Getting found on Google
Who You're Talking To, Not Just What You Sell
Walk away knowing who's walking through your door today, with a homepage written for that person, not just anyone.
You describe your hair salon, your dental practice, your bike shop. You write what you do, what it costs, how to book. And still, when you see the finished website, something feels off: the copy reads like a brochure for nobody in particular. It talks about "our services" and "guaranteed quality" and could be the website for any business in the same trade, in any city in the country.
The problem isn't the service you described. It's that you never said who it's for. A hair salon that cuts hair for executives squeezing in an appointment before a meeting doesn't write the same way as one doing bold color for teenagers on a Saturday afternoon. The service might be similar. The customer isn't.
If you don't choose who you're talking to, the default copy talks to no one, and neither does the design.
Choose who you're talking to, not who you won't turn away
Many businesses avoid defining a target customer because they're afraid of closing doors. They think: "if I say this is for executives, students won't come." But the opposite happens: copy that doesn't speak to anyone in particular doesn't attract anyone in particular either. It convinces everyone a little less than speaking clearly to a few would.
Defining your target customer isn't turning away everyone else. It's deciding the tone, the photos, and the words that match most of who buys from you today. Everyone else can still buy; they're just not who you're aiming the conversation at.
- Haircut, color, highlights, hair treatment
- Neutral tone, could fit any salon in town
- Design uses generic salon stock photos
- A quick cut between meetings, no appointment needed after six
- Direct tone, using the words that customer actually uses: schedule, rushed, results
- Design shows the real shop and the evening hours
Which one to pick: Speak to the customer once you already know who's walking through your door most today. Only describe the service in general terms at the very start, when you truly have no customers yet and need to test with a few different kinds of people at once, and switch the copy as soon as you see who responds.
How it shows up in the design, not just the copy
The target customer changes more than the words. It changes which photo goes first: the road cyclist wants to see the high-end bike on the counter; the commuter wants to see the hours and the door open at eight. It changes the order of the page: for someone in a hurry, price and hours go up top; for someone deciding at their own pace, the explanation comes first and the price after.
It also changes the color and the type, even though that seems like a small thing. A business aimed at teenagers can handle more contrast and more motion in the design. A business aimed at someone signing a contract for a home remodel needs to read as serious before it reads as original. We covered the first screen itself in What Your Website Needs to Say on Day One; what has to happen before you write it is knowing who you're showing it to.
- 1Look at who pays today
Not who you'd like to sell to, but who's already walking in the door or calling most often this week. - 2Note how much of a hurry they're in
Do they decide in a minute or think it over for a week? That decides whether the price goes at the top of the page or at the end, after the explanation. - 3Use their words, not yours
If your customers say "I hate calling," your website gets a book-without-calling button. If they say "I never know what this is going to cost me," the price goes in the first section. - 4Write the homepage just for them
One line, one price or one time slot, one photo. All of it aimed at that specific person, not "whoever needs it."
Yodai builds the site from what you tell it, with a store, bookings or quote requests depending on what you do. See what the website for your business looks like.
- You know who's actually walking through your door today, not who you'd like to sell to
- Your homepage has a line written for that customer, not a line that fits anyone
- The price, the photo, and the page order are decided by their hurry and the way they talk
- Everyone else can still buy from you; you just won't be speaking to them first
Tell us what you do and your site is live this afternoon
Say it in one line, the way you would say it to a customer, and it goes live. Free, no card needed.
Build my site freeIf you run a barbershop or a salon, see a barbershop website with online booking.
