10 Tips to a Website that Gets You Clients

What’s the best way to do a website? How do you know what content to add? It’s a tough question for many people, and web designers are not usually savvy to marketing strategy with regard to websites. They just want you to tell them what you want them to do.  
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So I’ve put together 10 tips to answer your toughest questions about what to do to create a website that pulls potential clients in and keeps them engaged long enough to either have them sign up for your email list, contact you, or both!  
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1. Make sure you put your headshot and your name in the banner. When you offer a service, especially one like coaching, consulting or healing, you ARE the business. People want to see what you look like. They want to be welcomed to the site by you.
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   So if you feel a bit uncomfortable at putting YOU out there, you need to get past that. Sometimes a picture with a bit of personality goes a lot farther than the best marketing copy. 
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2. Put your branding promise in the banner or at the top. Whatever you use as an elevator speech or a branding promise, it should say exactly who you work with and what you do for them, and it should be the first writing people see.    
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   You have only a few seconds to grab people’s attention these days when they land on your site, and if you can’t do that, all the great copy in the world will do you no good.
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3. Make sure you have a free taste with content to build your email list. The key to getting clients these days is to create an email list (I recommend using AWeber  to do that).  
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   Once you’ve begun building your list, you want to stay in touch by sending a newsletter every two weeks with a feature article. That way people can “follow” you and when they are ready, they’ll contact you.
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   People generally aren’t attracted to signing up for newsletters, so nix the “Sign up for my newsletter” offer. Instead, create a juicy piece of content your market really wants, offer that instead, and watch your email list grow! You can let them know they’ll also be receiving articles every two weeks, and can unsubscribe at any time.
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4. Make sure your free taste is prominent, and easily available on every page. I can’t stress this enough! If your free taste is buried at the bottom of page 4, forget it. It’s the most important reason to send people to your site, so get it up there!  
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   Hint: Studies show that the right-hand side of your site pages, below the banner, is the most looked at/scanned part of a webpage.  
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5. On the home page, speak to the pain your clients feel and the results they want instead of your process. I see so many websites that are selling the process: NLP, coaching, whatever it is that people do to help others get results. Process doesn’t sell.  
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   Instead, let people know you get their pain, their challenges, and what keeps them awake at 2am. Then let them know you get what they really want instead, the benefits and results they are looking for. And then watch the clients roll in.
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6. Use the WordPress platform, add a blog tab, and then when your biz is up and running, do a newsletter every two weeks, adding the feature article to your blog.  
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   People want to see content when they go to a website, that’s how they establish if they resonate with you and your expertise. Adding blog posts also helps your SEO, and, WordPress is user-friendly.  
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7. Videos increase the like/know/trust factor by 26%, but ONLY if you come across well. So if you want to add a video, do a test run and ask several people that you know will be honest with you what they think.  
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   Also, be sure you have the time. Creating a video is time consuming, so if your business isn’t up and running yet, skip this part and do it later. You need to get out there and start getting clients!  
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8. Make sure you put your headshot and your name in the banner. When you offer a service, especially one like coaching, consulting or healing, you ARE the business. People want to see what you look like. They want to be welcomed to the site by you.  
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9. List your email address on the contact page rather than your phone number. Phone calls always interrupt something you’re doing, and you want to be strategic in how you manage your business and your time. Establish from the beginning that your time is valuable, and schedule your calls via email at a time that works for you.    
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   So if you feel a bit uncomfortable at putting YOU out there, you need to get past that. Sometimes a picture with a bit of personality goes a lot farther than the best marketing copy
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10. NEVER list your prices with your packages and services. You need to speak to people to establish the value before sharing the investment!..

If you’d like to discuss any of these tips further with me, or if you’d like me to look at your website/hear your ideas for a site and offer some tips, for the month of March I’m doing FREE Website Strategy Sessions!
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We’ll look at your site or site ideas, at your business as a whole and where you want it to go, and at how you can get there as quickly as possible! Click here for your FREE Website Strategy Session (please put in the comments that you’d like one of these) .