But too much website can often
scare away customers.
OK, now you think I am crazy,
right?
How can too good of a website
hurt a business?
For one, it dehumanizes you,
takes you into another league. Makes you look too expensive or
unapproachable.
If someone looks and says,
this guy is too expensive for me to hire, because he can afford a
website like this.
Well, that is not very helpful.
Is it?
Lets look at this problem from
a mans perspective for a minute, only because I am a man and I
understand men so much more than I understand women.
Take for example that "Beautiful
Fashion Model" a man sees on the street.
99% of single guys would never
even think about talking to her and they would never consider
asking for a date.
Why, because they know or at
least believe she is out of their league.
They think if she looks that
good, hey they will never even have a shot she only dates
millionaires and celebrities.
But that girl has her own
problems, because no one ever asks her out, ever, just because of
her looks.
The same can happen with your
website.
Having something that makes
you look like a multi million dollar company can hurt you by
giving your customers the wrong impression, one that says they
will be paying you too much if they hire you.
Of course that is not the case
in every business, but it is a problem with many small businesses.
So we encourage people to make
the sites more friendly.
Add a video of yourself doing
a demonstration, talking about your product or service, just like
I am doing here with you.
Write some articles about your
services and show people you are human and maybe even have a
sense of humor.
I am not saying the site
should look like your 10 year old made it either.
It still needs to look
professional and presentable, just not over the top.
Lets face it, getting
customers is just like trying to get a date.
You have to put your best
clothes on, wear your best manners and say only what the customer
wants to hear so you can get that second date.
Once you are officially dating
that customer, well then the gloves can come off, you can show
some butt crack, use a few curse words and probably still keep
dating the customer.
But before that and before you
over build your design, try not to make it look like you spent a
million dollars on your website.
Think about who you would hire
and what might scare you off.
Everyone wants to be that
beautiful fashion model, except the girl that is the fashion
model.
Because she knows it is not so
great have every guy think you are untouchable and then never
talk to you or have every girl hate you because they are jealous
and think you are dating hundreds of guys, especially when you
are not.
What people think about your
business from your website can make or break you.
My advice, just be yourself.
Have a website that accurately
reflects your business.
If you drive a 1975 beat up
Chevy van with your company name written on the door with a
sharpie marker, don't show customers a fleet of new trucks and
suggest that they are yours.
Because they will know the
truth when you pull up in that old jalopy, and then, they will
just be angry.
So be honest and you will find
the customers that are comfortable working with you or buying
from you.
And one more time, you can
never have to many pages or too much content on your website.
Information is everything when
it comes to websites. So add as much as you can as often as you
can.
And think about the people
looking at it and what they might want to see and why they would
hire you over your competition.
I promise you, they will not
be looking at your web design skills.
They want to know who you are
and what you can do, not what some expensive web designer can
make you look like.
