Every biz owner’s intention when they invest their time and money into creating a website is to attract ideal audiences & convert them into buyers.
But unfortunately, it usually doesn’t end up that way. With all the information out there, it can be confusing knowing where to start (especially if you’re a time-poor mama and a technophobe too). If your website isn’t performing the way you want it to, there are some quick and easy tweaks you can make that will attract your audience & have them clicking!
But before we dive into them, I want to stress how important it is to know your dream client (and, therefore, brand) inside and out. Knowing who your audience is before getting started on your website will save you a whole lot of time and false starts.
So, if you’re clear on your brand foundations and who your soul-mate client is, let’s get started!
10 elements of a highly converting website
1. CAN YOUR USER FIND WHAT THEY NEED EASILY?
First and foremost, your website needs to be easy to navigate. This means making it as easy as possible for your website visitors to find what they’re looking for.
Your navigation bar (aka menu) at the top of the page, will help your visitors find your most important pages. You may also have drop-downs within your menu for sub-level pages.
Channel your inner Virgo to create a logical menu that has everything where your visitors expect them to be!
Expert Tip!
Sales landing pages should NOT have a navigation bar as it encourages visitors to click away from the page instead of scrolling down and learning about your product or service. All your other pages, though, need an easy-to-follow menu so your visitors can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
You may want to add something simple like a ‘Start Here’ button that helps your new potential client begin the process of getting to know you and how you can help them.
Using internal links (links to a new page) to related pages makes it easy for users to continue browsing your site and learning all about your amazing product or service. It’s also essential for good SEO practices.
Understanding the needs, desires & struggles of your soul-mate client helps you structure this journey through your website so they can get to know you (and hopefully go from complete stranger to new BFF).
2. CREATE CAPTIVATING COPY
The headline is the first thing your visitors will see, whether they arrive on a sales page or another page of your website. There’s the industry speak of “above the fold”, which means that you put the MOST important thing you want your user to do at the top. Please do not waste that valuable real estate with a huge header that doesn’t describe your intention or invite them to a call to action.
This big, bold piece of copy needs to explain exactly what they can expect from the rest of the page and why they should stick around to read it.
A headline that speaks to your dream client will make it clear how you’re different from your competitors and why that matters.
You also need to answer the question ‘What’s in it for me?’
This means understanding your client’s pain points and addressing them as quickly as you can (ideally in the first paragraph).
If your visitors understand the benefits of your service, they’ll keep reading – and the longer they stay, the more likely they’ll buy.
3. Invite your audience into your inner sanctuary aka – your mailing list
PSA…Most people who visit your website aren’t ready to buy yet. They need time to get to know you (stalk you) and decide if you and your service are right for them.
Growing your mailing list is the perfect way to keep your brand on your potential client’s radar. By popping into their inbox with value, you’ll remind them who you are, what you do and, most importantly, how you can help them.
Creating a lead magnet (aka freebie) that will solve a pain point for them, will give them a reason to trust you with their email address. This is where they’ll get to know you more.
So dive back into those pain points and create something they can’t live without!
4. Make sure you have high-quality imagery & a cohesive visual brand
We’re a hugely visual society, in fact, 96% of the population makes decisions through visual stimulus, and the images, colours & fonts you choose for your website will have an impact on how long your website visitors stick around.
Choosing quality over quantity is key here, as too many images (or the wrong type) can detract from what you’re trying to say.
This means your visual brand & imagery needs to be relevant and professional, and promote a sense of trust in your audience as soon as they land on your website. If you need help with creating an irresistible visual brand CLICK HERE.
5. Create Clutter-free & non overwhelming pages
Understanding the purpose of each page will help you determine which elements that page needs.
Does it need a call to action, a sign-up form or is the page purely informational?
Remember that customer journey we talked about? Your aim for each page is to make it as easy as possible for them to get from point A to point B.
What do you want your customer to do? Now draw their attention to that place.
This means making the page easy on the eye. Removing unnecessary obstacles such as ads, pop-ups and irrelevant images from their path, keeping their eyes drawn to the information you want them to see.
