Business War and Competition

Four things should occur during the introduction stage:

Mutual introduction. From the moment they hit your Web site, visitors should begin learning about your firm, the products and services you sell, as well as your philosophy of doing business. The benefits you offer should be immediately apparent.
Image. Your Web site should project a unique image, one that is distinct from your competitors as well as appropriate for your philosophy of doing business.
Registration. Visitors must register by submitting, at bare minimum, their e-mail address and, preferably, additional information.
Qualification. Visitors have differing information requirements. Your Web site’s structure should make it easy for visitors to qualify their information needs, which will help them quickly locate desired information and help you fine-tune your dialog with them.

How to Introduce Yourself
Within seconds of visiting your Web site, visitors should be able to learn a lot about you, your business, and the products or services you offer. Your success depends on your ability to immediately engage your Web site visitor in a meaningful dialog while introducing your products and services. It’s important to emphasize the importance of speed. Visitors are in a hurry and will not stick around unless they are presented with meaningful information tailored to their needs.

The biggest mistake most firms make is to create a home page for their Web site that features a big logo and their name, followed by a series of buttons with vapid titles like “About us,” “In the News,” “Our Products,” and “Contact.”

It’s interesting that businesses that have mastered the art of business-to-business or business-to-consumer direct mail fall down with a resounding thud when it comes to creating their home page. Home pages that waste their visitors time and fail to offer meaningful information or engage visitors in a dialog are doomed to failure.

Is your home page effective?
Start by viewing your home page from a visitor’s point of view and ask yourself, “What does the home page teach me?” If you can’t provide a meaningful answer to that question, your home page needs work. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does the Web site load quickly?

2. Does the Web site communicate the firm’s area of expertise?

3. Does the Web site describe the products or services offered?

4. Does the Web site offer news value that I will benefit by learning?

5. Does the Web site communicate how the firm differs from its competition?

6. Does the Web site invite me to participate?

The easiest way to improve most Web sites is to reduce the size of the graphics and choose more appropriate titles for the navigation links. In many cases, reducing the size of the logo—which really does not offer visitors any information or value—creates the space necessary to begin the sales process by focusing on a specific product or service that identifies the firm’s area of expertise. Another advantage of this approach is that reducing the space devoted to your logo makes it possible to add news value to your Web site by frequently changing the product or service featured.

If your Web site’s home page always appears the same, even if the contents are changed, visitors are unlikely to come back because the new content isn’t visible.