If you look through various magazines and TV channels you’ll see advertising at its most base level. These forms of advertising are aimed at those who watch TV incessantly, and read magazines about celebrities, diet tips and what they should be wearing.
This is hard sell advertising, perfected over decades. Internet advertising on the other hand is very different, and the use of hard sell advertising online does not work. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is the intellect of the audience. Internet users are more savvy than the target TV watching market, and they know when someone is trying to sell them something.
Adverts that are blatantly adverts will be ignored, almost without thought, due to something known as ‘ad blindness’. Since the Internet first started, websites and marketers have used it to try and sell products. One of the most common forms of advertising is the 468×60 banner, which you’ll often see at the top of websites trying to sell you something. These particular banners however have one of the lowest conversion rates, because even their shape and size makes people ignore them – knowing that they’re adverts.
The same can be said for the type of copy that you use online. If you write content on your website in an obviously, sales orientated way, your website’s visitors will know that you’re trying to sell something and they’ll ignore it.
The Internet is a very cultured beast and you need to be subtle with the way you use it. Clever techniques such as SEO and unique content can be used to turn your website into a resource of information, one which also happens to sell – this is how you win the war online.
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Brilliant observation Guys. How much better and more valuable a place would the Internet be for users if all us marketers subscribed to your philosophy.
It’s very easy to be distracted and get caught up in the sell sell sell mindset, forgetting that if you continue to provide value, sales will occur naturally.
I’m going to make sure I keep referring back to this article to keep me focused on trying to provide value for my site visitors.
A good post for me, many thanks