Have you ever looked to see which search terms your visitors are using whilst on your site?

Using Google Analytics can ensure that you know what people are looking for whilst on your site.

Perhaps you sell a product or brand that is hard to spell, or is know by what it does as well as a specific brand or model. Think about generic terms, such as Hoover, Sellotape, Post It Notes, Kleenex, Band Aid and the many others.

What about sizes, quantities or colours? What about model names, or equivalents?

Ensuring that you know what your visitors are looking for will help you to have the right products or information available, and how else you can meet the needs of your target audience.

Depending on how popular your website is, its purpose, and how well your site is designed and built, you might be spending a fortunte on hosting.

If you are, it might be worth seeing how you can reduce the amount of bandwidth used.

Here’s what you can do:

• Are you using huge images and then resizing them?
• Have you got your CSS rules in your html pages?
• Have you got your Javascript in your html pages
• Are you still using tables for the layout of your website?
• Have you got too much content on each page?
• Have you got videos loading on your homepage?
• Have you got a Flash welcome screen movie?
• Is your site, or a particluar page  likely to become popular suddenly, or benefit from the “Digg” effect?
• Is your site seasonal, or likely to be busy on certain days of the year, or at holiday times?

By thinking ahead, and opimising your code and making your sites quick to load and easy to use, you’ll find that the amount of bandwidth used can be dramatically reduced.  Yhis means that as well as providing your visitors  with a better experience, and a more efficient way of finding what they want, your hosting costs will be less too.

If you’re an ecommerce site, you’ll need to make sure that you’re using the most appropriate hosting package. You won’t be able to afford the loss of business if your site goes down for a couple of days.

If you’re expecting lots of traffic on your website, perhaps you’re a news or fan website, or a technology site that reviews the latest gadgets, or a social networking site, or a company that’s in the news, you’ll need to make sure that your site can handle the traffic.  You won’t want visitors and potential customers or clients to get the wrong impression of your company.

It really does make sense to get the best hosting.  If you’re not sure what you need, or what it all means, then ring up the hosting company and talk to someone.

Why not take five minutes and make sure that your hosting package, and pricing structure is right for your visitors?  You’ll find all the visitor and page view information you need in Google Analytics.

The well known car lover and presenter Jeremy Clarkson once went to a boat show in order to buy a boat.  He was bombarded with information,  specifications and prices, as well as pushy sales people trying to impress.

He commented that it must be how people who aren’t “into” cars feel when they go to buy a car.

I was thinking, that it could apply to websites too.  If you’re wondering how visitors feel when they’re trying to buy from your site, why not try buying products or services that you know nothing about from a site that you find in the search engine results.

For example:

If you sell cars, why not try buying a boat or a caravan?

If you sell clothes, why not try buying sports equipment?

If you sell insurance, then choose an architect, or a solicitor

If you sell computers, why not buy a bike, or fishing tackle.

By having to choose something that you know nothing about, you”ll have to do some research, and ask around, in the same way that your potential customers do.  You’ll be finding that every other word is jargon, and you’re expected to know what it means.  You might not know the difference between 2 fishing rods, or what size frame your bike should be, or whether your can tow the caravan you’re interested in.

You’ll be able to learn lots from this sort of activity, and  make your site easier to use, and more approachable for people who don’t know what they want, or how to choose what they want.

If you find looking for fishing tackle hard, and there are lots of options, and essential accessories you need, and brands to choose from, as well as fishing bags, reels, bait and waders, how do think a first time computer buyer feels when looking on your website?  Not everyone knows about hard drives, broadband, RAM, graphics cards and so on.  People don’t want to buy a laptop, they want to be able to use websites.  They’re  probably not bothered about bus speeds, they want to know if there’s a web camera, or how easy it is to install a printer, and how many songs or videos the computer can hold.

If you find a fishing tackle site, with a “rod finder” guide, that asks lots of questions about what you’re fishing for, where you’re fishing, and how much you want to spend, you’re much more likely to be able to find your perfect fishing rod.

If you stumble across a website for a firm of solicitors that puts you at ease, then how could you make your insurance, or financial advice site as easy to use and reassuring?

What aspects of the various sites you look at could you use? What made you click on them in the first place? Did  you just look at sites or brands you already knew? Were the results what you expected?

What aspects of customer service, or the delivery details did you like? How much attention did you pay to the About Us or Mission Statement pages, and why?  What affect did the colours or fonts have on you.  What about navigation? What about the tone of the copy? What about images and  logos? Would having videos describing how to use your products, or what to look for when buying your products be beneficial to your customers? Would your customers benefit from being able to discuss their purchases or hobbies with a forum?

There are many things that you can take from this sort of activity, and by seeing things from your potential visitors and customers point of view, and understanding that not everyone shares your passion for power drills, or is as keen on koi carp as you are, you’ll be able to make your website easier to use, and the  buying experience much better.

