Chapter 5

This chapter discusses the beginnings and foundations of the Web. Although the first website emerged in 1990, the Web didn’t become main stream until 1995. The use of advertising through the Web developed the use of the sales funnel which is a metaphor to describe the customer from the moment they realized they need your product or service to the time that they actually purchase. This cycle is especially important with web pages because it doesn’t simply dictate the design of your home page. It required that you have a specific web page designed to accept the types of questions that your prospects have at any moment during the buying cycle. The buying cycle includes awareness of a product, the search for that product, research of which companies to buy it from, and then the actual purchase.

Through the development of the buying cycle advertisers were able to establish the dos and the don’ts of home pages. Most believe that home page is the only place where there should be advertisements, it is the cover page of a web page and does not provide any of the information most are looking for. Designing a web page is unlike any type of advertising you can do, for the prospects that visit that particular site, do it voluntarily. It is important when designing a web page from an advertising point of view to establish where that potential customer will look first on the web page, you must then work the page around that point. Main points to a successful web page include, keeping the message above the fold.

Like emails, described in the last chapter, web pages must also answer the prospects main question of “What is in it for me?” in order to achieve conversion of that prospect. In marketing a conversion occurs with a prospective customer takes the marketers intended action. The most effective way to get someone to convert is to have a strong singular option for the prospects to choose. The success rates of conversion bring up points that we discussed in previous chapters, how the Internet is one of the only media vehicles that are able to monitor traffic of their conversions, making web pages of a very powerful outlets for advertisements. Points to create a effective web page include using keywords that make sense and will easily pop up in search engines, avoid using frames, use Flash sparingly and correctly, create a unique Page Title and always refer back to your marketing strategies.

Just for the sake of this chapter I went to frequent web pages that I usually visit, one included is the JCPenney website. First entering, the website is not as visually appealing as it could be with a white back ground and only a few splashes of red color within the banner. If I was not already going to this website for a specific purpose, I would likely not go past the home page. The multiple brand names under the main header as well as the many click options in small font make the site frustrating to look at. For me, an easy to use web page that is organized is the main aspect for me moving from a potential customer to an actual customer making a purchase. I get frustrated maneuvering my way around the Internet and if a web page is not clearly organized I am easily discouraged. I associated this chapter with the previous chapters that discussed the power of the Internet, for this web page are subgroups of this powerful media vehicle. It is the headers, visually appealing banners, and organization of the site that should draw the prospect in and make them stay on the web page, but it the content and the message that follows that turns the potential customer in an actual customer. I can agree with this, I may not always like the JCPenney’s changing website, but their main message of customer service and guarantee of a good product is why I have continued to online shop with them.