To the average, non-tech individual, finding a solid software or Web development company to work with can be quite mind-boggling and even overwhelming.

Therefore, the chief mission of your Web site copy and marketing should be to alleviate any confusion the reader may experience during the course of his meanderings. This is typically achieved by answering the questions he may have before he even asks them. Some questions your tech expert-seeking guests may have while milling about your site:

1. What is this place/who are you?

Information technology tends to be one of the drier subjects on the Web. All the more reason to NOT put up a site that sees to echo emptily with their approaching footsteps. Sites that appear to be absent of humans include:

a. The kind that toss up some generic, jargon-loaded copy and a few stock photos of “young corporates” who give the impression that thinking hurts.

b. The kind where the copy alludes to a mysterious “we” but never actually says who’s behind it all.

What may seem obvious to you is frequently not so clear to you reader who has never laid eyes on this place before (or maybe he has but he still can’t make heads or tails of this thing). Explain the purpose of your site in a very simple and straightforward way. Reveal yourselves! Include team member profiles on your About Us page. Maybe you even want to get crazy and put photos next to each person’s bio. Humans enjoy gazing at photos of other humans.

2. Who can I talk to if I have questions?

If your visitors get the sense that someone is actually there to answer their question… and they would go so far as they kinda know this guy or gal… well, they might be inclined to return to your Web site on a regular basis, ask more questions, and eventually become your trusted customer. So many companies are doing Personality Marketing of late because it really works.

Surely there is someone on your team willing to go public with their image. Maybe it’s that cute marketing chick who just got hired; maybe it’s the company prez; maybe it’s YOU. This person should be the all-purpose go-to and the familiar, friendly face who appears in your ezines, blog and articles.

3. Why should I choose you guys over the next tech company?

This one is a no-brainer, really. Someone coined the term “unique selling proposition” because they wanted to remind you of your marketing goal. That is, share the concrete evidence of your greatness with your customers. What are the advantages of working with your team of experts? What do you bring to the table that the competition simply can’t match? What are the top five benefits to working with your company and what details can you provide to support these claims? You probably want to bullet this one out somewhere in an Advantages section, just to make sure the important facts are not glossed over.

4. Would your company be a good match for our team?

The quickest way for folks to find out if your company style suits theirs, is to HAVE a style. Are you a company of young, high-energy marketers with a quirky, fearless approach to breakthrough technology? Or are you an industry veteran who has endured the winds of change and has some wisdom to share? Do you offer private consulting services, or is this more of a free for all community with open discussion forums and lots of information-swapping? You’re far more likely to attract your ideal customer, if your copy and marketing reveals exactly what you’re about from the get-go.

5. Who else have you worked with, and did you achieve the desired goals?

Include a testimonials page where your real-life clients offer genuine praise for your work. Make sure that each testimonial isolates a unique benefit, rather than having all of the testimonials express the same idea in a slightly different way. Yes, it’s okay to take the red pen to your client endorsements to tighten them up and make them sound more professional. You can even run it by your submitters, just so they feel like they were included in the revision process.

Publish an actual portfolio page (takes work, but can you stand to lose the prospects who go hunting for solid evidence in the form of past samples and don’t find any?). Most if not all of your future clients will ask you to send samples of your work or describe a situation where your work helped another company excel and expand significantly. If they request that you send the samples by email, direct their attention to this existing portfolio page.

6. What types of services do you offer?

Here is where you need to step outside of your techno jargon and remember that not all of your visitors understand how your processes work or what the terminology means. Include enough industry lingo to get the nod from fellow IT professionals, but also take care in explaining everything step-by-step and in layman terms. This is possibly the most difficult task that a software development company or team of tech consultants can master in their Web copy, due to the fact that they’re so “close” to the work. It pays to solicit the help of a marketing or copywriting expert as you develop a detailed explanation of your business model.

7. How can I get in touch?

Your visitors should not have to comb every page of your site in search of a contact form or email address. Simply guide them to make contact after every major section of your copy. For example, if you’ve just finished explaining your service offerings, punctuate the section: “Call now at 1800-XXX-XXXX for a free consultation today.” “Email  blank at blank.com to schedule a consultation.” Link to a contact page in the navigation bar or include the contact information (phone number, email address, mail address) in the footer of every page.

Now that you have taken this foray into the mind of your readers, you’re fully equipped to fashion your Web copy and image branding based around everything your future customer wants to know. Here’s to creating a technology Web site that stands out from the crowd!

Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

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