By John Taylor

Would you like to participate in an experiment?

Just imagine you are a customer and you are looking for a solution to a problem. It might be that you need a new battery for your mobile phone, you may need to learn how to take great photographs with your new digital camera or you might need to find a wedding gift for a friend or relative.

As far as this experiment goes you can choose any problem you like. All I ask is that you go to your favourite search engine and type in a query to seek a solution to your problem. Once you get your search results, click through to a few sites and see how the information is presented.

My prediction is that most web sites that you visit will tell you all about themselves, they will push their products or services and they will list lots of features. Very few web sites will attempt to empathise with you or your specific problem.

Most online business people are focused on *taking* money from their customers, they are motivated by greed and they have a very short term view of the world - all they are really interested in is making a fast buck.

Here's an alternative view...

Put your 'customer' hat on again. How would you feel if you clicked through to a web site where you discovered that it was devoted to solving your specific problem? How about a web site where it is totally clear that they understand you, know the kind of things you are looking for and they actually give a damn about you as a person?

How would you describe your web sites?

Are they product driven or are they customer driven?

Is your copy focused on the customers needs or on extracting the customers cash?

Do you go out of your way to get to know your customer?

Have you a system in place that allows you to build a relationship with your visitors?

Take some time to visit your own web site - walk in your customers shoes as they travel through the ordering process and then look out for things that you could change to demonstrate that you really DO care about your customers.

Then IMPLEMENT those changes!

About the Author: John Taylor is a prolific writer. He has published several internet marketing related eBooks and articles including "Testing and Tracking" (http://www.Test-and-Track.com). Copyright June 2005 - John Taylor. This article may be published in its entirety including this resource box.