Sometimes when you live and breathe your business you forget to step back and check that you are telling people what makes you special or different.  In the last week I’ve talked to two businesses who didn’t have key selling points presented near the top of their homepages.  In both cases they had mild epiphanies and realised that yes they should be presenting key information better for their website homepage marketing.

A simple quick exercise is to write down on a piece of paper any points of difference that make you better than your competitors.  It may relate to quality, experience, materials, diversity, service, flexibility, accreditations, awards, affiliations or other factors.  Write them down.  Some will be major factors that you already leverage in all marketing material, whilst others may be more subtle or even taken for granted.

You may like to sleep on it and add to the list again, or ask staff, customers, suppliers or friends.  Once you have the list, bring your website homepage up, preferably on a laptop.  Work through the list and tick off each factor that you can see clearly presented in the homepage view on the laptop without scrolling down.  It does not matter if it is covered with a badge, image or words, as long as it clear and obvious.

Next check through all the un-ticked factors on the list.  If you think any of these key selling points should be on the homepage, look at how and where you can present them.  Ideally you can fit them all in with careful planning, or if you don’t have space then prioritise and make sure the most important differentiators are in view on the homepage. 

Its a simple task but one that may help you to differentiate your business and both reassure and convert visitors to your website. Whether you pay for website usability help, or take time out to focus on it yourself, even small changes can make a real difference.