What does your website say about you and your business? Is it working for you by bringing prospects into your sales funnel or by guiding them to your phone number for a consultation? Or is it just taking up internet space and collecting virtual dust while your competitors attract your prospects?
Your website should be so much more than a static business card and deserves a facelift – or at least a copy update – annually. Your visitors will make a decision in about two seconds whether to stay on your site or to click away so make the most of this time by creating eye-grabbing graphics and telling your visitors exactly what you do and who you are. That’s a lot to do in a very short amount of time.
1. Outsource professional graphics.
Your website header, headshot, and brand colors are the first things that will catch people’s attention so make sure they are professionally done. Hire a photographer for professional headshots (or at the very least a friend with a really good camera). Hire a graphic designer who can design a stunning logo and help you choose colors that match your brand image. Always use high-resolution graphics on your website to avoid blurry or pixelated images, which do not shout “professional” to your prospects.
2. Edit your About page.
You have permission to write in a conversational tone on your About page, unless your market includes executives, lawyers, bankers, or other professions that expect very formal information. Otherwise let your personality and humour shine through as you relay the details of how you got started in your business and who you consider your ideal client. Some About pages are comprised of two paragraphs while others seem to go on forever. If you opt for a longer page, be sure there’s a reason for the length and that you add some humour and strong storytelling techniques to keep your audience scrolling til the end.
3. Avoid using too much jargon.
Yes, there IS such a thing as using too many words to say absolutely nothing. Often this happens when you’re trying to use too many buzzwords or industry jargon. Get to the point quickly by explaining in as few words as possible what you do and who you serve. Of course, you can get into more detail when you describe your packages or when you start to correspond with prospects but on your website you want to get those points across quickly.
4. Is your website design or theme easy to navigate?
Ultimately you want prospects to sign up for your mailing list and/or book a consultation call, so look at your website design and determine if those two options are placed prominently. Make it as easy as possible for possible clients to reach you. If they have to click too many times or their clicks lead them to some random article that they didn’t want, they will click away and the opportunity will be lost. Consider using a pop-up that appears before people leave your site and also hire a professional designer who can make these changes much faster than you can.
5. Is your site safe from hackers?
Hackers definitely have too much time on their hands and no business is too small to avoid a hacker’s wrath. Check your website backend to be sure your WordPress is up to date as well as your plugins. Now delegate this task to your VA to do on a monthly basis to avoid serious problems. Consider upgrading your security plugin to a paid version for even more protection. These upgrades may not be a visible part of your website facelift but they sure will help improve the foundation of your site.