Web Design Thesis Statement

One of the most important methods of advertising and promotions available for a business today is a strong online presence. A corporation’s web page is often the first point of contact for reaching a new potential customer. The business website can demonstrate your products or services, introduce people on your staff, provide virtual tours of your offices or facilities and provide testimonials from satisfied clients. The website can also be used to promote sales or special offers, to create new product excitement, to host a company blog and link to your social media pages (Ingram, 2015).
An online marketing strategy has most of the same goals and utilizes many of the same tactics as a traditional advertising campaign using other forms of media does. Businesses want to increase sales, revenue and profits by persuading their target market to become, or stay, their loyal customers. Smart companies do market research before spending a penny of their advertising budget. This research will tell them what methods will likely be the most successful in gaining brand awareness, creating a positive brand image and reaching an optimal level of market saturation.
Regardless of the difference in the specific details, all business websites will share the common goal of persuading someone to believe something. This belief will hopefully cause that person to choose to do business with you. Your skills of persuasion must be highly developed and refined if you can hope to impact another’s decision making process. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is known for coming up with three principles of persuasion: logic, emotion and credibility, otherwise known as logos, ethos and pathos (Toxboe, 2010). Despite the fact that these ideas are 2,000 years old, they are still some of the most effective and widely used methods for successful communication. Let’s take a look at each one in depth.
Logos, or logic, is the essence of the argument itself. An appeal to logos includes the facts and statistics. Hard data that cannot be disputed, that demonstrates the truth of the matter at hand. This category includes things like your number of satisfied customers, the review you got in the newspaper by a third-party testimony or the amount of money you can save a household who uses your product rather than the competitor’s. The section of your website that includes customer feedback would be utilizing the principle of logos. This is the category for citing important information and using logical arguments to show why they should do business with you.
Pathos is the Greek word for both suffering and experience (pathosethoslogos.com, 2015). It is an appeal to the emotional reaction of the consumer. Emotions have the power to alter our opinions and effect our decision-making skills. Ever notice how you make rash decisions if you have had an argument with a loved one? Maybe you said or did something that you later wished you hadn’t? That is an example of the negative effect that pathos can have on our choices. Colorful language, vivid imagery, superlatives and exaggerations fall into this category. Human interest stories belong here as well. Did your construction crew take time out from shingling the roof they were working on to help the neighbor girl rescue her cat from the tree? That’s pathos. Warm, fuzzy feelings and stories that tug on the heartstrings. Successful use of pathos gets your audience to feel what you want them to feel.
Ethos is the Greek word for character (pathosethoslogos.com 2015). It refers to your level of believability. Your target audience will be more apt to believe what you say is true if you start by establishing that you are reliable, informed and trustworthy. Ethos is an ethical appeal. You want to demonstrate your expertise in your field and convince your listeners that you are of good moral character, worthy of their attention. You can mention your level of experience with the subject, the education you have completed, any certificates or special licenses that you hold in the field. Using ethos can be enhanced by your choice of language. Any technical jargon should be defined for your audience, keeping in mind the level of knowledge the general public is likely to have regarding your specialized subject. You do not want to be perceived as talking over their heads, but rather as helpful and accessible.
In order to successfully persuade your target market, your website will need to effectively use all three components in conjunction with each other as well as your other specifics for increasing brand awareness and market share.

References

Ingram, David. Example Goals for a Marketing Plan. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/example-goals-marketing-plan-10515.html April 9, 2015.
Toxboe, Anders. (Sept. 29, 2010) Designing for logo, pathos and ethos. Retrieved from http://ui- patterns.com/blog/Designing-for-logos-pathos-and-ethos April 9, 2015.
http://pathosethoslogos.com April 9, 2015.