I Just Read Every Word of a Website
Sure, I’ll check out your website. You have about 5 seconds before I close the tab.
I can’t remember the last time I read an entire website. Well, maybe never. My designer gal just sent me a link to a site she liked so I checked it out (she has good taste and I like to see what she likes).
Give me a word and I’ll study it. Give me a sentence and I’ll read it. Give me a page and … I’ll probably read the first sentence.
I usually get more than 100 emails per day. Not newsletters, not ads, not my Vitamix MeetUp group (ha, joke, sorta … ), but emails I need to read or deal with. If you ask me to check out your site or watch some video, I hope you give me a reason to. If it’s for a laugh, I’ll save it for later (read: never). So let me (or whoever you’re asking for critique or comment or anything) know why you’re asking to look at something.
- Do you want me to critique it?
- How?
- What part?
- What way?
- From what angle?
- What sort of feedback do you want?
- Honest?
- Quick?
- Deep?
- Advice?
- Sugar coated?
But the link I got just now was different. OK, sure, I’m a sucker for huge high-quality photos–especially of the outdoors. So they got me there. But then there was only a single paragraph of text. Well, I can read that. Then there were only 3 links in the nav (and one was the page I was already on). I can handle that. Wow, only 4 (short!) paragraphs on the What We Do page. I read them all.
If they do this for their own site, imagine what they do for their clients.
Do your visitors think the same way when they visit your site? “If they do this for themselves, wow, I can expect at least that for my project with them.” Or are you the cobbler with no shoes?
Oh yeah, the link: Techwood Consulting.
Four short paragraphs defining what they do? Well, I have time to read that.
Two of the pages have mountains on them. I have been on top of both of them. 🙂
Whoa! Where are they?
Yosemite.
Cathedral Peak from Cathedral Lake (lots of neat history!)
and
Lembert Dome – 400 foot high rock just off the highway, fun for the kids to walk up 🙂
Very cool photo- I can see how it sucked you in!
Hi Kate,
It’s the perfect example of something stunning to pull you in and then minimal (but powerful) copy that someone might actually take the time to read. Of course, if you have that powerful imagery and then you don’t back it up with strong copy or some sort of intrigue that wants me to go even deeper, then it’s only half the battle. But hey, half the battle is still better than losing the battle completely!
Hi Bradley, The trees are gorgeous too – and I love your tell me why tips – 100 emails day that has to make you a hard working expert on the subject 🙂
Thanks for noticing about the Tell Me Why tips. It helps to hear someone highlight what they think is helpful in a post to help me see what people think is important so I can work on it more.