, not against you, use these tips and tricks:
- Write up a simple visitor profile to help you imagine your typical customers. WHY does he or she come to your website?
- Now, what content can you add to HELP him or her SOLVE PROBLEMS?
- What benefits do your services offer?
- Can you provide examples, such as testimonials, of helping people who have had similar problems?
- How can you convey this through pictures (images) as well as through text?
Ball Canning does it right. Their website was a pleasure to use. I hope yours is, too.
Oh, and the jam? Delicious. Simply delicious. (Recipe is on my blog, here - Wild Blackberry Jam)
