I was on a GoToMeeting with a client the other day. He asked me to review a new home page for his company's website.
The first thing I blurted out was, "Where's the banana?"
"Where's the banana" is a phrase coined by Seth Godin, in his book The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Website Better.
The concept is to picture a monkey in his big red Fez monkey hat, and what are monkeys usually thinking? You got it: "Where's the banana?" Which, incidentally, my one-year old daughter does to me every morning when I make my breakfast shake - she tries to swipe my banana from me before I get it into the blender! I guess that's why we call her our little monkey...
But back to the point:
Web users do the same thing. There should be one and only one action a website or radio or television ad should want a visitor to do, whether that's continue on deeper into the website, request more information, or make a purchase.
In this case, there was no clear call to action.
It's not just the web where this problem exists. It is in all forms of marketing. Next time you get ready to launch your next direct mail, television, radio, bus bench, or bathroom add ask yourself--
Where's the banana?
post from NeverColdCall.com author Frank Rambauskas
