Re: Web Site Selling Process

From: Keith Lacy <keithl_at_vistatec.ie>
Date: Mon 06 Nov 2000 16:18:04 -0500

JEFFREY STANIFORTH <affirm_at_affirmware.com.au> WROTE:
> Could someone give me some feedback on what I am doing
> wrong. I am guessing it might be the copy? I am going
> to add a FREE 7 part Affirmation Course next week, also
> a FREE raffle.

Hi Jeff,

There are a number of things about your site which I
would change. Firstly I agree with what many have said
so far about the 'WARNING' message, I'd also like to
add that it's a bit cheesy, I think it is a bit to
informal/jokey ..you've got to know what tone to use,
where and when. On the Web I think it is possible for
the sole trader to present as good an image through
their website as the large multinational. I don't
think you've achieved this. There could be more
images, which has been said already, perhaps also you
could use roll-overs or disjointed rollovers, they may
add to the professionalism.

 Another design point is, design above the fold, I
personally don't like to scroll continuously down the
page when reading information. I think if you break it
down it will serve a couple of purposes firstly you are
making the information more digestable for the user and
also you are perhaps better able to monitor the
movements of the user on your site and see how far
people are interacting with your site before they click
away. This may identify a particular problem area
within your site. I think currently as if it was text
produced or presesnted for some other purpose other
than for the Web, make it Web friendly!

There is an age old model used to describe the effects
of advertising - the AIDA model. It's useful to bear
this in mind when designing your website, in effect the
website has the potential to bring the user through
this model from start to finish. First generating
ATTENTION, ok things like 'WARNING' will generate
attention but not in the right way, but some kind of
attention grabbing statement would be good. Once you
have grabbed their attention you want to develop their
INTEREST, going deeper into the product features etc.,
benefits. Once you have developed their interest you
want to get them to DESIRE your product, tell them what
is in it for them. Once they do desire it, hopefully
they will perform the necessary ACTION, that is to buy.

I think it is a proven fact that people find it more
difficult and time consuming to read from a VDU than
from hard copy. A lot of what people read on screen is
skimmed, they don't read it sequentially, their eyes
darting left and right, up and down. To
overcome/combat this I think you need to look at some
literature on copywriting for direct marketing. Perhaps
you could emphasise key statements with underlining or
bold so that by reading this information alone you can
convey the message of your copy as if it were in point
format.

The Web can seem like an anonymous medium and as we all
know there are some shady characters exploiting it. No
offence but what you seem to be selling colud be cast
into that category if you're not careful, not saying
that you're a shady character but you've got to think
of it from the consumer's point of view, is what you're
offering instantly credible to them ...if not you have
to convince them that it is. You have to build up
trust perhaps in this situation maybe a trial offer of
what more is to come would be a good idea. I think you
need to emphasise your physical contact details so that
people know you are not trying to be elusive. Also
perhaps you can incorporate an 'about' section which
again serves the purpose of linking your virtual
company to the physical. Hope I've been of some help.

Keith Lacy

Tel: +353-1-661-9644 ext. 207
http://www.vistatec.ie/





Received on Mon Nov 06 2000 - 15:18:04 CST