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Can I make a confession? I’m a terrible person to go shopping with. Whether I’m buying a new pair of shoes, looking for a plumber, or trying to find a restaurant in a city I’ve never visited, I’m judging websites. Constantly. (Occupational hazard.)
After spending years as a corporate buyer, I can’t help myself because I’ve seen firsthand how people make buying decisions. And what surprises me: most business owners don’t look at their websites the way customers do. They look at them the way they do.
You already know where everything is. You know what every button does. You know what you meant when you wrote that headline six years ago. Your customer is seeing it for the very first time, and they’re trying to answer one question before they decide whether to stick around: “Am I in the right place?”
Most websites don’t answer that question very well.
You Don’t Sound Like You. You Sound Like Everyone Else.
Instead, they lead with something like, “Family owned since 1989,” or “Providing quality service with integrity.” Now, before you send me an angry email, there’s nothing wrong with those things. I like family businesses. I appreciate integrity. But if I covered up the logo on your website, there’s a pretty good chance I could paste those same words onto twenty other businesses in your industry and nobody would notice.
That’s the problem. Your website shouldn’t sound like everyone else’s. It should sound like you.
One of my favorite ways to test a homepage is with this simple sentence: I/We help _____ do _____ so they can _____. It sounds almost too simple, but it forces you to think like a customer instead of a business owner. Who exactly do you help? What problem do you solve? And, most importantly, what does life look like after someone hires you?
Customers Buy Outcomes, Not Services
Customers don’t buy what you sell. They buy what your product or service does for them.
Nobody buys a drill because they’ve always wanted another drill sitting in the garage. They buy it because they need a hole. People don’t hire a financial advisor because they want financial strategy. They hire one because they want peace of mind. They don’t hire a marketing consultant (hint hint) because they like consultants (although I am quite likeable). They hire someone because they want more customers, more visibility, and a business that grows without feeling like they’re pushing a boulder uphill every day.
That’s the outcome they’re buying.
Once you’ve convinced someone they’re in the right place, don’t immediately switch the spotlight onto yourself. I know it’s tempting. You’re proud of your experience, your awards, and your certifications, and you should be. But before you tell me why you’re qualified, spend another minute showing me you understand my problem. That’s when I start to really trust you.
Facts Inform. Stories Build Trust.
One of the reasons stories work so well is that they do both at the same time. I once came across a handyman’s website where he talked about learning his skills from his grandfather. I honestly don’t remember whether he’d been in business for fifteen years or twenty-five. I do remember his grandfather. I remember the story. And I remember thinking, “I’d trust this guy in my house.”
That’s what stories do. Facts inform, but stories build trust.
Make It Embarrassingly Easy to Contact You
While we’re fixing websites, can we talk about contact information? If someone has to scroll to the bottom of your homepage, or fill out a form just to get contacted, you’ve made buying harder than it needs to be… at the exact moment when they’re ready to buy. EGAD.
Also, people don’t all want to communicate the same way anymore (just ask my Gen Z kids). Some will call. Some will text. Some will email. Some will use chat because they’d rather do almost anything than talk on the phone. Give people options and make those options ridiculously easy to find.
Your About Page Is More Important Than You Think
Your About page is one of the most visited pages on almost every website because people want to know who’s behind the business. So don’t waste it on a page full of stiff headshots and biographies that sound like LinkedIn profiles. Let people meet the humans. Show your team laughing, volunteering, bringing their dogs to the dog park, or celebrating a milestone. Give me something I’ll remember after I close the browser.
Write Like a Human (Seriously, AI Is Watching)
One last thing, because the rules have changed. SEO still matters, but more and more people are getting answers from AI before they ever visit a website. That’s GEO … Generative Engine Optimization. And it means writing like a human has never been more important. Answer real questions. Use the words your customers actually use. Write the way you’d explain your business to someone sitting across the table from you. Ironically, that’s becoming one of the best ways to help both search engines and AI understand what you do.
The good news is you don’t have to tear your website apart this weekend. Pick one page. Rewrite the headline. Tell one better story. Make it easier to contact you. Then do the next page when you have time. Little changes like these don’t just make your website prettier. They make it easier for customers to trust you.
And trust is still the shortest path between someone finding you… and someone hiring you.
