As life became hectic with kids and work, I found that watching the PGA was mysteriously relaxing and the courses beautiful. I decided I would learn to golf before I turned 40. That was a great decision. That was a terrible decision.
Golf requires that formerly spastic body parts, ligaments, brain matter, and eyeballs work in a controlled and orderly display of symmetry. The symmetry of the movement displays itself at the end of the swing. If your ball ends up knocking you out after hitting a tree, you’ll still be able to hear your friends commentary about what you did wrong. If you happen to spank that ball 200 hards perfectly forward in line with your target, you’ll be applauded with “what a beautiful swing,” “great finish,” or “nice!”
Basically, every time you hit that darn ball you will receive a review. Especially if you are golfing with your spouse.
My last of two lessons, I was coached by a golf pro in Palm Springs with a brogue that I hear in my head every time I swing the club. The brogue says, simply, “I want to you clear your head and think only of the finish.” I am a natural blond so, says my spouse, “clearing your head is not difficult.” I still golf with him. Masochism is the disease carried by every golfer.
I have been thinking a lot about how this idea of “the finish” in golf, translates to the website landing page. Every page whether a website, a blog, a microsite, or a single landing page designed to generate a response or sell, should result in a good “finish.” The finish means that it is designed to move a prospect closer to the sell.
This is a concept that is not understood by most people that post content on web pages!
Every page no matter what the purpose should provide a path that teases the reader into consuming more. The path that you design should have a logical symmetry for your prospect, allowing them to move easily forward in the way they need to move to satisfy their need for information. Because it is difficult to know where they are in the buying cycle, it’s imperative to provide options that satisfy more than one stage in the lead cycle.
How many times have you gone to a website only to bail, because it became too tedious to continue?
Every landing page and every web page should have a great “finish,” which is a well defined set of paths that pull your prospect to the close. Though unlike golf, you don’t have 18 opportunities to make up for your failed finishes.
I recently improved pages-per-visit results for a company from an average of 3.4 per visit to over 14 pages per visit! How did I do this? I’ll go into more detail in upcoming posts.
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