I just returned home from BarCamp Orlando 2008. BarCamp is an informal conference (very, very informal) for web developers and digital media specialists held at — you guessed it — a bar, or in this case several bars in downtown Orlando.
Maybe it was the thought of spending your weekend with 200 or so web techies or maybe the near constant rain dismayed you from attending, but through all the tech speak, there are two things that came out of BarCamp Orlando that every business trying to make its website generate more sales should consider.
The first is it truly is about the content. You see at BarCamp Orlando, the presenters weren’t paid speakers, and many were likely speaking in front of the audience for the first time. (In fact one presenter continually pointed his finger at his tiny laptop screen to show something that demonstrated his point instead of pointing at the projected image.) So what made the audience stay through some, shall we say shaky deliveries? Content. They had subject matter expertise and people were willing to bear through a lot of “uhhms,” because what they were saying was more important than how they were saying it.
If you are a business owner, you have subject matter expertise. Does your website reflect that? So many businesses get caught up with what their site looks like and ignore the quality of their content. There is no better medium than the internet to show your business is more knowledgeable or more insightful than your competitor. If your site has more flash than substance — both literally and figuratively — you are missing a valuable opportunity to attract new customers.
The second thing you can vicariously take away from BarCamp Orlando, is that the internet is about relevance. Session topics were posted on a conference board on ordinary sticky notes. The sessions were only 30 minutes long. If you wanted to know about a specific topic you went right to it. You didn’t have to sit through an hour-long speech to get the one nugget of info relevant to you. BarCamp Orlando succeeded because its format allowed the conference to offer a high level of direct relevance.
That’s what consumers are looking for from your website. They no longer want to wade through the 15 options you give them on your front page. They immediately want something relevant to them. You can do that right from the start. If you are a pool company, and you think your two biggest types of customers are people who own in-ground pools and people who own above-ground pools, then put two big buttons on your front page: “For In-Ground Pool Owners” and “For Above-Ground Pool Owners.” If you are a veterinarian, and the majority of your customers are either dog owners or cat owners, put two big buttons on your front page, “For Dog Care” and “For Cat Care.”
By doing that you are telling the visitor immediately that you have something relevant for them.
Who knew you could get such valuable information by spending a weekend at a bar?