Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [87]
Figure 8-2: John Deere—need-based content
This page offers the following content:
GET MORE DONE
With 133 attachments available you can:
Mow up to 20 acres
Till up to 5.5 acres
Lift up to 2728 lbs
Dig with a 36-inch bucket up to 8.5 feet deep
Now that’s action! Those factors speak to my needs for a tractor! This makes me excited, this allows me to envision the possibilities of what I can do, and this creates the need for me to own this tractor, and helps me to justify the purchase to my wife!
On the downside, this amazingly explosive content was tied up inside an image, rather than allowed to live on and propagate in HTML text format. Placing this content inside a graphic keeps it contained to those who see the graphic. Allowing it to be HTML text would have allowed it to be searchable; published in search results; and copied, sent, and highlighted by those people who, like me, love this tractor stuff.
As the John Deere website continues to evolve, I hope to see more transitions into consumer needs–based content. For large commitment items, a nice picture and a few paragraphs of content do very little to move the decision-making process along.
PetSafe
Another site that found the power of words is PetSafe (Figure 8-3).
Figure 8-3: An old version of the PetSafe home page
The home page just struck me as soon as I found it, because it was very generic and totally image-focused. The main problem is that it was focused entirely on one image. Unfortunately, the navigation did not help this site, because the first navigational choice was Product Information. Now think about this for a second. The word product does not carry any power at all; it’s a generic word. The second problem is that the word is singular. There is no visual or contextual indication that there is an entire catalog of pet supplies. The large image dedicated to one product and the noncontextual navigation stop any user who does not have a need for that particular product. Nothing draws the viewer into the website.
Fast-forward a few years, and the new PetSafe website is miles ahead of the prior installment (Figure 8-4). This home page provides a clear explanation of the website: “Safe Pets. Happy Owners.”
Figure 8-4: Improved PetSafe home page
What a fantastic tagline! This is another example of the syllogism explained in the previous chapter:
First premise: Owners love their pets and will ensure their safety.
Second premise: Pets make their owners happy.
Conclusion: I show my love for my pet by ensuring their safety, which makes me happy.
You know what PetSafe sells and what they are about after only a split-second glance at the page. The text links and content groupings allow people to instantly get into the deep content of the website, either through the pet product finder or through specific product links.
Thankfully, the navigation was changed to Products, which is still generic but plural, implying many more products are available through that link. The new page has much more emphasis on content, not only the connection of the content but the presentation of the content and key benefit statements.
The customer testimonial is a nice bonus, and the content directs people to the importance of loving their pets. This connects on a different level, since you will buy products to protect and benefit your pet because you love them, not so much because you need to be sold on that.
Interestingly, the site has undergone a few more revisions, and the latest site features many more product categories and less of an emphasis on the owner-pet relationship (Figure 8-5).
Figure 8-5: Latest version of PetSafe: emphasis on products
I am sure that the change in this site to this new home page has made a significant impact in increased traffic and search engine rankings. Implementing more HTML-based content with clear benefit statements gives the search engines more ammunition for contextually classifying your website. But the best result of creating content that connects with readers is that it works. It provides benefits, ideas,