Website text, how much is too much?

[Mikey P]

How much will a web shopper read in your services descriptions?

A few bullet points?

A novel?

Rather see some befores and afters?

or video?

or just two or so paragraphs of key words impregnated blather?

 

[jcooper]

How much will a web shopper read in your services descriptions?
A few bullet points?
A novel?
Rather see some befores and afters?
or video?
or just two or so paragraphs of key words impregnated blather?

IMO - Text is just something to help you get found. More the better, as long as it's not overwhelming or keyword "over stuffed".

I would use everything you listed. Bullet points, before and afters, paragraphs of keywords.

I'd for sure have a page dedicated to before and after photos. If you want the photos on first page, just put one with a link to other page with more(photos).
People will comment/call from them. Especially if you have a photo of their type of stain!


I have found one thing out, I'd say maybe 75% or more people don't even go to the site they call right from the directory page(where the list of business are).Google, yelp, etc... The quantity of impressions from google etc. is nuts compared to just people actually going to our site.

 

[Mikey P]

I have found one thing out, I'd say maybe 75% or more people don't even go to the site they call right from the directory

How did you come up with that number Jerry?

 

[Desk Jockey]

If you have something of value to say then say it. If you think its too much link it to another page by having a link that says "Read More". You could also have a drop down if you don't want to add another page to the site.

Is everyone going to read it? Most likely not, however what is the harm in having too much information?

As a consumer looking for a product or service I want to read as much as I can about it before I make a decision. So I want to give a potential client the same opportunity without boring the one's that want fast info and will get it and leave the page.

This was in today's mail and is awful timely.

http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/710.cfm?sd=2

 

[Shane Deubell]

Personally like bullet points and a paragraph or 2. Honestly i have put all kinds of stuff under the fold on webpages and cant remember one person ever asking about it.
So i focus on top then put whatever underneath.

Overall my opinion is its relative to the investment $$$.
Would supply far more information on a $3k job then a $150 job.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree.

There are some services you can only say so much about without making full of fluff. But as you said the large the expense then the more valuable your explanation becomes.

 

[jcooper]

jcooper said: ↑
I have found one thing out, I'd say maybe 75% or more people don't even go to the site they call right from the directory
How did you come up with that number Jerry?

I can't find the correct analytics(google) page right now. So my numbers might not be close. Tried for ten minute to find it - I give up... For now.

Just the google local listings page will give us an amazing number of impressions(times the page comes up) like thousands, yet our actual website will have an amazingly LOW amount of people who clicked from the local listing page to our website.

For every thousand impressions we get maybe 200 people click to our website... If that. If we only booked the people who clicked to our site I'd be in trouble! But the phone still rings, even though yelp says 30 people have seen local results including us and only 4 clicked through(to our site).

What it tells me. People are going to the directory(yelp, google,yahoo) "local results" are showing up. They don't have the time or whatever. The are shopping from the list of companies(local results), calling right down the list. Being on TOP with great reviews is a MUST! No stars, your not going to be first. Not first? Better start doing whatever it takes.

We also show up organically very well and google local kills it. People don't even scroll down three inches to our actual site. It's all the local listing with the stars.


We pay maybe 1-200 a month with adwords and the account budget is set to unlimited! It never gets spent, it's also VERY focused. I gave yahoo an unlimited budget, the most it ever cost was like 50 bucks! Nobody goes there!

Not saying the website isn't important, without a good site you might never get to first.

 

[hogjowl]

Don't ask Saiger.

 

[FredC]

Just the google local listings page will give us an amazing number of impressions(times the page comes up) like thousands, .

This is usually a result of scrapers and rank trackers............not legit searches.......just something to think about

 

[Lee Stockwell]

When I ask new customers (after the job) why they chose us, most will say we came up on top in their search.

More importantly, our phone is always answered.

 

[smastio]

I love animals and have a dog myself, but if I see that one chocolate lab with its head on the carpet taking up half a page of prime real estate on just ONE MORE SITE - I swear I gonna blow a gasket! Lol Keep images on the home page to a minimum size or at the least make then expandable thumbnails.

 

[Hoody]

There use to be a "rule" or suggestion to have your keywords in the text 3-4 times but not anymore as it kills the experience on your site. Once in the title, once in the description, once in a heading tag, and once in the text underneath the heading tag. Having a keyword in the alt tag of an image can sometimes help too.

A happy balance between images, text, and a video or two to keep them on the page longer. A brief description of each service with a link to read more on the homepage can be beneficial too.

 

[The Great Oz]

Comes down to site design. Easy to navigate, pretty pictures, enough text to describe what you do and written in sixth-grade level English. Use as few industry buzz words or technical jargon as possible. Do have text heavy blog pages and articles for the researchers in the audience, just don't make people wade through them to find your phone number.

 

[Mikey P]

Despite your 1980's fashion sense you're a smart mofo Ozzy.

 

[Elka International Group]

I agree for the site design.

 

[The Great Oz]

Despite your 1980's fashion sense you're a smart mofo Ozzy.

Mauve and light blue are timeless.