The 3-Second Test for your business

The 3-Second Test for your business that determines your profitability

 

When I spoke to my client Karen last week, she told me that he used to think that just having a nice looking website would be good enough. She had picked a $750 website template from a web development company that sell gorgeous templates and set about building herself a pretty site in a few hours. She was proud of herself and very excited when she launched it. 

But then this happened:

For a year, she had a few visitors come to her site every month and only 1 or 2 inquiries. That was on a good month. 

Soon Karen realized that having a beautiful website is pretty common in her industry - and that there are a lot of people selling beautiful templates to Karen and her competitors!

So that’s when Karen called me to ask: “What can I do to make my website stand out?”

That’s the question I want you to ask yourself as well.

 

Does your website pass the this test?

 

Let's focus on your website Home Page first since that’s the most important one.

Even though every business that has a website has a home page, not everyone understands how to use it correctly. The truth is, there's an art and science to building your website pages so they communicate the "right" message to your visitors. 

 

The Simple Test to Double Your Home Page Conversions

This is the 3-second test that can determine your business profitability. Does your website home page:

1- Tell visitors they're in the "right" place within 3 seconds of landing on your site?

2- State exactly what you do within those 3 seconds as well?

3- Reassure them that you understand the main problem or need they have?

4- Tell them to take action?

 

Seems simple enough, right? But, when you land on many websites, most fail this "3 second test" and instead of answering questions they provoke a whole host of questions instead, such as:

  • Where shall I go? There is too much going on with too many things to click on all over the page!
  • What do you do? 
  • Can you help me?
  • Are you a good fit for what I need?
  • What do I do next?

So let me ask you this: What are you most likely to FEEL in this situation? I'd guess your answer is: pretty confused.

And what are you most likely to DO when you feel that way? That's right. You hit the BACK BUTTON.

You don't have time to waste trying to figure out how to do business with this site- you’re going to go to another site that communicates way more clearly.

But from a business owners’ perspective, how many opportunities are missed because of this? How many potential new leads are dropped? How many sales are lost? How many more hours do you have to work to make up for it? We will likely never know but chances are you are wasting time and money.

 

How Is Your Website Homepage Performing?

 

Let’s dive in a bit more and start evaluating the top of your website home page to see what changes could transform it today.

 

Where should you start?

If you were to make one change only to your website to try to improve engagement with your visitors and get them to stay a little longer, this would be it: A Clear Headline that States What you Do.

Imagine if you picked up a newspaper or magazine and there was no headline. What would you do? You would have no idea what any of the stories were about. Would you then go through and carefully read the stories to painstakingly figure out what the articles were about? Probably not. You would move on to another paper and scan its headlines to quickly identify if they contained information that helped you solve your problems or address any particular needs you are trying to meet right now. 

That’s because we are always looking for what is going to help us win the day and we are experts at tuning out what is irrelevant to that mission. 

 

A good headline sells. 

 

Which goes to show that your website headline is the most valuable piece of copy on your home page. 

And yet, many of the websites that I review for my clients when they first meet with me don't even have a headline!

If your website has no headline, it needs one. You can fix this right away by adding some text over top of your main picture. 

 

Be warned though: not all headlines are created equal.

Your headline has to be simple enough that someone scanning down your page is able to quickly understand what you do and what they can get if they stay on your site. 

To write that headline, you need to get clear on what it is that you do. Here are examples of unclear headlines I see all the time:

- Welcome to My Website

- Three Adjectives (You know the ones! E.g. Creative. Powerful. Transformative…)

- Serving the Community for 25 Years

- COVID (or other) Informational Message

- We've Won this Award

- We’ve Served ## customers



What makes a winning headline?

You might think the best headlines have to be either catchy, clever or cute, but that’s not it at all. In fact, many that are ultimately confuse their readers and lose potential customers!

The best websites craft their headline with the customer's goals in mind. The headline needs to promise to help the customer solve a problem that will help them win the day.

So when writing your headline think: What does my customer need to know about what I do that will help them solve a problem? That’s how you get their attention.

 

The Clarity Test

When testing your new headline, see if you can answer “yes” to both of these questions:

  • If we had to cut your website down to ONLY your headline and ONE call to action do you think anyone take action based on your headline?

  • Would you use the wording in your headline in a conversation with a friend?

This test is powerful, let me tell you! If you can answer yes to both of these questions, you know you’ve got a good headline.

 

Remember, the point of your headline is to grab the attention of the reader and be CLEAR about what you do. Optimizing your website’s effectiveness can make a huge difference to your business profitability by allowing the people struggling with problems that you can solve to actually connect with you.

 

 


 

☑ Take Action

If your website isn't generating the leads, clients or income you're hoping for, then, here's what to do:

  1. Do the 3-Second Test above for your business. Craft a clear headline and then do the Clarity Test above.

  2. Attend the free Reignite Workshop where we’ll walk you through the 7 elements of story you need to use on your home page and throughout your marketing to start compelling your customers attention.

  3. If you would like more help bringing clarity to your message and grow your message and business, schedule a call with me today and we will get your whole marketing strategy performing as it should be!

  

 

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