You might have heard of Marie Kondo’s “KonMari Method” of closet organizing. 

 

In case you haven’t, you start by taking everything out of your closet and piling it on your bed. Likely, you’re shocked at how many items of clothing you have. You might be embarrassed that you still have those jeans from back when you were a different size and shape than you are now…and happily surprised to see a favourite sweater emerge from the pile. 

 

Often, this is an overwhelming process. People cry. It’s a lot to take on by yourself. 

 

If you watch this type of “make-over” show, you’ll notice that Marie (or whomever is hosting) always comes back a few times to check on her clients, to offer some strategies (start with three piles: Yes. No. Maybe.) some guidance (make your t-shirts all the same size, put them in a cute box) and to do a bit of hand-holding (You’re going to be okay. You’ve got this. If you ever want to sleep in this bed again, keep going.)

 

I’m not going to go through each step of this closet cleaning analogy, because this isn’t a post about closets, it’s a post about websites. 

 

What I will say is that transformation isn’t easy. You might feel vulnerable, uncertain. You might feel like shutting the door and walking away from the mess. This is perfectly normal, for closets and for websites. 

 

I want to tell you about why this is important, because you might be thinking that hey, I like my mess, I know where everything is, I don’t have a problem that needs solving here. And you’re probably right, you do know where everything is in your closet, and on your website. 

But your website isn’t there for you, it’s there for the people you want to be working with. 

From the inside, you probably know where everything is, but what about the user’s experience- UX? Would a stranger be able to find what they are looking for? And what do you want them to find? 

 

Working with me on your website is a bit like inviting Marie Kondo into your closet. Where you see only a huge pile of “stuff” you need to somehow deal with, I see the potential for a neatly organized, spacious, easy-to-navigate website. Then, and only then, does it make sense to work on your copy. 

 

Why should you clean your closet…or organize your website? 

 

I want to add in another piece of the puzzle here- an “a-ha” I had this week, while looking at two very similar websites; one belonging to a business coach I already know, like, and trust, and one belonging to a coach I wasn’t previously familiar with. Both websites had very similar layout, offers, and amount of information. What I noticed was that my perception of them was different: on one, I was a warm lead (I already have a relationship with the person), on the other, a cold (I know very little about them, their offer, or their area of expertise).  

 

This experience brought something into focus for me about why organizing your website matters: 

 

Warm leads, those people who already know, like, and trust you, are willing to wade through dusty navigation and mountains of bullet points because they’ve already made a decision about you. They already know that you are the one they want to work with, so they are willing to look for the treasure they know they will find. 

 

Cold leads, on the other hand, are going to make you work a lot harder, because they haven’t made a decision about you….yet. 

 

Maybe you are at the stage in your business where you have enough warm leads to sustain you. You’re happy about this level of clients, and you’re not really interested in bringing in more. That’s perfectly acceptable, and I applaud you for knowing what enough looks like for you…but then what are you doing reading a copywriter’s blog post? 

 

Back to cold leads wanting to make a decision about you on your website…

Here are a couple of statistics about first impressions (read “cold leads”) from the good people over at Sweor:

75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design.

It takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, and whether they’ll stay or leave.

And we haven’t even gotten to the copy yet: If you get past the first hurdle, they might read your words for a generous 5.59 seconds before making the decision to stay or go.

 

Still not sure your website’s worth working on? 

 

Of course, your website is not the ONLY place that people will make decisions about you and your business. People who are curious about you will likely try to get to know you from a variety of sources (social media, referrals, etc)….BUT, if they’ve landed on your website, and they don’t already know exactly what they’re there for, you want to hold their attention, welcome them in, and show them what you’re all about.

Part of this is done with design, and part of this is done with copy. 

 

If you would like some support with this, either at the level of an objective opinion and a starting point (take everything out of your closet and pile it on your bed) or a deep dive into the gaps and opportunities on your website (the equivalent of rolled t-shirts in a pretty box) it would be my pleasure to support you in that process. You can check out my services, or contact me if you don’t see what you’re looking for.