Besieged by loons

[bunn]

The lot of the coordinator of online advertising is not a happy one. I have just been trying to explain, for the umpteenth time, that if you run an ad which will be shown to people who have searched for a particular word or phrase, then you must provide a page about that word or phrase for them to read.

Searcher looks for A, tell them "We offer this delicious A, which is particularly valuable for these A-related purposes, and also helps eliminate B's'.

Searcher looking to find out about problem B: give them a page that explains: 'B. Problems? The reason most people have B problems is X. Our X-o-matic does this, that and the other to ensure that B can never ever bother you again. It also comes with this delicious A!'

Do NOT point all your ads at a page about F, and expect them to work it out. Why should they? You are the one hoping to get money off them, you are supposed to be the expert in the field providing the product or service, get off your bum and explain why someone should buy it*!

I imagine that practically all web users have had the frustrating experience of clicking on a link and finding that the page at the other end doens't seem to relate to what was promised. It's annoying! So why do so many website owner have problems understanding that that's exactly what they are doing, and that they are losing money as a result?

(*Normally I would do this myself, if driven to it, but some of my clients only employ me to do the ad bit, I don't have the ability to add pages to their websites. And some of them have products that I can't just write about with no specialist knowledge. )

Comments

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

My default position is that people are stupid. For me to think otherwise about a specific person I need to see proof (though it doesn't have to be labelled as such); my friends list is conformation that this can be done.

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

It is best to regard the web user as having a short attention span, partly because it is so easy to have a short attention span on the web. You're right, if you don't get to what you expect at the end of a link, there are plenty of more sensible places you can try.

Not that my website is good - it really needs me to work on it:-(