Let’s face it, websites are boring.
Social media in comparison are sexy. It’s always moving. New features, new algorithm updates…
Website are… Well… Like visiting your grand’pa.
Necessary, useful, interesting even. But not fun or exciting.
( I apologize for all the grand’pa, of course you’re fun and exciting, but I needed materials for my copywriting)
Maybe, websites need to be boring…
I’ve watched the Keynote of Matt Mullenweg for the Wordcamp Europe 2024 and in his second point, he said:
I would actually say that I’m getting a little bored with a lot of websites these days
Matt Mullenweg
It’s nothing as a new opinion in the tech/webdesign scene. I regularly stumble on a tweet, article… arguing that nowadays all the websites look the same and are boring.
Generally, followed by people, in the comment section, saying « Website should be boring, they have to be predictable for users to be easy to use and effective »
Sure… but, don’t we have lost the middle ground here?
Yeah: websites, especially brochures websites NEED to be predictable.
We need to follow common patterns to have good UX.
A button should look like a button.
A menu should be at the top of the page.
The scroll on the page should be from top to bottom (and not hijacked)
etc…
It’s UX. But, when you’re done with that, guess what:
You can play!
And it can be exciting AND effective!
Even a brochure website can be unique, original and convey authenticity, while being effective for users and spotting the target for the company’s goals.
Maybe it’s a spicy take, but I even think that they have to!
How can a website conveying authenticity can hurt your company?
I only see net positives!
- It’s more memorable (who the hell don’t want his company to be remembered?)
- It allows the customer to be more connected with your company, brand, and your mission (don’t tell me you don’t want that)
- It can do wonders for your visibility, and attract new customers (Do you have too much clients?)
So… A good, unique, authentic, website, is good for your business, for the web, and for your soul. (… contributing to a healthy life… am I going too far here?)
How the hell am I supposed to make a brochure website, unique?
Like, yes, maybe it’s a website for a restaurant and all they want is put their menu on there and list their hours. But if you’re building that for them, challenge them a little bit. Say, hey, let’s go in the kitchen. I bet, you know, your chefs have some really interesting stories. How did they come up with this recipe? Tell us why don’t you highlight a customer a month? Who’s your favorite customer that comes in? Put them on your blog – You can brainstorm hundreds and hundreds of ideas, and this is what the web needs more –
Matt Mullenweg
This is the words of Matt Mullenweg.
Websites can be exciting thanks to their webdesign (and I have some great materials for a post about that).
But one thing that’s often neglected is the content, and particularly the blog.
So I’ve brainstormed to see how can we make a website exciting and effective thanks to a blog, and found some ideas (and real-world examples to illustrate that)
Let’s dive in:
Give the pen to your customers
Like Matt has said, you can write articles about your clients.
Tell what they have accomplished with your product, how they use them, why they use them…
You can also let them talk about it!
Artifact Uprising, a premium photo printing company, publishes beautiful essays from its customers.
The customer takes the pen and says what photography means to him, what his life looks like in photos, what photos he chooses to print etc…
Each customer has a particular relationship and experience with your product and you can give him the opportunity to tell others about it.
These specific articles are not even tailored to the Google algorithm and the SEO guidelines… but hey, who says we only need to make articles for Google?
We can have both: articles that are built with SEO in mind, whose goal are to drive traffic to the site. AND articles that are here to build connections with the customers.
Another company that’s doing great with letting its customers talk is MyMind.
MyMind, is an app to save notes, images, quotes, links… from the web (see it as a bookmark manager, but WAY better, a sort of extension of your real mind)
They have a series of blog posts « Into the mind of… » which are interviews of users.
They ask them what they have discovered recently, what are their favorite books, pieces of art, how they use MyMind…
And it’s so interesting! You can make so many discoveries from people you don’t have the opportunity to know!
It can also give you an idea on how to better use the product. As a user of MyMind, it’s always inspiring to see how others are using the app. I can be quite messy sometimes (read: ALWAYS), and having some ideas on how to organize my collected artifacts is greatly welcomed!
