When people Google, they know basically what they’re looking for so your site has to speak to your potential client/customer instantly. What with the bombardment of information we receive on a daily basis, no one wants to sit and read a lot of fluff about the details of your business. They want to know why they should choose you immediately. Everyone is in a hurry to do their research and get on to the decision making. If you don’t tell them right up front what makes you different and better than your competitors you had better believe they aren’t going to dig through the paragraphs of copy blabbing on about your superior this and ultimate that to find out for themselves. They are going to jump right to the next site listed on that first page of Google.
Your home page content should do these three things:
1. FOCUS on your differentiation – Choose one and only one differentiation because that is all people can remember. Do not list and describe all of your services on your home page. Make the decision to choose your company easy because your difference is obvious. The less information we are given, the more likely we are to remember it later. This FOCUS is fundamental to branding and should be maintained throughout all marketing materials.
2. FOCUS on your buyer – Make sure your differentiating factor is relevant to the client/customer. Get to know your audience. Talk to your customers and listen to their problems. Then provide solutions to these problems. Build a relationship with your website visitors explaining how you make their life easier. And do it in plain English. Do not use fancy jargon that only your CEO and CFO will understand. do it simply without a lot of words. People are turned off by obvious selling techniques.
3. FOCUS on your offerings – Create content that is interesting and valuable to your customers/clients and then offer it for free. Remember to keep it current and authentic. This will keep them coming back. It will also give them a reason to send their colleagues and friends to your site. Be informative, clever, and entertaining if at all possible in your presentation.
We can help you develop ideas for relevant, focused web content to draw your visitors in and keep them coming back. Feel free to call us (805.383.0054) or email me (sharene@pidesign.com) to discuss the opportunities you may be missing. For more information on this subject and branding in general, check out two of my favorite books these days:
World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott
You make some great points. People definitely need that instantaneous recognition, or they are gone. I find often it is not even the content itself that is informative, but the way it is presented. If content is presented poorly, I will not even read it.