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The Difference between the services you provide and the needs of a customer

by Nate Hoffelder

After a decade of running The Digital Reader, Nate is a veteran web publisher with experience in design, maintenance, recovery, and troubleshooting. What little he doesn't know, he can learn.

January 30, 2018

Did you know that all business websites have something in common with persuasive arguments?

It doesn’t matter whether the sites are corporate, freelancer, or for a partnership, they all share a trait with persuasive arguments.

The key to a persuasive argument is to first understand the audience’s viewpoint so you can present the argument that convinces the audience to agree with the speaker, while the key to a successful business website is to understanding the needs of the client so you can explain how the business can help the client.

That might sound like an obvious and simple detail, but many persuasive arguments fall flat because the speaker doesn’t understand the audience and instead presents an argument that convinces the speaker but leaves the audience unmoved.

Business websites have a similar problem when they explain what the business can do when the site should actually be explaining how the business fills the needs of a potential client.

Let’s take lawyers as an example.

A poorly made website for a lawyer would explain that the lawyer deposes witnesses, researches legal precedents, and files motions.

This is all true but clients won’t care because what the clients need are things like getting compensated by the other driver’s insurance company, making a speeding ticket go away, being defended in a civil suit, and so on.

Or, consider the website for an orthodontist.If you look at what an orthodontist does, you see them attaching braces, making dentures, taking molds of people’s mouths, and conducting surgery. Those are all useful and helpful activities, but they aren’t what the patients need.

No, an orthodontist’s patients are looking for a better smile, and that is what the orthodontist’s website should say.

This kind of miscommunication is often the point where you lose that potential client because the client thinks the business doesn’t fill one of the client’s needs, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I understand the difference between a business’s activities and the needs of their clients.

Contact me if you would like to learn more.

Hi, I'm Nate.

I build and fix websites for authors, and I am also a tech VA. I can build you a website that looks great and turns visitors into fans, and I can also fix your tech when it breaks. Let me fight with tech support so you don’t have to.

My blog has everything you need to know about websites and online services. Don’t see what you need. or want personalized help? Reach out.

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1 Comment

  1. Sheryl Ann

    I’m interested in what you have to say about website creation.
    You at one point had suggested WordPress to me, given I don’t have money.
    However, if I use the FREE WordPress, then the domain address will not look professional.
    I would have to pay the $10/mo charged at yearly $120 and it doesn’t say if that is in American dollars or ? dollars and I could not find anyone to on their website to ask about that.
    When I get to do a website, it will be not just for Books. Mine will also offer what I can do in Public Speaking, Singing and Video/Filmmaking. Thus, would one of your Templates still work for me?

    Reply

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