These posts create a sense of community around your company/product (How! I’m not alone using/buying this thing!) and can educate people on how to use your product.
Support others by talking about them
Tatty is a company that sells temporary tattoos. It was an independent company created by the designer Tina Roth Eisenberg (which has an awesome personal blog), and before being bought by BIC, it published a series of posts « Small Business Taturday » which featured other small businesses and their owners in New York/Brooklyn.
They go to their neighbor’s store and ask them questions.
Here you can read about Books are magic, a neighbor store of Tattly.
We can see passionate people, doing their work with their heart (the pictures of the articles are really great!), and Tattly is a part of this.
As a customer, I want to support these small businesses. It’s really cool to have the opportunity to read about them, because they don’t have a lot of place in the media or anywhere else.
By reading it, we can see how much Tatty is connected to the local community and it feels great!
Who doesn’t want to buy to a small business that supports other small businesses buddies?
If you blog about this, it’s making your customers discover other small businesses, reinforcing the small business economy and who knows… if you’re a small business talking about other small businesses, maybe they can help you too?
Share how you work
What can you say if you are a company selling domain names? Well… I’m sure, a lot of things… but it’s not the most sexy industry to talk about.
But, what if you were selling domain names AND all of your team was working remotely?
You certainly have a lot to share.
Introducing: iwantmyname, a registrar, without headquarters.
On their blog, they share what tool the team is using to organize and run the day-to-day operation of the company remotely, they talk about the false ideas we make about remote work, the importance of team gathering…
(they don’t only have posts about remote work, they also have posts on « On the generic smiley face emoji » and « You bought a domain. Why aren’t you using it?« , sounds good, isn’it?)
AND it’s not generic at all. It’s fully authentic! Like we can see real DIY photos of the team. No bland corporate language. Humans have real words. It feels real, it feels human, it feels good.
And who doesn’t want to buy from a company that makes you feel good?
Just help your customers: teach them
Gillie & Mackay is a family-run business that has been crafting timber buildings for over 35 years now.
They have more than a blog: A learning center
On here, you can read posts like « Why our garages don’t leak – The best timber garage specification » Who taught you why a garage leaks and told you how their garages are made and why that’s protecting them from leaking? (and if you already have a leaking garage, you can learn the solution to fix the problem)
You can learn about the difference between a Big Timber Shed and a Garage, if you don’t know which is which, and what can work the best for you.
You can learn about what is permitted development?
When they saw a rapid decline of sales of their summerhouse sales (which represent 80% of their sales), in favor of Garden Rooms, they analyzed the problem and came out with a post « Why We No Longer Build Uninsulated Summerhouses. » which detailed why peoples don’t want Summerhouse as much as before, how they now make summerhouses with small Garden Rooms, how they build them, explain the cost etc…
It’s not just content to rank in search engines. It’s expertise, authentic, transparent content that can really help someone!
When you read their blog posts, you can feel their experience. (Obviously, that makes a massive impact on their authority on the subject they cover)
Also, no random stock photos here! You can see real pictures of their garage, garden rooms and of the employees working there. It just feels like a company you want to give your trust to and work with!
Gimme more ideas!
Honestly, I can give a lot of ideas on how you can use your blogs
You can take funny pictures of you, to make them more fun.
You can be more than a blog, but a magazine.
If you’re an e-commerce, you can show the journey of a product from the manufacturing to the hands of the customers (and all of the steps in between).
You can interview your suppliers. Who are you working with, what are their values?
You can talk about how you contribute to the local community! How do you support the city and its citizens? Do you engage in a local initiative?
Share what you have learned from the past years! As a business, about the product or service you provide…
What made you proud recently? Talk about it!
Do you have some interesting or funny anecdotes to tell about life in the office? I’m sure people want to know more about you and your team!
Tell people what you do with their feedback? Do you have a specific process for that? Is feedback really important for you? Why?
I can go on and on about posts of this type that can have a massive impact on your customers… and on your company.
But you have a life to continue… and a blog post to start 😉
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