"What is your website's Marketing Quotient?"

 Renowned internet guru Joe Vitale says, “Most websites suck.”  

Too many websites are designed by computer geeks who are all about the flash technology, or designers who can often be about style over substance.   

Very few websites seem to be designed by marketers. Which is very strange seeing that websites are - or are supposed to be - a marketing tool. 

Ben Hunt, one of my favourite website design gurus, puts it very simply: "Design isn't Art". Point being, art doesn't have to serve a higher purpose; design does.  

In this case, the purpose is making sure the website does its job of getting the visitor to your Most Wanted Response - whether that's to phone for a quote, or to come into your shop or restaurant, or sign up for your newsletter. 

And to do that, the website has to do a lot of things at the same time. 

Before anything, your website has to meet the visitor's needs. It has to provide the solution to their problem. 

And it has to lead them gently to your Most Wanted Response to satisfy you. But that purpose shouldn't be so obvious. It's a subtle, multi-layered thing. And those layers have to woven together seamlessly and invisibly. 

Let me explain:  

When people come to your website they'll be asking themselves various questions, and the website needs to answer those questions or they’ll be hitting the dreaded Back Button before you know it. 

So, what sort of questions will the website visitor be asking?  

The most obvious one will be: “Will this product/service meet my needs?" 

It's easy to answer that question by giving the facts about your product or service. That's not a problem, and most websites deal with that issue very well. 

However, the website visitor is also asking much more intangible questions, questions they mightn’t even be aware they’re asking. These questions absolutely need answers too:  

• Does this business care about me and my needs? 

• Do they seem likeable? 

• Are they trustworthy?  

• Are they professional?  

• Have they a good track record?  

• Am I, and my hard-earned money, safe with this company?  

• Will they do a good job for me? 

• Is this company the right one for me?  

• Why should I buy from this company rather than any other? 

The first three questions might seem strange. Why should they like you? They’re only doing business with you after all, not asking to be your friend. But it is important.

Perry Marshall, the internet marketing guru, puts it like this: “People won't do business with you until they believe three things about you: 1) They need to know you care, 2) They need to like you, and 3) They need to trust you.” 

So you need to answer those questions too.

But you need to answer them subtly. You don't say, "I'm trustworthy because ..." Well, you can of course. But it’s much, much more powerful to infuse that trustworthiness throughout the whole website.  

There's a trick in fiction-writing which is very powerful here too. It's the rule of show-don't-tell.

Don't tell them you're trustworthy, instead show you're trustworthy.

Don't tell them you care, instead show you care.

Don't tell them you're likeable, instead show you're likeable.

And so on, down through the list of the visitor's questions.

If a potential customer comes to a conclusion about you themselves, it's infinitely more embedded and believed than if you simply tell them that information.

And if that conclusion slips into their belief system without even going through their concious minds (flying under the radar so to speak), then that's the absolute idea.

Like it or not, your website is probably either the first, or one of the first, encounters a potential customer has with your business.

If it is not giving the right message, best case it's just a waste of resources.

Worst (and most likely) case, it's actively costing you money in lost business. If your website gives the message that you don't care about the visitor, that you're not reliable or professional, etc - then your potential customer just hits the Back Button, and is gone forever.

So, how do you answer all the visitors' questions, prove all these things about your business, and give the right message?

There are two main ways:

• The Look & Feel of the website, and 
• What words you use. 

You might like to check out some website critiques I've done, to see what I can offer you with regard to your own websites - and to pick up some excellent ideas you can use yourself.

If you'd like my help with either, or both, of these factors, contact me.  

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