Why Your Website *Sucks*

(I fully expect this article to draw flames, angry comments and hate mail. I also figure that it'll hit a lot of folks right between the eyes and lead them down the path to better marketing and a more profitable business. So I figure that's a pretty fair trade off.) As a freelance marketing wonk and direct response word mercenary I get asked (and sometimes begged) to look at a lot of websites. Sometimes these are client sites where I'm being paid to dig in and ramp up conversion . . . Sometimes they're sites that friends of mine have put together . . . And sometimes they're the sites of random smelly strangers who shove their iPhones in my face at parties, ply me with alcohol and ask for free advice. (And then get really mad when I tell them the truth.) But the one thing that almost all of these websites have in common (whether they're for scrappy little service providers, monolithic mega corps or cool little products) is that the overwhelming majority of the absolutely suck. They SUCK at engaging a target audience. They suck at making a compelling offer. And they SUCK at helping their owner build their company and make MONEY. Why Do They Suck? It's not because of the design (though most of the time the design is pretty darned bad . . . either incompetently put together or too damned pretty for its own good.) And it's not because of the copy (though the copy is usually limp and lifeless and doing you no favors at all.) No, what makes most websites *suck* is the attitude and the mindset behind them. What Makes Most Websites *Suck* Is EGO If you look at a bunch of the websites out there on the wide and wacky interweb, you'll see that most of them are all about "ME."(Not me personally--though that would be pretty cool--but about the company or the person behind them.) They say things like "Welcome to Incredible corp. We specialize in creating incredible solutions! We have an incredible background story! Check out our incredible about us page! We're really incredible! Like us!" And they basically scare customers away in droves by acting like that one guy at the party with the bad toupee and the noxious breathe who won't stop telling you how cool his car is. In other words . . . Most Websites Are Egotistical And Obnoxious And nobody likes (or buys from) egotistical and obnoxious people. So what's the cure to this dangerous and profit-killing affliction? It's to stop talking about you (or me. I'm confused. But I bet you can figure it out) and to start talking about your customers. In other words . . . Your Website Shouldn't Talk About How Incredible *You* Are, It Should Talk About The Incredible *Results* You Can Get For Your Customers For instance, if you were running a massage studio (I just got a massage today and it's deep on brain) you don't open your website talking about your training and your love of massage. Instead, you talk about how relaxed your customer is going to be, how much less pain they'll be in and how wonderful of an experience they'll have when they book an appointment with you. If you're running a tech support company, you don't talk about all your weird certifications and your mastery of tech speak. Instead, you tell your reader how they'll be able to relax and be more productive and get all their work done without having to stare at the blue screen of death. Now, I'm not saying that talking about yourself is all bad. People do want to know about your background, your success stories, your years of schooling and all those lovely credibility builders. But they only want to know that stuff in relation to how it effects them. And they only want to know it after you've told them about the incredible *benefits* that you can get for them. So Here's Your Assignment Right after you finish reading this article, pop open your web browser and take a look at your copy. Read through it slowly and put yourself in the shoes of a prospect who's considering hiring you or buying your stuff. Now, as you read the copy, who is it really talking about? Is it talking about the prospect, all the wonderful things you can do for them and the benefits they'll get when they pick up the phone? Or is it talking about you and all the stuff that you think is important but that your customers don't care about and that's really just killing your sales? Take this seriously and really answer that question and you'll be well on your way to making your website suck a heck of a lot less. For more articles like this, sign up for the HWW newsletter at <a href="http://www.haddadink.com">Haddad Ink.</a>   2008-04-15T03:04:35Z

2008-04-15T03:37:57Z

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why-your-website-sucks

2008-04-15T03:35:09Z

Most websites (especially small solo pro websites) completely *suck* when it comes to building a business and making sales. And it's not for the reasons you might think.

Why Your Website *Sucks*

2009-02-24T09:43:57Z