Why 98% of the texts on your sites do not work. At all. And how to fix it

^{This is how people see your page.}

Hello!
The problem is this. If you go to almost any website of an online store or company with services, you will find content. More precisely - disgusting texts that were written, it seems, by marketers brought up by SEOs.

Of course, you can not do as they do. If you work intelligently, then you will help readers in life, and yourself in sales.
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According to my approximate calculations (averaging from a number of positions), conversions look like this for us:

• Only the name and the picture - about 1.5%.
• With a description from the manufacturer - just over 2%.
• With a description of the person who held it in his hands and knows the rules - about 6%.

Below is a story about how we brought the time on the site from 3 minutes, first to 6:40, and then to 20:48. Yes, twenty minutes forty eight seconds for the average visitor. Fair average, taking into account failures and the full sample.

What touches us

Observing people in the web browser (we started using it even when it was paid and not from Yandex), the following was quickly established: a person first scans the page, and then decides whether to read or not. This is confirmed by a bunch of usabilityists, but we had to feel it for ourselves. As a rule, the user first scrolls down from 3 to 5 screens and conducts reconnaissance. This is conditional, for example, the chart of readability of our pages by scrolling (the cold area below - comments to the product) looks like:


^{This is how a person sees a page.}

In general, this is a normal distribution for an online store site.
What is important:

• There is no “first screen” problem - a person will scroll at least 3 down.
• It is necessary to draw attention to the page, so that the visitor understands that he is interested.
• Attracting attention should be not only at the very beginning, but everywhere on the page - wherever the reader stops, there should be interesting. As in a good book in a store - I opened it in 3-4 places, read it in a paragraph - and immediately understood that I had to take it.

So, a person pays attention to the following reference objects:

• Headings (this is obvious and understandable - therefore they need more, and they should be bright).
• The first words are bulleted and numbered lists.
• Signatures to pictures (this is especially important here with us, by the way - I have often seen how a small caption to a picture before kata dramatically increases the readability of habratopik).
• The first words of paragraphs and selection in the text.
• P.S.
• Sometimes - on the first comment.

So all these things should be interesting. Let's go point by point.

Catchy headlines

Headers can be generally of any length (even in a couple of lines), but they should also be catchy.



I brought a very simple rule for myself: the title should contain one of three things:

• Bright contradiction ("Tesla's machine broke testing equipment")
• An extension to the audience (“Do you also go for interviews in a sweater with deer?”)
• Or something surprising ("How to assemble a cluster of stools").

Considering that there are many titles, it’s enough to dilute and pepper them in the style of the game.

Eat SEO

I have a lot of respect for our SEO-specialist who creates real miracles ... but at the same time I never let him on the site. The position is extremely simple: we sell to people. So, the texts should be for people.

I remember how about 5 years ago, many tried to optimize the main ones, turning them into porridge from keywords. And then, after another change in the Yandex algorithm (once every three to four months), they rewrote everything according to the new rules. I then watched about 150 clients of one SEO company. It was noticeable that those sites whose owners decided to write the text immediately for a person remained afloat and were always in high positions. So, it is necessary to write so that SEO never becomes more important than a good text about a product.

What does this mean in practice? Correct meta tags, correct titles, correct signatures in the basement - but in no case do the main part of the page for robots. Buy people.

Pyramid and Extremely Pressed Text

The next mortal sin after a hodgepodge of keywords is “water” in the descriptions. Good old textbooks on journalism are taught correctly: with each next word of the material, the number of readers decreases. Therefore, normal journalists use the right architecture and clean code.

Architecture - this is the construction of the text, when the first sentence either interests you to the limit, or reveals the essence of what is happening. You immediately have a picture of everything after the first paragraph. The further you go through the text, the more you get the details - but do not change the picture as a whole. This is a banal reception of the pyramid: it is very useful if you are read by someone with a shortage of time and a dog rabies virus type A. That is, 99% of Runet’s inhabitants. Dialup times have passed: we don’t load 10 pages to hang up, read them, and then call the provider again. We just close the tab if we don’t get the information in 3-4 seconds, because on the next tab there is the same thing clearer. And with a picture.

Termination of reading at any place should keep in memory the reader all the necessary information (albeit in a compressed form). In our case, the rule in simple terms is this: the first paragraph can serve as a short description of the game in the catalog.

"Clean Code" is an extremely pressed text. The most important thing is to look for a unit of meaning in each sentence. A unit of meaning is something that changes the perception of the reader’s world and clarifies it. For example, “The right choice of% product% is very important” is water. With this you can start any description (which SEO writers often do). It is necessary to begin with the unique characteristic. For example: "This electric kettle of 0.5 kW can be presented to parents living in a house with old wiring." Or "The robot vacuum cleaner works like this: you come, but at home it's already clean."

