I paused, but I’m walking straight past. Before I got beyond the first paragraph of proper copy. My question is: What are you going to do, for me? If I haven’t a clue what you can actually offer me, after – what? 5 seconds, maybe an optimistic 10 – and I just don’t ‘get it’, I’ll move on to somewhere else. Maybe they’ll have more luck, or better judgement regarding what’s important to the visitor.

I am of course taking B2B websites, homepages to be exact. I’ve been looking at a few of these recently in my marketing job search, and many are surprisingly and shockingly poor at making the singular and incisive point, of what they do. Of course each organisation is a lovely, customer focused and vibrant entity, with wholly engaged and switched on team, a great place to work. But – shock, horror – so is everywhere else (as far as website truths go anyway) and now I’ve got past the hero image (stock, smiley / earnest people in meeting maybe) and I STILL don’t know what you offer the world.

So, let’s be a bit braver and turn it all upside down. Find the hook in the message, those few words that explain what you do for your customers, maybe building to a teeny bit of how. Assure the visitor that they’re in the right place to address their interest, or pain. Screenshots or pithy testimonial quotes aren’t banned from the top fold, especially if that taste of the product lets prospects see what’s in it for them. From there, you can take the visitor on the unique journey of your company, flavoured with relevance and loveliness.

Look at your online experience from the outsider’s point of view. Just don’t waste that hard-earned visit, and blow it too soon 😉