Mike Andes says a website has five seconds to show visitors two things: what geographic area you serve and what services you offer. A cluttered site with unclear messaging loses customers before they read past the first paragraph, whether they're homeowners or property managers.
The only 2 things a customer wants to know in the first 5 seconds of getting to your website is, do they serve my area and they do the services that I have a problem with? So I think clarity is important because like right now when you get to your website, here's what it looks like. That is a problem. That is a problem. Okay, so here's the thing. Can't even see your logo. It's cut off. Me neither, but I'm blind. See, most people aren't on a desktop. They're on their phone when they're— Here's the other thing. Here's the other thing. Okay. All right. I'm just going to— I got to this page. Okay. Grounded in excellence, creating beautiful results. Automa Industries. I don't know what you guys do. I don't know where you serve. I have to read the next 3 paragraphs of sentences, uh, text. And then down below that, there's 6 more paragraphs of text. And below that, there's pictures of Cabela's. Oh no, sorry, Bass Pro. Like, I don't know what you do. The only 2 things a customer wants to know in the first 5 seconds of getting your website is, do they serve my area and they do the services that I have a problem with? And if that's not clear in five seconds, they're leaving your website. It doesn't matter if you're doing B to B business to business and going after property managers and contractors, or if you're going after Miss Smith as a residential customer. They're still finding you ultimately online. No one knows about you until they have a problem with their lawn care landscaping. And so I need to make sure that when they have that problem, they show up this website and the first person they think of for the solution. And right now, I need to read about five minutes of text to understand what we do. Nobody's going to read that. No, like I get to the website. I'm serving like what's this? Township called? Livingston Parish. Right, Livingston Parish. We do sod retail, you can buy it, here's a link. We install for large commercial projects and new builds, and we maintain properties that are commercial. And then those 3 link into, okay, they're interested in maintenance because they're a property manager for a big Cabela's. They're going in there and seeing the services that you offer, they're booking a link with an estimator. Even if they got a referral, they're searching you up online and they're looking at your website. And if that website is hard to navigate, doesn't look good on a mobile device, I can't see your logo, I can't understand if you serve my area or if you do my services, we're never going to get leads.
