Make Visitors Comfortable…They’ll Stick Around

You’re paying for all those visitors who click through to your website.  So….

What determines if your PPC visitors stay and engage with it?

Well, if there’s one thing we know about humans, its that they love to be comfortable.  Ironically, we spend a lot of time, money and energy trying to make sure that’s the case.  That’s why immediately after my wife got her dream home, she started talking about more vacations.  And that’s why 11 am on Sunday morning tends to be the most separated time of the week.  People tend to go to the church that fits their comfort levels in music, teaching, quietness or loudness, etc.  However we can manipulate our environment to be more comfortable, that’s where we tend to gravitate.

For me, the same is true with websites.  I go and stay where I feel most comfortable.

I’ve read a good amount about landing page design.  But, I think the simple questions brought up by Brad Geddes in the new PPC book Advanced Google AdWords are great at helping figure out what makes visitors comfortable being on a website and ultimately doing business with a company.

Side note: You should get that book if you are serious about PPC management.  The reason I like this book the most of any so far is because it doesn’t read like someone is just spewing everything they know about the subject like a lot of books.  I feel like I’m being taught by someone that is a teacher.  I feel like every time I read a chapter, I’m more of an expert than I was before.  And this is AFTER reading numerous PPC books.  Good stuff.

OK, now that Brad loves me, here are the questions.

1. Am I in the correct place? Visitors are searching for answers.  If you look at the page for 3 to 5 seconds, does the page appear to lead someone down the path to finding their answers?
2. Is this what I expected? Give them the reason they came to your site in the first place and do it quickly.
3. Do I trust this site? This is a major concern, especially for ecommerce.  People need reassurance that they are safe doing business on the site.  People are getting more prone to look for these reassurances.
4. How long will this take? People value their time and before committing to any action, they unconsciously calculate how long it will take to accomplish the action they came for.  If it looks like it might take a long time to complete a task, make sure to tell the visitor how long it will approximately take.
5. What should I do next? Once they are satisfied with the preceding questions, they want to know what they should do next to complete the action.  Tell them what the next step is to obtain the answer.
6. Where should I go next? If someone knows what to do next, do they know how to do it?  The human mind can hold five to seven thoughts in short-term memory.  If your website has 20 links on the landing page all going to different places, you can confuse the visitor.  Your main button/image should be where you want the visitor to go next.
7. Should I click the Back button? They will answer no if the previous questions are quickly and easily answered.

What I like about these are they are fundamental questions that I think help us all determine if we’re comfortable staying and engaging with a website and a business.  If we can master the task of knowing what the answers to those questions are for our prospects, we can make them comfortable enough to commit to sticking around longer, and hopefully comfortable enough to bring their friends.