3 types of websites (and the kind you need)

My quick, unscientific survey (read: my experience flipping through my phone and clicking around the Internet) suggests three main types of sites exist today. Sites either sit, they sell, or they serve. 

Here’s what I mean: 

#1 = Sites that sit = never change

These sites provide basic information and no interaction. Some of these sites may even be out-of-date.

Examples: Most churches,  some stores, restaurants, dentists

#2 = Sites that sell  =  push products

If people go to your site and you’re leading with a sales mindset, they’ll first notice all the products you’re pushing. The website exists for the sole purpose of moving those goods and services.  

Examples: Amazon, Walmart.com

#3 = Sites that serve = offer ever-increasing value

If people visit your site and you lead with a service mentality, they’ll experience everything your brand has to offer. The brand, by the way, is the “look and feel and mood and culture” of your company. It’s what people “think about” when they consider you.

Examples: The website(s) you’re going to build as you follow the Amplify framework

Why it matters

Here’s why this matters for you and your ecosystem: your website should primarily focus on achieving #3 while— as a natural next-step— leading people to #2. Even though Amplify helps you create products,  we want to shift from a product mindset to a brand mindset, knowing that the product sales will come as an overflow of leading people up the value-ladder.  

For sure, even companies leading with a service mentality will sell things. In fact, they may actually sell more, as they build trust, over-time, while nurturing visitors through their ecosystem.  

In the same way a man woos a young maiden, intentionally over time (rather than asking for her hand in marriage on the first date), these marketers realize that trust requires time. 

How it’s like dating

The first time I met Beth I knew I was interested in her. We met to discuss a book I had recently co-authored about PTSD. At the time, she was counseling people who were walking through their healing process, and she was interested in what I might have to say. 

An hour-long meeting morphed into a 4-hour conversation at Barnes & Noble, we developed a friendship, and things progressed. Later that year she met my family, we spent the end-of-year holidays together, and we intentionally intertwined our lives.

But that didn’t happen the first time we met. 

Nor did it occur on the first date. 

It transpired over time. 

Now, look back at the three types of websites we just discussed. Meeting, dating, and marrying is a great way to consider the three different approaches. 

#1 = Sit 

If you lead with… well, nothing… and have a static site, the kind that just sits… you’ve taken the polar-opposite approach. You’re like the guy who invites a beautiful woman on a date, takes her to a pleasantly upscale dinner… but says nothing. Or, even worse, you scroll your phone for the entire  hour, effectively doing something other than the one thing you should be doing— focusing on your guest. 

#2 = Sell

If you lead with products, immediately asking for the sale, it’s very much like the over-eager man who, halfway through dinner on the first night out, expresses his sincere desire to marry the woman. Though his words may express the absolute truth, he conveys them at the wrong time and place. And, in doing so, he may run the lady away. 

Of course, this is different if people know that when they go to your website, just as they do with Amazon, they’re going specially to purchase a specific item. The relationship comparison here might be the reality TV shows in which couples  meet and move towards marriage in less than an hour. They agreed to be on the show, knowing— and in the hopes that— they’ll find their “forever person” in the process.

#3 = Serve 

If you lead with a service mentality, you’ll keep your visitors— and their needs— forefront. 

You’ll recognize that  people who visit your site most often don’t initially want to know what they can purchase (anymore than the person sitting across the table from you on a first date wants to know the wedding date). 

They want to know the following-- the same things we want to know when we meet a future mate.

That's really about it. From there, we continue growing-- over time-- trust. And, many times, it works out for the long haul.