The first job of your website is answer the question: what do you do? And then: what distinguishes you from your competition?
This might sound easy. But a huge number of sites fall at this hurdle.
Often a firm will invest in an expensively designed site and then cut and paste a couple of paragraphs of marketese where the text needs to go. That text might have worked on a corporate brochure but on the web it is almost incomprehensible. People hate reading on screens. If you are going to make your site work hard, you need to focus, focus, focus.
Here are two techniques that often work. (Real life is complex and your situation may require a different approach. If you want to discover more, send an email or sign up for our newsletter.)
A. Have a one-sentence tagline
This should explain in plain English what your firm does. It's easy to assume that it is obvious what you do. It isn't. When you meet a potential client in the flesh, you automatically size them up. You tailor your message accordingly. On the web you can't do that. You have to start at the beginning.
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| Example 1: The Nursery's old home page was vague and general. The Mint-designed new site focuses on what is unique about their service. |
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Example 2: It's cute but it pulls its weight. Innocent tell the world what they do in a way that reinforces
their brand. |
B. Limit your objectives
Keep it simple. Many websites end up being a hopeless muddle because it is easier to write about everything you do than it is to concentrate on your main selling proposition. If you need to say two things, consider having two different sites.
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| Example 1: They offer over 20 distinct services, but Google's main page is famously focused. The web's brightest boffins do one thing at a time. We suggest that you do too. |
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People understand. How do you