What to watch if you want to "squeeze" the text:

1. Try to cross out the first paragraph. Most likely, you can safely start without it. I learned this from Ilf and Petrov: they always had problems starting a chapter, and wrote the first page, and then simply crossed out the first paragraph. Re-read "12 chairs" and "Golden calf", evaluate how everything is exciting. By the way, if you have all the first paragraphs on your site, this is a good site.
2. Then we begin to cross out sentences without units of meaning. If approximately every second sentence can be removed without losing the plot and filing - to hell with them, they only interfere.
3. Break the sentences. Long sentences are evil. Write simply, clearly and specifically. K - S.T.
4. Then - the hunt for adjectives. Each should be verified and out of place, and not as in school essays. At the same time, you can throw away all the momentum: the sacrament and adverbial.

Beat the robots

It's simple. Think about people: replace constructions like “November 25, 2013” ​​with human “yesterday” or November 25, 2013. Learn Russian robots: instead of “Left goods: 5” let them say “5 goods left”. Check the readability of addresses (damn it, I sometimes even see it on the advertisement in the half-dark minibus): instead of “st. Nikolaeva, 15, Shopping Center "Bolshoi" write "Nikolaeva, 15, shopping center" Bolshoy ".

How to check how you read?

You can do without a real expensive Aytreker, there is a simplified method with a rather high error. Put the Yandex.Metrica. Some of the human users have a great habit to help us in reading, highlighting pieces of text. When there are hundreds and thousands of users on a page, there is a fairly representative sample of people clicking on the page, which will help to understand which paragraph and how it works (but note that they almost do not click on headings and other elements for selection). Like that:



And then just do the inversion by clicks, like this:

Tell the reader twice

This is the most important thing. A person should understand that you are writing about him and only about him. Say it twice. In our country, for example, the reader finds himself somewhere at the beginning (for example, if this is the parent, where it is said how the game develops the child), and then at the end, where it is directly written for whom this product is.

Get a good practice to repeat for whom your product or service, simply listing the situation and the audience.

Imagine yourself a reader. He just went to your random internal page with an advertisement or search. You must answer his questions:

• What is it all about?
• Why do I need it?
• What exactly is it different from similar products (how to choose in a row)?
• What is included in the package?
• Why should I buy it (specific use).

Will you be able to navigate on your website on any page?

Yes, and leave "bookmarks" like: "A great gift to a person who is interested in the East." Remember and buy in six months.

XOR

Pay attention to the item about the difference from other products. This is mega-important, if you have many similar ones - everyone should have a clear assignment for a calm choice. If a person cannot choose from two goods, he does not call, does not write, but simply goes and buys something else.

It should be clearly understood that the Vietnamese thinking model is used in shopping. Psychologists have found that in an emergency, the American soldiers did not consider several options for a tactical action plan and chose the best one. Not. They just checked the nearest one and, if he approached at least somehow, they did it right away. It is the same with the product: do not leave the visitor to doubt, but differentiate everything according to the most important criteria.

Speak to the world in his language

People do not care about your product. Spit on you. Spitting on all the properties of your product. Spit on what these properties give in theory. Spit on the characteristics. Only one thing is important for them - what exactly will they get. Therefore, whenever you touch the properties of a product, always say what it means for the buyer. This is extremely simple and banal, but it must be done.

An example of a chain for a toy:
Property: This is a children's synthesizer with volume control.
Corollary: So it will be possible to make it quieter in the evening.
Benefit: So you can learn to play or have fun even late in the evening and early in the morning. Neighbors will not knock with wild cries.

A game:
Property: Mafia cards from 100% plastic
Consequence: They can bend as they please and they will not break, they can be soaked, and they will have nothing.
Benefit: So you can play on the beach or take them on the road and not worry about their appearance. They will always be like new.

Speak the language of your reader's benefits. He is not looking for her for a hundred.

Concrete is holy

The best sell those who know about the product in practice. We believe specifics. Just look at what is in the description of the game "Space truckers." This is the composition. If you have ever bought a desktop not from us, then you know that it may not have written what is inside. And do not be a photo.

We also have a composition, there is a photo of all the components and there is one more touch: a detail to each item, so that it is associated with all previous knowledge. And also pay attention to a light touch on the battery markers. Here's what it looks like:



It is quite clear and felt that we were cut into this without stopping, right?

Here are some pictures

Final - how to check the quality of the material on your site

Put a tick in front of each item on the list:

• Reiter fully understood the topic.
• The photographer knew what and how to shoot.
• There is an exact component composition.
• Made differences with other products.
• All the frequent questions from the stores about this product are reflected in the description.
• Comments under the item are answered.

For now. If the topic is interesting - tell me, I will talk about the details.