Make Sure That The Words You Use On Your Web Site Arebenefit-oriented Rather Than Feature-oriented. Insteadof Telling Your Potential Customers What Your Productcan Do (features), Tell Them What It Can Do For Them(benefits). In Other Words, Describe The Product In Termsof The Result It Offers Rather Than The Product Itself.pHere's A Simple Way Of Writing Benefits, Which I've Usedvery Effectively For Myself And For Clients.pWhenever You Write A Benefit, You Can Test Whether It's Areal Benefit By Imagining Your Reader Asking The Question,"So What?" If It's A Feature Or A Weak Benefit,answering That Question Can Give You A Stronger Benefit.pHere's An Example ... Suppose You're Selling A Digitalcamera That Has A Resolution Of 24 Megapixels.That's Obviously A Feature, Not A Benefit, But You'dbe Surprised How Many Camera Web Sites Advertise Theirproducts That Way.pImagine A Conversation Between You And A Customer Who Hasonly Ever Used Non-digital Cameras In The Past:pYOU: This Camera Has A Resolution Of 24 Megapixels.pCUSTOMER: So What?pYOU: Well, That's The Highest Resolution Of Any Digitalcamera Available Today.pCUSTOMER: Yeah, But So What?pYOU: It Means Your Pictures Have Very Littleloss Of Quality.pCUSTOMER: But What Does That Mean?pYOU: Your Photos Will Be As Bright And Clear As If Youwere Using Ordinary Film.pCUSTOMER: Ah, Now I Understand!pCan You See How That Process Of Asking The "So What?"question Leads To Strong Benefits? What We Started With("24 Megapixels") Is Vastly Different From The Result("as Bright And Clear As Ordinary Film").pNote That I Framed The Example In A Particular Way.You Were Talking To A Customer Who Had A History Of Usingtraditional Cameras, So The Benefit Was Relevant To Them.If Your Customer Was, Say, A Professional Photographer,then You Might End Up With A Different Benefit - E.g."This Is The Only Camera Resolution That Is Acceptedby National Geographic".pHere's A Quick Way To Get The "So What?" Answers ...pStart By Listing All The Features Of Your Productor Service. Yes, That's Right - Start With The FEATURES,which Should Be Easy For You To Do.pThen Take Each Feature In Turn, Ask The "So What?"question, Find An Appropriate Answer, And Add It To The Endof The Feature With The Words "... So That".pAn Example Will Help ...pIn The Example Above, The Feature:p It Has A Resolution Of 24 Megapixelspbecomes:p It Has A Resolution Of 24 Megapixels ... So That Yourphotos Are As Clear And Bright As With Your Old Camera.pOK, Now It's Your Turn ...pLook At The Products And Services You're Advertisingon Your Web Site. Are You Talking About Benefits,or Only Features?pGo Through The Process I've Just Described To (a)list All Your Features, And (b) Convert Thesefeatures Into Benefits.
