I listen to The Stephanie Miller Show, because I like my political talk mixed with a healthy dose of comedy. One of the ads that’s been running a lot on the show’s Internet stream is for getpresales.com, a site that alerts you to concert presale information.
You’d think that any site advertising on a syndicated show reaching a million or so listeners would have a solid business presentation. I should have suspected something, though, based on the mediocre quality of the audio in the ad, which sounds more like “podcaster with a USB mike” than a professional studio. So, too, did the announcer lack that verbal “pop” you expect from a professional voiceover artist.
Indeed, the quality of the site is commensurate with that of its radio ads. Seriously, go have a look. I expected the tickets to be for Hootie & the Blowfish, since hey, the site looks like it wandered here out of 1996.
Then look under the hood at the source code. Aiy. font tags! Repeated <br />! And then there’s this little gobbet of joy from the homepage:
<span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: verdana"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: georgia"><span><span class="newscontent" style="font-size: 130%; color: #fa1212"><span style="color: #0a0a0a"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: georgia"><span style="color: #ff0000"><font color="#0b0a0a"><font color="#4f08f3" size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><font color="#fc0101"><font color="#060606"><font size="2"><font color="#0c0c0c"><font color="#060606"><font color="#000000"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #000000"><font color="#0d0d0d"><font color="#000000"><font color="#e60814"><span style="color: #ff0000"><br />
</span></font></font></font></span></span></span></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></span></font></font></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: verdana"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: georgia"><span><span class="newscontent" style="font-size: 130%; color: #fa1212"><span style="color: #0a0a0a"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: georgia"><span style="color: #ff0000"><font color="#0b0a0a"><font color="#4f08f3" size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><font color="#fc0101"><font color="#060606"><font size="2"><font color="#0c0c0c"><font color="#060606"><font color="#000000"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #000000"><font color="#0d0d0d"><font color="#000000"><font color="#e60814"><span style="color: #ff0000"><span style="color: #ff0000">
I don’t mean to come off like a design snob here. I recognize that not everyone has the talents or budget to present a bleeding-edge, sexy site. If I’m looking at “Bettie’s Homemade Jams & Jellies” on an AOL homepage, hey, an amateur design is totally fine. However, if you’re doing national advertising on the radio, it seems like the least you could do is drop $100 to that kid you know who does Web sites. (Everyone knows a kid like that.)
So hey, getpresales? You know your radio spot says your site is “well-organized and easy to navigate”, right? Before you drop some more dough on ads directing people to your site, consider getting said site out of the “I made my GeoCities page with HoTMetaL” era.
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