MarketingExpriments.com had another one of their free teleseminar’s today on two subjects as a follow up from their “site flow disruption” episode. Continuity and Congruence are aspects that, the more I think about it, are missing from many of the pages I have designed. For the most part it exists because naturally our minds tend to organize things in a continuous line, but rarely have I stepped back and thought about how the rest of a page ties into the value proposition from my CUSTOMERS perspective.
I recently did a google search for “road bike derailleurs” and clicked on an Adwords ad with the title “Buy Top Bike Derailleurs.” The landing page showed helmets and headlamps; I clicked “back” and tried the next link. Why? Because the link said one thing and the landing page said another.
I later searched for a free web design course and found this site mikeoconnor.biz after clicking on an Adwords ad. Here is the screenshot:
The link that I clicked on said “free website income.” Instantly, this extreme example of lack of continuity and congruence illustrated the effects of not following these principles. So, I clicked on a link that said, “free website income – get a free website and make money full or part time” the header of the page I land on reads “sports and recreation,” the header of the first paragraph is simply the web address which has a very stock paragraph on making money, then a banner ad, and then three links to different ebooks about SEO and online marketing.
I am getting four completely different messages; get a free website, I like sports, leave my site via this banner ad, look at these ebooks on making money. How effective is this site? I hope that Mike is not paying a high CPC for his Google ads because I anyone that came to this site would get instantly lost and probably click “back” and try the next site.
