Dear Friends:

Forget about newsgroup postings, links to other Web sites, and search engines. I want you to think about one thing.

I never had. On my recent honeymoon in Belize, I was looking for a service which I knew nothing about... much like your clients approaching the Web.

Walking down the quiet beaches of Ambergris Caye - built around one of the most amazing barrier reefs of coral and tropical fish in the world - made me want to dive below the surface of the sea and swim in these once in a lifetime scenes.

Considering I'm a land-based pedestrian with no clue about the ocean, this was a problem. Drowning at the bottom of some foreign sea just for the sake of seeing some fish wasn't (and isn't) high on my list of things to do. So I started looking for some help.

Every scuba company was doing the same type of promotion. Ads on the beach were offering the same package, location, diving plan, same everything...just a different company. Most of them even had Web sites. Everything I looked at repeated the message, scuba diving at differing prices presented with pretty pictures. Just like the Web!

No one promised the benefit I needed; a safe and fascinating journey with an expert who would make sure I didn't end up gasping for air or becoming lunch for the many sharks and rays that swim that barrier reef. Diving into the sea safely to view the colorful scenery was all I wanted.

Sound familiar to you creating, or selling, Web sites? How could I choose from the many alternatives that all looked and sounded the same?

I visited many scuba shops who all told me when, why, and where they would take me. One store had a huge Jamaican guy who told me his name was "Tar Baby"; he was a native of the island who would take me out and not count the time. He was selling the image of being with a native, relaxing in the reef and swimming with whatever came. I wondered if he could help me dive; I wasn't looking for a marathon, I was looking for a fun, safe, first dive. If I knew what I was doing, his offer would have been good. Then again, if I knew what I was doing I would never have talked with him. I'd do it myself and ignore the time. Image failed because there was no benefit, only the appearance of working with a native islander.

When I was just about ready to give up my search, with all prices and locations being the same (and my fear level increasing), I came upon a place called Adventures in Watersports who showed me HOW they would approach my problem with their solution.

I went to the desk and recited my line about wanting to dive for the first time. Colin introduced himself and suggested I needed an expert. Not just a diver, a personal trainer who would take me safely through the experience. He asked me if I would like to meet David, an ex-Navy Seal who was the best person on the island to help me on my first dive. He suggested that I immediately go to David's office to meet with him and make sure he was the right man.

    --> I walked into that office and within three minutes yanked my wallet out to give him my credit card. He gave me the exact answers I was looking for, the rest was easy.

My fears were relieved, credibility established, I was ready to dive! Even when we did dive, I ended up losing most of my oxygen by making a rookie mistake; David checked up on me and got me to the surface before it was a problem. Talk about direct response!

David was the only one selling benefits, not image; Colin gave me a direct response to my inquiry by getting me in touch with the expert. Direct response to my question led me to the content, David's expertise; once I met and talked with him relieving my anxiety the deal was closed.

So what does scuba diving in Belize have to do with the Web? Everything!

Every scuba business was advertising the same way, just like everyone online is going to newsgroups, linking to other Web sites, and registering with the search engines. But to succeed, you have to do more than this; you have to take the next step and create a direct response marketing and money making machine.

We all buy results, not image. We buy when the company or person becomes the expert, or has the best product. A me to you approach is what opens doors on the Web...direct response.

Let's put this into action by learning how to use direct response driven Web sites. All your actions must be built on developing and enhancing continual direct response contact with your target audience. Keep them coming back and make your message the one they rely on.

Pretty pictures are just that, pretty pictures. Try to build a site around those pictures and you get the usual complaints. It's slow. The site took a long time to open. Like having a locked door on your site, excessive images get in the way by preventing people from accessing. They also make it difficult to figure out what is going on.

Most of the complaints image-driven sites get aren't really about slow loading times. It's about disappointment in waiting 30 seconds to five minutes for the door to open, only to see something bland. Or something that doesn't appeal to your attention. Or you can't figure out what the image means. In a world of high gloss special effects, graphics spell trouble.

    --> Images Are Like Fads: They Don't Last For Long, Get Boring Quickly, and Force You To Spend More Money Trying to Appeal to a Limited Audience

Pictures are strange because they mean different things to different people. Look at an image online, find one you like, then ask someone else if they like it. Even if they do, they'll give you different

reasons for liking it. Images are inconsistent and unreliable when eliciting response. They are the product of mood, impulse, and a changing landscape of pictures pushed at us by all forms of media. We are drowning in images. Forget bandwidth, we are being overwhelmed with images pushed down our throat. Online, this causes gagging and increases cost because you have to keep changing the look of your site to keep up with the changing tastes of your audience.

