This is so different from traditional advertising. To “get” the Web, you must understand that you’re not pushing your message out onto a largely disinterested audience. Your online audience is actually searching for exactly what you’re selling at the moment they want it. Talk about hot prospects!
In this my second post on ‘getting’ the nature of the web, let’s talk about how people approach their online activity.
Think of it this way…When you’re watching TV, you’re kicked back, relaxed, passive. The ads wash over you.
When you’re reading a magazine like People, you’re more engaged, you have to hold the magazine, flick the pages, moving your eyes around. Fairly passive but more engaged than TV.
Reading the New Yorker or the Wall Street Journal you’re much more engaged, you’re interested in the material. (Notice that many of the ads in a magazine like the New Yorker are long on text.)
Now, think of the Web. Think how you use the Web. You’re task oriented. You want to find something or do something.
Your posture is alert, attentive.
Say I’m writing a sales letter to be sent to your household selling insurance. I have to fight for your attention. I have to work hard as a direct response copywriter to get you to actually open the letter and read it.
What is your automatic inclination? Right…throw the letter out as junk mail.
Now, switch back to the Web. I’m looking to buy insurance, maybe I'm upset because my rates increased or I got subpar service. So I search the Web. I want to be there. I want to look around for the best, least expensive insurance I can find. It’s actually very similar to me walking into an insurance office. And when the customer service representative asks me if I want help, I say yes…I’m interested in buying.
When I search for something on the Web, and I find your website, I’m task oriented. I’m not an adversary. I want help.
So, How Does this Online Audience Affect the Content of Your Website?
- You don’t have to fight for my attention. I came to your site voluntarily so don’t shout at me.
- I’m not in a floppy, TV viewing posture, so don’t bore me with “brand building” content. “We offer great service…bla, bla, bla.”
- I come to your site with a specific task in mind. Let me know if you have what I’m looking for quickly and simply.
- If what I want isn’t featured on the homepage, help me find what I’m looking for with minimal hassle and the fewest number of clicks.
Do you see the difference between traditional advertising and internet marketing? Think of yourself as an active member of the online community. Isn’t satisfying to find exactly what you’re looking for when you search? Don’t you wish your business was the one that gets found by your alert, task oriented online audience?
Until next time,
Nick
Nick Burns is an SEO web writer specializing in persuasive copywriting and content marketing. He provides clients a winning content strategy plus the special web writing to make it work. You can contact Nick here.
