Forum Moderators: skibum
They feel so . . . familiar . . when you come across them. Mostly, when I bump into one I run away - but not always. Sometimes I scroll through them just to try to 'understand them', but I seldom labor the point - until now.
So, today's lesson my fellow instructors is "The Advanced Anatomy, Psychology and Everything Else of a Microsite That Sells".
Here's my preliminary observation of "The Technique", speaking in the first person as if I am the site.
1. You are my friend. I tell you so. I call you friend. "Dear friend". Why not, eh? It's a nicer touch than "Hey, you, stranger . . .".
2. I spin a yarn. Usually starts with a bit "I'm just like you". Somebody please take on the task of explaining the basic structure of "the yarn". The yarn always feels like I've been there before - in other yarns - so what, exactly is the essential structure of the yarn?
3. Along the way my page is littered with testimonials or endorsements. Usually, if you check, the endorsers are in the same line of work, so I guess it's just a mutual admiration club. Somebody take on the task of defining "The Essential Elements of an Effective Testimonial". Brevity and you gotta feel the love won't be enough - but that would be close.
4. Of course, like any good microsite, I make you feel that unless you act now you'll miss the deal, time's running out ya know? The offer will expire today. (Personally, I don't much care for this - but - is there an effective version? Should I care?)
5. Like a good infomercials I always offer lots of extras with the essential deal: You get not only 1, not 2 or 3, but today only you get 237 Ginsu knives plus a hungry Rotweiller. Somebody answer this: What's the essential ingredients and cost analysis of 'the extras'?
6. Design? Did anybody say design? I, the effective microsite, have perfected ugly as an art form. Somebody answer this: What is the science of ugly? Is the science this: BUY THIS NOW BUTTON, or is there a little bit more.
7. What have I missed? There's got to be more to the art and science and psychology (not quite science) of micro- mini- sites that sell.
I mean, doesn't Corey Rudelovskioskyshwartzenkopf offer a 88 CD course on how to sell on the WWW?
Each of those things you mentioned are designed to keep you reading, Even you yourself said, "Sometimes I scroll through them just to try to 'understand them'". So it is with the muggles who stop there. What is this person trying to say.
Most of what powers a mini site is the same as what powers a DM piece. You would be so very surprrised to know how easy it is to manipulate the average person (then again, you were a lawyer, so maybe not ;) ).
As you noticed, emotion is the key to a mini site. Every step is a play on emotion. 1) - a commonality (I am like you)
2) - a human drama (entertainment for me)
3) - acceptance into the masses (The whole high school, I didn't fit in thing)
4) -time and opportunity lost (I woulda,coulda,shoulda)
5) - more than what we paid for (What a DEAL for me)
6) - ease of use, no obvious money spent there, so it must be a deal (They are only trying to help me out)
7) - Everything we long for as a human being (I am the center of the universe).
Watch an infomercial, read a successful catalog (I mean really read). They all have the same attributes. It's all everyday human psychology.
People do read them and buy if they are interested.
How can you resist $23,945 "worth" of bonuses for a $997 Vital piece of info that will compel your visitors to buy from you in their sleep?
Funny thing: I read one recently and bought (It was for a piece of software I had considered writing myself).
One innovative feature was the little window that popped up as I reached the end of the long page: "Act within three minutes, and we'll slash $14 off the regular price... this window and this offer will end in 3 minutes - you will never see it again!"
Actually such one-page sales letters convert very well.
You bet they do. It's called Power Copywriting for those interested. As long as you are very relevant to the search, even the best and brightest will lay down money. I convert about one in seventeen visits to my site.
You know what I did? I went back several times to see the page that 'only comes up once'!
Hanna - a love dissection, but . . .
I want MOOOORRRRRRE! (Please.)
What, exactly, is the scientific analysis of each and every organ in an effective one-page-wonder?
Emotional, a mini-series on a page drama? Nice craftwork. Sequential, paragraph-by-paragraph hooks? Oooooo, that's perfectly devious!
More, more, more. What are the the mitochondria, how are the cells structured into tissue, are there veins, skin, the heart, the nervous system and the brains of an effective microsite?
What is the blood - the constant - that flows through the page, nourishing it - keeping it (you reading) - alive? Is that emotion?
What is the heart? What emotional sequence? Curiousity, apprehension, fear, hope, .... Is it all emotions? There clearly is an orchestration of emotion. Hanna, you go girl. That was a thing of beauty.
