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Why Your Website Sucks

IF YOU THINK your website is perfect, then you need this chapter more than you know. Most of the websites floating around cyberspace are not doing their job. Most of them are ineffective. Chalk this up to approach, design, or whatever you want. The reality is that most of your thoughts on websites are wrong.

Your website, any website actually, has but one goal. That goal is to turn strangers into prospects and turn prospects into customers. That's it. There is no other goal.

If your website doesn't have a function or generate leads, it's just a fancy brochure.

This is where most brands get it wrong. Their website looks like an online business card. There's no headline or call to action. There's no lead generation method. It's just a display page that provides no real value and doesn't tell the brand story well.

You want your website visitors to do one of three things when they land on your site:

1. Give you permission to follow up with them.

2. Buy something.

3. Share it with a friend or social network.

There is nothing more and nothing less than these three desired outcomes. Anything else you are attempting to accomplish is a waste of time, energy, and effort. Your website should start a conversation. That conversation could be with you, or it could be with a friend they are sharing the site with. Most of the time that conversation is with themselves as they evaluate if you have the solution they are looking for.

Your website, like any piece of marketing, ...

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