Simply the best website tool ever… did that title draw you in? Did it spark a moment of scarcity, or of fear that there’s something you should be doing on your website – which you’re not?
Those kind of headlines generally do that to me.
There is so much chatter on the webs that tells us of all the things we SHOULD be doing on our website.
I’ve seen people talking about using the right website builder, that you have to be on Google business, that you’re getting it all wrong if you’re not up to your eyeballs in SEO, that you absolutely definitely certainly have to have a YouTube video on your homepage.
What a load. of. rot.
As with so many things when it comes to running your own business, there are a million and one different ways of doing things… and what works for you might not suit somebody else. There isn’t one right way of doing things with a website – just a whole load of possible solutions!
But I suppose I do have a suggestion for the best tool you can use to guide you in everything you do on your website…
It’s you.
Yep, you right there. You and that big ‘ol heart of yours 💖
Websites are meant to be used by people. By ordinary humans… like us.
You already hold a wealth of insight into whether a tool or practice is going to work for you on your website, simply because you’re human!
All you need to do is ask yourself:
How do I feel about this when I come across it on other people’s websites?
It’s a simple question, but a HUGELY useful one, and I use it all the time on my own websites.
Here’s an example:
There was (/still is) a craze on website for having invasive full-screen popups that take over the whole page. There was a lot of talk at one time about how everyone should be using them. But I don’t like them. Whenever I come across them on other people’s websites, it irritates me, and if I have to deal with too many different popups on one site, I’ll leave, regardless of whether I got what I came for or not. I never put them on my own website, despite being told I ‘should’ use them. I figured that if I find them annoying, then why wouldn’t other people?
I used my own experience and opinion to guide what I did on my own website.
And you know what? Google decided that those more invasive full-screen popups actually deplete the customer experience, and they’ve now started penalising people for them.
It’s ALWAYS worth trusting yourself, and your own experience and instincts.
If there’s things that annoy you online – whatever they are – you don’t have to do them yourself. The likelihood is that your customers – who are probably very similar to you in values – will enjoy, and not enjoy the same things as you.
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