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It always amuses me when solopreneurs use "we" instead of "I". And when one person is referred to as a team. Don't they know that faceless big business, that only values you for how much money you can spend, is less appealing than the human touch?

Really good points in here. I learned some brutal lessons about this early in my career

to be fair, I DID get a 1000+ unit for a big tech company. But I AM still a small business, (I'm happily retired and it's my hobby so i dont want to grow it)

In my hometown way back in the day, a local bank wanted, and built, branches that "didn't look like banks." They were widely reviled by the architectural community. But a bank should look like a bank: like, as an article in the local paper said, "a solid financial institution."

This is a place we (as a team) have struggled. Great read, thanks for sharing

I'm just a girl trying to pay off debt with sparkly, fun products. I give out glow in the dark butterfly stickers as business cards. It's meant to be word of mouth, small, fun. LustreNestHQ.com

I just went out of my way to buy an appliance from a local store instead of a big box. Their website is nothing fancy, but it gives a history of the company (since 1962), their actual values and community ties, and their prices are just as good as the big boys. Bonus: very helpful phone service.

Jason: write me a headline (max 5 words) about your brand.

I don't have to, because 100% of our target market already knows our brand. (And we have 200,000 paying customers.) But if you really want that, AI can easily do that without even searching the web. 😄

No, Jason. They have HEARD of your brand but by no means know it. And since you won't define it, let's check back in a year or two on the bill of health.

I think I stumbled upon this post a long time ago, and it inspired some, "Our websites don't suck." mailers that were highly effective. Thank you, 18 years too late I guess? haha

Great read. I once said something similar too

So many times I come across corporate websites and I'm left wondering, what exactly do these people do?

Been in my space for 10 years now. Not looking to grow big and looking to continue working from home doing what I do best. Freedom.

If someone uses the term “deliverables,” my eyes roll so hard they fall out and onto the ground.

So true. I've been telling my clients that for the last 15 years. One small business increased booking calls by 20% simply by replace "contact us" with "Call John" on their website. People like dealing with small businesses

I’m so used to it being labelled “Contacts” or “Contact Us” that “Call John” almost makes me laugh because it sounds weirdly ominous.

Thanks, have been looking for this for a while. Just right!

IMHO, most stock photos involving people are cringy. In microseconds, customers will know that those people don't work in your office. If you don't have a staff big enough to get a decent photo, use something else.

Kind of like AI photos. If you cared enough only to type a few words into a prompt, why do I think you’re going to care more about other things? You did the whole Jurassic Park thing and want me to trust your dinosaur park.

I do graphic design work and the one thing I’ve always ran into is “this person is no longer with the company, can we use a stock photo?” I have a personal game with myself to spot the same re-hashed stock photos across multiple different companies.