Website Done Wrong! How to Make Sure Your Website Makes No Money At All!

Most websites are nothing more than glorified business cards! They look great, and they are full of information about whatever the business is. And you know what? No one cares!

A basic tenant...scratch that...the basic tenant about business in general and marketing specifically is that people do not care about you! No one cares how many awards you've won! No one cares how much business you did last year! No one cares about how many product lines you have, or where you've opened new offices! Engrave this mantra on the inside of your eyelids!

No one cares about me!

Okay, so what do other people care about?

Short answer, themselves.

What does this mean to you as a business or business owner, and how does this affect the design of your website? Let's look at each of these interrelated issues.

For your business this means all your accolades, how long you've been in business, what else you sell, all that stuff that 90% of business advertising is made up of is completely useless! Think about it like this...

Suppose you ran an ad or had a brochure that stressed how long you've been in business. What do you want this to mean to your prospect?

I'm guessing here, but probably you want your prospect to go through some mental gyration something like the following:

Let's see! They've been in business since 1985. Hmmm...what does that tell me? Okay... They will probably complete the work that I need completed, and they probably won't stiff me.

Aiming for your prospect to have a response like this is not bad...as a matter of fact it's good! But why make them work for it? Why not just present them with this information in the first place.

How many times have you seen the About Us page for some small to medium-sized business, or even a website for a single individual, be basically a laundry list of their accomplishments! Virtually every business web page is like this. Don't make your customers think! Translate that into something they can understand. Go ahead and tell them the benefit, then if you need to, back up what you say with things like how long you've been in business.

In advertising the distinction I'm making is that of a benefit vs. a feature. Having been in business for 25 years is a feature--tell a someone that you'll finish the work on time and within budget is a benefit! (Although one you're going to have to prove.)

When I say that your prospect doesn't care about you, I'm saying they don't care about whatever features your business may possess. They only care about how it benefits them.

Let's get back to web page design.

You need to take a long, hard look at your web page and see if you're talking features or benefits. If you use the word "I" or "We" a lot, then you're talking features. If you use the word "You" a lot then you're talking benefits.

Your web page needs to be totally focused on providing benefits to your prospects. Features are the "how" part of providing benefits.

A copywriter says she can increase your sales by 50%. That's a benefit. The proof of this, which she better have for such a claim, would be the features. Something like: 20 years in the business. Worked with So and So big time copywriter. Worked for Such and Such an ad agency. Can provide you with ten testimonials from satisfied customers along with hard numbers to prove her claim.

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