Your homepage headline is wrong (fix it in 1 minute)

Here is the number one thing that nine out of 10 websites are cocking up today and you're going to fix it in about 1 minute. So, I'm seeing this thing every bloody week at the minute. A business owner or a marketing manager spends a small fortune on a new website standard. It's got lovely fonts. It's got fancy animations.

And it's got buttery smooth content. And yet, you're sat there scrolling the homepage and scrolling. And 15 seconds in, you still have no idea what this business actually does for a living. And then at the top of the homepage, it says something like, "We're passionate about putting our customers at the center of everything that we do." That's a little bit like walking into a shop that has no signs, no prices, and someone behind the counter says to you, "We provide bespoke solutions. Would you like to buy one?" Okay.

Bespoke solutions for what exactly? Getting this wrong isn't anything to do with branding. It's a serious money issue because for business owners, if you get this thing wrong, it will mean that your website will provide fewer inquiries, more tire kickers, and sales calls that start with 10 minutes of explaining before you even actually get to the thing that you want to do. And then for marketing managers, if you don't get this thing right, it means that you're going to have website traffic that doesn't convert. It means that you're going to get marketing reports that look fine on paper, but they don't actually mean anything.

and someone upstairs in the seauite asking why is this brand new website just not working. The worst part about it though is the site usually looks really bloody good which is why this mistake keeps happening. So yes, let's get to the real problem. Your homepage needs to tell people exactly what you do clearly and obviously. And here's the thing people always forget when it comes to websites.

Repeat after me all together now. Websites are not books. They're not they're not books. They're not books. You don't read a website like you read a book from beginning to end.

In fact, people don't read websites at all. They actually just scan them. They land on it. They look at a few headings and maybe a couple of the sentences and in about 3 to 5 seconds, they've already decided, am I in the right place? And is this even for me?

They're not admiring your brand values and they're not watching your animations. In fact, they don't give a single if customers are at the heart of everything that you do. If they can't actually work out what it is that you actually do, they've already decided whether they're going to stay or saw off. It's as simple as that. And let's face it, most homepages start with absolute waffle.

Absolute bloody tripe. stuff like helping businesses grow or innovative solutions for modern brands or empowering success through the use of strategy. My personal favorite. It all sounds impressive, but it means absolutely not. These headlines are written to sound clever in a meeting, not to help a potential customer decide what they need to do next.

Remember this one rule, clear beats clever every single time. And let's face it, your homepage isn't your life story. It's not your Marvel origin story, and it's definitely not a place to gloat about how award-winning you are. Your homepage's job is dead simple. It's there to tell the right person that they're in the right place.

That's it. And if that doesn't happen immediately, your case studies don't matter, your testimonials don't matter, and your fancy design that you paid £30,000 for definitely doesn't matter because no one will stick around long enough to admire it. So, here is the actual one minute fix. Right at the top of your homepage, write one sentence that says the following. What you do, who is it for?

And if you can, what they get out of it. No metaphors, no buzzwords, no marketing guff. Here's a template you can pinch to do exactly that. We are I what you do that the result it achieves. It sounds something like this.

We build straightforward websites that turn visitors into customers. or I'm an accountant that will help you finally save money. I'm the thing that the result it achieves. Neither of them are poetic and neither of them are clever and neither of them are using jargon. They use simple words that allow a customer to immediately opt in or opt out.

But let's roll a little bit back here with some even simpler examples than those ones. Sometimes you don't even need to say what I said in those ones. For a plumber, you might want to just say, "We fix leaks fast across Yorkshire." For a designer, you might want to say something like, "We help local brands look professional online." For a B2B company, you might want to say something like, "Simple software for teams who are sick of spreadsheets." And let's throw a marketing agency example in there as well. Lead generation for B2B firms that need a steady pipeline. None of these are fancy.

All of them are really obvious. And obviously, obvious is good. So, you've got the one minute template. Now, let me talk about why people avoid doing this. This right here is about the point where people start getting twitchy because someone always says, "Well, isn't that a bit basic?

Or can we make it sound a bit more premium? I don't know why I put this voice on every time I do this." Or, "Shouldn't we elevate the language?" That's again my favorite. And no, we shouldn't elevate the language because you'll notice that none of those examples are even focusing on benefits right now. They're just super simple because that's where things start to get complicated and that's where a lot of marketing people will advise you to sell the sizzle and not the sausage, the benefits and not the features. But it gets pretty tricky when we start talking about benefits because that's how we get to generic city again on your website.

The most important thing that people miss is just saying a simple thing right at the top of the homepage and it's what do you do? No fancy way. So before you start getting fancy, get to this point first. Simple, plain words that says exactly what you do. To illustrate this exact issue, I just randomly Googled two websites to see if they're doing exactly the thing I'm telling you not to do.

This first example is a law firm in Manchester and its headline is this thing. We know that your business and personal interests can reach across the world and so we do too. absolutely nothing about lawyering or solicitoring. Completely generic headline. Here's a private dentist in London.

Bear in mind, this is the thing that it says right at the top of the homepage. Our skilled international team is here 7 days a week, combining expert care with a warm and patient first experience. That says nothing. Both of them say nothing because they've fallen down the trap that I've just told you to avoid, which is don't talk about benefits. just simply say what you do right at the top of the homepage because honestly your customers don't reward subtlety and they definitely don't reward cleverness.

That's if they even understand what clever is in this instance. If they have to think about what you do, they just won't think about it. They'll just click back and go to another website that's clearer. Your customers are busy. Your customers are distracted and they don't owe you anything.

They don't owe you attention. So, make it as simple as possible for your customer to understand by giving them a simple statement right at the top of the homepage. Changing this one sentence at the top of your homepage to kind of a clear statement of intent will change everything about your website because you'll get better inquiries. You'll have fewer rubbish leads. You'll have shorter sales calls and you'll have to do less explaining and less friction all around when you're trying to sell to somebody.

Because by the time someone has filled the form in on your website, they already get what you do. You don't have to explain it to them. They've already opted in. They know you're the right person for the job and they're ready to buy right now. And all of a sudden, your website stops being a brocher and starts becoming more of a sales tool, which is what we're looking to achieve.

Your website should be a sales tool, not just a pretty picture. So, here's what I want you to do. Go to your homepage right now. Ignore everything except the headline, the first sentence of your website, the big bold sentence, and ask yourself this. If I landed here knowing nothing, would I know what this business does in 3 seconds?

If the answer's no, you need to go and fix it. Cut the fluff. Say the obvious thing. Be clear, not clever. Honestly, it's one of the quickest wins you're ever going to get from your website, and it's going to take you about a minute to fix it, even though you've just watched a 12-minute video about how to fix it.

I'm sorry. I am. I'm sorry. If you found this video useful, I'm planning on doing another video tearing down real business homepages. So, let me know in the comments if you think you'll find that interesting.

And trust me, there'll be no sugar coating in that video about what I think's wrong with them. But before we get to that video, start here. One sentence right at the top. Tell people what you do. Done.

And if after watching this video, you'd still like to sort out the rest of your website, I'd recommend watching this video. 22 years of brutally honest website advice. Go click it. I'll wait.