Can we just acknowledge for a sec how much website design has changed even just over the last decade?
It used to be you could create a page in Microsoft Publisher and sync it to your domain and call it good.
(... anyone even remember MS Publisher? Or is that aging me?)
It didn’t matter what it looked like. Didn’t matter if the photography was professional or not. The colors weren’t important.
I mean you could have music playing in the background and no one batted an eye.
Those days are long gone.
When I visit a website now, I have expectations that revolve around looks and feels.
Not to mention, it’s all about the type of content living there, how useful or helpful it is… and on and on.
Do you know there are peeps out there who have entire careers that analyze the “usability” of a site.
They’re like professional website stalkers and they get paid to do this. #amazing
It’s because we live so much of our lives online now. Most of the info we want comes from websites, which means having a killer one is pretty important. A necessity.
It can feel like a ton of pressure, too, tho.
But… I’ve got some good news for you if you’re someone whose eye starts twitching at the thought of creating a website that converts visitors to customers.
There are really just 3 main things to keep in mind when creating a killer website, and they aren’t overly complicated. At all.
I’m not here to tell you what your site should look like, how many pages it should have, or whether or not anyone wants to see that cat meme you think is hilarious.
Because those things you have to decide yourself.
However, figuring them out will get easier when you use the 3 strategies I’m about to share with you.
In fact, if you use these three strategies I’ll bet you a turmeric latte you’ll have total clarity regarding what belongs on your site.
Sound good? Okay let’s get to it.
Killer Website Strategy 1 - Your Website Isn’t About You
I see this mistake happen all the time by newer entrepreneurs just beginning their journey.
They slap a site together and it’s basically all about them.
It’s everything they care about and almost reads or looks like a digital journal or yearbook entry. #soearly2000s
Here’s what I’m not saying: I’m not saying you shouldn’t have an About Me page.
But I am saying the story you tell on that page should be a version of your story that is relevant to your ideal client.
In other words, the content on your website should relate back in some way to how you solve her problems.
It should narrate your transformation journey in an aspirational way.
Which means some details of your life just don’t belong on your site. Like your addiction to Trader Joe’s seasonal snacks.
(Unless you write a snack blog, in which case drop me a comment and share your link.)
Be selective about what you share and view it from her eyes: does she really care about it? Is it relevant to her?
When you keep the content of your site in check using this strategy, stats like your bounce rate will go down and the number of pages per visit will go up. Which means more people viewing your shiz. #winning
Killer Website Strategy #2 - Your Website Takes Your Ideal Client On A Journey
Okay this is very closely related to Strategy 1.
In fact, you should do these two strategies at the same time.
Because while you’re building your site and deciding if your copy or content is relevant to her… you should be organizing it in a way that takes her on a journey.
Preferably a journey very similar to your own transformational journey. Because your journey is what got you started in your biz, right?
Thought so.
Again, this means approaching your site through an aspirational lens but also a helpful one.
When you walk out this strategy, it may look like this:
A visitor lands on your homepage and starts checking your site out. She sees you’ve got a freebie for an eBook with essential oil recipes.
She downloads the eBook (which means you get her email address #woohoo).
The confirmation page of that download directs her to a specific page of your website - like your About Me page where she can learn more about who you are + what your story is.
Your About Me page has links on the bottom that take her to your most popular content… content that shares more about your transformation, what you did to make changes, and offers more free info for her.
Do you see how this works?
Each page (or section of) your site is an opportunity for you to tell a story and take your ideal client on a journey.
And newsflash - she wants to go on that journey, BTW. She came to your site for a reason.
This is why your website is your most powerful marketing and selling tool.
You don’t have nearly this amount of control on social media or even in an email inbox.
But your website can take her on a trail of your design that has a destination you’ve predetermined.
Which is basically a dream come true for any biz owner.
Which leads us to the last strategy…
Killer Website Strategy 3 - Begin With The End In Mind
As you’re creating this journey (aka, funnel) you want your ideal client to take… be strategic.
You can’t just whip up a journey or pull it out of your back pocket without any actual planning. Good enough doesn’t work these days.
I mean, you wouldn’t start writing a book or TV show without at least some idea of the end in mind.
The same is true for your site.
What’s your ultimate goal for your ideal client? What will make her become your client (or customer)?
Buy some product? Mentor with you? Purchase a course?
It’s totally okay to have more than one end point in mind, btw.
The thing to remember is that for every end point you have… you’ll have a different journey that a visitor has to go on.
Because each journey will need different stopping points along the way to nurture her into eventually becoming a real, paying client.
And that means before you build any part of your website at all, you should sit down and literally plot out what needs to exist on your site in order for her to hit that end point.
Write down the end goal and work backwards from it.
To help you work all this out, I have a freebie for you that will walk you through checking off some of the most important things you’ve gotta have on your site in order to make it killer for conversions.
Stay killer, my friends.
XO,
Hayley