You’ve worked hard to build your business or organization. You’ve worked long hours, often with no pay. You’ve sacrificed leisure, comfort, and financial security. And now you have something anyone would be proud of. You believe in your product or service and know it is the answer your visitors are looking for.
As you build your website it’s natural to bring these feelings into the process. It’s not bragging – you have a message, and a big part of your message is the journey you took to make it all happen. You want people to know how much you care. And because you care so much it should be obvious what you have to offer is the very best.
Unfortunately, making yourself the hero of your website is a huge mistake. It’s one of the most common blunders website owners make. They spend too much time talking about themselves. They have a whole page on the history of the company. They give details their visitors don’t need to know to make a decision and don’t care about: the college degrees earned by the CEO, the job history of the CFO, and the previous addresses of the business.
The truth is your visitors primarily care about how you can solve their problem. Yes, they want to know your organization is trustworthy, that you know what you’re doing, and that you are capable of delivering the solution. But a little of this goes a long way.
To be successful, the HERO of your website must be your visitor:
Step one is making sure they know you understand them and THEIR pain (see our previous article, What’s Your Most Important Superpower). Who are these people – your visitors? If you aren’t sure, you need to find out before building your website.
Step two is making sure they know you understand THEIR problem. Knowing every aspect of the problem is key: what is most important, what is least important, and what bothers them the most? How does this problem make them feel? What would having the problem solved feel like?
Step three is showing them your solution to their problem. How, exactly, will you make THEIR life better? What do you have to offer that will help them survive or thrive? Be specific. Don’t make them guess or ask them to make assumptions. Tell them how and why your solution helps them. The less your visitors have to think the more likely they will be to respond to your call to action.
These three steps should be the heart of your website. Yes, you’ll need to include some authority: testimonials, statistics, awards, and the like. And you’ll need to spell out a simple plan for your visitors to respond to you. These are necessary to establish you as the place to go to find the answer to their problem. But without them being the hero they will never be interested enough to find out what you have to offer.
Take a look at your current website. Who is the hero of your website? At Drake Web Development our web development process is based on making your visitors the hero and guiding them on a journey that leads them to the solution you provide. If you need to shift the focus off yourself as the hero, please contact us for a free consultation. We’d be happy to help you – whether you end up building a new website with us or not.
P.S. Your “About” page IS about you. But it only works if what you have to say is centered around how you can assist your visitors with THEIR problem. Your message is, “we can help you with this problem because we…” Use your “About” page to set yourself up as having the experience and the answers they need.
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