Why Your Website Needs To Have Great Content
LMS vendors need to focus their website copy on only one visitor: their ideal customer. The person most likely to buy fast. That is not to say that other visitors are not important. They are. But the ideal buyer pays the bills. So when they hit the website, they need to find exactly what they are looking for. To achieve this, it is most important to invest time in writing content that gives a positive first impression, engages the ideal buyer, and differentiates from the 350 other Learning Management Systems that are competing for the same customer.
Present A Compelling And Specific Value Proposition
This is what is on the minds of most of those ideal buyers:
- What do you do?
- Can you solve my problem?
- This is all they really care about and they want answers right then, at the very top of the home page.
Look at the top of your home page. Does your message answer these questions? What grade would you give it based on the following 5 key criteria?
1. Is Your Value Proposition Specific And Focused?
If you cannot express your value in one sentence, then it is probably too generic, and your product is trying to be for everyone. Unfortunately, having 350+ competitors, you must be specific in the value you bring and the market you serve.
The only LMS companies that can afford to be generic are the big ones with deep pockets. They have big fundings, lots of salespeople, and seemingly endless marketing money.
Most LMS vendors do not have the luxury of huge marketing budgets, but if they position their product for a specific niche, they are likely to thrive. These Learning Management Systems are profitable because they win a high percentage of the deals they compete for.
2. Does Your Value Proposition Address A Big Problem?
The language your buyers speak is what I like to call “problem language.” They speak it fluently and they lose sleep over it. They want it fixed. The language they do not speak is your product feature language.
You are very close to your features and do not realize that buyers have a steep learning curve understanding and relating it to how it solves their problems. This is all they want to hear. Once you tell them how you can solve their problem, then they will invest the time in understanding your product. Until then, they are not invested.
3. Is Your Value Proposition Different?
Very few products are significantly different in real life. Of the 350 learning system companies we looked at, almost all had generic messages.
Paraphrasing, each of them said, “We have an LMS that is wonderful and does everything you need it to do.”
This is a safe strategy and it rarely succeeds. It’s just waiting for a competitor to come in behind you and say, “I can solve your specific problem.” The one thing a generic message does do is keep you from getting excluded right away. It delays the inevitable and it is worse. The cost of being in the second place is much higher than being excluded early.
4. Will Buyers Believe Your Value Proposition?
Is your unique selling proposition a little too hyped? Are you using marketing language that raises red flags with buyers? Have you experienced a salesperson who is trying too hard to sell something? It makes your radar go up and you struggle to believe everything they say because you know they just want to sell you something. That is what overhyped website copy sounds like.
But if you do have a great product that solves big problems, then you can be confident about saying that. But then back it up quickly with proof or examples so it does not sound made up.
The way to do that is to explain in detail how it does it. If you can message that and support it with case studies or customer testimonials, then you have solid messaging.
5. Is Your Value Proposition Built To Last?
Unfortunately, you cannot focus your value proposition on features that can be duplicated by competitors. This creates the leapfrog effect. After you release an innovative feature, in a surprisingly short amount of time, a competitor will leap over you with something better. You will continuously be forced to change your messaging and release new features and leapfrog again. And on it goes with continuously changing messages.
The key is to build your messaging around how you solve the problems of your ideal customers. This never goes out of style.
Here are some examples of messaging that is short, sweet, and compelling.
Thinkific is focused. Their customers sell training for a profit, so Thinkific makes sure the message is clear that if you use their product, you will grow your business!
Didacte’s message is simple and extremely compelling. It has longevity and must work pretty well since it’s been on their website for many years.
What Makes Great LMS Website Copy?
Great writing is hard for most of us. Writing clever phrasing, perfect grammar, and compelling copy are skills that take time to master.
However, there are a few tricks and shortcuts you can use to avoid going to journalism school or hiring an expensive writer. Before finding them out, you can download the eBook Top LMS Websites For 2020 and dive even more deeply into the secrets of a successful website marketing campaign.
The common thread of these shortcuts is getting to know your customers better:
- Convert features into benefits
This is obvious, but it is hard to do. This is probably because we all know our products better than we know the audience we are selling to. What we need to know is how they use our product to solve their problems. Once you know that, then the writing becomes easy. - Speak their language
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to write from the prospect’s point of view. Your customer has an advanced degree in their problems. You must speak that language so that they will listen and want more. - Write simply
Most successful journalists write assuming their readers have very little education. It is not that their audience is uneducated. It is because lower-level language requires less effort. This is why you must avoid using big words. It makes you feel great to use that big word that expresses something perfectly, but it can do more harm than good. Find an easier word that requires less effort for the reader. - Do not be afraid to have fun
The LMS business is serious, so you have to be careful about inserting too much lighthearted copy. But the benefits are worth the risk and it rarely hurts. It engages readers and keeps them from dozing off.
Arlo’s copy is action-oriented and focused on the benefits, not the features. They translate everything into value for their customers and they are good at addressing concerns, so it is not just hype. It also doesn’t hurt pairing the copy with fun graphics.
Resources, Blogs, Videos, eBooks, And Content Marketing
Some LMS websites have no resources at all, but that is becoming rare. Things have changed quite a bit in just the year we first published these awards. You simply can’t generate the amount of value and conversion rates without good quality content.
Also, your resources communicate a lot about you. So does a lack of resources.
Having valuable resources communicates:
- We will be around when you need us
It communicates that you have been around for a long time and know this business. You are not going to disappear after you implement your LMS. You’re in it for the long term. - I am a thought leader
You know this industry well and you want to pass along the knowledge. - We give back and help people
You are here to provide help and solve problems. This is a calling. You give out resources to demonstrate that commitment. You will be there to help, even when there is no profit in it for you. - You love it!
Why spend so much time writing about this if you do not love it? To achieve longevity in this field, you must generate resources.
Here are some learning system vendors who have an impressive library of quality resources. Not surprisingly, they lead the LMS field.
LearnWorlds set the standard for content marketing in the learning system marketplace. In addition to their blogs, they have an academy, eBooks, checklists, a weekly webinar and a large collection of support articles.
NovoEd has also produced a massive amount of content and does a great job presenting them in an attractive way. Their resources include podcasts, webinars, blogs, general insights, customer stories, and events.
If you develop a great value proposition, communicate well, and generate a lot of quality resources, you will achieve a positive first impression, increase conversion rates, and generate more revenue.
The Best LMS Content
After evaluating 350 Learning Management System sites, we picked these 10 for having the best content. The main criteria we used to judge these sites were value propositions, messaging, content, and resources.
Top LMS Websites For Content 2020—Gold Award
Top LMS Websites For Content 2020—Silver Award
Top LMS Websites For Content 2020—Bronze Award
- Agylia
- Allego
- Cornerstone
- EduMe
- BrainCert Enterprise LMS
- LearnUpon
- Litmos
- PeopleFluent
- Saleshood
- SmarterU
If you want your website to rank among the top with its compelling content, join the webinar How To Build A Powerful LMS Website: Lessons From The Top 10 LMS Websites In Content, Design, And SEO and discover how sharing valuable content can establish your thought leadership and build trust. You can also download the eBook Top LMS Websites For 2020 to find out even more best practices and bring value to your website. Turn potential prospects to engaged clients!
