Revenue Journal®

There's a joke - you've probably heard one of the many versions of it - that I think of as the "demo" joke. My favorite version is the one starring Bill Gates:

Bill Gates died and found himself standing in front of St. Peter, who was sizing him up.

"Okay, what the Hell," said Bill. "Let's try down below first."

A lot of entrepreneurs obsess over their search engine marketing and Adwords campaigns, to make sure that they are within view when someone goes searching for their type of product. Nothing wrong with that, but given the bandwidth of the typical business owner, there's a tendency to focus on lead generation at the expense of conversion.

Business owners have come to know that the web can be used to answer questions that buyers and customers have. The more questions you answer on your website, the less money you have to invest in people answering those questions, one at a time. This is not a difficult concept to understand.

Unfortunately, grasping it and succeeding at it are miles apart. One thing we see standing in the way is a tendency to believe that "a good search function" on the site will somehow substitute for poor navigational organization. Not true.

Every CEO and entrepreneur has a need for both graphic and website designers. Too bad there are so few good ones out there.

Sure, there are people who say they are designers. And they do, in fact, churn out work for clients. But I'd estimate that only one out of 200 actually know how to solve design problems, have truly satisfied clients, and consistently turn out good, solid work.

What's the problem? It goes back to something a CEO once said to me, about ten years ago. "No one is teaching kids how to think." He was right. Being a good designer means you follow a well-tested process. You gather all the input you need, you prioritize it and analyze it, and then you come up with solutions that meet the requirements.

There will be tradeoffs; the design process always involves a delicate balance between all of the various goals, resources, form, and function. But the best designers do a masterful job of meeting all the requirements while creating something pleasing and functional.

Instead of learning how to make these tradeoffs, young designers are taught to imitate established designers or to follow their own creative whim. It is easier to teach someone to imitate or to do whatever he/she wants than it is to actually teach the student to think - or be of service.

The result is always something inappropriate for the client. I can't tell you how many entrepreneurs and CEOs are frustrated with the designs that come back to them, after they think they've provided the information the designer needed.

If you want to see a perfect example of a company that makes it easy to buy, take a look at Home Reserve. What an exceptional site this is. Let's look at what they do right.

First, the home page.

What's the first question when you're shopping for furniture? Cost. Most people have a specific budget in mind for a given room or situation. And, that's the first big question Home Reserve answers, right on top.

As you come to this site, first your eye goes to the two people, and, immediately, to the prices. Then to the pictures and the fabric swatches.

Home Reserve uses the circle motif to draw your eye to important areas of the site, including the shop button, the photo gallery, and the swatches. One thing I find interesting about this is how the first circle you see is emotionally comforting - the two people obviously enjoying each other as they look at color swatches. Does this encourage you to assume that all circles will be emotionally satisfying? Hmmm."

The most important function of your website is the effective presentation of your products - whether you sell online or through a distribution network. Having just gone through a bunch of sites in the analysis of a buying process, and after doing a lot of research for clients on this subject in the course of website redesigns, I've come to some conclusions.

1) First, answer their questions. Buyers come to your website looking for answers to their questions. The more complex the buying process (the more scrutiny they apply to the purchase), the more questions they have. You must know what their questions are, and your answers must satisfy their concerns in the order that those concerns arise in the customer's mind. If your website fails to do this, your website is a failure. Period.

Your website is a building with many rooms, and each room has a door. Each door has a sign on it, supposedly identifying what's behind the door.

Let's assume a visitor in your building is looking for the restroom. He's in a hurry. But some self-important people have been naming the rooms in your building. As your visitor attempts to find the restroom, he whizzes right past a door labeled "Executive Corporate Relief Center.

"If the door had simply said "restroom," your visitor would have gone right in.

Our first Revenue Journal podcast, in which I interview Brian Livingston, President/Editor of WindowsSecrets.com, who was just named Entrepreneur of the Year by MarketingSherpa.

Your website is one of the most important "employees" in your company. It is your company's most important salesperson and service person.

What kind of employee is it? Is it friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable? Or snarly and surly, thwarting the customer (and sabotaging the sale) at every turn?

I just bought a new laptop and its associated software and accessories. As I purchased and configured the computer, I was reminded again how stark the difference is between companies with a helpful website and companies with an obstructive website.

On the good side of the equation, we have CDW, the large computer company based in Illinois. I was considering buying my new laptop from them, but became convinced it was a good idea after talking to Jim Sterne. He told me he had gotten a cold call from them one day, which quickly turned into a warm call, which caused him to go to their website, and actually buy something. He has continued buying from CDW, over and over. Having now gone through a very pleasant and successful buying experience with them, I can understand his enthusiastic loyalty. More on CDW in a moment.