Justify Choosing Your Camp
How much text is appropriate on a camp website?
By Chris Davis
Here’s a common question from camp owners and directors:
“How much text should I put on my camp website? I’ve heard that too much isn’t good because people don’t read it all, or it can turn people off.”See if personal experience backs this up: People who are interested will read just about everything on a website.
When shopping for a new car or a new appliance and the choice has been narrowed to one or two, don’t you read everything you can that relates to those products? The tricky part for camps is becoming one of the remaining choices so people will read everything on your website.
Emotional Shortcuts, Rational Justifications
In narrowing our choices, we use “emotional shortcuts” to help eliminate options. This is because there are simply too many choices these days, and we don’t have the time to read everything. Our emotions help because they serve as decision shortcuts. Whether we admit it or not, we all use emotions to see which products “connect” with us and “feel” right.
But after the choices are narrowed to a few, we justify the choice with intelligent-sounding reasons.
This is why we read everything pertaining to a product. Doing this helps us feel good about the final decision to buy.
So, the text you provide on a camp website might not be read by every parent who visits the website, but it will most likely be read in its entirety by those parents who are most interested in your camp.
And they’ll use that text to intellectually justify their decision to send their child to your camp.
Providing too little text robs parents of the opportunity to justify choosing your camp, so here’s what I suggest: Give website visitors a substantial helping of compelling text to satisfy their intellectual justification. Include some good reasons why your camp is different from that of others, what’s special and unique about it, and why it’s the best choice for them and their kids.
And don’t worry about the people who won’t read all of the text on your website—they’re not your customers anyway!
Chris Davis is the owner of DVS Camp Websites. Download his free report: “5 Ways Your Website Is Costing You New Campers” at www.campbusiness.com/123 or email him at chriscb@dvscampwebsites.com.