What is the brain? Is there a rationale? Is it all and only emotion? If you suddenly appeal to reason or logic does the orchestra collapse into a jumble of chairs and instruments? So, stay on message? Stay on emotion? WHERE is REASON in this process? Anywhere?
Somebody, define the 15 essential sequential paragraphs of an effective micosite.
Para 1: Introduction: Friend, my name is Bob. (Hello Bob) and ......WHAT?
Para 2:
Para 3:
Para 4:
.... 15
Is there a set number of thought boxes? Locomotive: Personalize it, build rapport, entrustment. Caboose: Do this now! (But, do what? How is that caboose presented? Is the last step "Just do it" or does the emotion flow?
The last step is a closer. You gotta be a good closer. So, what are the essentials of a good close? Isn't that key?
Thanks, Pete
First off, there is no where to click to except the buy button. So, the visitor has two options, leave or keep reading. There are no other links distracting them in another direction.
Secondly, they are great to test. hannamyluv posted a great thred in supporters about a/b testing ( [webmasterworld.com...] ), and since a microsite only has one copy to deal with, then every change is measurable.
This is the most common approach I see for these types of sites:
1. Design several microsite pages, and then PPC to every page and split test the conversions on all of the pages.
2. Once they find a copy/layout (split testing where the images appear each time you scroll down is also tested) that has a very good conversion rate, they ditch the other copies and just stick with the final work.
3. An affiliate program is built out to drive more traffic to the pagee, most microsites I see have an attached affiliate program.
4. At this point, some actually do SEO for the site, other's just move onto the next microsite and start over with a new program.
I doubt a microsite would make sense for say, a new laWebmasterWorlder?
(N.B. This is a devil's advocate post and my responses are directed to the proverbial merchant, not to any other members here).
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1. You are my friend. I tell you so.
Which makes me immediately suspicious. Overfamiliarity is commonly employed by con-merchants.
Whether I am your friend or not, is up to me to decide, not least because you are "approaching" me. If you want to say you are my friend, that's fair enough, but that's quite different from telling me that I am your friend.
2. I spin a yarn. Usually starts with a bit "I'm just like you".
I very much doubt that. >;->
3. Along the way my page is littered with testimonials or endorsements.
I don't understand testimonials.
Which ones are genuine and which ones aren't? Is it even safe to assume that any are genuine?
4. Of course, like any good microsite, I make you feel that unless you act now you'll miss the deal, time's running out ya know? The offer will expire today.
I will buy your product (or not) in my time, not yours. If you wish to withdraw the product before I have decided in my own time, that is your problem. In this case I keep my money for another day and I am satisfied that had you been confident of the quality of your product you would have also been confident to let me make my decision in my own time.
This one always sets off warning bells.
5. Like a good infomercials I always offer lots of extras with the essential deal: You get not only 1, not 2 or 3, but today only you get 237 Ginsu knives plus a hungry Rotweiller.
So what are you saying? The product isn't worth the price you're selling it for? Why don't you just get rid of the "free" gifts and lower the price?
First off, there is no where to click to except the buy button. So, the visitor has two options, leave or keep reading.
You [the merchant] don't understand the medium, do you? One of the advantages of the web is that I read the information I want to in the order I want to read it. The fact that you have put your entire website on a single page makes you look like a bit of a berk, but the fact that you don't even provide internal navigation up and down the page is just clumsy.
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Not everyone will come up with all the mental responses above when they encounter the different techniques applied in one-page-wonders, but I'm sure at least one or two of these thoughts will pass through almost everyone's mind.
So, IMHO, while we're dissecting the model, we also need appropriate strategies to deal with the sort of responses outlined above.
I have to wonder, if in the effort to appeal to the rationale mind, their conversion rate drops - which brings us back to A-B testing: Maybe A-B testing of AdWords ads and A-B testing of landing page?
But back, back, BACK to the central premise:
What - exactly - is the anatomy, physiology, and psychology of a one page wonder that works?Is there a defined pattern? Paragraph 1: Say this. Paragraph 2: Say this?
Did anyone ever buy a product as a result of visiting such a site?
This is your homework, class: Go forth and find a one page wonder, pick some element, dissect it, put it under the microscope, and report your findings back here. Whoever reports the most useful information - everyone has to buy him/her a beer at PubConf. Right now, in my book, Hanna is winning the beer prize ;-)
Trying to sell to people like yourself may or not be the best tactic, which is what I see being discussed here by some.
