Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Issue #39 - Wednesday, January 23, 2019http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2019/01/39-marketers-1200-websites-to-steal-from.html
Posted by Denny Hatch
Marketers: 1200 Websites to Explore!
So you're thinking of designing and launching a website. Or maybe you have one.
What's strong and what's weak?
What's wrong? What to tweak?
When Peggy and I launched the WHO'S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and Archive service in 1984, it was based on the dictum of Dorothy Kerr, then Circulation Director of U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT.
"Steal Smart"
"To be successful in direct mail," Kerr said to a group of copywriters, "you have to see who's mailing what, track what mailings are coming in over and over again (which means they are successful) and then STEAL SMART."
Same thing if you have a website—or are designing one: STEAL SMART!
The Story of the Square with 1200 Websites
In 2005, Alex Tew was a 21-year-old spiky-haired Brit who found himself accepted into a program of business management at Nottingham University. The tab for the first year was $7,000, which Alex didn't have. And he did not want to go into debt.
"His thought processes went something like this: what it he set up a website called www.milliondollarhomepage.com which contained exactly one million pixels (tiny dots that make up an image on a screen)? What if he then used that page as, in effect, an advertising noticeboard where advertisers — mailing from the US — could buy space at $1 (60p) per pixel?" When Tew's site sold out with more than 2,000 ads, he went live. It took off like a rocket, getting 200,000 visitors a day.
Think of it! With his first attempt at starting a business he acquired more than 2000 customer that paid him $1 million! Stunning!
Tew Caused a Stir on Both Sides of the Pond
• It was unlike anything ever before seen on the
Internet.
• It was fun. Mesmerizing.
• Pass you cursor s-lo-w-l-y over the face and up
pops mini-subject lines describing each ad.
• A hodgepodge—utterly involving.
• "Neatness rejects involvement."
—Lew Smith, EVP Wunderman Worldwide
• "UGLY WORKS!
—Bob Hacker, Seattle Direct Marketing guru
• "I bought pixels there and then. The results for us
were amazing. We used to get 40,000 visitors a
day to our site—that's now up to 60,000."
• 14 years later, I believe you will find it a valuable
tool for quickly comparing websites and getting
ideas.
Alas, Tew Took His Million Bucks and Walked.
The Bad News: Over the past 14 years, many of Alex's live websites have gone kaput. I estimate about 1200 websites still exist on this landing page. As you prowl over it, here's a sampling of what you'll find:
The Good News: Tew's baby is still a digital marketer's dream. Where else will you find 1,200 websites within one neat 8-1/4" square to click on, to study and to steal from?
Some are terrific, others are terrible. For this reason I urge you to soldier on. You'll never find this many ideas in one small space.
About Digital Marketing and Website Design
Nothing like the Internet has existed for marketing ever before.
When you persuade customers or prospects to click on something, you have the unbelievable power to steal them away to be instantly transported deep into your private world.
You can use color, motion, sound, laughter, tears, sex, hope and dreams.
Example: A Fascinating Website in Tew's Square!
Okay. Peggy and I have been very happily married for 48 years. I am emphatically NOT into dating.
However, this is a terrific website because it is:
1. Immediately obvious what this is about.
2. Immediately obvious who it's for.
3. Immediately obvious what it will do for you.
4. Immediately obvious and easy to get started.
Below: A Mousetype Ho-Hum in Tew's Square
What is Oblada? Who is this for? What does Oblada do? What will this website do for you? How do you respond?
Takeaways to Consider
• Nothing like the Internet has existed for marketers
in the world ever before.
• When you persuade customers or prospects to click
on something, you have the unbelievable power
to steal them away to be instantly transported
deep into your private world.
• On the Internet you can create magic—or dreck.
• Alex Tew's milliondollarhomepage was 3 things:
1. Involving and fun.
2. An extraordinary resource for serious marketers
to study what others are doing on the Web.
3. A disgrace in the noble field of direct marketing.
• Alex Tew took his money and walked.
• He betrayed his loyal paying customers, leaving
them high and dry with what is becoming a
metastasizing cancer that makes them all look like
losers.
• Tew owes it to his paying customers to keep the
site alive and vibrant.
• When a customer's website goes kaput, it should
be deleted from the grid.
• In it's place should be a patch of blank pixels with a
sign than says: AVAILABLE. MAKE AN OFFER!
• Tew's scheme could be a perpetual moneymaker.
• "You become responsible forever for the things you
have tamed."
—The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
###Word Count: 836
At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press. He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 years he has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.
CONTACT
Denny Hatch
The St. James
200 West Washington Square, #3007
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-644-9526
dennyhatch@yahoo.com
Note to Readers:
May I send you an alert when each new blog is posted? If so, kindly give me the okay by sending your First Name, Last Name and e-mail to dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I guarantee your personal information will not be shared with anyone at any time for any reason. I look forward to being in touch!
Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers:
Guest Blog Posts Are Welcome.
If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
215-644-9526 (rings on my desk).
You Are Invited to Join the Discussion! Share your Internet experiences—good and poor websites, ideas you have on website design.