Pretty Works – But Should You Exploit It?

I feel stupid doing it, but I sometimes do. Just like last week.

I was chatting to a client about his potential site and, based on the fact that his target market is guys, suggested using photos of attractive staff on his Home Page rather than him.

It’s just that using attractive women on a page makes guys stop and take notice. And that’s what we’re after.

• Web visitors stop
• They take notice
• They might read on

Even babies look at attractive faces longer.

As web developers/marketers we have to ensure our work attracts our market, interests them and assists in generating the response we are after.

Digital Point’s Hugely Popular Thread

I was visiting the hugely popular Digital Point – one of the world’s leading web master sites. One of their current threads is running now – Who is the hottest girl on DP?

It is a hugely popular thread with tons of page views and hundreds of votes. Shoemoney wants you to vote for Vicious Summer.

But DeniseJ is currently winning.

“I thought crap like this…..”

You’ll always get negative feedback. Here’s 1 post on the thread:

“I thought crap like that went out years ago and personality, talent and intellect had taken over. I’m not surprised to see certain guys salivating, but I would have thought the women knew better.”

But as the web manager/marketer for your site/business you have to weigh up the benefit/risk analysis and make your decision.

• Is the potential backlash worth it?
• Can you use attractive people effectively?
• Does it make sense to your target market?

Should you use an attractive face on your web site? If your job is to keep visitors on the site then there is a solid argument that you should.

But Use Faces Anyway

Even if you are violently opposed to using attractive people on your site, I’d urge you to use photos of people’s faces on your site – I’ve seen the positive impact of this increasing sales many, many times.