I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the little Boy Scout who was missing in North Carolina recently. He was missing for three or four days before the searchers found him.

After three days, the parents agreed to be interviewed by the press. One brilliant journalist asked the parents how they felt about their child being missing.

The father’s tone completely changed. He said that when he agreed to the interview, he made it clear to the press that the interview would be totally about his son and the search and not about how he or his wife were feeling. They were on an horrendous roller coaster ride, and they wanted their private feelings kept private.

It’s always blown me away how seemingly caring journalists always ask grieving families that same question. Their son is missing or their daughter has been brutally raped, and the journalist wants to know how the family is feeling.

If it were my child, I’d scream, “How the hell do you think I feel? How would YOU feel if it were your son or daughter? Don’t you even think before you ask questions?”

Why do journalists ask these questions? Because they believe their viewers want to know, and they want to sell more newspapers.

But I believe their readers are intelligent enough to know how the victims’ families and friends are feeling at that point in time. I believe readers would appreciate the professionalism of journalists who wouldn’t ask such insensitive questions.

I know that sensationalism sells, but do insensitive questions sell?

To me, it insults my intelligence when journalists asks these stupid, horribly insensitive questions, because we all know how the person feels.

Keep in mind that I’ve been a journalist in the past, so I stood on that side of the fence for ten years.

How does this translate to the online environment?

We’ve talked about writing effective sales copy before. What about slick, snake-oil-type sales copy? This is the hard-sell copy that is overly pushing a product or service.

We’ve all been to those obnoxious sites that oversell. They were very effective at one time. Now, most of us are immune to them.

Now, we want to see honest, professional-looking Web sites. Anything that looks like hype isn’t well received. Anything that looks spammy isn’t trusted. If someone is scammed, that person tells someone who tells someone else, and on and on and on.

We have too many choices online. We don’t have to deal with scammy sites. We can choose to deal only with professionals.

We also talk to each other online. We talk about those hyped-up sites and others listen. We have a lot of online mediums in which to talk: blogs, forums, newsgroups, e-mail, Podcasts, videos, audio, articles, Web content, and more.

Accountability has come into play.

Don’t underestimate or insult the intelligence of your readers by trying to sell them hype. It will catch up with you. Be honest and forthright. Be concerned about your customers. Let them know they can trust you by building that trust through the language on your Web site.

I believe your potential customers are intelligent enough to see through hype. I believe your potential customers will appreciate the professionalism of sales copy that is honest and concerned about them.

Just like the journalists in the story above, don’t insult your potential customers with a bunch of hyped-up sales copy that drips with snake oil. They can see straight through it, and this is not the way to build trust or customers. You want long-lasting customers for life so that the next time you sell a product, they’ll buy it from you. If your Web site is full of hype, potential customers will think that your products are hype too.

Robin