High Conversion Theory
The recent bloodbath among online content peddlers and digital media proselytisers can be traced to two deadly sins. The first was to assume that traffic equals sales. In other words, that a miraculous conversion will spontaneously occur among the hordes of visitors to a web site. It was taken as an article of faith that a certain percentage of this mass will inevitably and nigh hypnotically reach for their bulging pocketbooks and purchase content, however packaged. Moreover, ad revenues (more reasonably) were assumed to be closely correlated with “eyeballs”. This myth led to an obsession with counters, page hits, impressions, unique visitors, statistics and demographics.
It failed, however, to take into account the dwindling efficacy of what Seth Godin, in his brilliant essay (“Unleashing the IdeaVirus”), calls “Interruption Marketing” – ads, banners, spam and fliers. It also ignored, at its peril, the ethos of free content and open source prevalent among the Internet opinion leaders, movers and shapers. These two neglected aspects of Internet hype and culture led to the trouncing of erstwhile promising web media companies while their business models were exposed as wishful thinking.
The second mistake was to exclusively cater to the needs of a highly idiosyncratic group of people (Silicone Valley geeks and nerds). The assumption that the USA (let alone the rest of the world) is Silicone Valley writ large proved to be calamitous to the industry.
In the 1970s and 1980s, evolutionary biologists like Richard Dawkins and Rupert Sheldrake developed models of cultural evolution. Dawkins’ “meme” is a cultural element (like a behaviour or an idea) passed from one individual to another and from one generation to another not through biological -genetic means – but by imitation. Sheldrake added the notion of contagion – “morphic resonance” – which causes behaviour patterns to suddenly emerged in whole populations. Physicists talked about sudden “phase transitions”, the emergent results of a critical mass reached. A latter day thinker, Michael Gladwell, called it the “tipping point”.
Seth Godin invented the concept of an “ideavirus” and an attendant marketing terminology. In a nutshell, he says, to use his own summation:
“Marketing by interrupting people isn’t cost-effective anymore. You can’t afford to seek out people and send them unwanted marketing, in large groups and hope that some will send you money. Instead the future belongs to marketers who establish a foundation and process where interested people can market to each other. Ignite consumer networks and then get out of the way and let them talk.”
This is sound advice with a shaky conclusion. The conversion from exposure to a marketing message (even from peers within a consumer network) – to an actual sale is a convoluted, multi-layered, highly complex process. It is not a “black box”, better left unattended to. It is the same deadly sin all over again – the belief in a miraculous conversion. And it is highly US-centric. People in other parts of the world interact entirely differently.
You can get them to visit and you get them to talk and you can get them to excite others. But to get them to buy – is a whole different ballgame.
Good information. I agree. Visitors do not always correlate with sales. I find that when I visit a site that has a lot of distractions on it that I get frustrated and then click away. Thank you for the information.
Although I would’ve preferred if you went into a little bit more detail, I still got the gist of what you meant. I agree with it. It might not be a popular idea, but it makes sense. Will definitely come back for more of this. Great work
Comfortabl y, the post is really the freshest on this precious topic. I agree with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your incoming updates. Just saying thanks will not just be adequate, for the tremendous clarity in your writing. I will directly grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. Genuine work and much success in your business enterprize!
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
Thankyou lots, I’ve found this article very good!
Thankyou, I never knew that, thankyou.
Wow, exactly what I was looking for! I am always scouring Google trying to find things and I have been looking for over an hour and I finally found what I was looking for! Your blog has definitely made me really happy. So I have bookmarked your page and I will definitely return later on. If you want to make some money with your blog definitely check out it byclicking here!
Fine Post! Do you mind if somebody gets out your dealing knowledge on your posting article, but none take part in a commentary. In fact, almost people aren
That is well known that cash can make people autonomous. But how to act when one doesn’t have cash? The only one way is to get the business loans and just bank loan.
I have a ecommerce website and i want to get more traffic,now i know several ways to recommend my site, just like bookmark submit,directory submit ,articles,now i found i can submit my products to some deals site,but i can not find any sites,could you tell me any website that i can submit deals free?
Great post thanks!
Interesting article. Were did you got all the information from… :)
To start earning money with your blog, initially use Google Adsense but gradually as your traffic increases, keep adding more and more money making programs to your site. thanks !! very helpful post!
Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can’t wait to read lots of your posts. . . .
This is a great site. Good clean interface and nice informative articles. I will be coming back in a bit, thanks for the great article.
Only want to say your article is as tonishing. The clearness in your post is simply spectacular and i can take for granted you are an expert on this field. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with succeeding post. Thanks a million and please keep up the ac complished work.
i like your blog and article.thanks and bookmark it