Why The Pushing Of Images Kills A Site

When visitors come to your site, they know what they are interested in. You don't have to appeal to or create their momentary impulse; they are already expressing it.

Compare this to a magazine rack with one hundred magazines trying to slap you in the face to get you to open them. You are browsing, not sure of exactly what you are interested in. Image works because it makes the magazine stand out. The Web doesn't need to stand out. Coming to a home page is like coming to a front door . Open that door slowly and find tons of images trying to push the idea of the products and services in your face you surf on.

Images push the sale because they have to sell by waking you up from a stupor caused by the over abundance of other images. Think about television, radio, or four-color magazines; all of these are built around waking you up by noticing the pretty picture. See why the old way is undermining the Web? They don't understand that we don't need to push, we need to pull the audience into the experience. People are tired of all this pushing.

Push-driven image approaches are based on project-centered sales. You spend months and months of time, money, and energy creating a product, then go out and push it at the audience. You are trying to convince them of the value with the right images. The irony is that we all understand the push approach is temporary, must change consistently, and is costly. But we are all still pushing the supply at an unwilling audience. The focus with images is on the project to be completed, then sold.

The Audience Online is Ready, Willing, and Able to React, If You Are Willing To Pull Them Into Your Site

Direct response Web sites understand that the whole point of being online is getting people to explore your content. Content development is the model, an ongoing process that doesn't require creating more and more images, trying to out gloss and out shine the competition, but instead incites direct responses by the audience and responds to them in a continual process of market research and

trend setting based on the expertise of the very people who ultimately will buy your products and services...the audience.

Even better, direct response requires that you don't refer to visitors as clients, customers, or the audience. They become partners, a bond formed by direct co-responding. They build the content with you.

Direct response advertising builds on generating an order as a response to an advertisement, direct mail piece, or whatever means you have to reach the customer and get them to order from you.

The action in this case is only the order. But online, we have more than just ordering as direct response. To understand this, you have to adopt a new attitude.

    --> Customers aren't customers, they are partners!

You need to develop numerous, varied partnerships with your customers, building a long term relationship where they come to rely on you for much more than just a sale. You become their trusted resource for their need.

Direct response demands you begin thinking as your target customers do, and focus on fulfilling their needs.

Techies online love to talk about interactivity, which literally means clicking or taking an action.

The Web is not a passive medium to stare at; the audience has to take the action. But just because it's online doesn't mean they will act; you have to give them a reason to click.

Direct Response 1:
Stop them from Surfing by Clicking and Exploring

You should approach your Web site from the desired end result and work your way back. The end result is selling your products and services; the best way to achieve this is to let the audience control the sales process. To get here, they have to make several direct responses, taking steps to understand why they should buy from you.

These responses are physically acting, or clicking their mouse, on your highlighted words and/or images. But it isn't enough to merely list what you are doing, you have to make it compelling. Content development begins with motivating them to act, to become part of what you are offering by giving them answers to their questions to build a reliancewith you. Reliance leads to sales.

Creating direct response is no great mystery. Provide a solution to their problem, answer their questions, and become the one resource they trust. Develop credibility through content, get them to explore what you do, and listen to your audience. Direct response begins with understanding the one value you should be aiming for:

    --> the long term value of your client, spelled out through your words and their feedback.

The first direct response is the click of the mouse. Let's say you are selling back pain relief products and services. You need to provide information that leads them to their primary benefit, relief of their back pain. To do this, you have two approaches.

The Standard Approach: A Boring Menu of Items With Expected Results

Imagine going to a Web site for back pain and running into the following listing:

• Back Pain
  
• Pulled Muscles
  
• Chiropractor Listings
  
• Massage

What motivation do you have to click on these listings? They are boring, one-dimensional yellow page listings that give no compelling reason to click. After all, I already have the first two problems if I am visiting, and the last two solutions are provided merely as some form of list.

  Remember, your visitor's back hurts! They want relief, not more pain!

Now let's try to enhance this listing, maybe mixing in a paragraph or description:

Welcome to the Back Pain Relief Resource Center. Ease your aches by learning How To Prevent the Six Most Common Causes of Back Pain, created by a group of doctors and experts who will show you how to find the end to your pain quickly. Explore our site and:

• Discover Why Back Pain Doesn't Have To Be a Lifetime Affliction;
  The Key Is Adapting Your Behavior.
  
• Learn The Ten Dangerous Myths of Pulled Muscles
  
• Find the Right Chiropractor in Your Area With Our Online Network
  
• Ease Your Pain with Massage Therapy Where and When You Need It!

