John and his wife own the site, which sells a variety of different guided journals.They haven't had much luck selling their books, so they turned to the IMC team for help
I have to say that writing in was great idea. Whenever your website has you completely stumped, the quickest way to pull yourself out of your rut is to reach out to an expert for advice.I'm pleased to offer you a helping hand.
In this site review, I'm going to focus on the following points:
1. Your business model
2. Your keyword phrases
3. Your salescopy
I hope these tips help you get your business on the right track!Now, to begin...
1. Your business model
The first thing I noticed when I looked at your site is that you're trying to sell products to completely different audiences.For example, the main product featured on your homepage is a pregnancy journal. But you also sell an engagement journal on the same site. And you have a couple of pages with links to affiliate sites -- for people who are looking to buy baby products, as well as people shopping for wedding products.Plus, you're also trying to sell home security systems on your site.
Online, this "something for everyone" approach simply doesn't work. I strongly urge you to set up a different dedicated site to promote each of your main products (e.g., your pregnancy journal and your wedding planner).
You'll have more success if you laser target your audience and speak directly to their specific needs, rather than muddying your message by trying to appeal to too many different people at once.(Then, once you start making some sales, you can stay in touch with your two main customer groups via email and promote different affiliate products to them over time.)
A good principle to follow is:
one problem + one solution = one website.
If you use one site to sell too many things to too many people, you'll end up selling to no one.
2. Your keyword phrases
One of the first things I do when checking out a website is look at its source code to see what keywords and phrases it's optimized for. After all, your keywords are the "key" to your success with the search engines.
I was pleased to see you do have keywords inserted into your meta tags (it's a basic search engine optimization technique that not everyone knows).
However, the cluster of words and phrases in your keyword meta tag is far too broad to be effective.
Your keywords include words like pregnancy, journal, and wedding. Individually, these topics don't really have much in common. And bundling them all together in your meta tags is going to dilute your ranking in the search engines.Plus, the keywords themselves are far too general.
If you do a search on "pregnancy" you get 81,700,000 results. And a search on "journal" yields 554,000,000 results! There's no point optimizing your site for keywords that have such overwhelming competition.
Instead, you need to find keywords that are far more focused and speak directly to your target market's needs.
For example -- and this is just off the top of my head -- phrases like "memory problems during pregnancy" or "how to celebrate my pregnancy" should get you a far more targeted audience for your pregnancy journals than simply, "pregnancy."But are these actually phrases people type into the search engines? I don't know... That's for you to find out. It's research time!Conduct some keyword research on Wordtracker (
http://imc.wordtracker.com) to see exactly what phrases people are typing into the search engines in order find a solution to the problem YOUR product solves.(E.g., how to remember pregnancy, how to celebrate pregnancy, how to cope with pregnancy memory problems.)
Visit popular pregnancy forums, blogs, and chat groups. See if people really are talking about these problems -- and if so, what language they're using to describe them.THAT'S the language you should be using in your salescopy.Which brings us to our next point...
3. Your salescopy
People go online to search for information related to a problem they have. Your keyword research will show you exactly which problem your market is trying to solve -- and the specific phrases they're using to describe it.
Now it's time to put those phrases to work in your salescopy.You have to show visitors your site offers a solution to their problem. And you have to do it RIGHT AWAY.That's why you need a large, easy-to-read, very clearly defined headline at the top of your site.
It should be the first thing people see when they arrive at your site, and it needs to present their problem -- and promise a solution -- in an attention-grabbing way.(Also, your headline shouldn't be part of an image, as it is now. It should be text, like the rest of the copy on your site.
This allows the search engine spiders to crawl it -- which is important, because the search engines place a lot of importance on the text you've got in your headline tags.)
If you discover that your market is mostly looking for information on how to cope with memory problems during pregnancy, your headline might be something like this:
Do You Have "Pregnancy Brain"?
Discover how you can hold on toYour memories of this once-in-a-lifetime experience
And recall every "miracle moment"for decades to come
No matter HOW forgetful you are right now!
Other phrases you might want to work into your salescopy (either in the headline or elsewhere) include...
"Pregnancy is a magical experience you'll want to remember for the rest of your life.
But if you don't keep a record of your experience, you're at risk of losing those precious memories forever!"
"It's a known fact that when you're pregnant, your memory is AWFUL, due to all the crazy hormonal changes your body is experiencing.
If you don't write your experiences down, you'll forget them -- and never be able to recapture them."
"Your body is going through amazing changes right now... and you need to keep track of them! The "While You Were Waiting" pre-birth journal makes it easy for you record important medical information that will help you AND your baby for years to come."
"Plus, you can write down the time of your doctor's appointments, so you never miss a single one. It's so important for you to keep all this information in one convenient place!"
"It's not just for you -- it's for your baby. It helps answer their most important questions, "Who am I?" "Where do I come from?"
"Imagine sitting with your child one day and sharing the story of their pre-birth life with them. It's the beginning of the relationship, an essential part of the bonding process with your unborn child."
(Note that these phrases all talk about your product in terms of its BENEFITS, not its FEATURES.)
In your copy, your wife also needs to explain who she is and why she's the perfect person to offer this product.
For example, was SHE ever pregnant? Did she suffer from horrible "pregnancy brain" and worry that she'd lose the most precious memories of the whole experience?Did writing things down in a journal solve that problem?
Over time -- and several pregnancies, perhaps? -- did she perfect a style of journaling that made it easy for her to record all the important information in a way that made it easy to access?
A story like this will show your visitors that you and your wife can relate to their problem, and will make you seem far more credible.Also, you have to include testimonials on your page! People need to see real words from real people, explaining how your product has made their lives better.John, I know you said you haven't had many customers yet.
But you can easily get testimonials by giving your product away for free to friends and acquaintances (or people you meet online, at pregnancy forums, blogs, or chat groups).
Simply send them a copy and ask for some feedback in exchange.
Finally, your copy needs to include a strong call to action that compels your visitors to buy.In your case, you have a definite advantage. Your product comes with built-in urgency -- your audience's clock is ticking! They're going to have that baby -- and the longer they hesitate to buy your pre-birth journal, the more their memories slip away, never to be recaptured.
(And don't forget the P.S. at the end of your letter. It should restate your main benefits or emphasize the urgency angle.)
I hope that gives you enough to get you started.