Who are these two young stalwarts, holding up the tottering edifice that is Bird?
They are Ben Jesson and Dr. Karl Blanks, partners in www.conversion-rate-experts.com.
They are the only Authorised Google Optimiser Consultants in Britain, which sounds rather grand but more to the point they are pretty damn good at filling up tired old men with lethal-strength Cobra lager, which is much more dangerous.
Besides being a helpful life support, they told me one thing that I recommend to everyone reading this, which I will reveal to you in a minute
How did I meet them?
I was talking last year at Ken McCarthy’s System Seminar in London, and so were they. Ken – the first person ever to run an internet marketing conference back in 1993 – says this was one of the two best events out of all the scores he has run since.
I suspect Karl and Ben’s content was better than my jokes. But then again, if you go to their site and read the bit on the right under “Send me my free newsletter” I guarantee it will make you laugh. And when, pray, was the last time you got a giggle out of anything to do with website conversions?
I thought so.
So what is the idea I mentioned? It is almost ludicrously simple – and a wonderful way of educating those whose websites are full of meaningless drivel (which means most firms).
I am amazed I never thought of this simple, yet clever idea, because for over 30 years I’ve been telling people to read their copy out loud before they run it. Good writing is just organised speech.
They just say: “A prospect has just rung up to ask what you do and how you can help them. Now answer them by reading the copy on your home page out loud.”
As you can imagine, this results in embarrassment for many whose sites are full of corporate waffle.
If you love words, as I do, there is a splendid, rather odd word for this little exercise. It is eleemosynary, meaning, “intended for a charitable purpose.”
And God knows, it is charitable to show people what awful tripe their website people are banging up on their sites.
Which reminds me: for some reason people pay more for website copy than for the ordinary kind. I can’t imagine why. People who read copy, wherever it may be, do not mysteriously change into something else; and the task of persuasion is achieved in pretty much the same way.
So I write in exactly the same way (like this, in fact) wherever my stuff appears.
Bravo, Drayton!
Great post…and I’m going to put this little tidbit in my business swipe file.
And speaking of great ideas, when are you going to open up a stateside version of your school? Or is that in the works and I’m still in the dark?
I know you’re ultra-busy, but we sure could use a Drayton clone over here.
Hi Drayton
You’re like a breathe of fresh air!
In our marketing arena’s the atmosphere can become stale and clogged. Like being in a major city on a bad polluted day.
I like your approaches to marketing, learned more and intend on coming back soon.
Found you on The Total Package.
All the best for 2009!
Thank you, Apryl, Susan – and all the other people who send me kind messages. You cheer me up no end.
Thank you so much for sharing the useful information. I really like it and looking forward to read more on it.
Hi Drayton,
I was listening to you on my mp3 player in the dentist’s waiting room on Monday.
You said something along the lines of:
“one of the best things about the internet is that it makes it cheap to do the most important thing in marketing, which is testing”.
Like the two guys in your post, I do split-testing for clients using Website Optimizer and bumps of 20%to 40% are commonplace.
But, for some reason, getting clients to test is like pulling teeth.
(particularly if they’re testing virgins)
It’s the damndest thing.
If I propose something that’ll get them 10% more traffic, they jump at it.
But, suggest getting 10% more out of their existing traffic and they either think it’s voodoo or too much like hard work.
(even when I show them examples and offer guarantees)
I’m wondering, is this normal?
Do you find that it’s easier to sell clients on brand new advertising than it is to sell them on a re-write of their existing copy?
Cheers,
Steve
Interesting, and very true. The key to the success of my comedy site is that the writing maintains a somewhat conversational feel, while building things up and ultimately rewarding the reader towards the end.
I’m going to remember this, as I work to improve things over there. Thank you.
Being funny is the hardest thing. So I went to Leon’s site – http://listentoleon.net – and read this about the new baby of two basketball players:
First off, I want to make sure that no one is surprised when this couple’s unborn fetus becomes the first pick in this year’s NBA or WNBA draft, depending on the sex. It’s only a matter of time before this child becomes an outstanding athlete, coming from these two oversized slam-dunking bohemoths. That little young’un is gonna climb out the womb, slap the doctor, flex his six pack for the nurses, do 200 push ups, then start jumping rope with the umbilical cord.
Excellent stuff.
Drayton, we can all learn a lot from you. I respect your wisdom and experience. I look forward to reading more of your stuff!
Terrific advice on either side of the pond. I’ve always read aloud if I have to proof my own and ironically today was selling a prospect by reading a description aloud, but I’ve never done my homepage. YIKES, an overhaul is clearly and embarrassingly overdue.
Thanks for the reminder.
Cheers, Melissa
Loved it so much going to Tweet it. Found it through a discussion on LinkedIn posted by http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwest
Yeah, I’m getting you in my email and asking Alex to get connected to me. Two brilliant people at once. What a coup!
Molly
Loved it so much going to Tweet it. Found it through a discussion on LinkedIn posted by http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwest
Yeah, I'm getting you in my email and asking Alex to get connected to me. Two brilliant people at once. What a coup!
Molly