What do you think is worse, being rejected or being ignored?
Personally, I’d take rejection over being ignored any day of the week. Because even if someone says “no”, at least they’ve acknowledged my existence.
And sometimes, a “no” just means “not yet”, so you can simply try again later (as long as you’re not an asshole about it).
This is true in business situations, romantic situations, social situations and pretty much any other situation that you can think of.
But when you’re being ignored, you can’t do jack shit. You don’t even get a second chance because you never got an opportunity to step up to the plate to begin with.
And so you feel like a total failure, empty and alone. How do I know? I’ve been there, and so has Martin. And we want to make sure you don’t end up feeling the same way.
That’s why today, I’m going to reveal the 6 reasons why no one could care less about your website, and how to turn it all around.
Let us begin with the most important one.
Reason 1: Trying to close at the first sight
Listen, if you’re out at a bar and see a lady (or a dude) that you find attractive, what would happen if you rolled up to them and said “hi, would you like to marry me?”
Chances are, you wouldn’t get very far. So when someone stumbles upon your website, why would you ask them to give you money before they know, like or trust you?
Makes no goddamn sense… and yet, I see it so often.
Also, consider this fun fact: About 20 years ago, the average number of product exposures which were needed to turn a prospect into a buyer was about five. This means if they saw your product ad on TV around five times, they’d buy from you.
But in today’s day an age? That number has ballooned to around 10 to 15 exposures. Think about that for a second. Then think about the way you’ve set up your business. Closing on the first meeting didn’t work when Vanilla Ice was hot shit… so why would it work now?
Reason 2: Slow load times/not getting to the point
Ever asked someone what they do for a living, and all you got in return was endless rambling about some nonsensical jargon that made you wish you never opened your mouth in the first place?
Yeah, not fun.
Or how about trying to visit a website that just ends up loading, and loading, and loading? I don’t know about you, but unless an article promises to give me the cure for cancer, I’m not waiting longer than 5 seconds for anything.
As it turns out, that’s generally the wait threshold of most online visitors these days. So be sure your site respects the 5 second rule. If you go to our homepage, you’ll know the following information within 3 seconds :
- That we’re a podcast
- That we provide business tips
- That we are hustlers
Pro Tip: If you run a website that’s powered by WordPress (such as ours), installing a cache plug-in is a good idea. Also, hosting your site on quality servers might be a tad bit more expensive, but it’s totally worth it. If you have a “web guy” or your hosting company has good customer service (it should), call them up and don’t hesitate to ask how you can speed up your site. There are many ways to do so. For more information on how caching works, go here.
Reason 3: Intrusive ads and other annoying “features”
If I land on your website, and all of a sudden a video starts playing that I never asked to be played, I would very much like to punch you in the throat. (I’m looking at you, CNET!)
Also, there is nothing worse than having to click the “X” button 3 times on 3 different ads when I’m trying to read an important piece of literature such as: 5 Reasons Why Your Cat Won’t Leave You The Fuck Alone While You’re Trying To Get Some Work Done.
The good news is that I ain’t about that life anymore. You see, I discovered this plug-in called AdBlock Plus. Every internet user on the planet should have this installed; shit will change your life!
Site Note: You might have experienced a pop-up on this very article, and are now thinking that we are hypocrites. But don’t forget the subtle difference here. That was “one” pop-up. As in, it’s the only one you’ll ever see. And if you actually took the time to read what we were giving away, you probably realized it was legit. Which means you subscribed, and are now part of the #HustleNation. So welcome aboard – we’ll treat you right. This also brings us to the next reason why no one cares about your business…
Reason 4: Having a weak-ass lead magnet
“What’s a lead magnet?” you ask. It’s basically something of value that you giveaway in exchange for a person’s contact information; 99% of the time this will be an email address, but it can also be a phone number or physical address.
The perceived value of your lead magnet will determine how much info you can demand from your prospect. For example, if you would like the cellphone numbers of both Martin and I, you better be offering us the world, and swearing on your mother’s life that you’ll keep our information confidential, and locked inside of a vault… or it’s not happening.
The concept of the lead-magnet is nothing new. The problem is, most of the magnets out there are weak-sauce. They’re about as attractive as a girl who’s ass is 3 sizes too big for her yoga pants.
Listen to me carefully: nobody is going to fall for your “one weird trick” anymore, and nor do people want to subscribe to your “newsletter”. I mean seriously, how is this still a thing? Who wakes up in the morning and is like, “Yes! I can’t wait to join some newsletters today!”
Hint: NO ONE! People want to join communities, tribes and movements. They want to be led, inspired and motivated. Or they want you to show them how to solve their problems and get results. Yet here you are, asking them to join some generic email list that will most likely spam them day in and day out.
