For the blindfolded cheese salesmen - tip #1

Okay. You're a blindfolded cheese salesman and you can hear someone approaching. What's your approach?

The fact of the matter is, if this is the first time this person's visiting, you really don't have a hope in heck of guessing the motivation behind their visit. The best thing you can do is engage them in a way that they want to tell you why they've come, and then quickly and seemlessly slip into the message that's tailored for them. Keep it simple. Keep it focused.

A home page should immediately encapsulate who and what you are. But keep it simple. Keep it focused.

Let's take Joe, our cheese salesman as an example. In the one example, Joe didn't properly explain the range of what he had to offer and lost out on selling a cheese grater to Fred. Likewise, Joe's sales focused message made the opening conversation difficult when the approaching person was a stakeholder - not a potential customer. But when Joe went the other way and just started rambling about every product and service, he became a cacophony of information, and frankly a little annoying.

Simplify.

Focus.

"Hi, my name's Joe. I'm your one-stop source for all information and products related to cheese."

See how nicely that meets with most anyone who approaches? It invites questions. It invites dialogue.

"I've got a question about your second quarter sales."
"Ah, a shareholder, of course. Let me direct you to that info."

"I'm looking for a cheese grater."
"Yes sir, if you'll just follow me to kitchenware, we've got exactly what you need."

Of course, this is assuming that your navigation is equally focused and simplified. If Joe's directs you to kitchenware, the path to kitchenware had better be self-obvious and intuitive. A single click away. This is extremely important - mind you - and the reason to make room in your web development budget for usability testing. Better for Joe if he's known as the guy who doesn't sell cheese graters as opposed to being known as the guy who makes it so friggin' frustrating and impossible to buy a cheese grater from.