The Website Myth

Every business owner lives with a disturbingly misleading illusion: the website myth.

It’s the gap between how you think people see your website and how they actually experience it.

When visitors arrive, they often see something completely different to you.

Consider this: When was the last time you truly saw your website through fresh eyes?

Do you speak to them in their language, or your own?

Do they even understand what you’re saying?

Here are the big questions, though:

Would you say that you understand the people who leave more or less immediately?

And on a scale of 1 to 5, how much does it concern you that some of them may need what you sell, but didn’t realise that you had it?

And the most gritty question:

Will they find what they’re looking for when they visit your competition?

Breaking Free from Your Website Blindness

When you’ve spent years building your business, it’s almost impossible to see your website objectively.

You know your product’s value. You understand your industry’s jargon. You can navigate your site with your eyes closed.

But your visitors? They’re seeing it for the first time. And they’re asking themselves:

1. “Do they have what I’m looking for?”
2. “Do they solve my specific problem?”
3. “Can I trust them?”

The problem is that it’s incredibly difficult to look at your website objectively.

To see it as a new visitor sees it.

To read your content through someone else’s eyes.

Fortunately, there’s a framework to help with this task.

The Visitor’s Lens Framework

Breaking free from the Website Myth requires a systematic approach.

The following framework forces you to step outside yourself and see your site through your visitors’ eyes.

Step 1: First Impressions (the 3-second test)

Your visitors make instant knee-jerk judgments.

Within two to three seconds at the most, they need answers to:

• “Am I in the right place?”
• “Do they understand my problem?”
• “Can they solve it for me?”
• “What’s the next step?”

Most websites fail this test because they lead with features, credentials, ego statements or company history.

Instead, your homepage should immediately validate your visitor’s pain point and signal the path to relief.

✍️ Action step: Ask five people who don’t know your business to look at your homepage for three seconds at the most. Then have them tell you what problem your business solves.

For example, when someone lands on our home page, I would hope that they see how many companies we’ve worked with.

Then their eyes would be drawn to the services that we provide, and they’d click on the one that interests them the most.

Honest confession: when writing this, I realised that there wasn’t enough focus on this, so changed it.

Step 2: The Visitor’s Journey (A Reality Check)

Most business owners imagine their visitors following a neat, logical and predictable path through their website.

The reality is messier.

Visitors scan, jump, lose focus and often take unexpected routes.

Your job is to make any path they choose lead to understanding.

Ask yourself:

• Can visitors find crucial information regardless of their entry point?
• Do your links deliver on their promise, or do they lead to more vague messaging?
• Would someone understand your value proposition if they landed directly on a product page?

✍️ Action step: Pick three random pages on your site. For each, write down what specific action you want visitors to take. Then ask someone unfamiliar with your site, what action would they take after viewing that page?

Step 3: The Real Customer Profile

Here’s where most websites go wrong: they describe their ideal customer instead of speaking to their actual visitors.

And your visitors may not think of themselves the way you think of them.

So create a reality-based profile by answering:

• What words do they use to describe their problem? (Not your industry jargon)
• What solutions have they already tried?
• What makes them seek a solution like yours?
• What might make them hesitate to choose you?

✍️ Action step: Find three to five recent customer service conversations or sales calls. Highlight the exact words customers used to describe their problems. Compare these to your website copy. Are you speaking their language?

Step 4: The Competition Reality Check

Your visitors aren’t just comparing you to your direct competitors—they’re comparing you to every possible solution to their problem. This includes:

• Direct competitors
• Alternative solutions (like choosing software instead of a service)
• The “do nothing” option
• DIY approaches

Here’s how to conduct an honest competitive analysis:

1. Cast a wide net:
   • List your direct competitors
   • Search Google using your customers’ problem statements (not industry terms)
   • Note indirect solutions that solve the same pain point
2. Analyze through your visitor’s eyes:
   • Visit each site as if you’re looking for a solution for the first time
   • Note which messages immediately resonate
   • Track how quickly you can understand each solution
   • Document any messaging gaps or missed opportunities

✍️ Action step: Create a spreadsheet with all possible solutions to your customer’s problem. Score each (out of five) on clarity, presentation of value, and trust signals. Where do you truly stand out?

Breaking Your Own Website Myth

The idea is to force yourself out of your website myth: the way you think people see your website.

Then to create a better, stronger and more targeted message.

One that demonstrates the problems of your visitors, in their voice.

Akiflow – a real life example

You probably haven’t heard of Akiflow.

It’s a fantastic tool that saves me time, makes me better organised, and helps me keep on schedule.

It does so much more as well, but that’s why I pay for it. And have been doing so for a few years.

Their website, however, doesn’t communicate any of this value to me:

It could be that they’re targeting different people, but having read their Slack channel, I don’t think so.

I believe that if you use a calendar and some sort of task or todo list, you need Akiflow.

I even believe that if you just use a calendar, you need Akiflow.

Akiflow illustrates the Website Myth perfectly:

What users love:

• Saves hours every week
• Makes staying organized effortless
• Integrates seamlessly with existing products and workflows

What their website communicates:

• Calendar features
• Technical capabilities
• Integrations
• Standard productivity tool promises

The gap between user experience and website messaging is almost certainly costing them customers who need exactly what they offer, but don’t realize it from their website.

✍️ Final Action Step: Record yourself explaining your product to someone who needs it. Compare that natural explanation to your website copy. The differences you spot are your Website Myth.

Your Website Myth Breakthrough

The gap between how you see your website and how visitors experience it isn’t just costing you sales.

It’s sending potential customers to your competitors.

This week:

1. Run the five-second test with five people
2. Record yourself explaining your product
3. Fix one common Website Myth
4. Test with real visitors

Remember: Your website isn’t for you. It’s for the people who need what you offer but don’t know it yet.

Want to discuss your website’s blind spots? Reply to me here with your site’s URL, and I’ll give you three specific areas where you might be losing customers.