There’s a guy in Melbourne named Irwin Hau who has audited close to 70,000 websites in the last 17 years.Not looked at. Audited. Line by line, page by page, 70,000 times.And here’s what he says that matters most: the same problems show up, over and over, no matter the industry. Not because businesses are ignoring best practices. Because they’re following them — and getting a hollow copy of what actually works.That’s the part I want to sit with today. Because if you’ve already added the call to action, already got a testimonial page, already got the blog cadence going — and your phone still isn’t ringing — the problem isn’t that you skipped a step. It’s that you did the step without the substance underneath it.
Hello, I’m Jeff Payne, you’re listening to The Jeff Payne Show, Episode #22, YOU DIDN’T SKIP A STEP. YOU SKIPPED THE SUBSTANCE.
Hau’s audit boils every page down to four questions. Who are you. What do you do. Why should I believe you. And how do I get in touch.He compares it to a first date — you don’t open with your life story, and you’d be a fool to leave without asking for the number.Simple test. Most businesses fail it. Not because they don’t try to answer those four questions — because they answer them with a checklist instead of a case.Here’s what I mean. Take the call to action. The standard advice — Hau’s own rule, actually — is one CTA visible no matter where someone scrolls, two above the fold, three by the bottom. Good rule. But I’ve watched business owners implement it and still convert nothing, because they treated it as a button-counting exercise. Three buttons. Box checked.The real question isn’t how many CTAs do you have. It’s what is the one thing you want someone to remember after they leave your site, long after the visit? Build toward that.And second — what are you actually offering in exchange for a stranger’s name and phone number? Because that’s what you’re asking for. Their name is the most guarded thing they own. “Contact us” isn’t an offer. It’s a demand with a button on it.
Same pattern with proof. Hau’s clients are literally instructing AI to put imperfections into generated images now — a blemish here, an asymmetry there — because a picture that’s too perfect reads as fake before a visitor even knows why they don’t trust it. That’s a clever patch. But it’s a patch on the wrong problem. The fix isn’t making a fake photo look more real. It’s not using a fake photo. Invest in real photography — especially your own headshot — and then go further: don’t just show a face, tell a story.
And that’s the difference between a testimonial and proof that actually moves someone. A testimonial is three sentences in small type that reads exactly like terms and conditions — nobody reads it, and everybody knows nobody reads it. A story is different. A story has stakes.
Colt Melrose is a commercial photographer in Houston. On his site, he doesn’t run testimonials. He runs Success Stories — full narratives about specific clients, what changed for them, what it was worth.
One of those stories is a client who credits a single professional headshot Colt shot for them with generating a $1,000,000 in additional revenue for their business. Not “great to work with.” A $1,000,000, attributed, in writing, by the client.
That number does something a five-star review never will. It’s specific. It’s outsized. It’s verifiable enough to feel true and remarkable enough to be worth repeating. That’s proof density — not more testimonials, but proof with enough weight that a stranger stops scrolling.
So here’s where I’d point you, if you want to test your own site against this instead of taking my word for it.
First — the eight-word test. Can you describe what your business does, and why someone should care, in eight to ten words? Try it right now. If you can’t, you’re not being concise. You’re being vague, and vague doesn’t convert.
Second — count your actual CTAs, not the ones you think you have. Then ask which one you’d cut, and what you’re really offering with the ones that remain.
Third — test your own funnel. Fill out your form. Call your own number. Follow it all the way through to a human. Do it monthly. It sounds almost embarrassing to say out loud, and that’s exactly why most businesses have never done it.
Fourth — look at your proof. Not “do I have testimonials.” Do I have stories? Real ones, with real names, real numbers, real stakes — connected across the site, not buried on one page nobody visits.
None of this is a hack. That’s the point. Hau audited seventy thousand websites and found the same gaps again and again — not because the businesses hadn’t heard the advice, but because they’d taken the advice and left out the substance that makes it work.
We talked a few episodes back about your website as a stage. This is the other half of that idea. You can build the theater. But if the actors are stock photos and the script is a checklist, the audience feels it — even when they can’t say why.
So don’t ask what tactic you’re missing. Ask what you built a shortcut for instead of building the real thing.
I want to thank you for listening. See you next time.
A guy in Melbourne has audited close to 70,000 websites. He keeps finding the same problems — not because businesses skip the advice, but because they follow it and up building a hollow copy of what actually works.
“Most businesses didn’t skip the checklist. They followed it — and got a hollow copy of what actually works.”
Irwin Hau runs a digital agency in Melbourne, Australia. Seventeen years, close to 70,000 site audits. When he talks about what’s broken on the average business website, he’s not guessing — he’s seen the same failure pattern enough times to know it’s not random.
Here’s the pattern: Businesses aren’t ignoring best practices. It’s that they’re following them, checking the box, and still not converting. If your site already has a call to action, a testimonials page, a steady blog cadence — and the phone still isn’t ringing — the problem probably isn’t a missing step. It’s that the step got done without the substance underneath it.
THE FOUR QUESTIONS EVERY PAGE HAS TO ANSWER
Hau boils every page down to four questions: Who are you? What do you do? Why should I believe you? And how do I get in touch? He compares it to a first date — you don’t open with your life story, and you’d be a fool to leave without asking for the number.
Most businesses fail this test. Not because they don’t attempt to answer the four questions — because they answer them with a checklist instead of a case.
Every page you own is being judged on a first date, and most of them never ask for the number.
THE CHECKLIST ISN’T THE PROBLEM —
THE SUBSTANCE IS
Take the call to action. Standard advice — Hau’s own rule, in fact — is one CTA visible no matter where someone scrolls, two above the fold, three by the bottom. It’s a good rule. But plenty of businesses implement it and still convert nothing, because they treated it as a button-counting exercise. Three buttons. Box checked.
Contact us isn’t an offer. It’s a demand with a button on it.
The real question isn’t how many call-to-actions (CTAs) you have. It’s what’s the one thing you want someone to remember after they leave your site, long after the visit — and what are you actually offering in exchange for a stranger’s name and phone number. Their name is the most guarded thing they own.
The same pattern shows up around proof. Some businesses are now instructing AI to introduce small imperfections into generated images — a blemish here, an asymmetry there — because an image that’s too perfect reads as fake before a visitor consciously registers why. It’s a clever patch. But it’s a patch on the wrong problem.
Invest in real photography — especially your own headshot — and then go further: don’t just show a face, tell a story. That’s the difference between a testimonial and proof that actually moves someone.
THE PROOF THAT ACTUALLY MOVES SOMEONE
Colt Melrose is a commercial photographer in Houston. On his site, he doesn’t run testimonials — he runs Success Stories, full narratives about specific clients and what changed for them. One of those stories is a client who credits a single professional headshot Colt shot for them with generating a $1,000,000 in additional revenue for their business. Not “great to work with.” A $1,000,000, attributed, in writing, by the client.
“A million dollars, attributed, in writing, by the client — that’s proof density.”
That number does something a five-star review never will. It’s specific. It’s outsized. It’s verifiable enough to feel true and remarkable enough to be worth repeating.
Test your own site
Seventy thousand sites, one recurring diagnosis: the advice was never the problem.
THE BOTTOM LINE
None of this is a hack. That’s the point. Hau audited 70,000 websites and found the same gaps again and again — not because the businesses hadn’t heard the advice, but because they’d taken the advice and left out the substance that makes it work.
We’ve talked before about your website as a stage. This is the other half of that idea. You can build the theater. But if the actors are stock photos and the script is a checklist, the audience feels it — even when they can’t say why.
Don’t ask what tactic you’re missing. Ask what you built a shortcut for instead of building the real thing.
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