Wasting Website Visitors and Why You May Not Be Getting The Results You Want

I had one of those moments this morning.

I thought about how the process of selling takes place in a retail store. I realized how different it is from what takes place online. The process of entering a store, from the viewpoint of the customer is this...

1) A potential customer goes into a store either to look for a certain item (either to buy it or get more information about it) or to see for themselves about related general items without anything specific in mind (like shoes or toasters). The store is usually set up in a logical manner that makes it fairly easy for the customer to find what they are looking for and get what they want. At least, that is what the store hopes for.

2) Most of the time there are the sales people in the store. Some stores have sales people waiting right at the front of the store by the entry doors. Other stores have salespeople in certain departments (in department stores of course) actively seeking out people to aid. What do the salespeople say to the potential customer, just about every time?

“Can I help you?”

Those 4 words are not just words, but a mindset.

How many websites and landing pages were created with this mindset?

Not, the mindset of, "what words can I use to get more optins?", "what headline can I use to boost sales?", "what awesome picture would skyrocket conversions?",

But a mindset of:

What is this visitor looking for and how can I help them find it? (whether it is information or a product). If they wish to purchase a product, how can I help them make a buying decision to direct them to the best product for them. If they want more information, how can I either give them this information or direct them to it?

Example: If you go into a department store to look for dress shirts, the helpful salesperson will find out what type of shirt you want. Color, size, occasion to wear it, etc. and then help you find exactly what you want. Then, they will probably even help you make a decision about what to buy.

They don’t tell you, “well dress shirts are great, but we are having an awesome deal on t-shirts right now.

I've seen it time and time again. Even when people think they have created websites and landing pages that are focused on the visitor, they are really not.

NOTE: As proof that it's incredibly difficult to realize where your mindset is, I even changed the title of this thread because I realized when I first named it, I did not think about a title that would help people decide if it is for them, my mindset was..."what creative headline would provoke clicks?" Then, I changed my mindset into, "let me help people know what this thread is about and why they may want to read it."