We are all exposed to a huge amount of information these days. We are information rich and time poor and have had to develop skills to counteract that and be more efficient with our time. We’ve become masters at quickly filtering out the information we need and discarding the rest.
This is especially true on the internet, a vast resource of every conceivable subject matter, product and service. By making a single click on our computer’s mouse, we have the power to leave a website at any time we choose. Before we make that click to leave, we need to make a decision whether to actually do it or not. That decision will be based on what we want and what the website is offering us. In other words, that all important ‘what’s in it for me?’ question.
In order to answer that question, once we arrive at a new website we need to know if the website’s content, products and services are relevant to our needs. In other words, ‘what do they do?’ If I’m looking for a plumber and the website I’ve just arrived at is an electrician’s website, then i obviously want to leave this website immediately and continue my search elsewhere to find a more relevant website. So, as a potential customer, I need to know exactly what the website is offering me as soon as i arrive.
I think i know what you may be thinking right now. This is pretty obvious stuff and surely everyone realises this and makes it very clear exactly what they do on their website, right? Err… no. You’d think so wouldn’t you but a lot of websites simply don’t make it clear. They may hint at it, they may even think they say it, but usually they don’t state it clearly at all. They may think its obvious, and maybe it is after you’ve read a paragraph or two of text. But unless you make sure, you are just making it difficult for your visitors and potentially losing customers and therefore losing sales. Your time poor potential customers don’t want to spend time reading through your webpage trying to figure out what it is exactly that you do. Make it easy for them. Spell it out. Make it obvious. Make sure they see it on arrival.
How do you do that? A great way of doing this is to have a short line of text near your logo or company name on every webpage, that tells them exactly that. Here’s an example: The Green Fingers Company – for all your gardening needs and services. The potential customer would be left in no doubt what this company does and what it offers them (This obviously also works for offline documents too).
Every time they see your company name or logo (on every page or document) they’ll know exactly what you do and remember it. The more times they see it, the more they’ll remember it. The two things will become interlinked. When they think of one they will automatically think of the other. Simple and effective and great for your business.
Good luck as always!
Peter Simmons is editor of the DYNAMIQ EZINE. GET MORE SALES FROM YOUR WEBSITE STARTING RIGHT NOW at http://www.dynamiq.co.uk/ezine or email me anytime to find out how i can help you at peter@dynamiq.co.uk
