To be effective your website needs to be simple, clear, and easy to navigate.
That means every page needs to have a clear purpose.
Remember, your website is primarily a communication tool. The online salesman for your business. So every piece of content should support that purpose.
Your content doesn’t need to be exhaustive, and it doesn’t need to include every single detail.
A common mistake people make is writing too much, and publishing huge blocks of text. That intimidates your visitors, and almost guarantees they’ll leave without reading anything.
Do yourself and your visitors a favor; keep your content strategic and focused.
The pages on your site should do the following six things to help move your visitors through your buying process.
They should help your visitors:
Decide if they’re in the right place
The last thing you want to do is waste peoples’ time.
So it should be clear as soon as they land on your website, if they’re in the right place, and if you have what they’re looking for.
If you’re a personal trainer, a business coach, a real estate agent, if you help startups, software companies, single moms—whoever you are and whatever you do—your website should make it clear.
The home page of your website is a great place for this.
Decide if they like your work
Once your visitors know they’re in the right place, it should be easy for them to find samples of your work so they can decide if you’re a good fit.
Your portfolio or work page is a great place for this.
Find out if you offer what they need
It would be unfortunate if someone spent time reading your content, looking at samples of your work, and deciding they want to hire you, only to find out you don’t offer what they need.
Or worse, they decide they like you and aren’t able to find what you offer. So clearly say what you’re offering, and make it easy to find.
Your services page is a great place for this.
Learn about you, your experience, and your background
People do business with people they know, like, and trust. So your website should tell visitors about you, your business, the people that work there, and your company values.
But be careful; don’t take the bait and make it all about you. Always write about how your experience and background relate to, and benefit your visitors.
If you use the words you and your more than the words I and we—you’re on the right track.
A lot of the content on your website should be devoted to demonstrating your expertise. This is the job of your about, team, and especially your blog pages.
See proof of your past business successes
Visitors want to know what you’ve done for past clients and customers. And they want to hear it in their own words.
So make your testimonials easy to find. And use real names and pictures for authenticity and credibility.
It’s a great idea to create a testimonials page just for this. But you can’t have too much social proof, so you can also strategically sprinkle these throughout your site.
Find a clear path to take the next action
Arguably the most important part!
Once you’ve done everything else leading up to this point, the visitor can decide if they want to take the next step toward working with you. The next step should be clear and easy to take from every page.
You can have different calls to action depending on the page. Just make sure you only have one per page.
Conclusion
If you think about it; these are the same things a real-life salesman would discuss.
They’d do some pre-qualification, build trust by talking about the experience and past successes of the business, tell you what they’re offering, and ask if you’re ready to take the next step.
If you’re thinking about putting content on your website that doesn’t do one of these things, you might want to consider re-writing it, or not using it at all.
People expect to find what they’re looking for quickly. A few seconds at most. When you take the time to create a website that truly helps your visitors, you not only help them, but you help yourself and your business too!