The fuseStarter i5 Principle is a 5-part series where we will explore and describe our trademarked website development principles.
INTRODUCTION
As we described last time, what sets us at fuseStarter apart from others is that we are technicians and artists. Granted, it’s an odd mix, and according to many personality testing methods, being technical and creative are an exceptional case.
So, we are the exception.
We’ve crafted, through ongoing introspection and evaluation, a way to have creative freedom within a structure. This enables us to get things done efficiently and effectively. It maximizes our creative impact.
This structure we call our “i5 principle.” It’s our website design methodology. The i5 distills down to 5-points what we know to be key to delivering a great website.
In this 5-part blog series, we will cover these principles. The second is IMPRESS.
i2: IMPRESS – defn: make to feel admiration and respect; set an idea.
A great website will leave an impression of quality and excellence in the visitor’s mind. It will visually stimulate and convey concepts and ideas that are quickly digested and easily understood.
Now that we’ve provided our website visitor with just the right information in the right amount (see i1 – INFORM), we need to take it to the next level and IMPRESS them.
Show Me What You Got
Your visitors are here for a reason or purpose. They have a desire (“needs” are subsets of desires) they wish to fulfill. They may know exactly what it is, or they may only have a fuzzy feeling about it.
But they know they want something.
Since they are visiting with you, draw them into admiring your products or services. How you describe and pitch your offerings needs to take into account the fact that the visitor may know exactly what they desire or may not yet have that desire crystalized.
The goal is to move them towards “crystallization.”
Give Me Your Money
When you boil it all down, the bottom line is this… you’re asking the visitor to give you their money! You want their money, and in exchange, they want something from you.
But there is more to it than that.
You may have the coolest product or service around, but you need to have one other MAJOR qualification to get someone to give you their hard-earned moola.
They need to TRUST you.
Impress them in a way that communicates that you are not “just OK.” You need to show that you are top-notch, top of your game. You need to be an expert.
You need to be LEGIT.
Legitimacy and trust are the key factors that will open the doors to a visitor becoming a customer or client. Everyone wants to know (or at least “feel”) that their decision to work with you or purchase from you was the BEST choice, not just an “OK” one.
Rarely does AT&T have good commercials, but their latest series, “Just OK is not OK” is excellent and conveys what I’m talking about.
All this adds up to RESPECT. No one likes to deal with people or organizations we don’t respect. No respect equals NO DEAL.
Plant a Seed
When you are IMPRESSING the visitor, you are planting several seeds, or ideas, in their thoughts and feelings (both reason and emotion drive our purchasing decisions).
First, we discussed what you are offering in exchange for their money. Your products/services must resonate. That’s a seed.
Next, we explored RESPECT and how it’s attained through trust, legitimacy, and expertise. That’s a seed.
Once those seeds are planted, they will need light, water, and food to grow. You will be providing that through your website and additional marketing impressions and engagements (campaigns). In a future series, we will discuss what we call our 4C’s methodology (Conscious, Consider, Convert, Clients).
Plant those seeds – then grow and foster them!
Why Me Versus the Other Guy?
In the end, it’s a competition. You are convincing the visitor to choose you versus the other guy. Whoever can better INFORM and now IMPRESS is on their way to winning the customer.
If you aren’t currently impressing visitors to your website, call us! You are wasting your website and driving customers away. We can help you fix that!
Cleaning Up the Web, One Site at a Time
We’d love to help you create a website that IMPRESSES! We can help you convey quality, excellence, legitimacy, expertise, trust, and respect. We can teach you how to plant and grow those seeds!
Our goal is to clean up the web, one site at a time.
Is your website one of the greats, or one that needs to be “cleaned up?“
We are fast, affordable, and easy to work with. Give as a call and let’s see how we can help you out!