So, you want to know what can make your website really effective? Understanding your visitors' needs and wants. Respond to their wishes. Because you are building the web page for them - not for you, right?

Take a look at your website and examine how it fits with the psychology of your visitors. Keep in mind that people act and react differently on the web - so much so, that sometime it is difficult to believe that these are the same people who behave so "normally" in the "real" world.

What are your visitors doing?

1. They are always rushing

Maybe it's because they have so many places to visit; maybe it's because they feel guilty that they should be doing something else. Whatever the reasons, they are always in the hurry.

They have in their hands a deadly weapon (mouse) and they click away whenever they get bored. And they do get bored really easily -- they'll wait without complaining for minutes at the grocery store checkout, but online they get impatient after 10 seconds!

Make sure that your pages load quickly, that you tell people quickly what information you have and where they can find. And provide them with a way to jump to any page from anyplace with really easy navigation.

2. They expect a lot for free

People on the internet are on the internet because they know that it is a gold mine of free information. They are expecting to find it -- and they will. Once they find it, if the gold mine is *really* rich, they come back for more. And they send their friends to visit the same places.

However, they simply refuse to come back to the place that didn't interest them when they landed there for the first time.

Build your offer around the rich, free content. Don't think about selling -- but about what you can give. Give them unique information about your local market and about your community. Educate them about buying real estate, share with them insiders secrets -- in response they will trust you and your expertise so much that they will be willing to pay for your services.

3. They don't trust easily

People on the net are often misinformed and even paranoid about buying on line. They are aware that anyone, even a 10-year-old kid, can build an awesome website full of unique graphics and they need to be skillfully persuaded before they are ready to leave a name or e-mail address. And they need to be persuaded even more before they will hand you their credit card number.

Don't even think about selling them on your home page. Resist selling on your website at all. Use it to establish rapport and to build trust by providing valuable information. Romance your visitor by giving them more local information that they can find elsewhere. It can be just simple but well researched collection of valuable links like this Santa Fe Area Information page: http://destinationsantafe.com/area.html

4. They love to click

Their mouse-finger is literally begging them to click. They will request and subscribe to just about anything that somehow looks promising as long as it is offered free of cost and you don't ask for too much information. Your visitors will voice their opinions and they will search your site (even when they won't be looking for anything particular). They will also recommend your site to their friends if you make it easy for them... All for that thrill of clicking.

Make sure then that you satisfy their need to push that mouse button while exploring your site. Use their craving to your advantage. Ask them to subscribe, to vote, to click for more information, to ask questions. If you don't give them opportunity to interact, they will click anyway: they will click to surf away.

Don't follow into the steps of those who try to change the surfers habits instead of taking advantage of them -- it is a very costly mistake!

Published: January 19, 2001

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