[Mom objected to the original picture. Here’s another.]
The conversation goes like this:
Mom: So…now tell me again…you’re building web sites for your clients?
Me: Not really, mom. I’m not much of a techie.
Mom: How can you build web sites if you’re not a techie?
Me: I’m not building anything. I’m helping my clients plan their web sites for persuasion and conversion.
Mom: Oh. Hmmm. That’s nice. [pause] More dessert?
Architecture is the metaphor for how we plan a web site. Think of building a new mall. You had better involve architects, engineers and site planners before you go inviting the interior designers to the meetings. There are major considerations to be accomodated waaaaay before the fabric swatches and tile samples come out.
Likewise, if you plan on operating a functional web site that was planned from the start to make the on-line experience easy and natural for nearly every personality type, you should leave the code geeks and the flash geeks alone until you figure out how people will want to use your site.
Up until now, I’ve been explaining the process using this metaphor.
Bryan Eisenberg and Lisa Davis (collectively writing as The Grok) put together this somewhat lengthy, but VERY valuable, case study to show what a Persuasion Architecture project can mean to your site. They used a real world example and 4 personas. Take a look.
If you want to know more, you’ll be in Austin on September 8-9 for Call to Action. I’ll see you there.
By the way, I know that I can talk Jeffrey into a very limited number of alumni-priced "scholarships" just for sharing your story about your experiences with on-line persuasion. Especially if you’ve used some of the techniques in their latest best-seller, Call to Action. Just drop me an email. (In case you don’t know, alumni prices at WizardAcademy are half-off. So…a cool grand plus 2 days of car rental for a simple email.)