Keep your pages simple, beautiful, and customer focussed. Negative space is your best friend here!
6. CLEAR CALL TO ACTIONS
The KEY here is to encourage your audience to take ACTION by giving them clear direction & guidance on what they can do next!
This can be a signup form, a button, a link or a “hello bar” inviting your viewer to take the next step with you.
Put your sign-up form somewhere visible but where it’s not going to be annoying (in-your-face pop-up forms, anyone?).
An inline sign-up form takes up the least amount of space and can be placed somewhere pretty on your page or tucked away in your sidebar. Most web themes have this functionality.
Or you can create a cute little ‘hello bar’ like this one at the top of your page that links to a pop-up form. This type of pop-up only arrives when your visitor asks it to so it’s not intrusive.
EXPERT TIP:
You also need to make sure you put your calls to action (CTAs) where they’re visible to your users. Placing them at different spots on your website means your visitors will find them at different points in their journey and will be more likely to click.
And don’t forget, a CTA doesn’t need to ask your visitors to buy, it just asks them to take action in some way. This can be ‘Learn More’, ‘Book a Call’, ‘Download Free Ebook’ – you get the idea.
7. Show social proof by providing testimonials
Whether you call it word of mouth or social proof, a testimonial from a happy client is absolute gold when it comes to converting new visitors into paying clients.
There’s only so much you can do to sell yourself and your services, so a testimonial from a trustworthy source lets your visitors know you’re not the only person that thinks you’re awesome.
EXPERT TIP:
No need to create a page especially for testimonials, you can scatter them at strategic places throughout your site to help your user click that CTA.
8. Make it pretty & user friendly for mobile
Sources estimate that between 50% and 80% of web traffic comes from mobile users. On top of this, Google now penalises websites that aren’t mobile-friendly. Eek!
This means that it needs to look fabulous for both desktop and mobile users when you design your website.
If it’s not, you’re going to miss out on a huge chunk of new clients – simply because your website isn’t user-friendly on their screen of choice. Most platforms give you access to making your site look good on mobile.
9. Does your website load quickly?
We’ve all experienced the frustration of clicking on a webpage only to find it takes an age to load. The most common reason for this is images that are too large, but it’s an easy fix to reduce the file size before you upload them to your website. There are some great free tools you can use for this which I’ll share in a later blog or you can find in my Website Wizardry course under image optimisation.
Other reasons why your site may take longer to load is that there is too much code. This can come from too many plugins (on WordPress), too many fonts, embedded videos or a slow host. If you are self-hosted such as WordPress, look at caching plugins, compression and a fast host like Siteground (my favourite host). Siteground also has automatic caching and their very own plugin called SG Optimizer for WordPress sites to make your site load faster. I also use Kajabi for my course website which compresses your images without you having to do a single thing!
A fast-loading site creates a much better user experience and actually scores you brownie points with Google. It’s worth doing a quick housekeeping check on each page to see how quickly they load.
10. Can your potential soul mate client find you on Google?
Ok, this one’s a big topic – Search Engine Optimization which is much too big for this ‘lil old blog, but there are some key points to keep in the back (or front) of your mind. Having a highly converting website means that clients need to be able to find you in the first place. Although some traffic will come from social media and directly searching for your business, you also need to make sure people can find you from a Google search. This means having an understanding of the types of Google searches your soul-mate client is doing. Are they searching ‘What’s the best herb for weight loss?’ or ‘How can I achieve a better work/life balance?’. Knowing what they’re searching for means you can create content to answer those questions (btw these questions are known as long-tail keywords). This increases your website’s relevance, which is one of the main ways Google decides where to rank you. Other ways you can be found via search is on Pinterest & YouTube… more on this later!The takeaway….
Getting your head around all the different elements of a highly converting website can be overwhelming – especially if you’ve never done it before. This is why it’s so important to start with clarity – understanding the purpose of your website and each page – before you start building it.
If you still don’t know where to start, my Website Wizardry online course will give you all the clarity you need! It walks you through the exact steps I take with all my clients when I plan out their website.
And, it comes with an amazing bonus ebook that goes into so much more detail about how to be found on Google!
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