Websites are a bit like Topsy; they start small then grow, and then grow some more. The usual outcome is that most websites have lost their original single focus and become something like a library, with content intended to cover every possible topic. They lose a hard, marketing edge and become catch-alls.
When you think about how people use a website – and remember that most people are time-poor in the modern era – a website should be something very much like a self-service food outlet where people look at a menu, quickly choose what they want, and get it then and there.
At one time “stickiness” — the length of time a visitor stayed on a website, was seen to be a useful metric of how valuable the website was to its visitors. That concept soon faded, however, when it was found that the most valuable customers were those who came to the site, made their selection, paid for it and left. Anybody spending too much time on the site either couldn’t find what they wanted or was simply “surfing” and seeing what was there.
A site needs to be structured in such a way that its content is focused solely on what will make it commercially effective. Pretty pictures or florid prose waste the visitor’s time and prevent them from doing what you want them to do — buy something.
It would be hard to beat the following summary of this important principle as it’s published on the US Government website Webcontent.gov when it cautions web managers to focus on the needs of visitors to their sites:
“Why This Is Important: As a rule, federal public websites should be aimed at the public–not at federal employees of a particular agency. Real estate on your public website — particularly the homepage — is valuable and should be focused on the most important needs of the public, not of agency employees. It can confuse the public to post information intended for employees.”
If your website isn’t informative and valuable to its visitors it won’t be an effective business tool. If it isn’t well-organized and easily searched it will not be making an optimum contribution to achieving your business objectives.
Websites that work best will offer their visitors well-organized and clearly-written content. The words are the important part and other elements such as photographs and graphics are there to support the words, not to entertain or create an emotional response. (The exception to this is websites for charities that often use photographs of hungry children and abused animals to good effect.)
The development of an effective website always begins with the customer. Ask yourself what they really want to see before thinking about anything else. You might think a picture of the factory should be part of your company’s website, but if it isn’t relevant to customers’ needs it’s just another useless element that gets in the way.
Don’t put too much information on your site. Only include that which your customers will appreciate and that will lead them to making a purchase from you. Edit the content as tightly as possible; every word takes time to read and for most visitors to your site, time will be short.
Keep the tone informal. You’re talking to a person and not an audience. Everybody reads the content of a website as an individual and should be addressed as such. Using big words when smaller ones will do is a bad idea; don’t talk down to people but do treat it as a conversation instead of a lecture.
To really give your website a focus there are three rules you need to keep in mind:
1. Stick to the Aims of Your Website
Your website most likely has just two basic aims. The first is to inform people about your business and products so that they’ll be inclined to buy from you, and the second is to sell those same people something. Anything on your site that isn’t directly aimed at these two functions doesn’t belong there.
2. Talk to Your Target Audience
You’re really only interested in catering to the needs of people who’ll buy something from you. If they’re college-educated and aged from 45 to 60 years of age they probably won’t appreciate references to rap music, and if they’re aged from 12 to 16 they won’t know much about Mozart or Beethoven. Every bit of site content should be relevant to those who buy from you; trying to appeal to everybody or slanting content to the wrong audience devalues its effectiveness.
3. Relate all Content to Your Principal Business Activities
If you’re selling horses don’t try to show every animal in the farmyard. Just show the horses. Irrelevant content can be distracting and even if it might be “pretty” or “interesting” it won’t help you sell something. Every part of your website should have a direct relationship to what your business does.
That’s what we mean by “focusing the content” on your website. If you haven’t already created company’s website the job’s much simpler if you keep these principles in mind every step of the way. You’ll wind up with a website that’s powerful and effective.
And if you already have a website, take a good, hard look at it and see where it needs work to give it a focus. Get rid of anything that’s not working to sell your business and your products and make sure everything there will be valued by your customers.
Copyright 2005, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.
Chris’ combination of academic credentials, career experience and temperament ideally suit his calling as a business development advisor. Clients say he has a mind for business and a heart for service.