Search Results for: website

How To Build An Active Website Contact Page

Peter · August 29, 2024 · 8 Comments

How Powerful Is Your Website’s Contact Page?

I’m updating a 2023 blog post about the good, bad and ugly of advertising agency Contact pages. I’m into this today because I am helping a California agency build a kick-ass (action-oriented) website that sells.

In my journey, I came across the contact page for the “cool” agency Animal. YIKES! They have a contact page without any way to make a fast contact. WHA! Take a look. Their Contact page is the same as their home page sans any contact method other than giving you links to their social media. Two steps are one too many.

OK, To You

You’ve built your advertising or marketing or digital agency. You work on your client’s business. You want more clients. You have a website you hope your lead generation programs drive people to.

Then people go to the website and you hope they get so interested (and in some cases excited) that they go to your contact page and… you sound so lame and passive. Like you say virtually nothing that would make them really want to make contact. Harsh? Yup. True for the majority of advertising / digital agency websites (and, hey, the marketing world in general).

Here are some examples of what NYC and Cleveland agencies say on their Contact page. Would these “words” make you want to make contact?

To send our team a message, please use the form below.
Contact us using the form below and one of our team members will reach out as soon as possible.
Get in touch.
We’d love to hear from you and show you more of our work!
Just fill out the form and one of us will get back to you as soon as possible.
If you want to reach out to us, feel free to do so by email:

These Contact Page “Words” Are So Freakin Passive… Being Passive Sucks

Driving contact from the website visitor is where the rubber meets the road – isn’t this the reason y’all have a website?

My tour of agency websites shows a wide range of contact pages. Most are too weak. Some (most) just provide an email contact. Some contact pages go for it by providing reasons to make contact. These contact pages are much more assertive than just having a passive contact email form.

I am a strong believer that the contact section should be warm and welcoming. Businesslike but friendly. Contact should be an invitation and a metaphorical fist bump.

Bland does not work for me. I need some online hospitality. This is a place to show some personality. Even humor. Even empathy. Try to get past the passive voice. Ask for the order. Gently. Not too Glengarry Glenn Ross.

A quick idea (if you don’t want to read more)… Instead of bland text, why not deliver a 20-second video on why the visitor should talk with you?

An Active Contact Page Drives Action

Given people’s general inertia, go ahead and tell the visitor to make contact. Consider how to give them a good reason to act. Maybe make an offer to capture attention and a reaction. This isn’t a brand-new idea—SaaS companies do this all the time because it works.

Here is what I say on my Contact page:

Three reasons to contact me. I deliver the most creative approach to an advertising agency’s positioning and lead generation.I am the most experienced agency business development coach. Read the “My Story” page. I stole the idea from Austin Kleon. My goal is to make your advertising agency unignorable. Unignorable drives awareness and action. Think of the alternative.

++ I deliver an offer…

Take me up on my free Corleone Godfather offer. This is an offer you can’t—or rather, shouldn’t—refuse. Let’s talk for thirty minutes—just 0.50 on the timesheet—to discuss your agency’s issues and opportunities and how I will help you build a more powerful advertising agency business development plan.

Does my Godfather offer work? Yes.

Does my Gandhi testimonial video at the bottom of the contact page help? Yup, I got Gandhi to give me that fist bump.

Chicago’s Orbit Media website development firm goes a bit further than most agencies. They address the fact that the client might not be immediately ready for them. They have this interactive dialogue-building offer on the Contact page – it keeps the “conversation” going:

Work with Orbit Ready to start a project? Fill out the form and Chris or Stephanie, our Web Strategists, will be in touch with you as soon as possible.Have a project but not quite ready to contact us? See if Orbit is a fit for you.

Last BIG Point.

Do not ask for too much personal information. You do not need the prospect’s date of birth.

The Advertising Agency Website Walrus Style

Peter · December 3, 2020 · 1 Comment

An EY Podcast Just Asked Me “What Is Missing From The Advertising Industry Today.” I Said Creativity. Ya Know, Ideas That Grab Attention And Move People. I See This Missing Link Also Running Rampant In The Advertising Agency Website Ocean. Then I Found Walrus.

I am feeling ranty these days. And, have this particular rant that I often repeat to my agency clients… GET UNIGNORABLE. The amount of sameness in the world of the advertising agency website world is numbing. This is a bad thing since prospective clients do most of their agency selection before they ever pick up the phone.

Welcome To The Walrus Advertising Agency Website.

Since New York’s award-winning agency (important awards) walks the creative talk and is in fact unignorable… I’ll just go fast here.

So, what works for Walrus?

