I received a call from a colleague yesterday asking if I thought a social media release would be effective for one of her clients. Upon looking at her client’s website, we both agreed the answer is a resounding “NO!” I’ll give my thoughts on social media releases next week, but for now, I want to talk about what was wrong with the website.
When I visited their website, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Within the first few seconds of looking at the site, I didn’t know who their target audience was, and I didn’t know what types of products they sold. There was a long block of boring text and no images (aside from their logo). There weren’t even any large headlines to speak of. There was no impetus for me to take action, and I can tell you from experience, that means 90+% of the visitors will leave immediately without clicking on anything (that’s called a “bounce”).
Before even discussing the pros and cons of social media releases, I asked my colleague, “Why would you drive traffic to a website, only to have visitors leave immediately because they had no idea what action they are supposed to take?”
Would you open a storefront on Main St., give it a generic name, and have no sales associates or products available when they walk in the front door? Would the patrons be expected to figure out on their own that there are products available if you poke around the backroom? No, that’s ludicrous. But that’s exactly what this and many other websites do.
So the next time you visit your website (or even better, when you first create a new website), ask yourself if it answers these two questions: 1) Who is this website for?, and 2) What immediate action do I want visitors to take when they visit the site?
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