You had ONE job!

My all-time favorite Internet meme is:

“You had ONE job!”

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out http://imgur.com/gallery/TbagF

I could spend all day looking at those photos.

A few that made me laugh this morning include:

  • A hunk of beef labeled “USDA inspected”… and marked on the package as “chicken.”

  • An ad for swimming goggles (normally $9.95) on sale for… $9.95.

  • A cell phone display advertising a phone that floats on water… and the phone is at the bottom of the aquarium.

Now if you have a business, and your business has a website, guess what?

Your website has ONE job.

But somehow 95% of websites out there get it totally wrong.

Here’s a partial list of things that are NOT your website’s #1 job:

  • “Building your brand”

  • Showcasing your products and services

  • Getting lots of visitors

  • “Generating buzz”

  • Getting lots of “likes” and “tweets”

  • “Teaching everything you know”

  • Impressing visitors with flashy graphics and animations or (worse of all) a “clever” navigation scheme (like turning the entire site into a jet cockpit and forcing the user to figure out which dial or button is hiding the “contact us” form)

Some or all of those things may be useful side benefits. (Although I’ll fight you pretty hard on the jet cockpit thing.)

But they’re not job numero uno.

No for most businesses, the sole focus of your website should be:

Capturing email addresses (and depending on your business model, snail mail addresses).

Everything on your site should exist to nudge people closer to that goal.

When your visitors join your email list, you have the opportunity to build an ongoing relationship with them.

You can earn their trust, demonstrate your expertise, and make sales.

Without a way to get back in touch with the people visiting your site, all you have is…

Traffic.

Now, since we’re talking about your email list…

Have you entered the Thrive Themes giveaway yet?

http://joshuaearl.com/giveaways/thrive-themes-giveaway

Thrive is the WordPress plugin I’m using to build high-converting “squeeze pages” and grow this email list. A one-year subscription would run you $147, and it’s well worth it.

But you can win a subscription for free.

Just click here to enter, then share your “lucky URL” with your social media buddies to earn more chances to win.

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