The Three Crucial Things Every Page of Your Website MUST Do
October 13th, 2006 by Lani and AllenImagine the perfect employee. One who delivers your message precisely the way you want, every single time. Middle of the day or middle of the night, this standout performer never complains, never calls in sick.
This perfect employee is your website. But a lot of people waste this employee’s assets by building a static online brochure that fails to connect with their audience.
If you’re about to launch your website, re-launch it, or even if you haven’t taken a good hard look at it this year, here are the three things every page on your site must do to be successful:
- Every page must be a stand-alone, one-on-one conversation. You might expect your audience to come through the “front door” - your home page. But search engines, people who link to you from their sites, and people who send links to friends and business associates may send your audience through the side window - straight into your Products page, for example.
Treat each page as though it’s the front door, and be there to invite them in. Look ‘em in the eye, and tell them what’s interesting to them in a conversational tone.
- Every page is an invitation to learn more about what they need. People don’t come to your website looking to make friends. They come first for information, to find out what you can do for them and their business. And rather than telling them what you want to say, invite your audience to learn more in a strategic way.
If you know your audience well, you’ll know why they’re coming to your site, what they’re looking for, what their greatest pain is. Each webpage should answer those questions.
- Every page MUST be driven by one clear call to action, or one absolute purpose. Before writing or editing the words on your webpage, answer this question: What do you want your audience to do, think, and feel when they’ve experienced this webpage?
The answer to that question is a filter. Run every word of your webpage through that filter. If the purpose of the webpage is to get the visitor to buy a product, every story on that page should be a conversation that invites the reader to click on a product. To get an ezine subscriber? Illustrate in as many creative ways as possible why they would want to sign up - and be conversational and gentle about it.
When your audience comes to your website - any page of your site - give them exactly what they need, so they know you’re someone of value. That’s the job of your website - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Lani & Allen Voivod, aka “The Content Lovers,” help budding entrepreneurs and small biz dynamos “A-Ha Themselves!” in fun, innovative, and profitable ways. For FREE articles, tips, and strategies designed to catapult your content and electrify your business, sign up for their ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!













[...] 10. Last but not least, get yourself a website. Preferably a real website, with a dedicated domain, and matching email addresses. (That means no you@gmail.com, @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com, @aol.com, etc. We use and recommend http://www.AhaWebHost.com.) Make it easy to read, engaging, and make each page its own relationship-building experience. And don’t forget one clear call to action on each page! [...]
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