Episode Summary
Building a website can feel overwhelming. In this episode of Tech Qualified, Erin Ham, Account Director at Marketers in Demand, shares a clear roadmap for website strategy. She joins host Baylee Gunnell to discuss why every project must start with a single, defined goal. This foundation guides all future decisions, from content planning to tech stack integration.
Erin highlights common pitfalls, including overloaded menus and confusing jargon. She recommends a “five-second test” to ensure visitors immediately understand how you can help them. This means shifting from “selfish content” about your company to customer-centric messaging that solves a problem. It’s about focusing on what the user gets, not just what you do.
The discussion also covers practical tactics for improving an existing site. Erin suggests talking to your sales team to learn customer pain points and using tools like heat maps for user insights. The key takeaway is to build a simple, strategic path that guides users and helps them succeed.
Erin Ham
Account Director
Noteworthy: A seasoned professional who guides clients through the common pitfalls of website strategy.
Key Insights
Escape the Selfish Content Trap by Focusing on the Customer
Many companies fall into the trap of creating “selfish content” that focuses only on themselves. This looks like endless pages about company history or services framed with “we do” statements. A successful website strategy flips the script. Instead of saying, “We have 24/7 support,” it says, “You’ll get expert help anytime you need it.” This simple shift from “we” to “you” reframes your message around the customer’s benefit. It builds a personal connection and moves away from an aggressive sales pitch that audiences ignore. To achieve this, you must empathize with your customers. Find out what they want to hear and how you can help solve their problems. This customer-first approach is fundamental to effective marketing and turns your website into a tool that serves the user, not just your ego.
Your Website Must Pass the Five-Second Test
You have about five seconds to capture a new visitor’s attention. If they cannot immediately understand what your company does and how it helps them, they will leave. This is the “five-second test,” and it is a critical measure of your website’s clarity. Many sites fail this test because their messaging is filled with jargon and buzzwords. They try to sound like experts but end up confusing their audience. To pass the test, your headline and initial content must be direct and benefit-oriented. A simple way to check your performance is to ask someone unfamiliar with your business to look at your homepage for five seconds and summarize what you do. If they can’t, you need to go back to the drawing board and simplify your message.
Simplify Your Website to Eliminate User Decision Fatigue
A common website mistake is overloading the navigation menu and pages with too many options. Trying to show everything you can do at once leads to “decision fatigue.” When presented with 20 different links, a user often feels overwhelmed and chooses to do nothing at all. A strategic website does the opposite. It provides a clear, simple path for the user to follow. This begins with defining one main objective for your site. Do you want visitors to book a demo, contact sales, or download a resource? Every call to action (CTA) should guide them toward that single goal. Keep your content concise and your menu simplified. Make it obvious where the user should go next so they don’t have to guess. This thoughtful journey ensures users stay engaged and don’t click away in confusion.
Create a Website for Your Customer, Not the Algorithm
While search engine optimization (SEO) is a vital part of being found online, your content strategy should not revolve around it. The ultimate goal is to connect with your customers, not just to please Google’s algorithm. Writing for your audience means understanding their pain points, answering their questions, and speaking their language. This approach builds trust and resonates on a human level. When you focus on creating valuable, helpful content for your target customer, you will naturally perform better in search results over the long run. The algorithms are designed to reward content that best serves user needs. So, instead of trying to win a “hard race” against an ever-changing algorithm, focus on the one thing you can control: satisfying your customer.
Episode Highlights
Start Your Website Strategy by Defining a Single Goal
Before you write any content or consider design, the most critical first step is to define your website’s primary goal. It is not enough to simply want a website to get your messaging across. You must decide what specific action you want users to take. Are you aiming to inform customers, book demos, or generate leads through a form? This ultimate goal becomes the center of your entire strategy, guiding everything from content and layout to the overall user journey. By establishing this clear purpose from the beginning, you create a focused and effective online presence that intentionally guides every visitor.
“What is the goal? What are you looking to get out of this? Are you just informing your customers, or do you want them to book a demo? Do you want them to get in touch with you, chat with you, or generate leads by filling out a form to get their emails for later?”
Your Sales Team Holds the Key to Customer Messaging
A valuable and often overlooked resource for website messaging is your own sales team. Marketers tend to handle website development in a silo, but sales professionals are on the front lines, speaking directly with customers every day. They have firsthand knowledge of customer pain points, common questions, and what it takes to convince someone to buy. Overlooking their insights is a huge missed opportunity. By collaborating with sales, you can ensure your website’s messaging directly addresses the real-world problems your audience is trying to solve, making your content far more resonant and effective.
“If you have a sales team, absolutely talk to them. They’re the ones actually talking to the customer, asking them what their pain points are and what they’re hoping to accomplish with your products. It’s a huge missed opportunity to overlook them and not ask how the website could help them do their jobs.”
Build Trust with Social Proof
One of the most important things to have on a website that people often forget is social proof. People are more likely to trust you if they see that others already do. This is especially powerful when the proof comes from companies within the same industry as your potential customer. Building this trust doesn’t have to be complicated. You can feature logos of partners you work with, showcase testimonials from satisfied customers, or link to in-depth case studies. Even without a full case study on your homepage, linking to one shows that you have customers who are already trusting you, which is a powerful signal of credibility.
“People are more likely to trust you if others trust you, especially if it’s other companies in the same industry that they may have heard of. Always have logos of any partners you work with. Testimonials from customers are always a great thing to find, as are case studies. You might not have a full case study on your homepage, but you should certainly link to them to showcase that customers are trusting you already.”
Audit Your Website’s Health with Technical Tools
To understand what’s working on your website and what isn’t, you need to go beyond just looking at the page. Tools like heat maps and analytics provide crucial data on user behavior. A free tool like Microsoft Clarity records visitor sessions, showing you exactly where people are clicking and how long they stay on certain sections. This insight helps you improve your messaging and layout. Another critical factor is performance. Google’s PageSpeed Insights can tell you how fast your site loads and warn you about issues, like a large video slowing things down. These technical audits provide the data needed to make informed improvements.
“A great tool to use is heat maps. When you have a website, a tool like Microsoft Clarity records visitor sessions. It will tell you where people are clicking, where they are focusing, and how long they stay on a specific section of the page. It’s a great way to see what’s working and what’s not working. Analytics is the same thing, and it’s important to see how long people are spending on your website.”