So, are your customers stupid?
I reckon most aren’t but often marketing people suggest we treat prospects as if they were total dummies. In reality, they’re just really lazy. And once you appreciate that, you’ll unlock some knowledge about how to best serve them.
But before we talk about your stupid (lazy) clients, we need to talk about Google.
Content indexing.
Search engines rank your website content based on how relevant it is to those searching your targeted keywords.
The Google Core Update.
Google is rolling this arsewipe out in 2021.
There’s so much of it that it’s happening in phases. I’m sorry (ish) to say but your website will be affected. Oh lord who art in heaven, how are we meant to muddle on?
I’m sat here trying to concentrate on the business of writing this whilst the dog rims herself. It’s very distracting. She just loves to come to where I’m at and ‘clean’ her body parts.
How will the Google update balls up my business?
It won’t.
Google has a lovely little analogy on how you should view it:
“One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015.
A few years later in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed before will now be candidates for inclusion. You might also reassess some films and realize they deserved a higher place on the list than they had before.
The list will change, and films previously higher on the list that move down aren’t bad. There are simply more deserving films that are coming before them.”
Let’s all try to keep calm.
Your site won’t be penalised – it’s not getting a telling off but pages might not rank as well as before, and some might actually do better. But remember, whatever happens now to your site, will likely change again after the final update.
Jesus wept.
If you want to find out more about what Google has to say on the subject, click here.
If you want my take on the update, keep reading.
Lazy customers and the Google update.
Let’s av a look at how you can mitigate any changes.
Our lazy potential clients are looking on the web. And they’re looking for us (when they can be arsed to lift their heads off the sofa). Because surfing the internet is so exhausting, they want an easy time when they land on your website.
Picture the scene…
When you meet someone new, you make a snap judgement.
First impressions are based on looks, manner, and overall persona. That doesn’t mean your initial judgement is right but unlike humans, websites don’t have time to slowly reveal who they are.
They have seconds to impress the visitor and get them to want to stick around.
Pleading and begging are unattractive traits in people, they’re also off-putting when websites do the same (yes, I’m talking about the 27 pop-ups you insist on installing).
Just like when you met Mike for the first time, you thought he was an utter cock. Maybe he was a bit difficult, and you struggled to understand him.
Over time you begin to like Mike, and if you listen carefully, you can understand what he says.
Websites don’t have that luxury.
If you’re not hitting the right tone with the people likely to buy from you, you’re pissing against the wind.
Just thinking now of a man, having a wee, in a gale, and it gets blown back onto him. Gross.
User Experience (UX).
What the hell?
Do not be alarmed, this isn’t about to get boring/difficult.
You’re probably already bored.
UX means exactly what it says. Google will be placing more emphasis on how easy a website is to navigate. Your potentials are lazy, remember, they don’t want to spend their time having to root through pages of content to find what they need.
If your site is like the home of a hoarder after 20 years, collecting tat, users won’t stay. They’re not going to make the effort to look through out-of-date bean cans, cat shit, and old newspapers to find the stuff they want.
And why would you make it that bloody difficult?
Stop keeping stuff on your site because you like it. If it doesn’t get you paying clients, it’s taking up valuable space
Make it easy to find stuff.
Make your copy clear and get to the point. Your site should have a logical structure that guides the user each step of the way. You decide what you want them to do and what you want them to make a decision on.
This should be obvious but many fuck this up.
Having a logical flow with clear destinations aren’t the only elements that impact user experience. If, for example, your website doesn’t adapt to mobile view, you’re losing customers. Nearly everyone is looking at websites on those handy devices. If you’re only concern is how it behaves on desktop, you’re a pilchard.
Slow loading times will also bugger things up. If you have high-resolution images – please compress those bastards down but there are plenty of back-end elements that could be affecting your sites’ overall performance.
Like what?
Well, things like unused CSS, Javascript issues, dodgy code, too many ads… is your head hurting? Hire a proper technical SEO to sort it out.
Content is still a big deal.
And it always will be.
That’s why I bang on about blogging. It’s the one, glorious place you can keep adding regular content to your website.
Helpful, high-quality, useful, unique-to-you information for your people. Some of you might continue to underestimate how valuable words on a page are, and those individuals ought to be placed in stocks and have badger shit thrown at them.
If you’re prioritising everything else, above your online content, you’re worse than those people who don’t change the loo roll when it’s done
I’m bored now, let’s finish up.
Things to keep in mind: prospects are lazy so make your website easy to use, and don’t neglect your content.
But.
Getting your site bang on means looking at all its components.
Content, site architecture, and technical elements all play a part. Find yourself a technical SEO and book an audit to identify some quick wins. Monitor your website’s performance with Google Console and track the content that performs well. Then you can figure out why certain pages rank better and apply those principles to all your site.
(If you’d like to read more about the Google update, click here.)
If your content is hard to find and hard to understand then your UX sucks. If you’d like me to sort that out, click here to see how I can help.
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