If you’ve already joined the #HustleNation, then you know we don’t bombard you with bullshit. The only time we send out emails is if we have a new episode, a new article, or something else of value and relevance to share. What we want more than your money is your loyalty. And the only way to get that is to earn it, am I right?
Thought so. Now let’s get practical for a second so you can really understand what I’m talking about.
Example of a lead-magnet that’s “weak”: Enter your email address and I’ll send you more information about our company and what we do.
Example of a lead-magnet that’s “strong”: Enter your email address you’ll receive 5 tips that will help you double your sales in the next 30 days!
Reason 5: Terrible design and/or layout
If your website uses fonts that are too small, too washed out, then you deserve to be ignored.
If you have a business card that doesn’t tell me what you can do for me in five seconds or less, then you deserve to be ignored.
If your website makes things too complicated, or I can’t find the information I’m looking for, then you deserve to be ignored.
See what I’m getting at? Design matters. In fact, based on marketing research that I read a few years ago, design matters more than the content itself.
But is this a surprise to any of us? Humans are shallow creatures, so instead of starting some hashtag like #SayNoToWebsiteShaming, just make your shit look pretty!
This is not to say that content is completely irrelevant. You wouldn’t have read this far along if I didn’t provide you with value. Which brings me to…
Reason 6: Having weak-ass content
Look, I’m gonna be brutally honest with you about something: You can take our advice in reason #4 to heart, and put forth the most tantalizing lead-magnet in the world, but it won’t mean shit if you don’t have the content to back it up.
When we started DYEH, we didn’t have a “success kit” to give away (shocking, I know). All we had to offer was great content and a promise – a promise that we’ll keep pumping out the goods and keep you in the loop while doing so.
That’s right – we started with a glorified newsletter! Shame on us.
But everyone has to start somewhere.
However, the #HustleNation still grew because, as promised, we kept pumping out sheer awesomeness! We are still a podcast first, and our audience continues to grow month over month.
So, what does it really mean to have great content, and how should you start creating it?
Well, I’d suggest that you don’t get fancy at first. If you’ve been reading our articles, you’ve probably noticed that both Martin and I have very distinct writing styles. We could remove our names from our work tomorrow, and it wouldn’t make a difference. Just one paragraph in, and you’d most likely be able to tell who wrote it.
In other words, we as writers have found “our voice.”
But this doesn’t happen overnight. Nor does it happen over the span of a few months. Finding your voice takes years. And years. And maybe a few more years on top of that.
So instead of spending years trying to find your voice, I suggest spending your time trying to solve problems.
Find an issue which has become a major pain in the ass for everyone in your marketplace. There has to be something. There always is. Once you find it, show everyone how to relive their asses of said pain, and do it for free. (I’m not kidding.)
The medium doesn’t matter – write about it, talk about it or put yourself in front of a camera (assuming you have the face for one), and show us.
Once you do that, find another problem, and solve that too.
Keep this cycle of identifying and solving problems going.
That’s how you create a library of “great” content. And remember: it doesn’t have to be well written, or well produced. Because when someone finds a piece of content that finally solves their problem, they will automatically associate it with greatness.
Grant Cardone is famous for this. The very first edition of his book, Sell or Be Sold, was a rushed weekend project. After launching it, he had a reader send him an enormous email outlining every page which had a spelling or grammatical mistake.
His response? “It’s a best seller bitch! I never said it was the best written”
And you know what? He’s right. It’s not some literary masterpiece, but it’s still an absolute must-read for all entrepreneurs.
How does that work? Because the core message is powerful and valuable.
Fortunately, the book has been re-released with the help of a publisher so all the “bugs” have been resolved. You should consider picking up a copy.
Making People Care About Your Site: The 30 Second Fix
While there are plenty more reasons why you website might go ignored, they’re insignificant when compared to the six we just talked about. You can think of them as the heavy hitters.
So, how do you know which ones your website suffer from?
In psychology, there’s a type of bias called the “Dunning-Kruger Effect.” Here’s the official description: “The tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability.”
And all humans are victim to this effect to some degree. It’s a fancy way of saying that you’re probably biased towards your own website, and believe it’s better than it probably is.
That’s where we come in. You can hit us up to do a complete audit of your website. We will record our first impressions live, while giving you feedback on how to improve it so you can get lower bounce raters, increase conversions and boost sales!
The cost for all of this? Zero!
Here’s how to get started:
- Step 1: Become part of the #HustleNation and grab our success kit (it’s Free). Click Here to join.
- Step 2: Head over to your inbox and look for our intro email.
- Step 3: Reply to the email with your website URL along with a one or two sentence description of what your site is about and what your goals are. Please keep this brief.
We’ll get back to you within 3-5 business days with a complete game plan. Then it’s just a matter of applying our suggestions and kicking ass!
If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.
Until next time, stay humble and keep hustling.
