Google, the 21st century bookstore

I have a confession to make ... I always judge a book by its cover.

As an avid reader and absolute bookworm I would like to clarify this statement; the cover is not my only consideration when deciding whether I like a book enough to purchase it, but it is the first step.

Once the cover has grabbed my attention, these are the steps that come next in my decision making process ...

• I read the blurb

• If I find that interesting I open the book and read a page (... or 4)

• If those opening pages appeal to me and the type of book I am looking for, then I’ll start to seriously consider buying the book

I know, I know, Majella Studio is a website design and development studio so why am I talking you through my book buying process?

Because, guess what books and websites have in common? Those steps, you just have to look at them from a slightly different perspective.

Your homepage (above the fold*): that’s the cover that needs to grab people’s attention (the design AND the content)

Your opening paragraph: that’s your blurb ...

The other pages and subpages of your site: those are the opening pages of the novel, and depending on the size of the site, the chapters of your book

If your site visitors get that far, it’s because they like what they see and (more importantly) it is relevant to them. In a nutshell, they want to read the book. They might even want to buy it.

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The above analogy, and thank you for humouring me by reading this far, was originally an Instagram post that honestly I had forgotten about until recently a new follower (who I can only assume was doing a deep dive of my feed, no judgement) liked the post. So for any business owners who are stuck on what to post this week, here's your reminder to have a look back through your own content for inspiration. Give something a fresh look, introduce an old thought to new customers.

The next chapter

Since I wrote the original Instagram post I have had a chance to formulate this analogy further. Ready?

If the book is your website, the bookstore is Google.

Some people walked into a bookstore today knowing exactly which book they wanted to look at, they walked right up to the counter and asked the friendly staff member (search bar) where they could find 'Business for dummies'. Other people knew they wanted a certain kind of book, they just didn't know which one, so they wandered over (typed into the search bar) to the DIY section and had a look at the titles on the shelves (search results).

And the placement of those books on those shelves, that's SEO (kind of, I never said it was a perfect analogy).

I think that's as far as I can stretch this analogy but sometimes I find it helpful to look at things from a different perspective. That and I set a goal of having three blog posts ready to go for the launch of the new Majella Studio website and this one (you guessed it) is lucky number three.

So thank you again to the new follower who liked this old post and reminded me of this (frankly marvellous) analogy.

{Veronica}