How To Make Dull Websites

Lets up the stakes to a different shade of grey and let the ‘medi’ see the ‘ocre.’

Keep the website the same as it was back in 2010 and let the good times roll. Here is the ‘how to’ guide for dull websites.

Why invest time, resources and a slightly different mindset into looking to build a dialogue and grow an audience who are willing to engage with you, when you can to tell the world how important you are and put the full concentration into that ‘About Us’ page.

It’s time to take a checklist and clipboard for that official website review to ensure that bland factor gets a healthy score. The deserved pat on the back is here, put the kettle on:

Keep The Boring Facts At A Premium

Why look at stats and figures that is centred on your audience and how their lives can become easier and more enriched with the products and services that you deliver, when you can tell the world about the exceptional customer service you provide (don’t worry, you can read about that one here). It’s easier to believe that no one wants to be challenged and consider real world examples, but to feel safe in the knowledge that you are the first point of call when it comes to ‘insert name of industry’ and how many years you have been delivering expertise to your marketplace.

Stock Library Photos Mean Business

For your audience to understand your professional approach and dedication to business, why not include the stock library imagery that depicts a no nonsense approach. Have a look at ‘two men shaking hands, ‘goldfish jumping from small bowl to large bowl’ or ‘an archery board with an arrow firmly in the centre circle.’

Believe That There Is Nothing New To Say

Why talk about anything new, or have a place to give an opinion when the sole reason is to link the hell out of your website to gain favour with Google. They’re robots who crawl your site and want to see links everywhere they can because the sole aim of your website is to be number one on Google, right! Believe that the service that you deliver isn’t very interesting and no one is really going to read your website or anything that offers a point of view because everything that you talk about has to be about what your product and the benefits of working with you.

Why Build A Database, When You Have A Telephone Number

The opportunity to build an audience where people who can now subscribe and share your story and angle of approach and for you to utilise a growing audience to build an ongoing conversation and target them with specific information is pretty unnecessary when there is a telephone number and enquiries@ address on every page.

Use Big Words & Sound Important

Strip back the approachable nature, remember this is a business not a social club with a quiz night every Thursday. You’re not here to make friends with people, you’re here for your website to sell. When you want to sound important and there is the opportunity to use words such as ‘seamless integration,’ ‘effortlessly repurposing,’ ‘actionable outcomes’ and ‘unnecessary guess-timation’ then do so with gusto and conviction. It’s your business.

Only Talk About How Good The Business Is

Your website is here to self promote, this is your opportunity to make sure that the phone rings and the email request arrives promptly from a prospect. You are fighting against a landscape of competition who are waiting in the wings for people who are ready to spend time and money, so the matter of seconds that you have to capture a lead, do with confidence and self belief on how your business always delivers and promises. Also remember at the same time sprinkle the website with testimonials from people called ‘Mrs. P’ or ‘Peter M – Harrogate,’ no-one cares that these are made up people, it’s all about the company OK!

Tell People What They Need To Know

Why focus on providing information to an audience and to position yourself as an authority within your industry, when someone else can take what you are sharing and use as their own. These days for businesses to set-up is easier than ever, if you are providing insights and content to address a particular issue within your marketplace, then you instantly open up the gates for a competitor to take your ideas and run to the hills (or the new serviced office) with them. Keep the information for your audience to what they need to know. Tell them about the services that you provide, how to get in touch, and why you are the expert.

Keep Filling That Newspage

If you are going to pick the ‘news’ section back up and become a bit more committed than you were two years ago when you highlighted a couple of notable business wins and the new summer intern from the local college, keep you eyes and ears open. Why not tell everyone about a charity you have donated to, the new equipment that now makes you cutting edge and that picture from the local networking lunch that your friend shown you that was in the local paper.

Make The Prompt Clear To ‘Sign Up To Our Mailing List’

Keep the prompt on the homepage with the ‘sign up for our FREE newsletter’ or even better ‘sign up to our mailing list.’ Whether you send any information or not, everyone else is doing it and when you do get round to the A4, 4 page newsletter showcasing the new equipment, the summer intern and the local networking lunch, you can turn it into a pdf to send to everyone.

Don’t Consider The Blog

To create a blog takes time an amount of commitment, structure and being consistent with. Since when did a blog, result in someone getting in touch to buy from you? The murmurs you are hearing of businesses looking to craft a space in the industry by sharing a voice, creating compelling content and using different places to distribute what they are saying, forget them. You have the newspage and with next months business breakfast you are attending, there will the photo from the local paper that you can include.

 

The talk of businesses now having the opportunity to own their place within the marketplace by creating, curating and distributing content on a regular basis is nothing more than a misnomer. The idea of different channels to use, listen into and distribute information to build and grow an audience and turn into profitable action, is nothing more than puff from techhy people who overloaded on Minority Report.

The tools to achieve front of mind awareness will always be here. The newspaper advert will always have it’s place and spending a huge amount of marketing budget on buying databases of people who aren’t necessarily aware of who you are and what you provide, certainly will once you bombard them with the links to the newspage and the ‘about us’ section.

Sad but true everyone….this is still from a world we are part of and we all see more often than not.