Build a website your prospects will love

July 21, 2016 at 12:30 AM
Share & Print

Is your website driving new business into your firm? The key with powerful websites isn't so much what they look like, but what visitors do when they arrive. Here are a few quick tips for fixing your website so it drives more qualified prospects to you.

1. Simplify navigation

Focus on having simple navigation that will take people from your home page to exactly where you want them to go. Most visitors will go to 1.3 pages on a website (including your home page) with the 2nd most popular place being the about us page (they really want to know who you are). What else do you want them to see? Establish links driving visitors to other interesting information inside your site.

2. Target the highest common denominator 

No one wants to know you can work with everyone — they only want to know you can work with them. Who do you really want to attract? Focus your messaging on the best, highest common denominator prospect, not everyone. Using this strategy will avoid targeting your messaging to broadly.

3. Use authentic pictures

Use pictures of actual people who work in your office. Marketing Experiments performed a test comparing the use of stock photography versus real imagery on a website and each of their effects on lead generation. What they found was that photos of real people outperformed stock photos by 95 percent. Why? Because stock images tend to be irrelevant.

Website building

Simple, informative messaging appeals to prospects and clients. (Photo: iStock)

4. Improve your About Us 

The biggest mistake made in marketing — and a reason success can be so elusive — is not clearly explaining who you are and what you offer to your prospects, clients and potential referral sources. Answer three questions in one about us paragraph describing what your firm does:

  • What do you do? 
  • Who do you work with? 
  • What is interesting about what your firm does?

5. Keep messaging short and concise

Reduce your website messaging so it is short, concise and directed to your target market. Assume people don't want to read. Substitute a lot of words with enticing headlines summarizing the words below you want them to read. If you have more than a couple paragraphs of verbiage on each page, it is probably too much (bios excluded). 

6. Create a unified theme

What is the ONE thing you want people to know about you? Make sure the takeaway you want visitors to have is a theme running through your website. It could be trust, target market focus, your team, specialized knowledge, local expertise, etc. 

websites

Visitors to your website only look at 1.3 pages. Make an impact to keep them reading. (Photo: iStock)

7. Include a call to action

Add a call to action to engage your visitors to obtain value, find out more or contact you. Develop an offer of a report, whitepaper or webinar that would be of value to your target market. Entice visitors to do something to move their interest in you forward.

8. Integrate video 

Adding video can grab attention and increase credibility. Using video on your website allows you to demonstrate the significance of your services. You can even mix the videos up and have staff explain service information, as well as answer questions. All of this brings increased credibility to you and your firm. 

9. Improve Bios

Your bio should provide the inspiration they need to hire you and your team. To improve your bio (which prospects WILL view if they are interested in coming in to see you), think about answering four questions in four paragraphs or maybe more (your bio is one instance where more messaging is better):

  • What do you do for clients? 
  • Why are you in this business? 
  • What is your background and experience? 
  • What do you like to do when not in the office?

10. Start with words, not design

It is easy to get drawn into having an exciting new design for your website. However, the words you use to describe your business will make a significant difference in the overall impact of your website. If you want people to act after coming to your website, give them the right, compelling words that will get them increasingly interested. Then, after you finish writing the messaging for your site, think about your powerful design. 

Quick fixes may not transform your entire website, but they certainly will help make your website and home page more enticing. Watch your analytics WEEKLY so you can see what is and isn't working. It is the only way you can really use your website as your most powerful marketing tool.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Related Stories

Resource Center