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Creating Your Site's Own Unique Voice and Feel Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today - Apr 28, 2009

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Cookie cutter sites built from a hosting service's inventory of templates provide a quick and inexpensive way to get your site up and running. But a cookie cutter site is not the way to develop a successful online business. Here's why:

1. Competition in every Internet sector and in most niches is intense.
2. Repeat customers are much more profitable than first-time visitors, since they don't require additional advertising costs.
3. Many people don't make a purchase on their first visit. They often think about it and then return to complete the transaction.
4. Therefore, your site must be memorable in order to entice people to return.

Of course, one important aspect of your site's memorability is your domain name. That's important (See my classic article, "How to Select a Great Domain Name for Your Company"). But a memorable domain name is only one part of this. Your site needs to be unique and attractive enough that visitors want to return.

Let me focus on two aspects: voice and ambience.

Your Site's Voice

Just as you can recognize your favorite singer's voice when you hear it, writing has a "voice" also. Voice in this context refers to a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc.

Let me give you a few examples.

Avinash Kaushik writes a Web analytics blog entitled Occam's Razor. His regular posts combine his mastery of the subject matter; a passion for clear, compelling explanation; humor; and fascinating photographic illustrations. After a while, you begin to comprehend a common theme to his writing -- topics and approaches that reflect his particular point of view. There's no one like him around, though many people write about his topic. Avinash has a unique voice that I find attractive.

Allan Gardyne of AssociatePrograms.com has been writing about succeeding as an affiliate for many years. Allan teaches you how to make money by promoting hot affiliate programs. He tells you which programs are succeeding (always with his own affiliate link, so he'll get credit for you signing up) and then explains their various approaches to success. Allan often talks about how the Internet has enabled him to live in a beautiful place -- something about beaches and Australia.

My publication Web Marketing Today has its own voice, too. Few articles are theoretical or about the latest buzz. They tend to be intensely practical, concisely written, and focused on the needs of small to medium businesses that don't have in-house experts for each of the Internet marketing disciplines. Though articles are written by a team of experts, aspects of the same voice and point of view pervade each article.

If your voice is bland, you're less likely to be remembered. You need to develop your own unique voice so that you'll stand out from all the others.

Ambience or "Look-and-Feel"

A second element of your site's uniqueness is its ambience -- a word made famous by interior decorators, I suppose. Ambience is defined as "a feeling or mood associated with a particular place, person, or thing. Atmosphere." Web developers call it "look-and-feel." Though it's hard to define, you know it when you see it. In a website, ambience is produced by a pleasing combination of logo, style, layout, typography, white space, color, types of photos used, and the "voice" of the copy. All these and more define the business's "brand."

You can learn a great deal about a business in the first five seconds that you're on its site. Is it older and conservative, or young and edgy? Is it "all business" or is there fun peeking around the corner? Is it rather pompous and self-possessed, or does it seem care about the customer? At first glance, does it look like it can meet your need, or not? Is it bland and faceless, or does it have personality?

I hope that you now understand the difference between a standard template business site and a custom approach that communicates your business personality in a memorable way. While you can communicate your unique voice in a bland site, you won't be visually memorable.

How to Create a Unique Ambience

There are several steps involved in creating a unique ambience that I'll highlight briefly.

1. Determine who you are -- your primary business purpose. For help read: "Building Your Brand. Part 1: Defining Your Business Purpose" (www.wilsonweb.com/tools/danwilson-defining-purpose.htm)

2. Decide what makes your online business unique, what differentiates you from others in your niche. Once you've done this, write a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in terms of your company -- not just with regard to a single product or two. In the USP you'll want to highlight, in a single, creative sentence or two, what sets you apart from your competitors. Spell out your competitive advantage. This is the "elevator speech" that you have memorized so you can explain your business in the 30 seconds between Floor 1 and Floor 15.

3. Brainstorm how to express those unique differences graphically. What photographs tell your story the best? What visual analogies can you use? One of the clearest analogies I've seen in a while is on my son's MarketDifference.com site. His tagline is: "Helping outstanding companies stand out." The visual analogy he uses is four apples -- three of which look nearly alike and a fourth that stands out from the rest. Brilliant!

4. Hire a graphic designer. Of course, you hesitate to spend too much money on your site at this point. But, frankly, you probably don't have an artistic flair yourself, especially one that is combined with experience and a well-trained eye. The mere ability to use graphics software does not an artist make. You need a graphic designer to help you communicate the desired ambience graphically.

By now I hope you've thought deeply about who you are, how you should differentiate yourself, and how to express this in graphic terms. Explain to the graphic artist what you want your online business to feel like. Explain the personality and values you want to express. Then let him or her show you a few sketches or brief mock-ups of what this might look like. Eventually the two of you will come to a meeting of the minds. Then give the go-ahead for your graphic designer to complete the project. This could cost you several hundred dollars -- perhaps more -- depending upon the skill and savvy of your graphic designer. But it will be worth it.

Remember, on the Internet you're in a fierce competition to stand out, to be remembered. Repeat customers are more profitable than first-timers. People often will return to complete a purchase. So make sure you stand out. Make sure that both your voice and your ambience are striking, memorable. Make sure your customers remember you clearly enough to want to come back.

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson is one of the pioneers of Internet marketing, founding the Web Marketing Today newsletter in 1995 at the beginning of the commercial Internet. In addition to developing scores of websites and online stores and consulting with many companies large and small, he is the author of hundreds of articles and more than a dozen books on Internet marketing and e-commerce.