Issue #47 Is this sabotaging your first impression?
I once shared an office with a guy who spent thousands of dollars on a table.
It was a beautiful table. If anybody ever came to visit, he offered cucumber water, and they sat in expensive chairs admiring the table.
When I pointed out that the Dollar Store website built by the kid down the street wasn’t doing him any favors, he scoffed. It’s a website. He sells to businesses. They don’t care about websites.
Then he showed me how the table lit up.
Look, do me a quick favor. Go to your website right now. Pull it up. Have it on the screen next to this text because we need to talk about it.
First, some updates
🩲 Trying to figure out what web pages you need where and how to design them? Check out this blog post.
🏷 I’m giving away our pricing tool, use it to guide your thinking when you set your price. Find it here.
Can we please start by getting one thing straight:
You cannot sell to a business. Businesses don’t exist except for on paper, filed away under an inch of dust in Delaware.
People always buy. (And yeah, A.I., I get it, but that is not what we are talking about here).
According to Google, 97% of transactions people engage in start online, even though only 6% complete online (that was as of a couple of years ago, so that 6% is probably higher).
And, that business prospect who is checking you out online is going through, according to Gartner, 57% of the buyer’s journey all by themselves before they ever have a conversation with you.
So why do you care about your website?
Your website is their first impression. It is where people learn about you, read your content, develop an emotional connection and start to decide whether or not they want to do business with you.
What kind of a first impression do you want to leave?
People spend thousands of dollars on their office to leave a good impression
And then blow off the website. Jeff Bezos started with a crappy office but had a nice website.
That worked out pretty well. (And if you think Amazon is “B2C,” not “B2B,” I have three words for you: Amazon Web Services)
Now, take a gander at your website. Look at it as if you were someone entirely new to your business. Are you creating the impression you want to make?
- ✨ Is this a plush office, cucumber water, or we are the bee’s knees kind of a website?
- 🪑 Or is it dusty, plywood table, picture of you, above the fold, kind of a website?
Your website doesn’t have to be pretty, but it must be clear and useful and represent you well for your first impression, and it should not have a picture of you at the top.
And if you are looking for more information on website pages and what you need, and what you should put on page one, check out this post here.
That guy I knew still has his table. Bezos, I hear, now has many more…
Want feedback on your website?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a team you could turn to, people who would tell you that your website is awesome or, well, not?
Try a couple of free Thriver’s meetings and get the support you want (need). Click here, to get started with Thrivers, for free, end ensure that your website makes cucumber water look pedestrian.
Great stuff from around the web
- 🎥 Ready for the little “big stage?” Here is how to nail the Tedx application process. Then all you have to do is give the talk…
- 🆘You know how old stuff becomes new again? Morse code is cool. And not many people know it so learn it here in 15 minutes.
- ❤️Valentine’s day is coming up, and now that you know you have to put some money into your website, here are some gifts for under $50.
What do you think of this week’s report?
We’re getting animated. No more stagnant graphics, no more stagnant businesses. We are moving, and the businesses we work with are too. Let us know if you like the new and improved style of our posts. (And obviously, let us know if the content’s good too).
Jeff
