I've added the following article on the subject of fonts and layouts:

http://successdoctor.com/samples/font.htm

Hi Michel,

Some good points here, particularly about keeping the body text to only, say, 600 pixels wide, and I have modified my site accordingly. I think it's a good point that people don't want to read all the way across the screen.

However, I'm not with you on the serif fonts thing, or courier. The rule of thumb, as I have been taught, is sans serif on screen, and serif in print. However, I have actually been writing printed business reports in arial since the late 80s, with no detriment.

I actually find Georgia to be a most annoying font, and I wouldn't subject my site visitors to it. Given the fact that the majority of websites use small px/pt verdana or arial these days, then I see no disadvantage to following that lead. Even the luddites and technophobes must be used to it by now from their frequent visits to popular sites like Amazon, lastminute.com, johnlewis.com, sainsbury.co.uk and their daily newspapers.

Given the irritation caused to the vast majority of people who are web savvy, and those who are becoming web savvy, I see no justification for it at all. Personally, I found reading your article quite heavy going because of the font. Also, when I come across sites that are written with large size courier, I almost instantly click away. They tend to be pseudo sales letters and scroll on and on and on and on forever, and I just don't have time to make my eyes go squiffy reading them.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I think trying to recreate the direct mail/mail order paradigm on the internet is a mistake and is missing the point. The whole point of "hypertext" is that it is not linear and you can jump to wherever in the site you want to, without having to wade through some lengthy sales letter. Continuing to attempt to create the postal sales letter is frankly, contrived. Everyone knows it's a website. Everyone knows that you could add links if you wanted to. Everyone knows that you didn't actually write it this morning (if you have some javascript in there pretending that the sales letter was written today).

Again - you have something that works. I won't deny that. But, there may be other approaches that work - that don't rely on trying to look like a salesletter (and anyway - how is that good cos everyone knows a sales letter is trying to SELL you on something), and which look more like a website, because, errr ,that's what they are.

I wonder if the sales letter look works in spite of itself - copy or offer or value proposition are good enough to overcome it. Is it at all possible that this approach works in spite of itself, and because the good copywriters are still too afraid to deviate from that format?

Whatever the answer is, I don't think I will deviate from my advice. The sites I have cited are making considerably more money than most of us put together, so therefore there probably isn't a lot wrong with sans serif fonts on the net, where people expect them.

I will press on regardless. I really, really don't believe in the sales letter format - it's far too contrived and transparent, and I can only assume that it's aimed at a market I'm probably not interested in i.e. by definition technophobes and people new to the net. This explains a lot, if all of those sales letters sites are aimed at that market - people too naive to understand better.

That's just my view. I aim for something more classy and professional. Whether I achieve it, is another matter, but that's what I aim for. That's who I am. I'm not really into the sell at all costs, including cost to credibility, market.

But thank you for the information which did crystallise my feelings on the matter.

Jane,

Like I said, the short answer is to test. My answer was not the definitive answer on the subject -- only a theory. (And as I said, the technophobic segment of the market is indeed a shrinking one. So you're absolutely right on that count.)

I've been lucky enough and even privileged to write copy for some fanatical testers, who took the time, opened their minds and even lost a lot of money in trying different things. And all I can say is, what I presented is what works.

Sure, there are other methods and we must open our minds to them. If I am lucky enough (again) to work with some fanatical testers, I'll try new things once more. And your theory may prove itself to be profitable. It also may not.

But in most cases, I revert to what I know works -- and not what people think. Most of my clients are not as fanatical in their testing as others -- and thus they pay me for achieving results, not taking risks.

As Jim Rohn once said (and this quote has been hanging on my wall now for almost 10 years, above my desk):

<blockquote>
"There are some things you don't have to know how it works. the main thing is that it works. While some people are studying the roots, others are picking the fruits. Success just depends on which end of this you want to get in on."
</blockquote>

Moreover, I would never dare call anyone (or a certain client base) naive. They may be to you. But to me, they're simply different. Different from you and me. Some of the people responding to these types of "contrived, transparent" sales letters are millionaires.

