What I'm going to be covering could be called “headology”, psychology, self-perception, attitude, and brand, which are all related and all essential to success.

Brand

Brand is, simply, how people perceive you / what you offer / what you can do for them, plus what differentiates you from alternatives. Differentiation is absolutely vital, and mustn't be underestimated.

A couple of books that have been very influential on how I understanding branding are “Purple Cow”by Seth Godin, and “Zag” by Marty Neumeier.

The core premise of Purple Cow is, whatever you do, you've got to be different, you've got to stand out, be memorable. In the 21st Century, just fitting in with people's general expectations, fitting in with the crowd, just doesn't cut it any more.

“Zag” comes at the issue from a slightly different angle. Neumeier says, when your competitors zig, you zag! You go in the opposite direction. Whatever is going on around you, do what it takes to stand out, be noticeable, and go against the flow.

Both books are full of brilliant examples of why it's so important, and also how to go about it.

They Want YOU to Be the ONE

Today, with so many messages and options around us, what drives our choices and decisions as consumers? What drives your customers' choices? I find it really helps me to get into the head of my customers.

The first thing to note, which I can't stress enough, is that when people land on your web site, they will usually want YOU to be the one!

No one really enjoys trawling search engine results. There are always people ready to say to you, “Oh, you know, your competitors are only a click away!” I'd say to these doom and gloom merchants, so what?!

When somebody's on my web site, we're halfway there, we're over the first hurdle. These people are going to fall into one of two categories.

The first category is: Someone who's looking for what we do. If this is the case, fantastic! All we need to do, then, is communicate that we do do what we do, cleanly and effectively, without giving them a reason to disbelieve and click back to the Google search results.

The second category is: People who aren't looking for what we offer. If this is the case, no problem. We've got nothing to lose.

All we have to do is, assume that everyone on the site is your friend and doesn't want to look at any more results, is really wishing that you'll tick all their boxes. If they're not in our target market, we dont' have to be concerned with them right now. We're unlikely to be able to turn them around at this point. They want something else. (We may be able to leave a positive impression, so that one day when they're sitting at their desk thinking, “You know, what we need is someone who does expert site reviews, or specialilses in Web2.0 design...” they might just remember you...)

It's really important to get your head round the reality that people visiting your site are your friends who want you to succeed. All you have to do is not mess it up - help them to make a positive decision.

Who is your target customer, really?

Here, my advice is, work out who they really are. Who are your real customers?

I see a lot of small web agencies, and freelancers, whose web sites try to portray them as something they're not: either bigger or broader, or more capable.

You don't need to do that!

Don't pretend to be a big-bucks mega-corp agency, if you're not. You'll find more success being yourself, which is the real secret of branding...

The trick is to be who you are, and to portray that in a strong way that people love and connect with.

You've seen the kind of thing: Web sites that always say "we" this and "we" that, when it's clearly one guy sitting in his bedroom. Now, there's nothing wrong with being one guy sitting working in your bedroom! There's a market for that kind of thing.

The other classic example is agencies saying, “We work for clients ranging from tiny local one-man-bands, up to gazillion-dollar jobs for intenational mega-conglomerates...”. Then you take a look at the portfolio and see that it's full of low-end work (which is OK, by the way).

I want to say to these guys: Who are you trying to sell to?! Are you trying to win BMW, Sony, Disney? Do you think those guys are going to come along to your web site and fall for that stuff?

Let's say they did! Let's go on a flight of fancy and say that the VP of Marketing of Disney just happens to find herself between web agencies one day, happens upon your web site and things, “You know, these guys seem to have a team, and seem to work for people like us...” How long is she going to be on the phone for, before she realises that you can't possibly give Disney the kind of security that they need? One minute? Two?

We need to accept that these aren't the guys who are going to be paying our wages. Think: Who are the real people who want what we offer? Then we brand ourselves for those people exclusively, pitch our offering to hit what these real clients really need.

There's no point pretending to be what you're not. What you need to do is present what you are in the best light possible. Which brings us on to step 3...

Show who you are in a way that wins customers

The trick to this is:

1. To examine every aspect of who you are, what you do, and how you work...
2. Whether you perceive those things as positive or negative...
3. And build those things into a brand, an overall impression, that actually delivers for you.

Let's get back into our customer's head. Who are they, first of all? So they're not BMW, Disney, Dell, and all these guys. They're not going to be paying your bills. Who is going to be paying your bills?

Who wants what you have?

This is a two-way match, between supply and demand. You can't just be what you're not. You can only offer what you can offer. You can't sell effectively to people who need something else. It's much easier to sell to people who want what you have.