Don't think your site will work because it has information; make the information compelling with a good headline, a good "link" which makes them want to click. Information driven sites are projects, requiring lengthy planning and huge investments of time and money. Content-driven sites are ongoing works that fulfill and grow with the expressed needs of the audience... the direct response.

Exercise: Pick a specific subject and act as the target audience, searching for the best solution to their problem. Can you find what you are looking for? How many sites just list what they have? Which one sticks out in your mind and makes you want to return? Do they ask for your opinion?

Direct Response 2:
Developing a Feedback Loop that Builds With the Real Experts...The Ones Buying Your Products And Services

The first kind of direct response is built into the software by clicking on links. The second is built in the hearts of your prospective clients.

Many people think that image appeals to the heart, to the inspiration of the audience. But to really

get an idea of what makes them tick, you have to listen.

Think about how many situations in which asking questions is discouraged; we all have many questions but few comfortable places to ask them. For instance in grade school, asking questions should be a sign of intelligence. Yet questions imply that you don't know what's going on. After all, learning is just making mistakes until you know how to do it. Asking questions becomes a way of sticking out, contradicting the pressure to just be a member of the class, to meld into the rows of desks and not question.

Asking questions is nerve wracking because if you don't know, you don't always understand what you are asking. Relieve this fear, the avoidance of asking the question, and you appeal to the heart of the audience. Instead of being difficult, you make their direct response easy, encouraging them to respond again and again...to you.

Imagine visiting a site that was happy to answer your questions quickly, directly, and without demanding anything. This approach builds loyalty, where a direct response leads to the word of mouth advertising that drives a great site. People talk about the site that takes the time to make them a part of the picture, answering their questions. The positive feeling is spread throughout your target audience.

    --> They become more responsive to what you are selling because you listen.

We all have questions. Answering their questions not only helps you with market research, keeping up with trends, and discovering the products or services you need to create, it also goes to the heart of the matter.

What the customers asks, you answer. Want a REAL way of measuring the success of your site? Check out how many emails you get a day, then compare the number with the good questions that come in and how many lead to sales. If visitors take the time to stop, type, and send an email, it's a sign of interest. They've interrupted their surfing for an important announcement: a qualified lead is being presented!

They're interested. And someone at the site is listening to the direct response. Answering direct responses builds loyalty and traffic. The key is, you have to give a direct response to their direct response... direct co-responding.

Direct co-responding is a cycle of communication, of keeping in touch. You build long term relationships that make your clients partners. You've stepped beyond interactivity and gone straight into communicating.

Ordering...The Final Response At the End Of A Motivated Sales Cycle

Direct response should end with the order. Measure how many orders you get and where you get them. Are they just ordering without getting in touch? How many are writing emails to you, then ordering? What is the sales process that they are comfortable with?

If you supply the right answers to their questions mysteriously called content development by many, but really just listening and responding with exactly what they need you build credibility and trust, the two keys to success.

Don't underestimate the power of these two keys. If you walked into a store that did nothing to demonstrate, describe, and show you why the product or service was important to you, would you buy?

So why do people put up boring Web sites with no place to order? Look around the Web for something you need, and see how they introduce you to the sale. Is it a mere click, or the result of good direct response cycle?

Direct response should be a mixture of interesting links to click on which elicit interest, curiosity, passion, and the asking of questions that the audience wants to have answered. Be sure that where they go answers the questions and fulfills their direct response. This is the first step.

The next step is to listen, giving your audience a place to get in contact with you. Without this depth, you're like a flat ad with no compelling reason to buy. Feedback is your salesperson, acting every day via email and telephone, which provides a human response to their direct response. Give

them good words and images to click on, tapping into their strength and ideas, then listen to them. Do this and they will want to get in, and more importantly, keep in touch with you.

The ultimate direct response is an order, the supreme sign of trust literally I trust you with my money and confidence. Fulfill this and give them incentives to keep in touch with you. Back it up with a guarantee and you've completed the formula:

The Direct Co-Responding Money Making Cycle

• Launch the Response With Curiosity-Raising Links + Invigorate the Process with Email and Personal Feedback to Build Your Client Relationships = Motivating Orders for Your Products and Services Followed By A Continuing Contact Which Keeps Them Coming Back To...

• Launch Another Direct Response

Your Challenge: Tell Me What You Need in Our Year End Issue, Direct Response Versus Image Advertising Volume II

How To Build Your Partner Base & Expand Your Web

I told you in the beginning to forget everything you've learned. Now you can remember that going to newsgroups on a consistent basis will help you in so many ways. You'll get more than sales. Communicate with your customers, competition, and peers. Listen to the trends as they emerge, not after they hit, by tapping into the audience's participation. Use the many newsgroups, mailing lists, chat areas, and anywhere else people gather to talk about what you are selling as a primary strength.

