Is your business website working for you?
Does it earn the trust of your prospective customers?
Does it get you leads and, eventually, sales?
Maybe you have a nice design and interesting visuals, but your copy and the way your website is structured just doesn’t click for your visitors.
In this post, I will show you how to make your business website a lead-catcher and turn those lurkers into prospects.
Have A Mission Statement About Who You Are And What You Do
Why are you in business?
What do you do to help your clients better themselves and their companies?
Answer these questions in a detailed (but direct and easy to read) way.
Your prospective clients want to know more about why you do what you do and especially what sets you apart from other businesses in your same industry.
Use A Professional But Relaxed Photo
Pictures of yourself all stiff and serious are not going to appeal to your (tired, overworked) audience.
Instead, add a professional but relaxed (and smiling!) photo of yourself to your website, especially on your About Me page.
It will put your prospects at ease and help them focus on your message better.
Have One Or More Buzz Pieces
Your prospective clients may not want to hire you immediately, but look at what you can offer first.
Develop white papers, case studies, checklists, and other buzz pieces that your prospects can download for free— they will witness your expertise and trust that you are an honest business and not a scam.
Leave a phone number or your email within each buzz piece, so that prospective clients may call you right after reading.
A Floating Sidebar Contact Form
David Leonhardt from THGM Ghostwriter Service recommends to have a floating contact form that will stay visible on all pages of your website:
When I designed THGMwriters.com I determined that the single most important element on the page is the contact form. No matter where a possible customer might be on a page, it is critical that they can fill in the form without searching. So I made it float in the sidebar.
For the blog, I had to make the contact form static , in order to use the sidebar for blog navigation elements. However, the blog portion of my website targets a different audience anyway, and that audience tends to be more my extended social media network, who reach out to me through social media anyway.
Link To Fellow Professionals In Your Network
In other words, create a network page on your website where your visitors can find out about fellow professionals in your field.
You may wonder if this advice will actually work against your advantage, but it’s actually the contrary— linking to others will tell prospects that you are not afraid of the competition and that you have a collaborational approach to the profession.
Have “As Seen On” Links/Buttons All In One Collective Spot
Don’t scatter your media appearances all around your website– collect them in one spot, either in your footer (like Trello.com) or in your sidebar (like MakeALivingWriting.com) or in a dedicated page.
When your prospective client wants to see who you have worked for, they will know where to look.
Even better if you can link each past client’s name or button to a page with your work samples.
And The Essentials…
You can make it easier for your prospective clients to use your website via tablet or mobile if you make it responsive and mobile-friendly.
Also, don’t forget the importance of blogging to keep your prospective and current clients’ interest in your services alive and to make it easier for them to interact with you.
For more ideas on how to attract leads to your business website, read Jonathan Long’s “10 Hacks to Help Your Website Generate More Leads, Sales and Revenue” article at Forbes.