More Approachable Website

Fantastic post from Google Blogoscoped, covering Google, the search engine world, online research, and other related (and unrelated) topics. It’s run by Philipp Lenssen and the basis for many stories are news tips sent via email or posted in the forum.

Phillip finally connected after a few weeks. After reading The Power of Approachability, he posted about adopting the principles from the book to websites

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More Approachable Website

1. Put every piece of contact info possible: name, addy, cell, IM, everything. People want to talk to THE guy. You won’t be flooded by messages by providing all those methods to contact you. It’s a garanteed they’ll not download Yahoo Messenger specifically to talk to you, if they never use Yahoo messenger.
2. Accept comments, good and bad on blogs, boards etc. You need to show that you are open to critcism, and accept it gracefully.
3. When people come to your site, they have to think “OK, what’s the one thing they want me to do?” Make it clear, big, bold, etc. Too many sites have SO much stuff that people get intimidated and walk away.
4. Easy, memorable URL. And do a redirect to your blog.
5. Have pictures, personal stories, anything that tells people who YOU are. I wouldn’t go overboard, and talk about closet skeletons though. That’s just my opinion. I’d rather not have a whole community of people drudging up the minutia of my life.
6. Forget the term “customers”. The most important rule of marketing is TO CREATE FANS. Make sure your site makes people say, “I love your stuff.” Then find a way to bring them back and stay in front of them. What could you do to make people want to come back and wonder, “Hmmm…let’s see what they’re up to now…”
7. If you don’t have a blog, you’re a putz.
8. Make your about page like a “meet Steve” or “who is Steve”, maybe throw a picture in there. People need to connect your name, and therefore your website, with your characters.
9. Don’t have one of those stupid forms that says “we’ll try to address all entries and get back to you.” Forms are too “corporate” and impersonal. Put your actual email link and tell fans to email YOU. If you get spam, there are javascripts out there to be found that hide email addresses from being harvested by spammers.
10. Go to http://www.websitesthatsuck.com and make sure they look nothing like yours.

About the author: Scott Ginsburg is a nationally recognized author, professional speaker, and the only person who wears a “Hello, My Name Is…” nametag 24hrs a day.