We all know charismatic people - the ones with that special je ne se quoi which makes them endearing - but are there websites (or blogs) that have charisma? This question hit me one evening during a discussion with a friend and I have been pondering the idea for a while now.

Charismatic people are known for being liked or respected immediately upon walking into a room. Their presence, confidence, and maybe even their abilities seem unfathomable and nearly incontestable. There are websites that are loved my most and respected by almost all and while they might have their own weaknesses they hold their positions high above their peers. But, do they have charisma? I don’t think so - inconclusively. Look at some of the greatest sites out there.

A handful of the most popular and most famous websites and blogs:

• Google.com (search and information dissemination)
• Amazon.com (online sales)
• MySpace.com (social networking)
• ProBlogger.net (blogging)
• Wikipedia.org (free content encyclopedia)
• YouTube.com (video sharing)
• Engadget.com (gadgets and consumer electronics)

All of these sites maintain enviable followings, prestige, and power but I don’t think the sites themselves have anything particularly charismatic about them. They are famous because they are backed by great ideas, companies, brands, or people (or usually all).

People are drawn to Google because they offer reliable and ultra fast searches as well as numerous other sources of information from maps to translators to business tools to stores. ProBlogger is one of the most popular blogs in the world because Darren Rowse has an excellent blogging voice and has built an excellent brand. YouTube became one of the most famous companies and brands in the world because they basically built the user-created video movement by making it exceptionally simple for Joe Anybody to upload and share videos with the world.

After all my searching I do NOT believe a website can actually possess what we call charisma but I DO think it can be designed to be as likeable as possible - even immediately likeable to most visitors.

There are people who believe charisma can be taught and I agree. Assuming that is true and I am right we should be able to loosely design certain charismatic traits into a website to make it more welcoming, interesting, and engaging. That is, we can make our websites more likeable.

But first, we should focus on building a great company with great people and a strong brand based on excellent ideas. By the way, the only common thread I could find in my comparisons of charismatic people and sites is that they all focus on the other person or user when interacting.

So, does your website have charisma?

Tags: online-marketing
Posted in Blogging, Business, Sales & Marketing