A Message Worth Repeating

Hello. Happy Monday.

I just finished reading Seth Godin’s new book, All Marketers Are Liars. Excellent, excellent book. Why is it so excellent? Because it’s true. The book is not really about lying marketers, it’s about the lies we tell ourselves. The stories we so easily believe or want to believe. If you want to market a product, a service or yourself, Seth Godin says, tell a story. You’ll reach more people if you do.

I’ve read most of Seth’s books and one thing I really like about his writing, it that he repeats his message over and over throughout his books. In his latest book, he explains many times over why marketers are considered liars.

Repetition Is the Mother of Skill

Repeating your message over and over is very important to any marketer, especially when it comes to your website.

Everyone knows how a book works. The title is always on the cover, a book summary is usually on the back, you open it up, you turn the page to get to the next page and you’re done when you reach the last page.

A website doesn’t work this way. All websites work differently from one another. There isn’t a common knowledge or practice on how all websites should function. There maybe a few standards, but most websites can be designed any way designers choose.

Most websites act in the same way – Click a link, go to another page. But the simple act of clicking a link changes – the link could take you to another website or a page within the existing website. This is how drastically different a site can be designed with just a few small changes.

So, back to my point…

Consistent Repetition

Repetition is crucial when you enter the web. (Most people on the internet don’t want to spend a lot of time searching and browsing. They want to find what they’re looking for quickly). By repeating your message, theme, or idea throughout your website, your visitors – no matter where they are located on your site – will receive your message instantly and will remember it.

Anthony Robbins says repetition is the mother of skill. You’ve heard of “practice makes perfect”? Same thing. If you repeat your message enough times, people will remember it.

In a previous blog post I wrote about C.R.A.P. web design. R standing for repetition. This would mean having your logo in the same place on every page on your website, consistent navigation, same fonts for headings, same colors for links, etc. The list goes on and on.

Be consistent. You’re audience depends on it.