4 Things Your Website Should Do (Besides Look Good)
Your website should help your business grow. It should make your life easier. It should make your customer’s experience interacting with you a delightful surprise – smooth, clear, and impressive. It should turn visitors into customers. If your website isn’t doing these things, then this blog post is for you!
Here’s the truth: Having a pretty website is no longer enough.
Yes, it must be visually engaging and impressive. It must be on-brand, have beautiful images, and resonate with your target audience.
But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The 4 Things Your Website Should Do for Your Business
1) It should get you traffic (aka: more people on it)
Your website shouldn’t just be “sitting” online waiting for people to find it. It should be actively helping you get found.
It’s like this… If you opened a restaurant, you would prioritize choosing the right location for it. It’s just as the saying goes – location, location, location! You could have the most incredible food and dreamy interior design to set the perfect vibe, but if you choose the wrong location, people won’t find you. You’ll have a hard time filling seats and keeping your restaurant open.
The same is true for your website. It could be beautiful and set up perfectly to sell your product or service, but if people can’t find it, you won’t make sales.
To adapt a quote John F. Kennedy once said…
“Ask not what you can do for your website –ask what your website can do for you.”
Just kidding. But seriously… your website should drive traffic to itself!This should be a priority goal in your marketing strategy.
How, you ask?
SEO: Search Engine Optimization.
We explain the importance of SEO and how to get found on Google in this blog post, but to paraphrase, there is a list of things you can do to get your website to show up higher in Google (and other search engine) results. To give you some examples, these are things like:
Make sure your website is fast enough
Use the right keywords in your website copy (aka: the text/words on your website) that your customers are searching for
Have the right settings enabled
Implement an ongoing content strategy (like blogging)
And much more
If your website is set up with Google in mind, you should get way more eyeballs on it.
2) It should tell your customers exactly what you do and how you solve their problem(s).
You started your business because you saw a problem in your industry that you could solve – and that’s exactly what motivates customers to buy – actually speaking to the problem you solve. If you’re the Advil to my headache, then you better say so clearly.
Your website should show and tell your customers that you understand their problem(s) and pain points as it relates to your products or services – then present them with your solution.
The first step to this is to understand your customers inside and out and speak directly to them on your website with clear and strategic copywriting.
Not only should you show your customers that you understand them, but you should also help them understand what you’re offering. Sometimes we can be so entrenched in our own businesses that we fail to clearly communicate what exactly we do and what we’re offering.
If your website isn’t explaining what you do and how it’ll make your customers’ lives better, you’re leaving money on the table.
Need help in this area? We love helping business owners get clear on their messaging and copywriting strategy, and we write website copy to be both on-brand and SEO-friendly. Check out this post all about messaging strategy and this one about how to write great copy for your website.
3) It should make it EASY for people to buy from you.
Have you ever been on a website ready to buy or take the next step, except you can’t figure out how?
You’re ready to schedule an initial inquiry call with an attorney or graphic designer, but their email address is buried in the footer. Then, you have to email them and hope they see it in order to set up a call – all of this just to find out if they’re a good fit for what you’re looking for. Or maybe you’re looking for a wedding or event venue, and you can’t figure out how to book a tour, view pricing or see if your date is available. Then you’re stuck in a back-and-forth email game that can take days, just to find out if they’re in your price range or if the date you need is even free. You get the idea.
how to write a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
When you don’t have a clear, obvious direct call-to-action (CTA) on your website that is used consistently throughout your site, you’re creating confusion and barriers for your customers. And confusion and barriers reduce sales. On your website, you want to remove as many barriers as possible so that your customers know exactly how to buy or take the next step with you. This will vary based on the nature of your business, but no matter what you do – a clear CTA is essential.
If you’re a product-based business, this one’s easy – your products should be easily available to purchase on your website, and most likely your CTA will be “Shop Now” or “Buy Now”.
If you’re a service-based business, you might add a link to a booking calendar where people can schedule a call or meeting with you without needing to email you or submit a form and wait for your response. Your CTA might be “Schedule a Call” or “Book a Session”. Or if you have a live or online event people will attend, then setup an online form that allows you to capture and track registrations and accept payment. In this case, your CTA will likely be “Register Now”.
Whatever you do, you want to make it as easy as possible for someone to take the next step in buying your product or service.
And whenever you start to say any of the following statements (out loud or in your head)...
Well, it's an industry standard to do…
Everyone in my industry does it like this, so…
I’ve tried that before, and it didn’t work…
I don’t think that will work because…
Stop yourself. Choose to have an open mind and think creatively. Suspend your judgment and assumptions on what you initially think will or won’t work.
And first, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask these questions:
How could you make their life easier?
How could you remove steps in their experience interacting with you?
How could you help them more easily find the information they need to make a buying decision?
What would it look like to serve your customers better than industry standard?
What would you need to know/do/have in order to speed up or simplify your customers' buying experience?
Let yourself walk down the road and brainstorm new solutions for how you can make it easier for people to buy from you on your website. You might surprise yourself with a new way to disrupt your industry and positively blow your customers away!
4) It should be set up with tools and integrations to make your life easier.
We know there are so many things you juggle as a business owner. Let your website take something off your overflowing plate!
Think about the example above – using an online booking calendar so someone can instantly schedule an appointment with you. If you are asking clients and customers to reach out to you via email or phone to schedule an appointment, you’re likely spending way too much time in your email and voicemail inbox going back and forth to find a date and time that works. Imagine how much time you’d free up if you cut that step out completely. Plus, there are so many great tools that allow you to also set up email and text appointment reminders to minimize no-shows that waste your time.
A booking calendar is just one example of how you can use your website to make your life easier (and likely simultaneously improve your customer’s experience as well).
Here is a list of examples of ways to use tools and integrations to improve efficiency and user experience, while also saving you time and money:
Accepting payments online
Appointment calendars
Registration forms
Email subscriptions, as well as automated confirmations, reminders and campaigns
CRM integrations (customer relationship management platform)
Giving quote and bids
Automated notifications when you post new content
Chat boxes
Social media
No matter what your business does, we’re willing to bet there’s a tool, software, or automation out there that will take work off your busy plate.
Is your website working for you or against you?
If your website isn’t doing all four of these things, it should. You could be saving time and making more money.
More soon,
Mara
P.S. Is your website a workhorse for your business? If not, we gotchu! We ❤️ helping small businesses get clear on their messaging, write high-converting website copy, get found on Google, and design and develop their dream website. Schedule a Call with us and let’s talk about how we can get your website working for you (not against you).
More soon,
Mara
WEB DESIGNER + SEO SPECIALIST
P.S.
Subscribe to get our weekly blog with marketing, business, and finance tips dropped straight into your inbox.
