Why does your business exist? Why should your potential customers choose you over anyone else? What differentiates you from the competition? The people coming to your site may not even know who you are. You’ve got to get this all across to the user immediately, before he or she decides to pass your site by.

After all, when users come to your site, they make a snap judgment about it–whether it has what they want, whether it is trustworthy, whether it is pleasing and easy to use. They scan the pictures and the text to figure out whether this is the site they’re looking for. Good design and good web writing helps people find and learn about your product. Have you given the same attention to your brand?

Immediately tell the user “This is who we are and what we do. Here’s why you should trust us and buy from us.” That space at the top of the page where you flash your logo and some decorative picture or a big rectangle of color? That’s the perfect place for this message. Where ever you put it, make sure it is front and center and noticeable.

So, why does your company exist? Your competition is just a couple of clicks away, so why should anyone buy from you? The answer may be because your company has higher quality products, or that you employ user centered design, or that you are more eco-friendly, or that your offer the customer value for their money. This is what you must tell the user because you cannot count on the user sticking around long enough to figure it out.

Once you’ve come up with that message, think about your site as a whole. Is it designed to get that message across? After all, your users aren’t just anyone–they are the people who are think that your differentiating factor is a key factor in making a buying decision. Optimize your site around this message. For example, if your company makes products that gives people a fun user experience, then your site has got to show them how.

Of course, if you can’t sum up your company’s purpose, the reason customers should choose you, succinctly, then how do you expect your potential customers to figure it out if that brief amount of time that they will give you?