• Timeless Classics Auto Appraisal - http://timelessclassicsauto.com/
• St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Stony Plain - http://st-matthew.com/
• DML Enterprises - http://dmlenterprises.ca/
• Saint John’s School - http://sjsa.ab.ca/
• Northern Landscaping - http://northernlandscaping.ca/

The 3 things your visitors want to see:

While I can’t speak for every audience, generally, a website visitor wants to do the following:

1. Find your contact information: This is often overlooked.  The web is the new phone book.  When people are looking for a company’s contact information, they’ll head to your website.  For most businesses, this means you should have your phone number, email or address right on your homepage.  This has an added benefit for mobile users: they can click on your address and get directions, or click on your phone number and call you immediately. Your “contact page” should also be easy to find, and prominently featured on your main menu.
2. Find out who you are, and what you stand for: what’s your story?  Who are your staff people?  Why are you in business?  Cut the corporate-speak and use your relational voice to describe your business.  Use 1-3 paragraphs to describe your business, and your history.  After that, introduce yourself and your staff with a short bio.
3. Hear your expertise: this is where blogging comes in.  One of the greatest gifts you can give your visitors is good information. Share your expertise in your field.  Answer questions like: “what are common mistakes consumers make?”, or “what to look for in a service provider.”  The owners of 37signals have this axiom: people trust those that teach them. The best way to do this is to start a blog, and post between 1-4 times a month.

[In business] you shouldn’t swim upstream.  Don’t try to change people’s behavior.  Go to where your customers are. – Ramit

Like Ramit, I learned this lesson the hard way.  Growing up in a small town, I always wished there was a small, local shop I could visit to buy clothing, skateboards, and snowboard equipment.

Years later, after graduating from university, I decided to make it happen.  Together with two partners, we launched The Real Deal: a local skateboard shop in a small town.  Our mantra was: “You don’t need to go to the city to shop, you can shop local!”

And our shop was awesome.  We really cared about our customers.  We had a well designed store interior.  We stocked the best brands.

Here’s the problem: the city was only 40 minutes away. Everyone in our small town was already used to driving to the city.  They would make a day of it on Saturday or Sunday.  With a whole day of shopping, they could visit multiple shops, with a bigger selection than we could ever have.  Our customers weren’t shopping local.

We thought we could change their behavior. We launched “shop local” campaigns, we developed relationships, and we offered competitive pricing.  We also sponsored local athletes, put on shows, and even launched our own magazine.  But none of that mattered, because local consumers liked going into the big city for shopping.

Don’t ever lose track of the idea that a business needs to make money.  In retail, that means lots and lots of traffic.  If there’s no traffic at your proposed location, in doesn’t matter how awesome your shop is or how good your idea is, it’s not going to fly.  This applies to other businesses as well: you can’t change the way an entire market operates.

The questions we need to ask are: what are my potential customers doing right now?  How do they shop for my proposed product or service? How can I go to “where they’re at?”