What are people doing today more than anything else?

It's not hard to figure out.

It's not a trick question.

An hour ago I bumped into someone on the sidewalk. His eyes were down, glued to his phone. He barely acknowledged me.

Early a woman walked into a crosswalk, head down, staring at her phone.

And another woman was right behind her, doing the same.

And they're not just DMing and playing Angry Birds 2.

I sometimes peak over the shoulders of people in coffee shops, because I'm nosey. Folks are reading company websites, promotional materials, information about products.

They're glued to your product or service far more than they ever were in the days of printed brochures.

So writing is critical for your site.

It had better be great. It had better be unique. Like a hit novel, it has to grab your reader by the eyeballs and keep them scrolling.

The page-turner has given way to the scroller.

Yet most websites I see contain the same alphabet soup of generic "corporate talk": vague blather about "missions" and "changing paradigms" and "visions of the future." This is what people read when they come to most sites.

After they get off their phones (and they do eventually, I'm assured) ask them which site talked about missions and which talked about visions of the future. I'll bet they can't remember.

You need to stand out. You need a voice that's yours. Intuitive, sure, but then if it's so easy, why do so few sites have it?

Websites are advertising. Yours should be world class. Never forget that. Never miss an opportunity to stand out. Look at your competition and don't do what they're doing. Follow the advice of that greater marketer Socrates: Know thyself.

Then tell the world about it on your site.

In my next post I'll show some examples of generic, utterly pointless websites. The companies attached to them (which I will hide) may be wonderful, but the message is simply not getting out.