I’ve reviewed a lot of website content. Almost always, home pages read like online resumes, filled with history and credentials. This is a good thing, but it’s not enough to get your phone to ring. Let’s talk a little about how you can make your home page stand out in a sea of online marketing, so that you can reach your sales goals this year.

How can you make a more meaningful connection with your prospects from your home page? Research. Here’s what I did: I started by asking the small business owners I know to share what they look for in a web design/marketing firm. I quickly realized that the way I talk about my web marketing services was entirely different than the way they talked about their business needs (even though we were talking about the same set of services). For example, I may know that my customer needs SEO to get more conversions, but what I heard was that they needed “a website that works.” This is the language I need on my home page. I need to write in an understandable way, in a way that my customers will understand.

So think about your perfect customer — not all of your customers, nor all the people who could be your customers. Think about your perfect customer, and target your home page content to the pain points of this person. Then write about how you are uniquely qualified to help end their pain. If you offer a variety of services to completely different audiences, segmenting your marketing efforts is essential — and this means separate and distinct websites.

So take a little time to ask around and research the pain points of the people who would really benefit if they worked with you, people who will pay you what you are worth, and who will tell others about you. It’s about putting a stake in the ground and describing where you provide the most value in your industry. Each of us delivers services in a uniquely valuable way. What is your unique differentiator? Make sure this comes across on your home page. This is what will attract the best prospects to you.

Make sense? Just send me an email and let me know. For more information on niching, take a look at my blog post on 7 changes I made to my website.