I’ve reviewed dozens of early-stage startup websites and worked with Series A and bootstrapped companies on their web copy and messaging, and in all cases, tweaking hero section headline was not the answer.

The answer was figuring out why the website was actually underperforming — and how to fix that.

The “how” will depend on your product and your audience. But the website sections that are neglected are almost always the same.

“Talk to your customers,” they said. But how do you actually get to those mind-blowing insights everyone’s talking about?

Yes, interviewing customers is complicated. But not the way you think.

Scheduling interviews, coming up with incentives (or choosing not to incentivize), deciding on the questions, and challenging yourself to turn on your camera are all table stakes. The biggest challenge: overcoming mindset traps that make you a crappy interviewer, without you even noticing.

Not every blog reader is going to become a customer. Not every blog reader is going to become a subscriber. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to convert as many of your blog visitors as possible into subscribers or into customers.

These 4 tweaks can help fast-moving startups convert as many of blog visitors as possible into subscribers or into customers.