(Welcome to the 2nd post in the series of 6. Click here to read the original summary post)
Rule #1: You have to be dramatically different and dramatically fast about it
You are boring. Compared to the other one million businesses who do your same job on the internet you lack any substance. I was shopping for someone who does what you do and I found your website. But I am unimpressed by your skills and your presentation. I have been at your site for 10 seconds. I’ve had my fill and I’m moving on. I am closing this browser tab and I’ll never see your site again.
This is how shoppers think when they find most businesses on the internet. And they are right. Look at your site. Your colors. Your pictures. Your videos. Is there anything particularly unique about them ? Is there anything on your site that people will mouse over, click on, and say “Wow. Hey honey come look at this. This is cool.”. If not you have homework to do after reading this post.
Be Different
People will buy personality over skill any day of the week. Either get personality fast or hire someone who has it. Start making videos that stand out in your field. Do some ridiculous (but educational) things with your products or services. Is your website boring? Find a creative graphic designer who has created out-of-the-box websites. Ask for a few free ideas from them to see if they have thought of some things you never considered. Don’t ask them to work for free. But ask them for a simple idea or two to get an idea of where they would go with your site.
Simplify Your Home Page
This is an exercise we completed recently on the Focus Consulting home page. I was very frustrated with our page having the same sidebars and links as everybody else in our field. I had Allographics and Design sit with us to see how we could strip away everything but most necessary items from the Focus home page. The first thing we decided we would do is strip away any sidebars. Since I use Genesis by Studiopress (affiliate link) I can choose the sidebar layout for each page. I made our home page all content with no sidebars. They next thing that I decided to fix was our message. Was is possible for someone to land on our home page and instantly figure out what we do. No ? Then that needs to become crystal clear. Your home page needs to be like your elevator pitch. Except on the internet you don’t get fifteen seconds. You get three.
Your Homework From This Blog Post
Take the time today to study your website home page. Imagine if a visitor had three seconds to look at your site to figure out what you do and how you do it different. Start stripping away all the extra “stuff” that does not instantly communicate your main marketing message. You can put it on other pages. But keep that home page clean.
Now go be different.
