OK everyone, putting on my business cap for this one. I had received some eye opening feedback about one of my other sites. The feedback reminded me of how important this one thing is to success on the web, and I was motivated to share it here. Hope you enjoy.

Those of you who know me know that I’ve been building web sites for as long as there has been a web. I started doing html back in 1993 and I remember the first clumsy browsers and how exciting it was to create something that had bold text, or could be centered. Back in the olden days (before 2005), there were many different voices claiming to know how to build a killer web site. By 2003, marketers were hopping on to the web and some were making big bucks. But alas – for many regular slobs who didn’t understand the medium, success on the web didn’t really appear.

Today, much like the early days of the web, anyone or any business can put together a site. And just as in 1995, the site you throw together today can suck just as hard as those back in the day. So what is it? Why are some sites so freaking awesome you can hardly believe it? And more importantly – why do your sites still suck?

It’s not how your site looks. If it were, Google wouldn’t be a multi-billion dollar business phenomenon.

It’s not your domain name. If it were, flickr, youtube, facebook, or even stupidevilbastard would all likely be failures. But they’re not.

What’s the magic piece? What’s that one bit that, if you were to mix it in to your web offerings, would put them on the road to so freaking awesome you can hardly believe it? Can it be expressed in a word? Hell yes it can:

Value.

Business web sites (or sites allegedly doing business) need to offer something of value to potential customers. In business, this is known as a site’s value proposition. The value proposition of your offering should be so obvious that it should fucking punch new and returning customers in the face. Do you shop on amazon, buy.com or newegg? BAM! Do you run web searches on google or ask? Whack! Keep up with friends and family on facebook or MySpace? Ka-Pow!

After hearing feedback that one of my own sites didn’t make it clear what the value proposition was, I was a bit stunned. I realized, however, that it was exactly what I needed to hear. There was something of value on the site, but it was hidden behind menus and extra verbiage. I have to remember to keep the idea of the value I’m offering up front – and make it obvious what new users should do. I also find it helpful to put together my own motivating images, and the one at the top of this post is going to be my motivator and reminder about creating value on my sites.