Seth Godin’s recent Blog Post titled “Pretty websites” really hit home. Read it here in full

In it he talks in generalisation about the difference between a “Pretty Website” and one “that has good Conversion”. When you think about it – that quandary between two options isn’t isolated to Web Design:

“There’s always been a conflict between the long-term benefits of beauty in commerce (in architecture, in advertising, in transactions) and the short-term brutality of measurement and direct response”.  Seth Godin

From what we’ve seen recently it’s often not that websites are ‘too pretty’, it’s that they are ‘too complex’. The site serves the purpose of communicating information to the entire spectrum of users from Investors to Staff to Prospective Employees. They need to be ‘Simple’ – just like the needs of a new Prospect. Simple, Narrow, Needing to be Met. Often it’s Financial Service Companies, Real Estate Firms and Schools that seem to fall foul here.

Given the growth of our abilities in Direct Response at MyMediaTradingDesk of late, the number of new Briefs orientated towards Conversion has drastically increased. If we were driven by greed and unscrupulous tactics (we’re not in case you’re wondering – I covered that in this post on Ethics in Business) then we would be taking the new campaigns on every day, squeezing what we can out of the first couple of months and then standing firm against the brunt of  complaints and criticism because of a lack of conversions. But alas, we just provide honest feedback that we feel the client isn’t ready for a Lead Generation Campaign just yet and point them in the direction of a Web Agency who is geared towards Conversion Optimisation. Usually it means we pick up a brand campaign out of it or a longer term conversion campaign that has a good funnel or at least a campaign from the same Agency for a “more-prepared” client.

These ‘not yet ready’ clients provide another real business opportunity for a savvy web dev or internet marketer. The ‘done-for-you’ Design and Marketing Service. I’ve actually got one in the pipeline for a very narrow Niche but there are millions more.

Or if you are reading as a Business Owner or Marketing Manager and you know you need online leads but the company’s site is too much of a legacy to change for a short campaign, there’s always the separate Landing Page Software providers that will really make life easier and quicker for you. Check out Lead Pages or Unbounce as two of the market leaders.

Regardless of the outcome of the brief, it’s always a privilege to be asked for advice and one we take very seriously. We’ve found that the best business relationships are formed out of an honest and open attempt to learn from each other and get the best results for the Advertiser. Hopefully that will be you one day.

Cheers

MP