Throughout the course of a typical day, I see all sorts of business websites–the good, the bad and the ugly. What fascinates me is the phenomenon grand slam copywriter John Carlton calls, ahem, the ‘clearing of the throat.’
That pesky behavior has many marketers, business owners and ad writers alike gagging on chunks of prose (clearing phlegm congestion) to get to the point. Like a tongue-tied star at her first audition, these web sites lose themselves, and the audience, in copious amounts of nervous yakking and fluff.
Chronic ‘throat clearing’ starts with a bland headline.
For example, after typing ‘welcome to our website’ in my internet search browser, I got over 800,000 results! Think about that. So many websites high-five anyone and everyone; they serve hurried visitors a dose of hospitality when some handy instructions might be a little more appropriate or needed.
Remember, web visitors are in a hurry.
They don’t voyage to your website to waste time.
People are heartily tired of verbiage.
If your uniqueness and value proposition is buried deep in heavy lumps of text below the headline and first paragraph and other fluff… if you don’t know what makes you unique, then most web visitors won’t bother looking to find out.
As the Aussies say, ‘Stop beating around the bush. Get to the point.’
Get to the point whilst remaining polite, courteous and respectful.
Saying ‘welcome to our site’ is not respectful–it’s bland social lubricant.
Say it with me, B-L-A-N-D.
It’s nice but not very handy, especially for a quick-tempered web browser who avoids situations where thought and concentration are required.
Most customers won’t reciprocate acts of blandness by swiping their plastic. They need REAL REASONS to buy from you. Being able to clearly articulate your value proposition and what you stand for is a good start.
Finally, you might think that you’re in the business of selling [whatever] … but in today’s society of short attention spans, you need to be selling shortcuts and assisting your impatient web guests get to the information they’re looking for, fast.