In my last post, titled Know What Makes You Stand Our From The Crowd and “Milk it,” I asked anyone who had a website to give me a description of why people should visit their website, for a little exercise we'll go through today. I was a little surprised to see only 25 comments, and I know there are a few of you who have websites who didn't submit. Oh well…
25 will definitely be enough to create a “crowd.” So, here is your task. As you read (or scan) through these, notice which descriptions catch your eye or make you think twice, and why. We'll do a little assessment at the end.
I will link to each website within each description as either “My Site” or “The Website” or “Our Blog.” This way, we're only looking at the descriptions. That being said, I encourage you to please click on the links if you are interested.
Generated in a Random Order
1. I believe people visit [My Website] because of our value statement. We offer a UK tax refund service at the lowest guaranteed price, as well as the largest guaranteed refund. Our SEO rankings on Google UK help too!
2. As a landscaper and garden coach, I help people feel confident and excited to get outside and enjoy the process of gardening. So much garden advice is general and “sounds good” in nature—that is to say—nobody’s actually tried that shiny new idea the glossy mags are suggesting. I bring my experience in the field and [use My Website to] translate it into easy-to-understand info for those who think they’d enjoy gardening but feel overwhelmed or unsure of where to start. Helping to grow new gardeners is my passion.
3. My Website offers a unique mixed-category experience that is aligned with many people's spectrum of life aspirations and experiences. On My Website, you will find tips and examples from my own experiences about the following: making money & alternative income sources; web-related topics, including blogging; relationships & marriage; self-development and life management.
4. People, mostly moms, read My Blog [about the best kids toys] because a) women love spending money, we can’t help it, b.) moms love finding out about all the best toys for their kids—because although we love to spend money, we HATE to waste it, c.) I look at lots of toys that you won’t find at your local WalMart, and d.) sometimes I beg them to read.
5. People have said they like that I post brief, easy-to-understand articles about money every morning [on My Website].
6. People should visit My Site because THEY are the key focus of my blog. By engaging in personal development using the weekly success factors that I write about, they can change their attitude and their mindset, leading to marked improvements in their financial and social bottom line results. Because it’s weekly, it’s not too much, and it’s not too little.
7. People should visit My Website because the focus of the site is to encourage and help people start their own enterprises. Be they full time or part time enterprises, there are ideas there for everyone. To show the way, I’ve posted multiple detailed profiles with photos and stories of individuals who have started their own enterprise. This way, people can see for themselves that average people can be successful running their own business.
8. People should visit My Site to learn how to live a quality lifestyle on a limited budget. (The financial impacts of divorce brought out and magnified my already frugal leanings.)
9. My [Website, an] online magazine for new parents stands out from the myriad other pregnancy, baby and parenting sites in its efficient, fact-oriented format. There are no message boards, no overlong articles split into 5 pages to increase ad revenue, no editorial exposition at the beginning of the articles ~ just the quick but thorough answers a new parent or parent-to-be wants. [Editor's Note: This site is no longer active.]
Since new fathers (read: men) are more likely to be attracted to a just-the-facts format and may feel alienated by the touchy-feely atmosphere of other baby and parenting sites, I will add special focus to articles and promotion efforts targeting new dads going forward.
10. I’d like to think that I’m a little different from other bloggers, as I work full-time for a large corporation, and I’m over 40. I have years of experience to draw from for my posts, though I’ve kept myself current regarding technology and ideas. My Blog is a mix of computer how-tos, personal finance tips, book reviews, and career advice, though I never take myself too seriously.
11. I think that people visit My Blog and end up liking my no nonsense, no BS style of writing about ways to earn income on the internet.
12. I have been fighting for custody for 13 years now. I have had to do it all by myself (called “Pro Per” or “Pro Se”) without the help of an attorney. My Blog is dedicated to helping other loving, caring fathers in similar situations fight a potentially winning battle while keeping the “best interests of the child” in mind, and removing them from the line of fire for their benefit. There are many websites out there that deal with divorce, child custody, and support, but there is an amazing lack of help for fathers who cannot afford lawyers to fight the already biased court system, and even less that make it simple and easy to understand. What I specialize in, there is almost no help save the custody forums where people are always asking what to do (which seeing what people are asking for the most happens to be one of the best ways to gauge whether your idea will make it, in my opinion).
It is my hope that the information that I have, found through research, trial and error, and dumb luck, can help other non custodial parents out there, and more importantly, the children involved in these hapless situations. I don’t have ANY competition at this time on the net, yet there is a big demand from forums, “ask question” type websites such as Yahoo answers, and a relatively large amount of search traffic.
13. I believe people visit Our Blog in order to find simple ways to live life together as families. We often post about our adventures in parenting, organic gardening, frugal living, cooking, and much more. While we are still developing our blog to find our exact niche, people like to read what’s going on with our family because we are very real.
14. [My Website] is a deals site that identifies products on Amazon.com that have had significant price drops. The way that it is unique from other deals sites is that it identifies deals more quickly so people can get in on the deals before the prices go back up.