What you first read when you look them up – as in their Google snippet = “World famous creative shop located in Union Square New York City. Where clients go to get rich, ideas go to get famous, and bivalves go to get devoured.” Different + benefit-driven and what other agency mentions clams?
The Home Page has a talking Walrus. Cute. It works as a branding element and a very fast way to get you to ask, WTF?
Need more info? The social-style information links on the bottom of the page take you to the Walrus Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Medium accounts, and an email thingy. Walrus does not need the endless number of website pages to tell you who they are.
Walrus is all about the work. Human, funny and, oh so not data-crazed, yadda yadda sameness… the advertising you see for brands that most other agencies world kill for is smart. Did I say funny? Like Walrus’ ads get a viewer to stop and watch, listen absorb. These ‘ads’ will also get the attention of the right clients. It’s kinda good for agencies to know what type of clients they want.

The Unignorable Walrus Thing.

The Walrus vibe is cool and interesting and, repeating myself, gets the attention of the right client. I am thinking that this means a client looking for strategic / creative brains.

I am not alone in preaching that advertising, digital PR, you name it agencies, need to get a bit specialist to make it in 2021. I talk about ad agency positionings here. I also say that trying to be known as a ‘creative’ agency isn’t easy. Creativity is very subjective. That said, the right client for Walrus will find them and will dig the creativity and want some of that. It is called mating. Mating requires a bit of unignorability.

OK, OK, I Know You Want To Know How Walrus’ Mate.

I had to find out. So, I went to How Stuff Works. Here you go…

The remaining females congregate on the ice pack and prepare to be entertained by the males in the water. One or two males generally perform for each congregation of roughly 23 females — presenting a series of vocalizations both above and below water. Here, the males’ pharyngeal muscles (near the throat) come in handy both as flotation devices and as amplifiers. The males simply inflate the pouches to remain upright in the water and begin to serenade.

If you woulld like to see another unignorable advertising agency website (from 2011), check out how BooneOakly used YouTube.

Oh, did this work? 1,372,449 views so far.

Advertising And Marketing School Website Page Speed

Peter · July 26, 2020 · 2 Comments

A Slow Website Page Speed Will Hurt Your Google Ranking

Here are three test tools that will help you determine your website page speed.

Do you know how fast your website download speed is and how its performance ranks against your competitive agencies? Here’s the drill. If your site takes too long to download, it will lose some traffic.

Google PageSpeed Insights. Start here.

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Here’s another very important test. If you are like me, over 20% of your website visitors are looking at you on a mobile device then you better make sure that they are digging how fast your website loads.

BROWSEO. We might be getting a bit geeky here. That said, BROWSEO helps you view any web page like search engines see it. The tool helps you to identify issues with your site and with your current and future clients’ websites.

Links are here on my Resources page.

You can see the growing list of all of my Advertising Stories podcasts right here. Use the handy subscribe buttons that we’ve placed on this wonderful page.

A nice thing… Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

The Best Advertising Agency Website

Peter · September 10, 2017 · 1 Comment

The Best Advertising Agency Website… Sells

I’ve been talking to an increasing number of advertising agencies about how to rebuild their agency website to be a more effective sales tool – to be a best advertising agency website. The operative word here is – sales. It is critical that agencies think very hard about how to funnel a visitor from ‘just visiting’ to making direct contact.

Your website is most likely the first time a prospective client will spend the time to get to know your advertising, design, PR or digital agency. It could also be the last time they see you, and worse, you might never know that they even took a look.

Getting your website right is critical to growing your business. Not setting it up to sell could be one of your worst business development mistakes.

Here are some general thoughts about how to turn agency websites into sales tools. I know that this is timely because most agencies, even ones that just launched a new website last week, are always thinking about their next website. I’d bet that you are too.

The Optimal Agency Website

8 Seconds…

Prospective clients give an agency website about 8 seconds to hook ‘em. That means 8 seconds to describe the agency and give the prospect a good reason to read on. 8 seconds! You know what I’m talking about… you probably give most sites you visit just 8 seconds to tell you why you should stick around.

Once you’ve hopefully sparked interest, clients look hard at agency websites for a clear understanding of what you can do for them (your skills); who you have worked for (proof); past work (more proof), agency thinking (brains); who runs the shop and agency personality (chemistry).

Once you’ve satisfied a potential client’s information needs, you will need to corral them into making contact. After looking at hundreds of advertising agency websites over the years, I can tell you (no surprise) that the great majority do not employ the basics of site visitor conversion. Most agency websites do little more than offer a very basic contact page to, hopefully, help the client make contact.

Sorry, it isn’t that simple.

Some Website Food for Thought

You have limited time to capture the attention and interest of a visitor. How do you do that? Here are some ideas.

Simple Works Hard

I am a fan of simple, fast read design. It’s hard to argue with the power of simplicity. As support, here are some words from the master of keep things simple.

