The Most Important Thing Your Website Should Do

So you just launched your website, and you're wondering if you're doing it right. You've probably browsed hundreds of other websites to get inspiration from, and you think you identified the most important parts of a website. It should have a logo, nice pictures, a navigation menu of course, a contact page, and some text about you or your business, right?

... Right?

Well, not really. In fact, your website doesn't need all that. If you want your website to be truly effective, you must first answer this simple question:

What do you want your website to be really effective at?

In other words, what's the real purpose of your website? You have to be specific. More than that, your website should be all about getting your visitors to take a specific action. This is the sole purpose of your website. And it should be the one and only concern about your website. Getting your visitors to take a specific action.

Don't believe me? Open up an incognito window in your browser and open https://www.facebook.com. See? No pictures, no navigation menu. Once you land on the website, it's perfectly clear what your next action should be.

This should be the same for your website. Because in this age, people simply don't have the time anymore to wander around and figure out what your business is about. There's too much noise on the internet, on TV, in life, competing for their attention. If you're not specific about your message, you'll lose the visitor.

So, back to your website, what does it entails?

That's simple. Forget about trying to be pretty, and focus on the clarity of your message. It has to be utterly clear and unambiguous. This means:

• Logo? Not necessary.
• Navigation menu? Keep it under 2 or 3 items. Otherwise, you'll confuse and lose the visitor.
• Images? Not necessary, unless your business is touristic or related to design. Forget about the slideshow, we're not in 2010 anymore..
• A long text about how your business is so cool and unique? Nope, visitors don't care about that, and won't believe you anyway.

What's needed?

• A concise and clear sentence about what the visitor can expect from your business.
• A call to action, whatever it is: sign up, enter their email, call you, message you, ask for a quote, book an appointment
• A way to get in touch with you. This can be in the form of a contact page or, even better, your email or phone number directly on the landing page.

That's it. You don't have to guess. You don't have to be clever or imaginative. You just have to be perfectly clear about what you do and how you can help your visitor.