Now is the time, the downtime you need to get your goals, your hiring, your marketing, your website in check for the new busy season that’s just around the corner. Let’s talk about the website…
3 Hurdles Your Website Visitors Have to Clear In 8 Seconds Or Less — Or Else You Die.
Your prospects — Are subconsciously making split-second decisions that will make or break the success of your website and maybe your company. Okay, so maybe you won’t actually DIE. But you could lose website visitors that SHOULD be buying from you — which is totally unnecessary.
When somebody lands on your website, their subconscious brain goes into a hyper-efficient mode to quickly make split-second decisions about whether or not to continue looking at your site. Here at WindowCleaningBusinessCoach.com, our unscientific research shows that there are THREE major hurdles you’ve got to help prospects clear if you want them to truly engage with your website and actively consider doing business with you.
Here are the three hurdles:
Hurdle 1 – (0.5 Seconds): Is Your Website Total Garbage?
When a website visitor first lands on your site, they immediately start scanning the page – even as it’s loading – looking for any sign that the site either IS or IS NOT a solution to what they are searching for.
If the site looks like a waste of time, or if it loads too slowly, or if it’s hard to tell what you sell, or if it’s not even for the category they were searching, then they’ll bail out in less than 1 second. Literally, LESS THAN ONE SECOND.
Hurdle 2 – (3 Seconds): Is There Anything Interesting Here?
Credit: Peter Cruz
Assuming your website wasn’t a total train wreck, the prospect is now going to take about 2 or 3 additional seconds to see if anything is interesting on the site that’s worthy of his time to look at more carefully. This is where most window cleaners’ websites strike out – even reasonably nice-looking sites.
The major transgression is “ME-TOO-itis.” In other words, your site looks, feels, smells, and tastes just about like every other website. Don’t believe me? Do a website search for local window cleaning and pressure washing companies and see for yourself.
Most all the sites you’ll see will look “okay” and have a certain level of professionalism. But most will do nothing AT ALL to stop the prospects “in their tracks” and make them want to keep looking through the website. Let me be perfectly clear: I’m not saying these websites can’t be successful; I’m just saying they are getting fewer visitors, fewer leads, and fewer sales than they should be getting.
It’s tempting to think if your website is not hurting you (like those that fail on the first hurdle), that everything is okay. But trust me, (not clearing the first hurdle) is not even close to the same thing as “ON POINT” (clearing the second hurdle).
To make it over the second hurdle, your website must give the reader the promise that you offer a superior value, and it’s worth pursuing further.
This isn’t accomplished with design or colors, or pictures. It’s done with WORDS. Words that capture your identity. Words explain who you are, how you’re different, and what people can expect when doing business with you. It describes how you’re different and how you’re better.
Hurdle 3 – (8 Seconds): Do I Trust These Guys?
This is where lookers get turned into buyers. Once the prospect reads (again – words!) your headlines and understands that you offer a superior value proposition, they’re going to want you to PROVE it. They want to know if they can trust your claims… and, in turn, trust you.
This is where the elements of testimony, social proof, and evidence come into play. Testimony means they want to hear what you have to say. If you tell them you’re the right window cleaner for persnickety, demanding, hard to please, and picky people, they’re going to want to know more about what that means.
There had better be additional clarifying information for them to read and absorb, or you lose. In other words, you can’t just make a claim and then leave it hanging – you have to back it up. You have to explain it. Don’t assume they know or believe anything. Use words to give depth and meaning.
Social proof means job photos, customer references, and online reviews. They want to see and believe that other people have used you – large quantities of people, preferably – and actually LIKE you. They want to see pictures of your work and hear others sing your praises. They want to shortcut their due diligence by seeing what others think.
Once they make it over hurdle number 2, they’re going to spend about 5 additional seconds SCANNING THE HOME PAGE of your site to see if the additional information I just mentioned is present and easy to find and read. If they don’t know that it’s readily findable, they’ll bail. If they see that your claims are empty and not backed up, they’ll bail. If they don’t find proof that others know and love you, they’ll bail.
That’s 8 total seconds Tick tock
In Marketing, seconds matter. Half seconds matter. Milliseconds matter. Make sure your website is doing everything it should be doing to capture viewers and successfully guide them over the first three critical hurdles. If you do, you’ll see your conversion go up exponentially – and you’ll make a ton more money.
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Are you in business and losing traction? Give me 45-minutes and I’ll find your business another $100,000 to $250,000 without you spending an extra dime on advertising. It’s just one of my many strategies I teach.
Jim DuBois is the founder of WindowCleaningBusinessCoach.com, a No-Results No-Fee business coaching company. Email [email protected] or call 704-343-8867 for more information.