When you share what you know, you prove you know it.
And when you prove you know something, you confirm you can sell it.
That’s how good advertising works. And just to be clear - everything is advertising. A website homepage? It’s advertising. It’s all advertising.
The most important thing in advertising is believability. Nothing is more believable than the product itself. The job of a website homepage is to bring the product to life.
Use as few words as possible and let the product speak for itself. Condense your messaging and make it visual. Don’t say what you have. Show what you have. Show your best tip. Show your best slide. Show your best material.
Your only edge is specificity. Every website homepage can be made better by making it more specific.
The more specific you are about your buyer’s knowledge and the outcome of consuming the product, the more specific and tangible your homepage will be.
Limitation is the essence of branding. You cannot be all things to all people. Be a very specific thing for a very specific person.
Don’t just make your language specific, make your product specific. Match the specificity of your product to your experience and expertise. (You are where you’re buyers will be.)
For example, don’t market a course to attract early product adopters. Market a course for early product adopters in the smart home space.
Don’t build your product around ecommerce. Build it around the most specific part of ecommerce you can find.
Keep in mind three truths about people.
+ People buy from other people
+ People believe what other people have done
+ People want to know how other people do it
Your language doesn’t have to be fancy or clever or witty. It has to be clear.
+ Buyers need to know what you’re selling
+ Buyers need to know what they’re getting
Write your homepage fast without cliches or typical homepage speak.
+ Imagine a face-to-face interaction with a real person
+ Pretend to tell someone what you sell and how
+ Take the words you used and write them on your homepage
Be clear about your buyer. Don’t try to speak to too many people. Qualify or disqualify someone in the first sentence.
When you sell a product, you’re not just selling an outcome. You’re selling a specific way to get to an outcome. How is that outcome beneficial to your buyer? How does it change their life for the better?
You can brand an idea even if it’s not a new idea. Go upstream. Own an idea one layer above what you offer, and make the language specific to you. Create idea equity.
Look at James Clear. James doesn’t teach habits, he teaches Atomic Habits.
Your story is critical because creates all the value.
Your story is your currency.