6. Is Your Web site Mute?

Are you a Marketing Sheep? 261 Questions

I was "attending" the SXSW panels that I missed this year via podcast. John Battelle made an interesting point as part of the panel discussion Why Marketers Need To Work With People Media.

We've all heard that "Brands are conversations" he posited reflecting the Cluetrain Manifesto philosophy that "markets are conversations. This has become second nature to "new" marketers.

As an example, he sited Google. He made the point that searching through Google is a conversation. It might go something like this:

"So, what are you looking for?"

You tell Google the search term you're interested in.

"OK. I have lot's of hits. These are the ones I think you might be looking for. Oh, and I've got some sponsored links that might be helpful as well. Do any of these look good to you?"

You tell Google which you like by clicking on a link.

Google says, "OK. I'll take you directly there. If you don't find what you're looking for, just click Back and we'll try some other ones."

John's main question was Is your Web site mute compared to the very conversational experience the visitor just left at Google?

Is your site a brochure that tries to talk convincingly to everyone who might visit?

Are you offering anything to start a conversation like "I think you might like this whitepaper. I'm happy to send it to you if you'll provide your email address. By the way, could I talk to you some more about your problem through my free newsletter?"

Any valuable services available on your site? Forums? Helpful resources? Entertainment?

Photo courtesy aweinroth.