All the while believing the new millineum is the internet age.....the "information age"......
with all it's glossy technology, ultra kewl video games, and interactive websites with
fabulous flash graphics, the fact is that it is really about communication, just the way it has always been.
And communication requires the ability to read. Words, not graphics, are winning the war for our attention.
To be informed we read. When we grew up into big people books, and moved out of our childhood, one of the most important things
was that there were now no more pictures.....remember that? How many times have you been shopping for a child's book and you really bought
it for the pictures?
Today, we log on to get the information we need. Whether we're doing research, shopping, or looking for the latest CD, we want
to know about it, and we know where to get that knowledge. When we find it we expect to read it, in our own language.
If you intend to have an Internet presence, you need to be aware of how to use words to make your website a success.
"Studies on recognition and recall show that the human brain functions on a 'recognition' level. For instance, babies as
young as a few weeks, will fixate on an object with the appearance of a face. They are used to faces, and they are
drawn to things that appear to have a face. When something already exists in your consciousness, you can easily
assimilate it into your every day life. When something only resembles objects or experiences in your consciousness,
you're forced to 'recall' them, and it puts you at a disadvantage.
If you don't believe me...draw the face of a penny on a piece of paper. Without cheating. Now, check your picture. Did
you do it right? Few people do. Your brain can recall what a penny is, but it doesn't store enough information to help you
draw it off the cuff. You had to 'recall' that information, and like the rest of us, you probably did it wrong."
Experience is the core of recognition, and it can motivate your visitors to become customers. This is why we now
have computers with GUI (graphical user interfaces) - in other words, point and click operations. They don't require
knowledge of computer code. Back in the good old days of DOS (you remember DOS don't you?), there were lines and lines of computer code to
remember, and a lot of people (especially me!) found this annoying, time consuming, and cumbersome.
I worked for a company that was once US West... we called them US Worst....it was because our customer service was less than one
should expect from a telephone company !! They spent four to six months to train their people. Most of us agreed not to ever laugh at
the people that answered the phones there again....Most of us....even the techies recognized that it was computer processes, but were helpless
to correct the problem. The time required to make the computer function was frustrating for both me and my customer and often found myself flustered and unable to compute!
Your goal should be to make your web presence recognizable. Studies show that our eyes are immediately
drawn to the text on the page we're viewing. Whether we're searching for widgets for Aunt Selma or skateboards for the teenagers of our lives,
we usually know one when we see it, but when we're shopping for one, we need to be told we've come to a place that sells them.
Why can't the picture of the widgets or the skateboard make your sale for you? Because it doesn't communicate enough information to the reader.
The picture shows us we MIGHT have the right place, but...for all we know, we've reached a homepage Ben Franklin designed for showing everyone his new tatoo,
or Alice Bernard set up to talk about her little gidget's gadget! The WORDS are what keep us on track and help us move throughout the site in a proactive way.
Without the words, we're forced to keep reminding ourselves what we're doing there. It's just a psychological fact.
Okay. What words? How do you communicate to your visitors most effectively? First of all,
Be positive and active.
For example:
Passive statement:
I read the paper every Sunday.
Active statement:
I hurry out to get the paper and read it every Sunday.
Notice how 'hurry' tells the reader more about the action than the word 'go.' It creates a strong image. Go figure...... words creating the picture.
I hated this kind of thing in a creative writing class I had.... but sometimes, you can use participles,
or verbs as adjectives. How much more impressive is:
"The teenage boy nose dived off the half pipe, while his mother stared in paralyzing unmitigated horror."-than,
"The teenage boy fell off the board while his mother stood by the fence."
Another example is, "The innocuous lizard on the granite slab swathed itself in the peaceful afternoon sunlight." as opposed to,
"The lizard sunned itself on the rock."
Again, using language to make the picture, not using the picture to make you see the language.
The point is..... people want to be told what you have to offer, and they want to be convinced to buy it.
Use recognition to convince them your product or service is what they need. The following terms are easily recognizable ones that
advertising has been using to make sales since forever.....
FREE (this will never go out of style.....who doesn't like free?)
NEW (as in, New and Improved to show progress)
POWER(ful) (Powerful new---solution to something, or Power at your fingertips, etc)
BREAKTHROUGH (Breakthrough knowledge, drug, cleanser...)
IMPROVED (again, New and Improved...better than before...)
REVEALED (Secrets of the Stars revealed....customers want
to know more or imitate others)
IMMEDIATELY (as in, right now, today, before you leave this site using a sense of urgency...)
DISCOVER (learn something new, something daring,
something dazzling...)
These are targeted words. Ads that use them promote active thinking, recognition not recall, and show higher scores in awareness tracking studies.
For your homework, when you develop your next ad, try this task: After developing the ad, show it to a friend. Then take it back, or have the friend turn away from the monitor.
Ask the friend, "What color is the 'object'?" (item you are selling) This is a superficial task. If the friend can't
remember, nothing is lost. A mere glance over her shoulder will help her recall the answer.
Now ask, "What is the ad selling?" This is a more thoughtful question and requires the viewer to think about the ad. If she
'recognized' the product by your sales terms, she will know what the ad was about and you will have succeeded in using
recognition, not recall, to help you make a sale.
While many newcomers on the web think originality and creativity is the only answer, studies show otherwise. Using
words to your advantage is a powerful tool. Words that call for action, get a response. Giving the reader dynamic content
to think about encourages him or her to return for more.
I remember (from the sales and marketing training that I got selling advertising at the newpaper....) that people read in a Z pattern, beginning with the
upper left, moving over to the upper right, across the page to the lower left, and finishing as the lower right.
And the research I've done online tells me that nothing has changed.
The last thing your visitor sees should contain the most important information---whether it's your company name, address, and phone number,
or a link to an order form with the proper instructions, "Order Now! Improved! New! A Great way to Discover the Powerful Effects of..." whatever.
Put your great copy and ads in the Z area. Let the graphics inhabit the in-between spots.
While flash is fun, and many talented graphic designers are making it more fun every day, research still tells us that readers online and off, still
look for the caption to tell them what to do next.
In the war for attention, Internet visitors need reassurance that you have what they need...... so tell them so !!
As an avid reader and Internet visitor, I recall a lot of things, but, if you're being clever and putting pictures of animals on your site
to show the variety of species you sell supplies for, you'd better say so, because I won't have a clue ......in other words I won't recognize
why those pictures are there.........unless you tell me.
For detailed usability research see
Jodi Reichenberger of JDA Publishing and owner/creator of the
Web Builder Letters,
is a 6 year veteran of website design and internet marketing. She is an active website designer and writer.
Visit http://www.JDAPublishing.com
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The Only thing that
will stop the growth of the internet is a very large asteroid....."
Scott Farrell
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