Why not give it a try?

When thinking about who uses your site, remember to think about how and where they use it too.

Remember that not everyone will be sat at a desktop computer with a 22″ monitor.  Nowadays people will browse shopping sites, and use Facebook and Twitter on a laptop in front of the TV.   They will also be using their phone too.

If your site is for a venue, such as a restaurant, or a theatre, or maybe a theme park, or a car dealer, or even an electrical store on an out of town retail park, it’s essential that your site will work properly on a phone.

Don’t underestimate the importance of being able to find your site whilst on the move.  Think about the sort of people who will be looking for your site, and the situations they will be in.

A mother might be looking for an all night chemist with a poorly baby in the car.  A family lost on their way to a theme park after a long and hot drive on a bank holiday might need to know how to get there avoiding the motorway.  Somebody looking for a museum, or a zoo, a football ground or a stately home or an art gallery might need to check opening hours, or where the best car parks are.

If your site does give directions, then make them useful.  Not everybody knows road names or numbers, and just because the road name is listed on the map, it doesn’t mean that there is a street name sign at the junction.

Why not think about using local landmarks, or prominent buildings.  It’s much easier to suggest that drivers follow signs to Somewhere, and then take the turning after the Pub, than it is to tell them to follow the A123 for 2.3 miles, and then take the B456 for approximately 1 mile.

If you’re located directly opposite the Supermarket, or behind the church, or next to the post office, then why not tell people.  Not everyone is local, and so it’s easier if they have a landamark to look out for.  In addition, if they need to ask for directions, they’ll know what to ask for.

Don’t forget to put your post code prominently on your site,  so that those using satellite navigation can quickly get directions.

Why not make sure that you have your opening hours or entrance prices clearly visible on your site?

Why not make sure that visitors can find out where the branch of your shop is in Anytown? If people are searching for Your Company Name in Town, does the relevant page come up showing them the directions, address and phone number? Is the top result a complaint about your company?

It’s worth making sure that you perform searches like these, so that you know what results your potential visitors and customers will get.

How else can you make it easier for those people on the move to find you?

Thanks to Boagworld Podcast 211, at http://www.boagworld.com for inspiration and the nudge.

When you’re writing sales copy, you’ll want to use emotional words, calls to action, and make sure that your reader is involved.  You’ll want to ask questions of the reader, and make them visualise scenes, or evoke memories.

Doing this will enable your reader to understand what your product or service does and why they need it.

Think about the difference between:

“these headache pills contain abc123 which is more effective than xyz321″

and something like:

Remember the last time you had a headache? Remember how much it hurt, and how you struggled to see properly,  and to concentrate?  How long did it take you to find the headache pills?  If you don’t normally get headaches, and don’t know where to find the pills, or you were at work, or in the car and didn’t have any to hand, what did you do?  The new family sized pack of Superpills is slim enough to keep in your wallet or purse, so you’ve always got them with you, and thanks to new ingredients, they’re even quicker at getting rid of pain, and so allowing you to get on with your day.

Although it’s more text,  it puts the product in context, and plays on real feelings and experiences.  Nobody cares about the ingredients, or the new formula, they just want what the product does, and in most cases, now!  As mentioned before, in the Product Placement blog post, nobody wants to buy a drill, they want a hole!

Your product images and descriptions are really important on your ecommerce site, so it’s essential that they are compelling and include plenty of calls to action.

Why not make sure that your potential customer know as much about the product as possible?

It’s a good idea to put the product or the price in context.  By showing the product being used, or explaining the features and benefits,  you’re more able to convince cisitors to become customers.

Remember, nobody wants to buy a drill, they want to make a hole.  You don’t  want a £200,00 debt for 25 years,  you want a  nice house for you and your family.

What about showing your patio furniture in a garden on a summer’s day, rather than just on a white background? What about saying that your life or car insurance costs less than a cup of coffee a day, orare less than the cost of a daily newspaper.

Instead of showing a TV, and mentioning it’s technical specification, why not explain that pictures are clearer, meaning programmes are more entertaining, and that wildlife and animal are almost lifelike?

Instead of showing a pair of jeans or shoes, why not show complete outfits, or somebody wearing the clothes, so that potential customers can see what they look like.  It’s also a fantastic opportunity to cross sell products,  and encourage visitors to explore more of your site.

in the same way that some shops will show related products that go together, such as all the camping equipment you’d need , rather than just a tent or a pair of hiking boots, why not see how how you can create environments, or scenes, such as the kitchem, the bedroom, the dining room, the garden, the night out, the wedding, the office  and what ever else will be relevant to you.

As life insurance salespeople might use techniques such as mentioning your family members when explaining policies, why not see how you can use scenes and paly on emotions to make your products more desirable?