Don’t Offer Too Many Choices
In both Internet marketing and offline marketing, it’s best to limit the number of choices offered at the same time. This applies to both products and services.
In a recent article called Focus Your Marketing Plan the author was helping an entrepreneur who had been in business for 15 years.
…he showed me the company brochure, which listed ten different, unrelated services that his company provided.
He just thought the more services he offered his clients, the more business he would generate. Unfortunately, he just neglected to consider how trying to do too many things for too many different types of clients would dilute his efforts.
I remember an old story about Soviet Russian visitors coming to America and, when going to a grocery store, being flabbergasted at the number of choices offered. They were used to standing in line for one item, like shoes or beets. These people would spend hours shopping because they couldn’t make a decision.
It’s true. Go grocery shopping and you have lo-cal, lo-fat, sugar-free, low sodium, gluten free, fortified, all natural, organic, Fair Trade Certified, and that’s before you get to specific brands. Hell, look at the choices for chewing gum in the checkout lane.
The same reasoning applies to products on the web. How many times have you clicked on a search link or ad and been sent to a web page plastered with products, most of which have nothing in common with what you’re searching for.
Not all online businesses have as many products as Amazon. In fact, if you have just a few products it’s often best to take each specific product you offer and set it up on its own web site. Have a video of the product, detailed specifications, product reviews, etc.
If you have a web host that allows multiple domains it doesn’t cost you any extra and is much more search engine and PPC friendly. (Note: if you are running an Adwords campaign make sure you have links to Privacy Policy and Terms of Use pages on the site) You can upsell or cross sell other products during the checkout process.
That way, your home page doesn’t offer too many choices.