What Should Your Website Do To Get Past The 5.59 Seconds Of Doom?

It’s 2022 and you’ve probably realized by now that your website has a dramatic impact on the perceived credibility and quality of your business.

Your site serves as a window into the way your business operates and it's often the first impression someone will have of you and your brand.

5.59 seconds.

This is how much time you’ve got to grab someone’s attention on your site.

5.59 seconds is when the "stay or leave" decision kicks in.

5.59 seconds is the difference between a sale, subscription, booking, donation and…nothing.

Guess what?

80% of websites lose their visitors in 5.59 seconds.

Here's a paradox.

What you want your website to do is probably very different from what your customers want it to do.

You want your website to:

1. Be on the first page in Google

2. Pitch your product and make visitors like it

3. Convey your ideas in business lingo

4. Put all visitors in a funnel & process them like corn flakes

5. Make visitors click & collect data

6. Appeal to everyone with generic language

7. Boost your credibility

8. Explain your "Why" and sell features & benefits

9. Show copy that sounds charming & witty

10. Flood visitors with ads, banners & pre-rolls

11. List every detail about your product

12. Connect you to the target audience

13. Increase business and make you money

14. Look great on your desktop PC

15. Make you a hero by talking about your awesome (hi)story

16. Display stock photos Collect data

Your customers want your website to:

1. Be exactly what they are looking for

2. Help them to understand the value they get

3. Talk to them in their own language

4. Entertain, educate or make them care

5. Show testimonials from satisfied buyers

6. Be specific

7. Have a compelling CTA

8. Speak to them about the desired outcome

9. Promise in clear & simple terms that you’ll definitely do something for them

10. Help them get from Point A to Point B

11. Tell them what you do at a glance

12. Connect them to people, ideas & things they care about

13. Offer them something that will help them survive or thrive

14. Look great on their phones or tablets

15. Make them a hero of your sales message

16. Engage with imagination and soul

No cares what you can do.

Everyone cares what you can do for them.

Aim for the heart, not the head.

Once you get the heart, you can go to the head.

Once you get the heart and the head, then you’ll have a pathway to the soul.

P.S. Like what you’re reading here? Well, you have three choices really.

1. Get more stories straight to your inbox. Subscribe in the page footer below.

2. Read another piece.

3. When you are ready to level up, hire me.