If they made their millions by being naive...

Hi Jane,

You said...

My own site is basically a sales letter. MOST of my business comes from that page. Most of my business are high end companies that are happy to pay me a small fortune to write letters online and offline.

Most make similiar comments about why they contact me and it is a little like this...

" the page sold you so well I called you"

you also said...

Wow ... if you could only meet some of my cleints. The most switched on people I have ever met. I feel you could be the one being naive Jane. Have you run any tests on your assumptions? You should. I do. Mike does. You will be pleasently surprised with results I am sure.


Jane I know this is an old song for you now but ... testing is the key to communicationg with prospects or cleints. I can vouch for the fact that I havent come across "many" naive or being unable to understand clients that have contacted me yet.

All are thinking, reasoning and result chasing individuals that want results. What can I say. Some might hate the sales letter format but the truth is ... IT WORKS and ... testing has proved that tome and time again.

Jane

I forgot to add one thing. I LOVE the web and all those wonderfully designed websites. Some are so cool they make me drool. Designs ... some are awseome and I would love to use them for myself and most of my clients.

Problem is though I deal with clients that HAVE TO see results in sales. They have no interest in entertaining their targets or showing off for the sake of looking good.

Therefore I dont take risks with their money unless we are testing. I use what works!

Bottom line: I love that design stuff (after all I come from the hairdressing well known for creative design ) but my own tests results tell me they are not the best direction to go for sales.

So I dont go with what I prefer ... I go with what works.

Hi Alan,

Taking the example of your website - this does not fall into the category of "sales pagey" sites that I describe. Your site has all the elements found in a normal website design - links to other stuff to poke around in, your own quirky style etc. Your sales letter is not too onerous, and you have provided a link for people who can't be bothered to read the whole sales letter. Also, your sales letter is not that long - it is quite manageable. For these reasons, I don't count your site in the type of site that I dislike.

It is all a matter of degree. What I'd like you to understand is that I'm not advocating Award winning design at the expense of the message. I think GLB summed this up very well last week on a conference call some of us participated in, when he said that there was a "bell curve of design" i.e. too little design is off-putting (and IMHO damages credibility), but too much design detracts from the central message. We want our visitors to take action, not admire our designs. Therefore, we need to get across a crystal clear message to them that is framed in a design that is a reflection of our values, and also allows them to access other information about us. So many sales letter pages don't even bother to have an About Us button etc.

As for all these tests that people keep carrying out - do they/you test design elements? Or just headlines, body copy, offers, guarantees etc.? Do you test different navigation schemes? Do you test moving the logo from here to there? Do you test different font styles and sizes? Different colours and pictures?

Why is it that I feel that some kind of cookie-cutter copy and design keeps being produced, which I find, well, cheesey? Is this really the only thing that works, even though you and Michel don't use those styles on your own sites? What about all the other sites out there that use a more conventional website style, that also look like they're working. A case in point, Tony Alessandra's site, or Robert Middleton's? Would you say that they lack selling power because the design is too nice, or the copy isn't hypey enough?

Just because I debate these points doesn't mean that I automatically fall into the brand building, short copy, award winning design school of thought Far from it. I just think that for some products in some fields, you can write longish copy, minus some of the hyperbole and still get returns on your internet investment. In fact, that is what I am in business to do - help my clients get tangible results from the internet instead of their sites collecting dust in outer-cyber space. But I would not recommend that most of them have overly emotionally charged, credibility reducing copy when their sites have to build credibility not reduce it.

Alan, you're a pom, so you know that most of us immediately put our barriers up if we think something is over the top or we're going to be sold to. I take what I learn on here and model it to how I feel my client's clients will best receive it. Also, I tend not to deal in projects that require an immediate sale, but with businesses that want to build a list, because selling directly off the net is unlikely - they will probably want to speak to my client before they commit to buy. Much as your clients would I suspect. If I did land a project like that, I would probably ring you up and ask you to do it for me!