The Blog

103. Build a Better Website

You all know that I love all things marketing. And I’ve talked about almost everything on the podcast, from social media strategies to email marketing to blogging regularly. But I have never talked about one of the most important aspects of marketing: creating a website.

In the world of social media, people have forgotten how important websites are! New businesses start on Instagram and TikTok but forget about making a whole website. Yeah social media is important, but you need to remember that it can’t be your only store-front. You need to have other ways to reach and connect with audiences, and a website is a sure way to do that.

If you don’t have a website, you’re limiting yourself to the people just on Instagram or TikTok. But there is this HUGE audience of people who aren’t on social media, that can become potential clients.

Build a Better Website

You are going to leave this podcast today with two things! First, a new understanding of how important a website is for your business and second, a commitment to take your website off the back burner and make it a crucial aspect of your marketing strategy.

I know it seems complicated and intimidating but there are so many website builders out there that make it so easy to build your own site. And if you do have a website, I want you to know that whatever you’re using is just fine and I’m not here to bash what you’re using and tell you to switch over to something else.

All I’m going to do today is go over things that make or break a good website!

Build a Better Website

First Things First

So first thing, I see a lot of extra tabs at the top of websites…and sometimes not enough. You know, the “home, about me, my portfolio, testimonials, pricing” pages?

You want to have a goldilocks sweet spot of tabs at the top of your website. But you also want to try taking all that info you would put in those individual tabs, and put it in a solid home-landing page.

If you think about it, when you go to a website for services or products, you’re just looking for how much it’s going to cost you. And when you get the information you’re looking for, you immediately leave the site. And people are doing the same when they go to your website!

So you want to create a beefy home-landing page that draws their attention, gets them to stick around and opens their mind to the possibilities of what you can do for them, so they’re not just driven to your pricing page.

And what’s the point of making all those other tabs if people are just going straight to pricing and then leaving?

If people can see who you are, what you do, your story and testimonials all before they see your pricing, they’ll be more likely to stick around your website and pay your prices.Build a Better Website

So tip #1 to improve your website: cut out the excess number of tabs on your site and beef-up your home-landing page to draw attention.

Mistake #2

Another mistake I see on websites is not enough information. You want to have as much information as possible across your website, but what I’ve been seeing a lot of is just a price table and picture. Or just a graphic of packages.

That is not enough!

There’s many reasons why just a graphic or just an image is so bad for your website, but one of the main reasons is that it’s not going to boost your SEO.

Remember, SEO is what gets you to the top of Google so you’re easier to find online. And to make SEO happy and get you to the top of Google, you need to have lots of words on your pages with external links and headings.

Make sure your landing pages are more than just a cute graphic of what you offer.

So going back to that beefy home-landing page. Put in ALL the information: the story of what you do and why you do it, your strengths and why people should book you with testimonials and packages. Speak to your clients’ pain points and limiting beliefs. Address all that on that home-landing page. There is no such thing as too much information here.

I explain it all because that kind of information expands people’s thoughts and gives them more ideas of what I can do for them. Instead of them just coming and getting the info they need, they have ideas flowing in their head about all the extra things they are able to do.

And if they can see all that information from the start, before they get to your pricing, they’ll be willing to pay your prices.

Mistake #3

I have also been seeing paragraphs and paragraphs of words with no images or headings to break it up. We do want all that information, but you need to break it up or your clients are just going to look at all that info as an essay and will skip right on through.

So break the page up with headings, graphs, tables, pictures and numbered lists. One big page with a thousand words is going to be so boring. So breaking it up makes your information easier to digest.

Don’t worry about being the best writer in the world, just keep your paragraphs short and really easy to read and understand.

And whatever website builder you’re using will make it so easy to section your website and break it up. Most website builders have templates that you can drag and drop on to your page, for sections or adding images and headings and other cool features.

Mistake #4

Consider adding a contact form to every page, or even just a linktree of some kind as its own page.

Hopefully I’ve made it very clear that your goal is to provide as much information as possible, but in an appealing and digestible way. A linktree page gives that information with who you are, how it works, where you’re at and all the places people can find you. But also in a visually appealing way.

And then I’ve noticed that contact forms on every page helps to turn your website visitors into clients. You may think it’s so simple to go to your contact page if a visitor wants more info. But in a world where everything is fast and practically given to us on a silver platter, doing the work to go to a contact page will often lose your visitors because they get sidetracked or lose the interest to inquire for more on their way there.

Also, by putting a contact form on every page, they’ll be more likely to ask for more info right then and there as they’re browsing your story because it’s easy and already there.

Build a Better Website

And that wraps up this podcast! I hope this gives you a good start for building a better website! As always, reach out to me if you have any questions about anything I talked about today.

Listen to the full episode here.

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