Your website is your home

Once upon a time there was a homeless man. He wasn’t called even man. He was just a creature, a being. Among his priorities was to find a place to stay. A safe corner which would kept him out of harm’s way. He didn’t care about his culture because this concept hadn’t been invented yet.

Time passed and we reached modern times where the same man tends to believe that a home is given. He seeks for new places to exist and expand. He creates the Web. In a strange way he starts from the very beginning. He looks for a new home, his web space. An open field which permits him develop both a virtual and a real way. It‘s a place where he acts, works and communicates.

How would you build this home? I would like it to be as safe as possible. I would have it reachable for all strangers that would pass by to say “hello”. I would keep it clean and tidy, decorated according my taste and my personality. Above all I would try to welcome people and make them feel comfortable.

Let’s not talk about security, accessibility, usability or design. Let’s talk about content. It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, a community or a company. What it does matter is what you say to the passengers they stop by. If you are a two-faced person, they will get it sooner or later. If your words don’t carry some credibility, people will leave you soon. There are so many other places to go!

So take a good care to what you say. A great design will be admired but soon it will make no difference. What keeps people engaged to a website is mainly its content. Establish a bond of trust between you and the people who visit you. Be comprehensible and precise. Respect your audience the same way you want to be respected. Be honest (this doesn’t mean that you confess everything to the people who read you!). If you provide services, have your services clearly defined and reliable.

To achieve all these, spot yourself on the Web map. Decide what your website is about and inform people about it. It is not as easy as it sounds because signifying yourself is an internal procedure which concerns your character or the character of your services. So spend some time to realize who you are and some more time to explain it to the kind people who visit you. Ah – don’t forget to offer them a sweet as they pass the front door.