Here are the top reasons people DON’T visit your website:

• To find out what year you started your company.
• To read about your great-grandfather.
• To find out how many cups of coffee you drink each day/week/year.
• To see a picture of your last corporate outing.
• To see a picture of the many legal books you have.
• To see a picture of your front desk with your logo on it.
• To see how many times you can use the word “innovative”.

Here are the reasons people DO visit your website:

• To find out how to get in touch with you.
• To find out more about a specific person (This pretty much only applies if YOU are the thing they are purchasing. i.e. lawyers, doctors, financial advisors, etc.)
• The TOP reason people visit? People have a problem and are wondering if you have the solution!

Companies get so wrapped up in selling their company or history they forget to solve the visitor's problem. When you walk into a BestBuy (The very mention of that name will definitely date this post one day) the employees don’t walk up to you and talk about the history of BestBuy, telling you how many people work there, or how many locations they have. They walk up and say, “May I help you with something?”. And you answer with, “Yeah, I’m looking for a…” or “Yeah, I’m having this issue with my…”. So, why do we put the “About Us” link first in our navigation? Or, why is the first message in the header of our website “Serving the local citizens of Atlanta for over 30 years.”? Here’s a hint. That doesn’t solve the visitor’s problem. That would solve my problem if I was thinking to myself, “Wow, if only I could find a company that’s been serving Atlanta for over 30 years all of my problems would be solved!” Which, I’ve never said by the way.

Since the beginning of time, humans have been fighting to thrive and survive. We had problems that caused us to get sick, die, or just be uncomfortable. Mankind is constantly evolving and trying to find solutions. Seeing pictures of your corporate outing may help share a bit about corporate culture. I get that. But, it shouldn’t be one of the main things you use to help me thrive or survive. How are you going to make my life better!?

Here are a couple of WEbsite design tips:

1. Focus on the problem you solve. Your customers/clients have a problem. Dig to find out more about what that problem is and how you help solve that problem in a way that is easy to understand. A good way to do this is through developing buyer personas and empathy maps.
2. Make it easy for your website visitors to get in touch with you. This means NOT hiding your phone number and address in a hamburger menu and NOT burying your tiny social media links in the footer of your website.
3. Use language that is easy for them to understand! Industry lingo means nothing to anyone except you or people in your industry.
4. Use imagery that strengthens your brand and focuses on the problem you solve. It’s usually good to include some kind of human element to your photography. We don’t create products or services for them to exist in a room by themselves. We create products or services for human beings. Nike rarely just shows pictures of shoes or clothing in the header of their site. They feature people ENGAGING with their product.

Most of these things are easy fixes on your current site. I can almost guarantee that none of this is a surprise to you. You’re probably saying “duh” after each point. And yet it’s still mind-blowing to me how many companies out there still focus on themselves before they focus on the customer.

Here’s my last question.

Would you buy from you because your company was started in 1941? I didn’t think so.

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