Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

As I’m sure many a Southern belle homecoming queen has lamented in her post-game years. This tale of woe applies to web sites as well. Businesses leap onto the Web – invest in a real purty site, spend money (and time) to get their search engine rankings up – and yet they’re not making money.

Well, here’s the thing – it’s simply not enough to look good and be popular out here on the Web – we’ve also got to deliver value (real and/or perceived) to our visitors and customers.

Seeing a “dancing baby” video intro on entering a site can be fun once, but if I’m really serious about finding out more about you, I’ll lose patience fast, clicking right away after a couple of seconds of baby mambo. And, I’ll move on to your competitor who gives me relevant, interesting content on the home page, easy navigation and simple, highly visible contact info.

So, to bottom line it for you:

1. The problem with pretty. The dancing baby is creative and fun. And, yet it doesn’t serve a business purpose, taking into consideration the target markets and the “three second eyeball” rule (You’ve got about three seconds to grab the visitor’s attention). Creative web design is both good and bad. Many web designers come from an art background, which is a great starting point. But, it can also be a big problem when they haven’t added any business acumen to the brain mix. You’ve simply got to have some left brain working with the right to ensure you’re focusing on business results.

(Of course, if your site is selling baby mambo lessons that’s a whole ‘nuther discussion.)

2. The problem with popular. My Bare Feet colleagues and I hear “I wanna be #1 on Google!” Well, firstly this isn’t easy (or quick) – as Roxanne well explains in her post. Secondly, even if you do get way up there on search engine rankings – that’s just the beginning. You’ve got to offer something interesting and of value (real or perceived) once the person lands at your site. Otherwise, they’ll just keep going, probably never to return.

Brains, beauty and substance – a winning combination on the Web (if not for – ahem – winning the “Donald Trump’s Next Wife” sweepstakes.)