eric.haus

Imagine someone lands on your website.

Five seconds later…

Can they answer these three questions?

• Can you solve my problem?
• Why should I choose you?
• What should I do next?

If they can’t, you’ve probably lost them.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful your website is if visitors have to play detective.

One thing I’ve noticed while looking through local business websites is that many of them assume visitors already know and trust them.

They don’t.

Instead, the homepage jumps straight into clever headlines, flashy animations, or industry jargon without first answering the most basic questions.

Your homepage isn’t trying to win a design award.

It’s trying to start a conversation.

Clear beats clever.

Every time.

Play Visitor

Visit your own website as if you’ve never seen it before.

Without clicking anything, can you answer those 3 questions in five seconds?

If not, imagine how a first-time visitor feels.

Probably confused.

Probably gone.

Easy Does It

Don’t challenge potential customers to play Sherlock Holmes.

Make the important things obvious.

Use the five-second rule.

Your website isn’t there to look pretty.

It’s not there to win awards.

It’s not there just to be there.

No, when you boil it down, your website really has one job:

To make it easy to do business with you.

That’s it.

Some websites do this excellently.

They immediately tell visitors what they do, who they serve, and how to get in touch (or whatever other action you want them to take).

Some do it very poorly.

Ask yourself one question:

If someone wanted to hire me today, is it easy?

Or do they need to jump through hoops? Do they need to play detective to find my email or phone number? Does my website even work?

Here’s Exactly What the Visitor Should See

What you do. They should immediately know that they’re in the right place.

Contact info. They should be able to contact you at any time.

A request for service or a quote (if applicable). They should be able to request the work right there on the website.

Reasons to trust you. Photos of you and your work, testimonials (if you have them), blog posts showing your expertise, and anything else that helps visitors feel confident they’re hiring the right person.

Anything else? Window dressing.

Make It Easy

Look, a website doesn’t have to win design awards.

It doesn’t have to be flashy.

It just has to remove obstacles between someone saying:

“I think this is the right company.”

and

“Yeah, they can do the job.”

And whether it’s a complete overhaul, or small improvements, remember:

Your website should make it easy to do business with you.

Keep that front of mind.