Paul,
I hope that you didn't think I was trying to be nasty of anything like that. That wasn't my intention. Rather, I think that the concept of websites are largely misjudged as to their effectiveness as a business tool.
I figure this stems from the DOTCOM age (before the bust) when businesses felt it was crucial to have a website, but without proper planning as to their actual function.
What happened previously is that websites were designed by techies. In other words, the people that understood machine code and programming language. This was the very worst thing that could have happened as websites ended up being designed from a technical perspective instead of the consumers perspective.
Fortunately this has changed a lot as marketing spend now needs to account for itself where ever it is used - websites included.
Take this Forum as an example. It works for the follwoing reasons. It is highly niched and knows EXACTLY who it wants to reach. It has very little if any 'padding ' to try make it look special - instead you log on and get straight to the core of its existence. The 'padding' it uses is simply the interaction between peoplethat share several issues in common - hence its success.
You alsa notice there is no fancy 'flash' type movies - you know the kind when you get to a new website and it takes for ever to load and has a clickable area that says "skip intro" - guess how many people hit that button?
The web is primarily driven by its ability to make RELEVANT info instantly available and people have come to expect exactly that from it. If a website doesn't do exactly that rightaway, people will simply use the many search tools available and surf on elseswhere.
Here's an idea for you - seeing as you clearly have an interest in websites - so make it work for you (providing your target market place is actually web literate otherwise its a waste of time)
Why not build a new website and this time DON'T make the focus on healthy carpet cleaning. Instead, make it a depiction of the area you live in. Add human interest stories etc AND tag on the carpet cleaning onto that.
Just a thought and you must decide whether it fits in with your style or not before you attempt it.
Your web readers may not be visiting you for the following reasons: (they may or may not be relevant to your website)
a) They can't find your website or don't know about its existence.
b) You have rubbish content for them to read.
c) If they do find you, they don't immediately think that what you offer is of any importance to them.
d) They may like what they find but give up becaue navigation is too difficult to work out.
e) Your content may look like sales patter instead of information that empowers them - after all - people hate being sold to, but love buying instead.
f) Your website may be too general in its provision of content - ie: you don't appear to be a specialist with specific solutions for them.
The key here is to think brochure to enable them to ASK for more info and to have a clear idea of EXACTLY who it is that you aim the website at.
