Your website is the front desk. Most are cluttered.

A hotel would never let its front desk get cluttered, slow and confusing. Guests would walk out. Yet most companies tolerate exactly that on their website, which is the front desk for every buyer who has not met them yet.

The cost is invisible. Nobody calls to say they left because the navigation was confusing or the page did not explain what the company does. They just do not enquire.

The website should sell like your best salesperson

Your best salesperson does three things in the first minute: says who the company is for, says why it wins, and makes the next step easy. A website should do the same, in the same order.

Most do the opposite. They open with a slogan that could belong to anyone, bury the proof three clicks deep and offer five competing calls to action. The buyer has to work, and buyers do not work for companies they have not chosen yet.

Buyers do not work for companies they have not chosen yet.

Research before redesign

When Ikeja Hotels, which operates high-profile properties in Lagos, came to us, the website had not kept pace with the properties. The fix started with research, not visuals: interviews with marketing and management, user research across feedback, surveys and analytics, and a review of what the best hospitality brands do well.

The strategy that came out of it was simple: one seamless route from landing page to booking confirmation, with friction removed at every step, carried in the brand's own palette, type and imagery. Following the relaunch, Ikeja Hotels recorded a 45% increase in qualified inbound leads.

Four checks for your own front desk

• The five-second test. Can a stranger say who you are for and what you do after five seconds on the homepage?
• One primary action. Is there one obvious next step on every page, or several competing ones?
• Proof up front. Is your strongest evidence visible without scrolling, or hidden on a case study page nobody reaches?
• Mobile first. Does the journey work on a phone, where a growing share of your buyers first meet you?

The website is one touchpoint in Connect™, the third phase of the Brand Growth OS™. It works best when the position behind it is settled first.