How To Create Visual Scandal and Story Appeal With Proper Web Design

In order to sell on-line it's important to study the old school Direct Marketing cats like David Ogilvy. Why? Because even though we find ourselves in a very high tech world, human nature has changed very little since the dawn of civilization. The psychology behind making the sell now hasn't changed and it's not going to as long as we remain human.

I understand there are certain aspects of doing business online that change, since the Internet is dynamic, and is changing all the time. However, if you are well versed in Direct Marketing principles you're likely to weather the storm and adapt to any changes Google or the Internet can throw your way.

So what is Direct Marketing (aka Direct Response Advertising)?

Most warriors already know this, but for those who don't, put simply, it is advertising that makes a specific "call to action". Whether that is on your website or anywhere else. It's advertising that is asking the reader to do something right now!

Whether that something is to buy their product, or sign-up for a free offer. This allows for results to be tracked and measured more accurately. Which is crucial because if you're not tracking, then you don't know which of your marketing efforts are working and which aren't. Basically you're behind the wheel with a blind fold on.

Check out this awesome article showing how one should consider the "old school" Direct Response Advertising principles when laying out their website design. GokDotCom writes:

"Contrary to common opinion, David Ogilvy didn't have a preference for long copy.

What he had was an overwhelming bias towards anything that had been proven to work (which included long copy). Ogilvy's real, professed preferences were for consumer testing, research-driven techniques, and performance-based advertising in the truest sense of the term.

Based on those things, the conclusion he came to was that messaging and relevance had to have highest priority. Everything else - creativity, design, layout - should be subordinated to the end goal of conveying a salient message in as persuasive a manner as possible. In print, this took the form of what has come to be known as 'The Ogilvy Layout.'

Understanding Ogilvy's Layout and Why it Still Works

There are three main parts to the Ogilvy Layout, with a corresponding and crucial quality for each element:

1. The picture, which should have "story appeal"
2. The headline, which should tie into the "story appeal" of the picture
3. And the body copy, which most be placed in the right relationship to both the picture and the headline as to anticipate the reader's visual preferences and enhance readability.

I've dealt with Story Appeal in previous posts, but let's talk about headlines before diving into why Ogilvy's favorite arrangement continues to stand the test of time.

What I've Noticed About Ogilvy's Headlines

In his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy writes about the importance of captions no less than 4 times, urging the reader to include captions underneath all of their photographs each and ever time. According to the research Ogilvy cites, 4 times as many readers read captions as body copy and 10 times as many people read headlines as body copy.

So while it may seem obvious that the headline and the main picture (or "hero shot" in today's lingo) should be related, it also seems that you can grab even more reader-grabbing power for your headlines if you make use of some of the compelling "what's this picture all about" draw of captions. Here's a perfect example of this:

Pretty difficult not to read a bit more about that story, isn't it?

Let's Talk Layout and Arrangement

Here's the thing: because of his attention to research, Ogilvy knew what many online copywriters are still..."

Continue reading this article at GokDotCom!