Over the past year, I've been invited to a handful of conferences and meetups do some live website critiques of attendee's websites. How do they communicate? What problem do they solve and for whom? How can a business improve their website and digital strategy?

Once you see enough sites, you encounter similar patterns – so I want to outline a few of those:

Most businesses' value proposition is terrible A specific, actionable value proposition is unavoidable, elementary groundwork for running a successful business of any kind. Why? Because it helps your clients understand how you can help them and what expensive problem you solve for them.

Most websites have no idea whom they're talking to I often ask: who's your client? It is unclear shockingly often. But you have to address your ideal client to actually be able to start a conversation. In other words: with a broken elbow would you go to a general practitioner or to a surgeon specialized in elbow fractures?

People try to make out on the first date – or not at all Just because someone is visiting your website doesn't mean they're interested in buying your service or product right away. Websites are processes and you have to help your visitors get to the next step. Make it clear what the next step is and optimize your page for that.

I hope this helps.