You can be the best coder, the best designer or the most gifted graphic designer – but none of it will matter if you don’t plan your website properly.
When your customer sits down in front of the computer, they have a world of information at their fingertips and it’s the job of your website to ensure that when the customer arrives at your site, it instantly captures their attention and proves that you have the content they are looking for.
Before you do anything, answer these questions:
1. Who is your customer? Be specific: are they married? did they go to college? do they have a family? what is their income? what is their interests? what is their business?
2. What’s the goal of your site? Do you want them to opt in to your list? Are you looking for recognition in your industry? Launch them into your sales funnel?
Let’s say that your big goal is to have your customer sign up for your newsletter list. You must, must, must make sure that your sign up form is front and center on your website. It’s pretty simple, right? You’d be surprised how many people still get it wrong … and sometimes, even if it’s right – it’s not right enough.
Here’s what I mean by that. Open your website in a new browser. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Scootch your chair back a few feet and scrunch your eyes. What stands our the most on your site? If it’s anything other than your sign up form then you aren’t right enough and it needs to be changed.
It’s not good enough just to slap a sign up form on your site and make it huge. There also needs to be a compelling REASON for people to sign up. What are you going to give them? Most people have a freebie hook (and that’s a great idea!) but if you don’t have something to give away, you still need to make them want to give you their information.
This is where knowing your customer inside and out is going to come in handy – because you know what makes them tick. You know what they say in their head. You know the stone in their shoe (and more importantly, how to get that stone out).
Here’s your homework for the week:
1. Get super, duper, uber clear on who your customer is.
2. Determine the one thing you want your customers to do when they come to your site.
3. List everything that’s on your site that doesn’t contribute to that goal. Then really consider axing it.
4. Come back here and leave a comment: did you learn anything? did you apply anything to your website?