I am an insomniac by nature. I still don't understand who buys all that informercial stuff. But Home Shopping Network, QVC, and a zillion informercials keep playing every night. If that stuff didn't work, it wouldn't be there (cable air time is cheaper but its far from free).
One-page microsites are the Infomercials of the Internet. They read (sound) just like the TV ones.
Thanks.
Anybody here ever build an effective microsite? Care to share?
Of course, months (or years?) of preparation needed to make it happen :)
Such sites definitely sells, it does not matter what we think. What's important is that it sells!
These mini sites *really* work.
Here are a few elements:
1) Tell a good story. Storytelling is ages old, and people love to hear one which is genuinely interesting (and not quite clearly a disguised sales pitch). Furthermore, your message can be delivered in a story, and it will be more likely to slip under someone's BS detector that way.
2) Use as many words as you need to. The more expensive the product/service, in general, the more words necessary. Don't be boring or repetitive, or you'll lose their attention. But the more you can tell them about the product, the more you will sell.
3) Focus on the customer, not yourself. I.e. "Our widgets never break!" could be replaced by "Your widgets will allow you to focus on your business".
4) The headline is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT part of such a site. A good headline can change your conversion by enormous amounts.
5) Get your prospect's attention, build their trust in you, make them want your product (two most powerful motivators: pain & pleasure), make them feel they need to buy NOW, and ask them to buy NOW. You see, people may well fully plan on coming back to buy, but the fact is, once they leave, there is a very good chance they won't.
6) Testimonials are *so* important. Which is more powerful: "I am the best mini-site consultant in the world". or "Daniel Dent's consultation with me increased my mini-sites's sales by $45,721 in the last three months alone. He is my secret weapon I hope my competitors never find out about. --Brett Tabke". The FTC *seriously* does not take kindly to falsified testimonials. Furthermore, good testimonials can be independantly verified. The above one cannot, because it is just an example. But if it could be? Many of you have some respect or admiration for Brett, and were he to endorse me, some of that respect or admiration would be transferred on to me.
7) Testimonials serve another purpose. If you give someone a testimonial, especially in writing, about how good their product is, YOU will start to believe even more that their product is good. Furthermore, you will defend the person against any allegations that their product isn't good -- you are actually defending what YOU said rather than that person.
8) Try and get people to visualize what you are saying. Use words such as imagine, picture. "Imagine yourself depositing this week's pay -- a commission cheque for a million dollars".
So those are just a few points to consider... there is enough to write a book on the topic, and many many have -- this thread alone contains references to three people heavily involved in all of that.
By definition, 50% of the population is below average
There is a huge population out there that doesn't think. It's a terrible thing to say, but it is so true.
There is a great big part of the world that wants to believe that something can be had for nothing, and that it really is just that easy.
The reason microsites work (and As Seen On TV items) is because some part of every person believes there is a better way. But an overwelming portion of the population is even more subseptible because, frankly, they don't have a chance at it.
Have I run a microsite? No. But I have overseen the sale of thousands of ASOTV and diet and sex products. It's all the same. Appeal to that sense of need, of better life, of something more. That is all there is to it.
I think the basic misconception that is stated here is that people are basically intelligent.
Hanna: I mentioned earlier in this thread, "As long as you are very relevant to the search, even the best and brightest will lay down money." Intelligence doesn't apply.
If I use a micro-site to sell a piece of software you are thinking of writing yourself and I price it right, you might buy it thinking it will save you time and money by doing so. I'm assuming my product is so on-topic that you take the time read all the details, testimonials, guarantees etc. And your posts suggest you are intelligent
A very good friend with a masters in marketing from a prestigious university and I both market with micro-sites. He introduced me to them. We both think they are hmm...cheesy. But our results tell us others don't think as we do. As a stock broker in the eighties I didn't think the Home Shopping Network or ATM's would ever catch on. I discovered back then I shouldn't rely on my own habits/likes/dislikes to predict the habits/likes/dislikes of consumers.
Also, and this isn't directed at you Hanna, it would be foolish to think color selection, font size, content placement etc. in a micro-site is by accident. There is a reason why these sites look similar. They are following the same rules, and anyone wanting to know those rules needs to pony up some money like the rest of us.
I discovered back then I shouldn't rely on my own habits/likes/dislikes to predict the habits/likes/dislikes of consumers.
... can't agree more. Let the market decides :)
It also goes part the way to explaining why these sites work, indirectly of course.