So, let's start with the givens: What you are, what your capabilities are, what you can do. And then, visualise the market for that.

The crux of the exercise is to select what to present that might make you memorable and make a connection. Interestingly, often the things that you might perceive as weaknesses (maybe if you're stuck in the mindset of believing you have to pretend to be a massive full-service agency), may, in fact, be real strengths if you can present them in the right way.

Fundamentally, this is all about getting your head round what branding is. Branding isn't about pretending to be something you're not, or that you can do what you can't.

Branding is about working out who you are and what you really do, and then standing there and saying it with confidence in a way that wins minds and hearts.

Let's look at a few examples of turning weaknesses into strengths...

“We're not a central London/New York etc. agency...”

Great! You're nearer your local customers, those small businesses who want someone just round the corner, who they can meet and talk to when they need to.

“I'm just one person...”

Fantastic! You don't have the huge wage bills the agencies do. You can compete on price, plus your customers can know that when they pick up the phone, any time, they'll get the person they know.

“I haven't got an office...”

Who cares?! Turn it into a positive. You're somebody who goes to your clients, meets at their premises, at a time that's convenient to them. Your local clients will respect that.

“I'm not really an expert in web technology...”

Who is? It's all moving so fast, no one can keep up with everything all the time. That's why all professionals have a network of buddies, near you or round the world, who can help out on various questions. You may be no different from any superstar designer or developer in that respect.

“I'm late starting in this business...”

That may work to your advantage. Coming from another area of business may give you experiences and breadth of knowledge that you can use to give a better service than a younger person who's been designing web sites since school. Plus, you may have specific industry expertise, or contacts, that let you really specialise in a particular sector, competing compellingly with agencies of any size!

Say what you're really about

As an example, several clients have made positive decision to work with my agency based in part on the ethical policy that we publish on our web site. That works great for us, because the kind of clients that we work for are attracted by reading that, and companies in sectors that we don't serve (like gaming or adult content) don't bother to get in touch, saving everybody time and effort.

What your audience wants

Now we're starting to get a brand together, which reflects those positive aspects of what we do and who we are. We need to build in the external side: what our customers actually want.

Let's say you're really suited to doing web sites for local small businesses. Think, what signs or signals would help them to make a positive decision to take the next step?

Remember, the customer is on your site, and also - very importantly - you don't have to close the sale on your web site.

Why is this important? The job of a web site is to get a qualified visitor from the point of initial exposure to the point of taking the next step. That's it. So focus your efforts on giving the right kind of visitor the right kinds of signals that you're probably right for them.

Generally, you'll be looking to reinforce just a few key things. I always think of these as checkboxes in somebody's mind. I like to picture the customer, imagine what they look like, sitting at their computer, typing something into a search engine, and clicking on some results, trying to get a job done.

I ask: What are the 3 or 4 checkboxes (not usually more than that) that I need to tick? I know that, if I can tick off those checkboxes, without giving the visitor a reason not to look any further, there's no reason why they shouldn't take the next step.

Then what I do is offer a call to action, to pick up the phone, write an email, buy an ebook, whatever it is...

So let's imagine, taking the small business owner as an example, what checkboxes might there be in their mind?

I'd guess that the issues are likely to be things like:

• I can trust these guys
• They're not likely to be too expensive - they'll work to my budget
• They like working with companies like mine
• I believe I can get somebody on the phone if I need help

Don't assume that your visitor is feeling superior and cynical. Many customers, when looking to spend a few thousand on a web site, will be feeling quite nervous, out of their depth. They could be looking for a friend, the first person who'll say, "Let's talk about what you might want, and help come up with something that supports your business, is simple and easy, and doesn't cost too much." Maybe that will be just what they need. The real answer will depend on your target market.

What we're doing is getting your visitor to have a good feeling about you. We want to get them from a point of knowing nothing about you to the point of having no reason to believe that you're not the agency for them.

Focus

The thing I'd add here is the importance of focus. Your visitor has a limited amount of attention to devote, which is why it's vital to focus on your real target market, ignoring the people who won't ever pay your bills.

You only need to provide the steps to take this person from start to finish. The more steps there are along the way, the more alternative paths there are to wander down, and the more stuff you put on every page, the greater the risk of diluting the message you're trying to give.

Put on each page only the things you need to get the message across. So, don't use more pages than you need, don't use more text, more images, more links, or more noise.

The rest of the articles on this site try to explain how to implement that simple, focused message on every page of your site. Start with Basics and explore from there. If you are able to get clear on who your real market is, and who you really are (and choose to be), you'll be well on your way to growing your business.

Thanks to http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com for this article.