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Home Page Design and the Blindfolded Cheese Salesman

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If a website is a discussion between an organization and its customers and stakeholders, then the homepage should serve as the introduction. A quick "Hi, how are you doing? My name's Joe and I'm a cheese salesman."

The problem is that this introduction is made blindfolded. Someone approaches, but you have no idea who they are or why they've arrived until after the conversation has begun. They could be your most valued customer, a prospective client, your most hated enemy or your sweet old mother. Until the conversation begins the only thing that you know is someone is standing there.

So what's a blindfolded cheese salesman to do?

The Problem

hark - someone approaches the blindfolded cheeseman

For the small business owner or web site catering to a very specific niche, the blindfold is not a problem. You know that if someone approaches they are there for something specific and simply want to know if you're the one to deliver it.

"Hi, my name's Joe and I'm a cheese salesman."

"Hey, that's great. I'm thinking of buying some Havarti."

"Oh, wonderful. We've an excellent Havartti assortment. Let me show you..."

But as the range of products and services grow, or you're suddenly confronted with more than one audience, the blindfold becomes an ever increasing hinderence. At best you're using a pitch that likely doesn't speak to the visitor. At worst you've sent them away thinking you don't offer what they want.

Some try to compensate for the blindfold by blindly crying out everything and anything they have to offer - but that soon becomes a cacophony of info that would rival the busiest of street markets.

"Joe here - I've got havartti, gouda, chedder all kinds of cheeses! I have cheese plates, cheese knives and graters of every shape and size! Books about cheese! Want to know what wine goes with what cheese - we've got the answers! Listen up to Joe's cheese punditry! Wanna hear about cheese? Listen to the Joe's Cheese Podcast. All cheese all the time. Cheese news. We've got late breaking cheese news! Attention members of the cheese of the month club. New cheese available. Wanna join the cheese of the month club. Listen up for details..."

There's got to be a better way for our blindfolded cheese salesman to conduct business.

New Link List Module

Seth's Blog: No good home pages?: Seth's blog post which set me off on the plight of the blindfolded cheese salesman.
Tragic's Rants & Raves: Home Page Design and the Blindfolded Cheese Salesman: The introduction to the problem
Tip #1: Keep it simple. Keep it focused.
Tip #2: A sample platter of cheese is all the intro a cheese salesman needs. Put your best up front because nothing speaks better for your product than your product.
Tip #3: Hang a cowbell round their neck.

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Attributions

props where props are due

Cheese photo by Christian Bauer used under Creative Commons license.

by TragicLad

TragicLad

Rob Clark (aka TragicLad) is a storyteller and artist with an affinity towards webdesign. When he's not spinning a tale of his own, he's putting his skills... more »

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