Comments on: Be Romantic To Make The Sale http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/ Helping you build search engine friendly websites Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:29:40 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Steven Bradley http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-859 Steven Bradley Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:19:18 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/#comment-859 Yuri, I think your story and benefits work together. I don't think it's an either or proposition. I'd see a story more like an overall strategy and listing benefits as a tactic within that overall strategy. The story you tell will let you know which benefits your visitors are interested in. Thanks Khalid and you're exactly right about creating personas first. I think your personas would lead you into what story you should be telling. John and Sarah would want to be told two different stories within one overall story of romance. Funny you mention John needing help shopping. I was thinking the same thing while writing this post, but didn't include some of my thoughts. I was thinking someone like John would appreciate an easy to use help and support system. Maybe even testimonials from Tom, Dick, and Harry about how easy the site made it to find the right size. Thanks Nathania. I agree this would take some expert writing skills. It's why I thought you might hire a romance novelist for the blog. The sales pages would take some quality writing too. I think the idea of adding video would be great for something like. I'm wondering how mini films would work for the product shots. Of course everything I described in this post would be pretty complex and take quite some time to implement, but I think if there's a good enough story to lead, you'd be able to little by little craft this kind of site. Yuri, I think your story and benefits work together. I don’t think it’s an either or proposition. I’d see a story more like an overall strategy and listing benefits as a tactic within that overall strategy. The story you tell will let you know which benefits your visitors are interested in.

Thanks Khalid and you’re exactly right about creating personas first. I think your personas would lead you into what story you should be telling. John and Sarah would want to be told two different stories within one overall story of romance.

Funny you mention John needing help shopping. I was thinking the same thing while writing this post, but didn’t include some of my thoughts. I was thinking someone like John would appreciate an easy to use help and support system. Maybe even testimonials from Tom, Dick, and Harry about how easy the site made it to find the right size.

Thanks Nathania. I agree this would take some expert writing skills. It’s why I thought you might hire a romance novelist for the blog. The sales pages would take some quality writing too. I think the idea of adding video would be great for something like. I’m wondering how mini films would work for the product shots.

Of course everything I described in this post would be pretty complex and take quite some time to implement, but I think if there’s a good enough story to lead, you’d be able to little by little craft this kind of site.

]]> By: Nathania - Guest-Blogger.com http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-858 Nathania - Guest-Blogger.com Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:30:08 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/#comment-858 Wow, great post. I would add that writing skills need to be superb. The story needs to be tight - mix setting an environment with making the story progress. Every sentence has to engage the reader or else they'll get bored. You could even experiment with video - create mini films to tell your story. Wow, great post. I would add that writing skills need to be superb. The story needs to be tight – mix setting an environment with making the story progress. Every sentence has to engage the reader or else they’ll get bored.

You could even experiment with video – create mini films to tell your story.

]]> By: Khalid Hajsaleh http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-857 Khalid Hajsaleh Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:23:22 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/#comment-857 Hi Steven, What a great idea. One of the first things that should be done before designing a website is creating "personas" to resemble the complex personality types of the site visitors. These persona are then used when designing the different elements of the site, general navigation, and copy. So, for a site that sells lingerie, some of the personas might be - John, 27 year old, hopeless romantic who is visiting the site to buy something for his girlfriend. John is not too familiar with different sizes of lingerie but he sure knows what looks good. So, he will need a little help in choosing the right item for his girlfriend. - Sarah is 37 year old mid level successful executive who is looking for something to make her sexy. She bought lingerie before, she is looking for something specific. She wants to see this years fashions and what is hip and hot. We usually develop between 3 to 7 personas for a site based on marketing data. The trick next is to develop stories, copy and design that will appeal to each of these personas. Hi Steven,

What a great idea. One of the first things that should be done before designing a website is creating “personas” to resemble the complex personality types of the site visitors. These persona are then used when designing the different elements of the site, general navigation, and copy.

So, for a site that sells lingerie, some of the personas might be

- John, 27 year old, hopeless romantic who is visiting the site to buy something for his girlfriend. John is not too familiar with different sizes of lingerie but he sure knows what looks good. So, he will need a little help in choosing the right item for his girlfriend.

- Sarah is 37 year old mid level successful executive who is looking for something to make her sexy. She bought lingerie before, she is looking for something specific. She wants to see this years fashions and what is hip and hot.

We usually develop between 3 to 7 personas for a site based on marketing data. The trick next is to develop stories, copy and design that will appeal to each of these personas.

]]> By: Yuri http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-856 Yuri Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:31:43 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/#comment-856 Of course. A story and the benefits are two different ways of capturing the attention of the visitor. Sometimes, you can tie them together (if the situation from the story describes benefits, for example), but mostly, these are just two different ways to make a sale. Of course. A story and the benefits are two different ways of capturing the attention of the visitor. Sometimes, you can tie them together (if the situation from the story describes benefits, for example), but mostly, these are just two different ways to make a sale.

]]> By: Steven Bradley http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-855 Steven Bradley Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:39:00 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/#comment-855 Absolutely Yuri. I'm not saying this is the only story the site could tell. It's the story I would choose to tell, but there are certainly others. I agree you should focus on benefits, but I wouldn't say benefits are the story. They're part of the story and a part that will ideally help persuade visitors to convert, but I think the story is really larger than benefits your products and services offer. Benefits should be seen in the context of the story you are trying to tell. A different story would call for highlighting different benefits. Thanks for the links. There's some really good information in them and I'd encourage everyone to take a look. Absolutely Yuri. I’m not saying this is the only story the site could tell. It’s the story I would choose to tell, but there are certainly others.

I agree you should focus on benefits, but I wouldn’t say benefits are the story. They’re part of the story and a part that will ideally help persuade visitors to convert, but I think the story is really larger than benefits your products and services offer. Benefits should be seen in the context of the story you are trying to tell.

A different story would call for highlighting different benefits.

Thanks for the links. There’s some really good information in them and I’d encourage everyone to take a look.

]]> By: Yuri http://www.vanseodesign.com/marketing/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-854 Yuri Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:23:05 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/be-romantic-to-make-the-sale/#comment-854 Nice point about the story. But it is just one of the ways to solicit emotional response from the visitors. Another is focus on the benefits, answer the hottest burning question of the customer and suggest solutions. Mind Valley managed to put into words what I've been thinking for a while: http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/increasing-online-conversion-rates/ http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/conversion-rates/ http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/how-to-make-sales-online/ Nice point about the story. But it is just one of the ways to solicit emotional response from the visitors. Another is focus on the benefits, answer the hottest burning question of the customer and suggest solutions.

Mind Valley managed to put into words what I’ve been thinking for a while:
http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/increasing-online-conversion-rates/
http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/conversion-rates/
http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/how-to-make-sales-online/

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