What’s the first thing that attracts your attention in an ad?

This thread is meant to get feed back from buyers with regards to what’s the first thing that really catches their attention in an ad. Needless to say there will be people that are looking for a specific snake/morph and will thus open and read the one that offers what they are searching for. But let us suppose that you are just browsing the ads. What’s the first thing that triggers your curiosity and makes you click on the ad? I agree that it's more than likely a combination of things, but there is probably one that triggers your attention first before even considering opening the ad to learn more about it.

Thanks.

Please disregard the last four options ("Mainly") those were meant to exist if the reader had the ability to vote in more than one option but I forgot to click on that. Just vote or coment on the first four options.

Thanks again.

A picture is worth a thousand words.....

A quality picture will get my interest quicker than anything. Even if the item for sale is not something I was specifically looking for. It is almost as good as seeing it in person.

Price and breeder/person/company come into play later when I am serious about making the purchase. Not just window shopping.

As far as the wording of the ad, it really does not come into play for me as a consumer at all. I almost completely ignore them. An ad can say ANYTHING the writer wants it to say..... truth or lie, opinion or fact. So wording means nothing to me.

It is the product/animal itself that has to stand on its own two legs. That is all I am interested in, the facts of product/animal, not the sales pitch.

ok.......

on fauna forums where you can see the picture. that is what catches my eye first.. then i look at the breeder/seller and then lastly the price.

if i am looking at other sites where they do not have pictures in the ad topic line i look at the breeders/sellers, then the pictures and lastly the price.

while typing errors do not bug me so much (who am i to speak because i typo horribly) if one of them uses terms such as, well let me give you an example.

"U can by this berm 4 only $150 + shipping which is $25 dollars. i also have 4 sale 2 more babie berms 4 only $50 each plus shipping.
You have 2 C em 2 C how beautiful they R. all my friends that seen em think they are rockin.
i am ONLY letting em go cuz i want 2 get in 2 balled pythons."
i steer FAR FAR AWAY

I agree with Robin. The picture would be the first thing to catch my eye, but given how many stolen pictures have been used lately, I would hesitate to trust anyone other than a reputable breeder known here on Fauna. It's not worth the risk, and I'm usually not looking for anything that's hard to find. In my experience, if a certain animal IS hard to find, there's a good reason for it -- and usually only reputable, experienced people will be offering them anyway.
Paul

As Sammy said a picture is worth a thousand words. That is what gets my attention. Followed by the breeder. The wording of the ad is not that important but does play a factor as in the example given by Robin. The price is usually last
on my list. If I know what I'm looking at, I generally know the price range it should fall in.

i know people can steal images from breeders, etc, but it's still nice to see what's up for offer. Major typos and net slang make me much more wary of someone. Pardon me if you don't know english very well, but i generally take badly written ads as a STAY CLEAR warning. if you want money for your product take the time to quickly spell things as correctly as you can. the internet has dictionaries for just a quick reference. multiple pics are great too, and an artistic and well designed logo/header/ad always makes me happy. i love making logos as attractive as possible, and using bright and nicely contrasting colors in my commissions, because that is what draws my eye the most.
~jessi wyvern

www.darkbloodwyvern.deviantart.com

Hi,


1) Pictures are extremely important. Their is a lot of people brokering snakes that they don't have in their possession and the ads lack pictures of the animal being sold. By seeing pictures you can actually see the quality of the advertised animal. 2) Wording of the ads are also important, It is not necessary to say one day sale, weekend sale Etc. One does not have to say need to sell, must pay off credit card bills. By the advertiser putting $1,000.00 or O.B.O. (or best offer) is suffice. 3) Who is selling then comes into play, I mean there are a few companies out there that are notorious for misleading linage and selling sick animals. Now #3 can rank right up to #1 if its a know Bad Guy, LOL! :-) 4) Price is the least of my concerns, in many cases you do get what you pay for. Sometimes, low prices equal low quality animals.


Take care,


Tony.

"U can by this berm 4 only $150 + shipping which is $25 dollars. i also have 4 sale 2 more babie berms 4 only $50 each plus shipping.
You have 2 C em 2 C how beautiful they R. all my friends that seen em think they are rockin.
i am ONLY letting em go cuz i want 2 get in 2 balled pythons."

Sammy,

Unless of course you run into Robin's example. That one immediately raises a red flag. All in all I'm also impacted by the picture first, then probably the wording and finally the breeder and the price. These two are somewhat lumped together as in general "big name" breders will ask higher prices.

The first thing I notice is the photograph. Second is the text. Third is the price. And finally the seller. However, any of these points could easily be deal-breakers for me.

Personally, I avoid any and all advertisements that explain how nice the animal is, the genetic possibilities, or the investment potential. The animal is what it is. If the animal is really as special/unique/stunning/whatever as you think it is, then everyone else will think it, too. Everything else is cheap marketing.

Here are my three steps to writing an advertisement:

1. Write the advertisement.
2. Remove all adverbs and adjectives.
3. Post advertisement.

And as always...this is just my opinion. Enjoy!

Chris