"Seven seconds? What's that?"

Briefly: the average website visitor who arrives at your site will give you about seven seconds before he decides whether or not it's worth staying.

Think about a restaurant salad bar. A good salad bar has dozens of choices, but you have only so much room on your plate (not to mention in your stomach). So the "grazer" will want to choose only the best items. Sometimes, he's adventurous and will try something new; other times, she'll choose only her favorites. And there's only so much time before lunch hour is over.

So she chooses carefully, but with expediency. To satisfy her, the salad bar should offer plenty of comfort food: delectable, familiar choices, sprinkled in with some exotic new possibilities. But above all, everything should look good, appetizing and inviting. And even the unfamiliar should appear to be fresh and delicious. A salad bar that's dull and lifeless or unappealing will drive the customer to other choices.

Good salad bars are laid out logically. The breads, veggies, meats, prepared salads, dressings, condiments and add-ons are all grouped in an easy-to select manner, so the diner can layer his plate carefully, "building" the perfect salad.

The internet is remarkably similar to an information salad bar, except that almost all the choices are new and unfamiliar. So once someone decides to try a new item (or a new website) it should be fresh, inviting, and extend the promise of satisfaction.

The homepage of a website should be constructed so it's easy to understand and simple to navigate. All salad bars are unique and laid out differently; so are websites. As new visitors, we have to "learn" how to use them, in a matter of seconds. If the site is cluttered, or heavy with graphics, banners, pop-ups and animation, it will take us awhile to get our bearings.

And that's where the seven seconds comes in.

As a web visitor, I know what I came for, so I want to learn how to find it, quickly.

And you've got about seven seconds before I lose my patience and go on to another website.

This is not meant to dump on web designers, just those who slap in everything they know, in order to create an exciting site.

What they're also doing is risking overwhelming the first-time visitor.

If I came to you for a specific reason, because I expected to find something... whether it's information, a product or a service... I'd better find it, and in short order.

I'll give you seven seconds.

So after an enticement gets me to the site, it becomes the copywriter's turn. If what I came to find is there where I expect it, I'll start reading.

And you'd better tell me a story... not about your company, its history, your mission statement, your goal (what is it other than to sell me, anyway?), or anything else. Those are all things I may want to know... eventually... but first I want to be convinced that I should keep reading.

You enticed me here, I came here, now "go! Tell me what I want to know!"

Tell me that story about me, and how your products and services will benefit me.

The clock's ticking... you have seven seconds...six, five, four...

As a copywriter, my true skill now comes to bear. The only thing I have going for me is that you came to me for information, and you're a potential customer. So how can I convince you that you've come to the right place?

It's up to me to erase your doubts, to show you in simple terms that it's okay to relax and trust me, and that it's okay to pull the trigger and buy, sign up, join, or whatever it is you came to do, or what I want you to do.

If I were writing radio copy (and I have written thousands, for practically every imaginable product, service and type of business under the sun), my first task would be to get your attention, then tell you everything the sponsor has to offer, mention the name of the client or product at least five times in the commercial, then tell you how and where to find the product or store. If possible, I would recite the phone number at least three times. All in about 120 words for a 60-second "spot."

At least that's the way I was taught.

I quickly learned that when a salesperson told me to be "creative and have fun," it was not necessarily going to be beneficial for the client. I knew that I could create a memorable commercial, (and yes, they were the fun ones to write and record), but I also knew that creative, memorable, funny commercials don't always sell the product.

Those of us of a certain age will remember Alka Seltzer commercials with the funny tag lines: "I can't believe I ate the whole thing," "Mamma mia, that's a spicy, meat-a-ball" and "Try it, you'll like it!" Each quickly became part of the American vernacular.

Yet despite the outrageous popularity of these classic TV commercials, and their conversion into everyday catch phrases, overall sales of Alka Seltzer were basically unchanged. Alka Seltzer's "problem" was that it was already the product most Americans used to relieve an upset stomach.

"Oh what a relief it (wasn't)" for the manufacturer. Alka Seltzer had long ago supplanted Bromo Seltzer as the preferred stomach remedy, even though just a few years earlier, those in digestive distress knew to "take a Bromo." Bromo Seltzer very nearly became a generic term like other wildly successful brand names.. Aspirin, Cellophane and Kerosene.

It's a good problem to have when you are that successful, even though you run the risk of losing the value of a name you worked so hard to develop. It is a fate created by... (have you guessed?)... the copywriters who created campaigns so unique that the product became a household name.

Once a product becomes known as the solution to a common problem, it can run on its own, fueled only by "creative" and "clever" commercials which remind customers of its effectiveness and ready availability.

The important thing to remember is that it's essential to continue to advertise. If it weren't, you wouldn't see commercials for McDonalds or Budweiser or any number of well-known automobile models, every single day. Once you're at the top, you have to stay there through constant reinforcement, or by supplying something new.

And it all starts in those precious first seven seconds.