Article updated, November 2023.

So, are your customers stupid?

Some might be but most of them are just lazy. And once you appreciate that, you’ll unlock some knowledge about how to best serve them.

But before we talk about your lazy clients, we need to talk about content indexing.

Do we really have to?

Yes.

One of the things search engines rank your website content on is keywords. If you’re targeting certain keywords, it makes sense that your content bears a direct relationship to those terms. If the content isn’t all that relevant to your search terms, you’re in a whole heap of shit.

Lazy customers.

Our lazy potential clients are looking on the web. They’re tap tapping away with those keywords, looking for us (when they can be arsed to lift their heads off the sofa). So if you’ve done a cracking job marrying those keywords to content, those folks will find you.

Yay.

Sounds like a done deal but sadly it isn’t. Because surfing the internet is so exhausting, once they land on your website, those lazy clients want an easy time of it. They also want to trust that they’ve come to the right place.

It’s a bit like meeting someone for the first time.

First impressions count, and we base ours on a few things; looks, character, and overall presentation. 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 mere seconds to impress the user.

Pleading and begging are unattractive traits in people and when you use fifteen intrusive popups, desperately seeking sign-ups, it kinda feels the same.

If you’re not hitting the right mark with the people likely to buy from you, you’re pissing against the wind. 

User Experience (UX).

Do not be alarmed, this isn’t about to get boring/difficult.

You’re probably already bored.

UX means exactly what it says. Google likes easy-to-use websites. Your clients are lazy, remember, they don’t want to spend their time having to root through pages of content to find what they need. 

So if your site is like the home of a hoarder after twenty years of 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 They’re not going to make the effort to look through out-of-date bean cans, cat shit, and old newspapers to find the stuff they want.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 isn’t the only element that impacts 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 your 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. There are plenty of back-end elements that could also be affecting your site’s overall performance.

Like what?

Well, things like unused CSS (code), Javascript issues (more code), dodgy code, and too many ads… is your head hurting? My advice? Hire a proper technical SEO to sort it out.

I’m bored, let’s finish up.

Things to keep in mind: prospects are lazy so make your website easy to use and easy to understand.

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 Search Console and track the content that performs well. Then you can figure out why certain pages rank better and apply those principles to your site.

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.