“That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean, to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end, because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs

Here is an example of an agency that not only preached simplicity; it used super clean and direct design to support its very own brand proposition.

See how M&C Saatchi tells (well, once told) prospects what they will get from the agency as soon as the visitor hits the home page. M&C Saatchi delivers its message in about 1.5 seconds. Given the main message, could you imagine the agency having a complicated design to express this thought?

Maurice called the delivery of simplicity: One-Word Equity. This was their pitch from a few years ago. And, there can be no argument that his direct statement still works in today’s over-stimulated ADHD world.

OK, One More Uber Simple Website…

Just to hammer the KISS point, I am including the home page of Playground. It took me 1 second to know what Playground is.

While I am not sure that saying “We are a digital creative agency” is a standout agency pitch, it is, without question, direct and therefore stronger than the front door of most agency websites.

What I Like: Website Elements

Once you have stopped the website visitor with your direct home page message (something compelling via copy or a video), you’ll have the time to tell them your agency story and supply key information.

Services

3 Ad Agency Websites That Work

Peter · March 14, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Inspiration: 3 Ad Agency Websites That Work

Yes, another post on ad agency websites. This time I am writing about three very different approaches. All work. How do I know this? These agency sites deliver via unique approaches at a time when many agency websites act more like a ‘me-too’ non-sales oriented brochure. To start, here are some of my key website success points.

You will only get 8 seconds of a prospect’s attention. So, state your reason for being — fast.

That means, KISS — Keep It Simple Stupid.

Walk your talk.

Help me to want to meet you.

Try to look and sound different. The sameness of agency website messaging, look and attitude is distressing.

Your website is a sales tool. Worth repeating. It is a sales tool.

Use video to tell your story.

If you dig social, then deliver some highly targeted thought leadership. Provide more substance than a ‘me-too’ agency blog.

Entice a prospect to contact you. Friendly sales works.

The 3 Agency Websites.

1. HawkSEM

HawkSEM is a digital / PPC marketing specialist based in L.A.

Here is why I dig the HawkSEM website.

Slavish devotion to the agency’s Results / ROI positioning. That means their messaging supports their stance. As in: “No BS, just Results. Average Clients see a 4.5x ROI”
The positioning is client focussed.
Massive use of videos. Mucho people to watch on this site.
Sexy client list plus relevent cases plus video testimonials.
Very serious Google endorsement.
They ask for the order via simple offer… “Request a free consultation.” Not just the usual, all too usual, “Contact Us.”

This approach makes them successful.

2. Wise Branding Group

I’d never heard of Betsey Wise until I read her right-on quote in Ad Age’s “Agency Nostalgia Hits SXSW.” See what I mean (as in, this must be the dream of every employee working at WPP or Publicis):

“And this is what’s wrong with the agency model,” said Betsy Wise, CCO of her own branding group. “Too many people in a meeting, and not enough getting done.”

Ms. Wise was just joking about the room too full for her to even enter, but she was also kind of serious. She was there to talk about what agency workers can do to overcome the waning influence of their industry. She used to be in it, until she started her own company, and now sets her own hours.

“I’m working 30 hours a week, and I’ve easily doubled my salary, maybe tripled,” Ms. Wise said.”

Here is why I dig the Wise Branding Group website:

Super clean design.
The site’s navigation elements are the graphics / the graphics are the navigation.
Who We Are. / What We Do. / What We Believe? / Who We Serve / What We Are Up To. Is kinda all you really need to know.
I like the copy and its tone.

More? Could Wise add more stuff? Sure and it might help. Or, um, distract.

3. Joan.

More women. I am only saying this because Joan. celebrates women. Especially women named Joan. Need rationale?

“Throughout history, various Joans have shown up on the scene and completely changed the landscape — from rock and roll, to comedy, to helping put a new face on the protest movement of the 60s, and of course, to our favorite Joan, who triumphed on the French battlefields. These Joans knew that the combination of talent, ambition, curiosity, imagination, an eternal work ethic and a completely irregular perspective from the norm would allow them to question, challenge and change.

We take inspiration from these incredible women. And we hope to do some good in their name.”

Here is why I dig the Joan. website:

The name is intriguing.
The founders are named Lisa and Jaime.
Interesting, non-standard-resumes: “What happens when one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and Refinery29’s former COO start an agency?” And leadership positions at Widen + Kennedy and Pereira & O’Dell and Ogilvy and Mather, Saatchi and Saatchi, BBH NY and Fallon.
Sweet, diverse client list that includes: General Mills, Unilever, Jack Daniels, Coca-Cola, and Intel.
Joan. walks the talk. They are establishing: “The Joan Foundation for Diversity in Advertising.”

Ok, I admit it. Much of what I dig is Joans.’s straight forward approach to all of the reasons I’d give them a call. The site is tight.