When you see a For Sale sign on a car, you don’t even have to read it, you just know it’s for sale. Why, because most people either purchase one of the standard For Sale signs that various stores sell, or, they make one that resembles a store bought sign. The result – your brain registers that the car (or other item) is for sale.
Simple enough right? So it would seem. But why does it not carry over to the online, internet business world? How many times have you landed somewhere, either trying to buy something and not able to figure out how, or just plain confused as to what a site is about?
If you’re selling something, it’s good to experiment with some components of selling, such as headlines, copy, and images – but you have to use some of the standard recognizable signs of selling – otherwise you’ll miss a lot of sales.
Not convinced yet? Read on…
The other day I picked my 4 year old up from my parent’s house and we drove back to our house. For several miles, we were behind a nice, new, shiny, pickup truck. This was stop and go driving through town, not highway driving. I was behind that truck most of the way. The truck had a bumper sticker sized sticker on the tailgate that had a phone number and other info – in my subconscious I assumed that it was the name of the driver’s business and his or her phone number. Finally, after driving behind him or her for miles and sitting behind them at several stoplights, out of visual boredom (I guess) I finally read the sign. The truck was for sale. It was a For Sale sign!
I doubt I’m the only one to completely overlook the For Sale sign on that truck either.
A standard looking For Sale sign would have clicked in my subconscious the second I pulled in behind that truck and I would have instantly known it was for sale.
What about Internet sales? How can you/me/we apply this to a web site? By using well known clues and cues that we’re selling something:
- Don’t be bashful about the fact that you’re selling something.
- Ask for the sale.
- Tell the reader to click the sales button or link.
- Don’t get fancy about it – simple sells.
- Don’t try to be too classy either – simple sells.
- Use a standard looking button that says something like “Click here to buy now”.
- Use a standard link (blue and underlined) that says something like “Click here to buy now”.
- Don’t use graphic buttons or images as your ONLY sales link; combine them with a standard button and a standard link or two.
- Put credit card logos and Paypal logos on your sales page (if you accept them) near or under the buy button.
- Use This Tool, it will help you do all of this.
Until next time,
Fred
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