Web Marketing Discoveries: Everything Old is New Again . . .

"Web visitors don't read -- they scan."

"One effective technique when you have a lot of information on a web page is to organize it into 'chunks.'"

"When testing various search engine pay-per-click programs, you should always allocate some funds for 'exploring' new options."

Speakers at an online marketing conference made these web marketing "best practices" pronouncements.  But is this anything new?   Aren't these the same "best practices" that direct marketers have been using for decades in magazine ads and direct mail?

 

 

Is web marketing really a unique discipline?   Does it have its own "best practices" techniques?   Or is it just another selling medium -- where the principles of direct-response copy, offers, design, and testing that have worked for decades easily transfer?

I attended an online marketing conference today.  After sitting through 5 hours of speaker presentations on everything from usability to landing page testing and SEO, I concluded that many marketers seem to THINK online marketing is unique.  I sat next to a "I do a little bit of everything" interactive agency staffer at lunch.  His immediate comment to me, "Well, copy for the web is a little different."  Really?  I don't think so. 

One of the first speakers, a usability expert, announced to the audience in her presentation that "web visitors don't read, they scan."   Yep.  Same with direct-response print ads and direct mail.  Effective copy in ANY printed medium is easily scan-able -- meaning:

1.  A benefit-laden, as-specific-as-possible headline

2.  Subheads that tell the entire story, if all the visitor does is read the subheads

3.  Bullet points to highlight items

Scan-ability has long been cited as a key component of effective copy in direct mail and magazine ads.  Why?  Consumers are consumers -- everyone is busy, and no one has time to read line-by-line and word-for-word.

An audience member asked, "How many links on a page is too many links?"   Correctly, the speaker answered that an effective way to handle a lot of links is to group similar links under broader headings.  Yep.  "Nesting short copy within a longer copy format", we've always called it in direct mail.  The idea is to break up the copy into smaller visual chunks, so it looks easy to get through.  The usability speaker talked about "chunking" like it was a web-specific tactic.

One speaker discussed testing ads in various search engine pay-per-click programs, and suggested that marketers allocate marketing dollars to "exploring" beyond the engines they've found to work.  Yep.  We always suggest that direct-response marketers put about 80% of their direct-response budget into their proven and tested options (lists, offers, media, etc.), and take 20% of the budget to continually test new options.

My conclusion?  Consumers are consumers.  The eye works the way the eye works.  Selling is selling. The Internet hasn't changed any of that.

Understand how to sell in copy, understand how to motivate with an effective offer, understand how to draw the eye where you want it to go.  Whether magazine ads, direct mail, landing pages, or your web site -- the decades-old practices of direct-response continue to be cited as web "best practices."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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