Comments on: Your home page is not a dumping ground

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:28:10 +0000

Exactly! Who wants to read a corporate mission statement on a home page? I know that I don’t..

Thanks for your comment, Jennifer!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:25:54 +0000

It should be fairly apparent by what you do say on the home page or about us page what your core values and philosophy is without ‘corporatising’ it, if that’s a word.

By: James Daniel

James Daniel — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:45:24 +0000

So glad to hear mission statements coming under fire. I’ve had an ongoing war with a local consultant who insists every website needs one – arguing that their very presence online is proof that they’re needed!

Mission statements suck, chiefly because they’re full of empty corporate drivel like “we adopt a system of excellence that transpires through quality and optimum performance”.

But even if the MS is user-friendly and added to the ‘About’ section, it’s still poisonous because (by definition) it has no WIIFM!

Far better to start your ‘About’ page with ‘how are we geared up to solve your problem?’ and gently turn the focus from you to the customer.

Another rant done:)

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:33:53 +0000

LOL! Great rant, Samantha, I love it (and thank you!)

By: Samantha Gluck

Samantha Gluck — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:21:34 +0000

Thank you for this. I don’t know why ANYONE serious about their small business, or a website of any kind for that matter, would trash up their home page with any of these no-nos.

I LOVE the mission statement point. I know of a self-indulgent mommy-blogger (nothing wrong with mommy-bloggers — it’s the self-indulgent part that reeks) who has her protracted mission statement on the home pages of TWO of her websites. She even went through one of those “blog critiques” with SIS Gals and they told her it was too long and didn’t belong there. Did she remove it? Ummm…no. Self-indulgent and lonely on her website.

People don’t care a rat’s hiney about mission statements. That is for YOU, not everyone else and their cousin — or for the handful of readers who get sick of seeing all of that mess on your home page.

End of rant.

Samantha

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:44:11 +0000

Yes, yes, yes! Thanks, Nick!

By: Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:58:46 +0000

This is a common mistake. Since the homepage is viewed as the most important page, too much stuff gets crammed in. It makes for a poor user experience. All pages of a website can rank in the search engines, not just the homepage. Spread the content to different pages and optimize each page for the most relevant keywords.