Enhance this by registering with search engines (you can register with 25 at my site) and linking with other Web sites. Improve your chances by getting into print, into magazines and journals, newsletters and professional e-zines. But this formula isn't all there is.

Every time I give a workshop, someone points out the problem of finding a Web site. They always ask me how to overcome the incredible challenge faced when going to a search engine and finding 100,000 returns to your question. They want me to recite the liturgy of newsgroups, search engines, and links to other Web sites.

I think you've heard enough of that to know that these are ways to build traffic. But to really stand out, you have to make the most of that first visit. You have to encourage them to pass the word, to pass on the value of your site. Word of mouth advertising is what it's all about.

Isn't this like the real world? We all have trouble finding what we want. The Web is no different. You are looking for answers. So I challenge you to ask the questions and form the basis of this next issue. Whether you are creating or selling Web sites, you have to begin the process by asking. And for the year-end issue, I'll be answering.

The focus of the final issue of 1996 will be utilizing the amazing potential of ideas. Not just your ideas, but those of the target audience visiting your site. All this feedback is useless if you don't do something about it. Take NBC for example; they have a show called Mad About You, a sitcom featuring a husband and wife living in New York City. On America Online, there are a group of fans meeting to talk about this show.

Do you think these people sort of like the show? They are mad about Mad About You! Their love of the show drives them online to share opinions and ideas about what should happen to the characters, and talking with others who watch the show every week. Now that it is moving into syndication, their interest will only be enhanced.

NBC knows this and contacted the group last year to ask them a question; should the woman in the show (Jamie) become pregnant? The response was an overwhelming no, we're not ready for it! Imagine if NBC had to conduct focus groups, paying an inside department or outside firm hundreds of thousands of dollars to find these people and physically getting them into New York City to answer the question. Instead, NBC found out where they are meeting and asked the real experts, the fans of the show, what they wanted. Simple, direct, low cost, and straight advice from the experts.

The direct response the audience gave shaped the show for the entire 1995-96 season, culminating in Jamie becoming pregnant at the end of the year. Drama was built by listening to the audience and preserving ratings by giving them what they wanted. The results were more advertising dollars due to the ratings. All because of direct response.

You can do what NBC did, if you step out from behind the scenes and dive into what your audience wants. Direct response online means tapping into this potential and allowing it to be the driving force of your Web site. Like I'm tapping into you now...let me know what you need to help your business online. Email me with your ideas to ( response@webletter.net ).

The more and more I read about the Web, the easier it is to see a pattern in what is being sold. One company is going national with a franchise of Web print shops, targeting a specific market. Their outline of what is going on is helpful in understanding just what and who you are selling to. They divide the sales of Web sites into three categories:

Category 1: The Kinko's / Home Business Level - $0 to $10,000

This level of Web site sales is driven by those wanting to try the Web on for size. The weakness in this level is the idea of simply putting something up and walking away; since the investment is small, the expectations (and correspondingly, results) are limited. People investing in these sites need to be sure they are motivated to build the site.

The strength of this level is that most successful companies began this way by putting up a Web site and continuing to build it. The cheaper ($500 and less) sites seem to be losing appeal, mainly because they are giving no value. The general pricing scheme seems to be settling between $3,000-$5,000, with the remainder being spent, hopefully, on promoting the site. Those sites that don't invest near $10,000 don't succeed as often, with exceptions. For many at this level, the risk factor is low. It's a good entry point to going online for home-based businesses, special products like arts and crafts, a business selling just a few products and services, or someone merely wanting to get their feet wet.

Category 2: Small to Medium Businesses - $10,000 to $2 million

This is the category being targeted by the nationwide Web print shop model. They want a minimum of $10,000 and will put sites up on their network. This is a growing market, starting with companies generating $5 million and up in sales. Many entertainment ventures also fit in this category.

Category 3: Big Business and Ad Agencies - $2 million and Up

This category is difficult to touch, because the relationships have already been developed. Large teams of designers, artists, programmers, video, audio, 3D graphic specialists, Java programmers, C++ programmers, and a extensive support staff is needed for such projects.

Most of us are at the Kinko's level, where many of the successful businesses start. The best clients are the hungriest. Find that hunger and tap into the gatekeepers, the people who will open the door for your business. Don't wait for the trend to find you...invent your own trends.