The Most Important Thing People Need to Know about Your Business

What does your website say about your business? Or better yet: what does your website say about your business… after someone has left it?

It may seem like a dumb question with an easy answer, but there’s more to it than simply “we sell and install car stereo equipment.” Sure, if someone visits your site and that message makes it through, that’s a step in the right direction, but not it’s not everything.

The internet today is filled with ‘other options’ that your visitors can choose instead of you, so simply telling them what you do isn’t enough. Your website should tell visitors (quickly) not only what you do, but why you do it better, why your product or service adds more value, and why they should be giving you their business over anyone else with a similar offering. This is called a value proposition.

Narrow Your Focus

Your business likely has many different focuses. Here at BKMedia Group, we have two big ones: web design and internet marketing, but both are comprised of a number of services. Though we may want to, we can’t bombard our visitors with each and every service when they come to our site; the overload of messages would only work against us.

It’s a dilemma that almost everyone on the web has to deal with at some stage: in trying to tell visitors everything about their business, they fail to communicate anything effectively.

After someone has left your site, how do you think they would sum up your business? Ideally, whether they’ve been on the site for 10 seconds or 10 minutes, the result would be the same. Concentrating the different focuses of your business into one or two clear, memorable messages is no easy task, but things this important rarely are.

Make the Right First Impression

A greater focus on value propositions is one reason that we’ve begun moving many of our clients away from sliders, rotators, and carousels. The more messages you place above the fold on your homepage, the less attention any one of them will garner. When it comes to arguably the most coveted real estate on your website, don’t you want something – anything, to make an impression?

Make the Right ‘Thereafter’ Impression too

The importance of a good value proposition also means it cannot be limited to only your homepage! How are you going to really drive home that beautiful message you worked so hard to craft if it’s only featured in one place on your site? Repetition is a powerful tool when it comes to messaging, and it also ensures that visitors who may have missed you homepage will still leave with the right idea about you and your business.

I mentioned in the intro that “we sell and install car stereo equipment” would not be a very effective value proposition. It may seem like a great explanatory statement to welcome a visitor to a site, but it does squat to set it apart from every other business that ALSO sells and installs car stereo equipment.

Being conscious of the fact that your value proposition will be on multiple pages can help you craft a message that is more focused and effective too. For our car audio friends, they likely have a store section, checkout, and some content pages, one undoubtedly about their install services.

When you think of how the value proposition could be worked into those pages, it becomes clearer that it might need some work. What good would it do to say “hey remember we sell and install car stereo equipment” when visitors are already shopping for those services?

Now, maybe the company guarantees their installs for a full year. That’s more like it! Working that selling point into the value proposition creates a message that actually proposes value (gasp! I get it!) and gives visitors something to latch on to, which is exactly what we want them to do.

Because we’re now promoting the benefit over the actual service, the message can be worked into multiple pages through the site more naturally.

“Shopping for speakers? Don’t forget: have us install it and we guarantee it for a year!“

“Looking to have us install new subs? Hey, did we mention that our installs are guaranteed for an entire year?“

What’s Your Value?

Design can also play a role in what messages are received and how, but it all starts with knowing what those messages will be. Take a step back from the day-to-day of your business and consider what aspect really sets you apart from others companies like yours. Why should anyone choose you?

Now take another step back, but from your website. Is the primary message of your website inline with your answer to that last question? If not, it may be time to circle the wagons and update your website (be it with content, design, or both) to better represent you and your value proposition!