Are you finding people are landing on your website and aren’t turning into clients or collecting your contact information? Maybe you aren't even getting the kind of traffic that you’d like to be getting. If this sounds like you, then make sure you read over the top 10 website must-haves to start getting more visitors and turning them into clients!
1. What you do
When someone lands on your site you need to let them know what it is you do and say it quickly and concisely. So this could be something like an iteration of your mission statement or your purpose. What this does is allow people to vet for themselves if they're in the right place, if you’re right for them.
You might be thinking, am I going to be turning people away, but you’re in business to serve your dream clients, not to serve everybody, so you will turn people away, but your ideal clients will stay.
TIP: Try the 5-second test. Show your website to a stranger and count to 5 before taking the screen away and then ask them what you do and who you do it for. So you're giving them literally five seconds to understand what you do and who you do it for. If they can’t understand that in 5 seconds, then you need to go back to the drawing board and either rework that message or rework the placement of your message.
2. What you want your visitors to do
You want to tell your visitors exactly what to do when they land on your website. So that might mean, check out this blog post, peak at my gallery, learn a little bit more about me or check out work that I've done. Here you need to make it about them!
For example, are you looking for a website? Are you looking for brand identity or are you looking for strategy and growth strategy?
This helps set them up for success on your website by giving them a space to go.
3. Contact information
I can't even tell you how many times I’ve found it difficult for me to figure out how to get in touch with somebody when I’m doing an overhaul on their website.
Whether your contact page isn’t easily accessed or it's just kind of this boring form, you want to be able to collect as much information as you can. When somebody goes to your contact page, you want to make it easily accessible, simple to use and easy to find.
4. About you
If people are landing on your website from Pinterest or your Facebook ads, you want to tell them about who you are. So you must have on your website some information about yourself. And I know there's a huge argument of this isn't about me, this is about them. But letting people know who you are, what you're all about, what your passion is, what you're into, how you got started, it's all human experience. That's an opportunity for somebody to get to know who you are, connect pieces of your story back to their own story, and begin building trust with you.
An about you section is incredibly important and whether you have a little paragraph of that on your home page and then a learn more button that would take them over to a longer version is great.
5. Examples of successful projects
If you’ve been published, have work that has been majorly successful or even your portfolio, you need to make sure that it’s front and centre. Especially if you're in a creative space, you’ll want to break it down for them. Such as if you’re a photographer you want to give your visitors sections to look at your projects, e.g. weddings, engagements, and family shoots.
6. Photo of you.
For people who come to your site from a platform such as a Pinterest or an ad, they might not be familiar with who you are. So by putting an image of you and not a stock photo, this helps create trust. You can put this image in your blog sidebar, on your homepage, and especially on your about page!
7. Email Collection via Opt-In/Freebie
If you’re finding no one is signing up for your email list, it might be time to look at how you’re collecting these emails. What you want to do is give them a piece of content in exchange for their contact information. So that can be a freebie or a challenge such as a guide that's going to give them value for free in exchange for their contact information. And then they land on your email list and they can get your monthly newsletter.
You can put this opt-in in your footer so that it’ll be on every page of your website as well as a pop-up so that when someone is scrolling your site they can download your free guide and you can collect their contact information.
8. Social Icons
You want people to be able to access your Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest profiles, but where you don't want to have these is in your header. The reason why is because they're like flashing exit signs. This was okay before our society became incredibly obsessed with Instagram and Facebook because subconsciously when they go to your site and they see those icons, they want to click it so they can check out your Instagram.
And the next thing you know, they're hanging out in their own DM answering things they're looking at. They're not on your website anymore. So do not put those flashing exit signs right up at the top of your website. You want to put them down in the footer or put them on your about page.
9. Your Services
People are coming to your website to gather information, firstly to get to know who you are and what you do, that's why it’s top of the fold on your website, and most important next to that is your services.
People want to know what you do and how you do it. So have a space on your website where you dedicate it to mapping out exactly what you do. How is that process going to be like? What's the timeline we're going to work together? What are the different services that you offer? Personally I like to include pricing. I don't really like getting on the phone with people who don't have a clue of what I charge. So at the very least, you could put on their base pricing, like if you're a wedding photographer, packages starting at X amount.
10. Testimonials
Much like your successful projects, you want to have your testimonials in a place relevant to the offering. Don’t just put your testimonials in a random place on your site or on their own page, as most likely users aren’t going to read them. Testimonials help build trust and social proof so make sure you put these on your services page, on your sales page and even on your about page. This helps create proof that what you’re so passionate about, has been recognized and loved by others.
Ready to tackle your website and make sure you've got everything you need on there? But not sure about the strategy behind it? Schedule a 20-minute Strategy Session so we can chat about what your business currently looks like now, what has shifted + how to create a website that sets you up for success.
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