15. I’d like to think My Blog is unique because I’m chronicling my financial journey from the beginning. I’m not writing about things that I’ve already established or have been doing for years. Everything I write about is as I learn it. I’m also very detailed with my net worth and financial goals. Currently, I’m writing a series about asset allocation, where I will go into detail about how I’m selecting the asset classes that will be a part of my investment portfolio.
16. I am a tax consultant and lawyer in Germany and I have some websites and My Blog concerning corporate governance, tax law and management. I know exactly where the most people fail and try to help them with my stories.
17. Although My Blog is fairly new, I am trying to earn passive income while holding down a full time job in order to stay at home with my kids in the future. I hope readers can appreciate my willingness to share details about my earnings as well as things that I am learning along the way. I think the challenges of a full time working mom “moonlighting” online in the evenings are of interest to other moms who also have to work.
18. You should [visit] My Website because people can easily learn what it takes to use Twitter to make money and build a businesses by reading the Make Money Using Twitter ebook.
19. Folks should visit My Blog because it’s about simple living for real people, not perfect people. In a world where everybody else is telling you to do and have more, I’m there to tell you to do less—and actually enjoy it.
20. People should visit My Website (custom monograms, wedding programs, logos, invitations, etc.) because I am 100% committed to giving my clients a positive experience from beginning to end by offering the most competitive prices online, communicating along every step of the way, and ensuring I know exactly what my clients want and need.
21. I subscribe to the belief that home security should be something that makes your life easier, rather than getting in your way; it should light your way. I provide solution oriented navigation and reviews. Whether my guests are trying to discourage burglars, keep nocturnal animals from their garden and livestock, or just looking for something pretty to help them find their keys at night. My Site intuitively navigates them to the right product.
22. Most PF blogs are aimed at married, high-earning people. My Blog is different because I have a small income and am very frugal.
23. I started a business with no money and no business know-how when I was 20. By the time I was 26, I had sold it for $1,100,000.00. Find out how I did it, and how you can grow your own business to over $1 million, at My Website .
24. Think back to any period in history and you should be able to come up with a long list of things you could make with the tools of the time, but which were not invented until much later. Once the idea is out there, it makes the invention inevitable. My Website is dedicated to the current equivalent of those inventions, those things that, when you see them, you kick yourself for not having thought of it yourself years ago. I aspire to provide the design inspiration for the rest of us to create the inventions of tomorrow.
25. Overall, I feel like what I can offer is a unique spin on regular portrait photography due to my first love of nature photography. I not only offer services to my local area in the form of inexpensive outdoor portraits, but I also cater to anyone and everyone in the form of nice handmade nature-themed greeting card sets and digital editing services based my growing experience in the digital darkroom. My Blog will serve as my regularly updated “gallery space” so to speak.
Notables
First of all, thanks to everyone who submitted their reasons why people should visit their website. All of them are very well done, but there are a few I'd like to mention specifically because they caught my eye—and used some techniques that I know about “how to stand out from the crowd.” (I've included the numbers in each example so you can scroll up and check out the description again and see for yourself).
A Story
Stories are a great way to catch someone's attention and stand out. A story becomes an easy way to make your website unique, and YOU become more personable in the process. A lot of times people will be so touched or attached to your story, they will help your cause and comment on your blog, purchase from your website, or even help promote it too.
Some examples of this from above are Sam from Fathers for Custody (#13), and Erica from Erica.biz (#23).
A Direct Comparison to Others
An easy way to stand out from the rest is to just say what your competitors do, and how you do it differently. Why people should visit your website instead becomes very clear.
See Andy Hough's Tight Fisted Miser (#22), Nick from DealChasr (#14), and Enrique from Corporate Barbarian (#10).
Short and Sweet
Sometimes just telling it like it is will do the trick.
For example, Bluntmoney (#5) & Jen Brister from The Green Ninja (#11).
Numbers
There are not many other techniques that can grab a reader's attention like using actual numbers. This is why many professional bloggers have posts titled “10 Ways to…” or “The 5 Top…” Also, it's why a lot of people, including myself, report our earnings.
Erica from Erica.biz (#23) obviously knows what she's doing, and her description reflects this. It definitely makes her stand out from the crowd and want us to find out what she does:
“I started a business with no money and no business know-how when I was 20. By the time I was 26, I had sold it for $1,100,000.00. Find out how I did it, and how you can grow your own business to over $1 million…”
Short and sweet…a story…numbers…very nice.
Conclusion
I'm sorry I didn't get to mention everyone's website as a notable, but honestly I was really impressed with all of the descriptions. Thanks again to everyone who submitted a comment for this exercise.
As you can see, it's very important to understand why your website is unique. The look of your website, what you say, and how you market it is all affected by this understanding. If you have time, take another read of the descriptions and see what stands out to you and why.
I might do another exercise like this in the future, so be ready for that.
Cheers everyone!
