You want your website to be a wealth of knowledge, a resource that will be helpful, resonate with your audience but most importantly, sell your services! However, as an expert in your industry, it can be hard to know how to convey the innovative qualities of a certain product or why a new technique is better than the traditional version.
Communicating your message effectively is half the challenge and often those within the industry are too experienced to know how to make it accessible to every customer. As the old adage goes ‘a message that is not understood is not delivered’ and that is especially true of your online marketing. With such a short period of time to engage your potential customer, it is important to get the message across as quickly as possible.
So where are the main failings when it comes to communicating effectively and how do you avoid them?
Technical Language
While you understand the technical terms that you are using on an everyday basis, chances are your customers won’t know the difference between a shingle and a shake, let alone what an anticapillary hem is. While including some technical language is a great way to show off your expertise, it cannot be at the price of customer comprehension.
Keeping the very technical languages on informative product pages is a good way to ensure it won’t scare off those who are in the initial stages of their roofing search. If you are determined to used industry acronym – make sure you put the full term in brackets, at least the first time you use it.
Include a Glossary
If you feel your site and customers appreciate the technical terms, you can easily get around it by including a glossary page, linking difficult terms to their explanations and ensuring the link opens in a new window. It may become a stand-alone resource with people finding the page organically to help them understand on another site, and opting to investigate your company instead!
Visual Aids
A picture is worth a thousand words and never is that more true than trying to quickly communicate complex and technical processes. Whether you are trying to explain the necessity of a batten or why you choose to button press a certain style of roofing, a diagram will do a much better job than you will.
Including videos can also help reinforce your point. Claiming Cedar Shingles improves curb appeal will never have the same impact as a well-shot video that shows a beautiful cedar-shingled building amid a row of other houses.
Cut to the Point
It is key to be aware of the main reason that people are visiting your site – to find their new roof. While a passion for the materials and processes you employ helps you offer a sterling service – does an in-depth discussion about the durability of clay tiles answer the potential customer’s question? Offering your site visitors clear comparisons between products and techniques will move them forward in their journey towards a purchase.
There is still a place for the in-depth discussion on blogs, and other informative documents, but when you think about your sites main pages, their main function is to push customers to convert as efficiently as possible. If your customer gets stuck reading the historical significance of a slate tile, you have missed your mark!