How can Martin Buber’s treatment of the “I–Thou” relationship help you write better copy for the web?
“Martin who?” you might be asking.
Ok, so Martin Buber is not a house-hold name.
And web marketing didn’t even exist when he wrote his ground-breaking book “I and Thou” back in 1958.
Yet, his treatment of human relationship and communication is vitally important to you if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your web page content.
How?
Well my friend, please read on…
Overcoming Alienation
Here’s a quote from “I and Thou” that will serve as the touch-stone for the rest of this article…
“Individuality makes its appearance by being differentiated from other individualities. A person makes his (or her) appearance by entering into relation with other persons” (p. 62).
This is the crux of the problem you are immediately faced with when deciding to market your business through the web.
Effective websites bridge the very real gap that exists between an isolated individual plucking away at his or her keyboard, and your website.
You simply must remember that a real person interacts with your website.
So on one end of the spectrum is a live human being — on the other end your web page.
That’s about as large of a gap in human communication as you are likely to have.
Remember, in face to face conversation body language makes up more than 80% of “cues” for conveying meaning. These include your tone of voice, body posture, eye movements.
You get the idea.
Yet, when a person interacts with your website those reliable “meaning cues” are gone.
So what’s left for the person to interact with?
Your copy.
Writing for the Web
That’s right.
The words you write (or hire someone to write), possibly accompanied by an image or graphic, is all that is left to communicate meaning and value to your anonymous website visitor.
Your copy is the ONLY possible means for bridging that gap between you (technically your site as a “version” of you) and the person interacting with your site.
Now, when you think of it is it any wonder why it’s so darned difficult to make a sale online?
Your goal (if you want to succeed) is to bridge that gap by making a connection by relating to your web visitor. This is what world-renowned internet marketer Eben Pagan means when he talks about entering into relationship with your customer.
You simply must include the personal element in your copy.
The human element.
There is no substitute or way around this need to CONNECT with your web visitor. And though images, graphics, and colors can enhance the possibility for connection (or hinder it), the copy you write is the ONLY MEANS for making that connection.
Which is why copywriters like John Carlton insist that you must use conversational language in your copy.
Because any other style of writing not only fails to make the connection you need.
It actually creates a larger gap between you (your website) and your potential customer or client (website visitor).
Are You Ready for Expert Guidance?
Whether you have worked with another web marketing firm in the past, OR you have been working at improving your website by yourself, here’s what you can do right now…
Call us to schedule a no-strings-attached phone consultation.
That’s it.
Call 888-542-2936 & Leave a Message!
After you call I will personally follow up with you to schedule a mutually convenient time to discuss your web sales, goals, and long-term plans.
And if it makes sense for the both of us to pursue a working relationship, we’ll decide together.
We can help you with a wide range of services, such as web content writing services and article marketing services (to name a few).
The choice is yours…
