Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing Makeover: Improve Your Message and Turn Visitors into Buyers [Paperback]

Marcia Yudkin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Poor Richard's | Publication Date: October 15, 2001

Whether a Web site's purpose is producing inquiries or sales, the words have to tantalize the visitor with something not available elsewhere, explain the offering thoroughly, and persuade the visitor to take action. For individuals, organizations, and companies on a do-it-yourself budget as well as Web designers and Web marketers, this book delves into the details that make or break a Web site. It shows how to transform a site that just sits at its URL into a site that generates more interest and more orders. Topics covered include gathering leads, marketing copy, content as bait, and graphics and layout. Also included are complete sample makeovers and commentary on 10 different kinds of sites including multi-product sales, a professional firm, subscription publication, brick-and-mortar shop, and Internet services.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marcia Yudkin is the author of 10 books on writing and Internet marketing, including Internet Marketing for Less than $500/Year, Six Steps to Free Publicity, Persuading on Paper, and Freelance Writing for Magazines and Newspapers. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Top Floor Pub (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930082169
• ISBN-13: 978-1930082168
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,708,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author of 16 books, Marcia Yudkin has been turning words into money since 1981, when her first freelance article appeared in the New York Times. She is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and Web Site Marketing Makeover, among others. She has landed publicity in the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Women in Business, USBanker, and dozens of newspapers around the world. Marcia lives part of the year on Maui and the rest of the time in the woods of Western Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My first (and only) book review to date....., June 11, 2003

By 

Mark Wibberley (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing Makeover: Improve Your Message and Turn Visitors into Buyers (Paperback)

I don't normally do reviews or read work-related books, so this has been an interesting process. After all, I sweated through college, marketing qualifications and I've run an internet business for three years, so why do I need to read what some American who I've never heard of thinks - after all, its not really relevant to a UK-based business... Wrong!

What a great book - I had to keep putting it down to make notes on changes needed for my sites. Marcia thinks about this stuff all the time, whereas most of us don't, and she really takes apart the whole site and marketing process. It's all about the detail, about how the site visitor sees our offer, one that we are over-familiar with but so often fail to get over in a few seconds. It is when you realise how massively you could increase the return on your objectives by making simple changes (what are the objectives of your website, by the way?) that you realise the power of this book.

Marcia takes you though all the elements of your site, step by step - why you have one, what you want it to do, the copy, design, style and real nuts-and-bolts stuff. Throughout she illustrates her point with screen shots of hundreds of sites - and there are some very well known ones in there that still fail to fully exploit the opportunity. Plus, a selection of make-overs - some seem minor, but have documented results, for example, $24,000 of extra sales in one month. Her style is very open, non-technical and moves at a pace that doesn't make assumptions on acronyms, jargon and your physical location - so often US books seem irrelevant to overseas readers. There are also lots of references to further reading, for example, on copy-writing, too many sites just lift pre-approved copy from printed brochures that fails in a new medium.

So, who should read it? Me, again, for a start. With specialist sections or even whole chapters for professional practices, membership or charitable organisations, local small businesses like B&Bs, organisations selling single or multiple products, there really is something for everyone. If you're the owner of a business, or the person that's directly responsible for websites in a business, you'll find it a useful read. Why not buy it for a colleague to read and report back on if you can't spare the time yourself? And the key point is change will not cost big money, so you really can see a return on modest spending - a couple of hundred pounds will make a difference to most sites. Perhaps that's the acid test of the book: whether you actually do anything after reading it that in turn actually pays off. If you don't do anything at all, then I think you've missed the point.

One thing that may put you off is the legend `Poor Richard's' across the top of the book and the cover style - I've no idea who Richard is, nor his pecuniary standing and the folksy cover may suggest the book's audience is low-budget, but this does it a disservice. Its also not expensive - ...

So, in summary, the chapters that make up 200 pages of readable and thought-provoking writing, are organised in two parts - site elements and then implementation. I make no apologies for including the chapter headings as they help illustrate the breadth and relevance of this book: Elements: the name plate; navigation/on-site searches; copy; who are we?; building trust; content as bait; gathering leads/members/subscribers; order forms/customer service and graphics/layout. Putting it all together: single product sales; multi-product sales; solo service provider; professional firm; advocacy organisation; event reservations; local businesses and internet services. This is followed by a makeover checklist and pages of further resources in print and online. Go on, read it, implement it and reap the rewards - and tell me if I'm wrong!

Mark Wibberley ...

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, practical advice that will improve web sites, August 6, 2003

By 

Patricia Smith (Syracuse, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing Makeover: Improve Your Message and Turn Visitors into Buyers (Paperback)

I have purchased many books on web site design and usability, most of them more expensive than this one, and yet this book is the one with worn pages because I go back to it again and again. Many "how to" books give you plenty of tips but never tell you what to do with them. Not this one! This book gives you sound, no-nonsense advice about what works on web sites and what doesn't. Part 1 clearly explains the "hows and whys" of crucial web site elements, while Part 2 tells you how to put what you learned in action. And as if that's not enough, you also get real life examples of how it all comes together, whether you're selling products, are a one-person show working out of a home office, or a large corporation. I was so impressed with the level of knowledge demonstrated in this book that I recently participated in Marcia Yudkin's (the author's) Web Marketing Makeover mentoring program. If you want your web site to bring in business you should read this book and religiously apply what you learn.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best on this subject, July 29, 2003

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing Makeover: Improve Your Message and Turn Visitors into Buyers (Paperback)

There are so many books on designing websites available today that it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume. Among these it is rare to find one that really stands out from the crowd. Marcia Yudkin's "Website Marketing Makeover" is an exception to this rule. She avoids a lot of the fluff that tends to be in other books and gets right down to the nitty-gritty of website design. One of the things that I particularly liked about the book is that she not only provides advice but also provides the means to actually accomplish the goal. For example, most of the website design books discus the need to see what your website looks like using different browsers. Marcia's book also makes this very important point. However, she not only makes the point but also points the reader to software and websites that can help determine what your website looks like in different browsers. When other books are saying what to do without telling you how to do it, Marcia is showing you how.

From beginning to end, Marcia lucidly explains what works, what doesn't work, and why. Although it is predominantly focused on how to "turn visitors into buyers" and so is most appropriate for a site that sells something, there is a lot of information that is also appropriate for any site including purely informational ones. "Poor Richard's Website Marketing Makeover" is a highly recommended read for anyone looking to create or improve their website.