Do you have a ready answer for the question, Why does your website exist?
(Or if you are just building one, “What is the purpose of this site?”)
If your first thought was, “Because everyone needs a website,” let’s go deeper.
Your website should have a “why” and it derives from, but isn’t the same as, your why for being in business. It needs a clear business goal.
If you are an author, it might be to sell books.
Organic soap maker? Your site’s why is mostly likely to sell soap if you have an online store. If not, it might be to entice hand milled soap lovers to come to your physical store.
For those who sell coaching or consulting it’s probably “get leads.”
It might also be: make sales, scare off those who aren’t ideal clients, drive people to an evergreen webinar.
Once you establish the job your site has to do, it’s time to look at each page and see if it contributes to accomplishing the goal.
Most web designers — and most of us — believe we must have certain pages; Home, About, Services, Contact, and maybe Blog. Of course, there will always be a home page, but what if that’s all you need? Then it’s more of a landing page, designed to get leads or opt-ins for something like a webinar.
About that about page. I think it’s important to tell people a bit about you and a good deal about how you work with people, and the kinds of results they get. But is there a goal? Showing your expertise and process is great, but how do you measure the result of that? Is the About page information enough to move people to the one thing you have decided your website exists to accomplish?
Do you have some kind of lead magnet on this page that reflects what you are trying to accomplish? If not it’s time to consider adding one.
If you blog to show your expertise and increase organic search results, great. Make sure there are calls-to-action besides, “Leave a comment.” Most people won’t. Why not offer them an opportunity to download something that will take them another step closer to you getting that lead or a sale?
Every page must strategically work toward your goal.
One answer to the first question, “why does your site exist?” is “Build my list.”
Great… to what end? A big list of cold leads is less valuable than any size list of engaged readers or buyers. Create a valuable, targeted free offer then nurture your takers with more value and the right kinds of offers, you will build a list that includes fans and customers.
What are the best kinds of lead magnets these days? A checklist, free course, blueprint, templates, quizzes, ebooks — the usual suspects with one caveat. Make sure yours is specific to the needs of your ideal client.
Rather than “Checklist of 12 Facebooks ads hacks” (although that would be pretty attractive) “Checklist of 12 Facebook ad hacks to use when you don’t have much money.”
Don’t forget that each lead magnet must have a few things in place after you deliver the goods and even better, will add a “tag” to identify the action taken or the category of opt-in so you can send follow up information and offers your leads have expressed an interest in.
If you need lead magnet and nurture sequence help, I’ve just finished a new lead magnet for my home page. It’s a 7-step checklist for creating lead magnets that convert and Wow.
Now it’s time to review your pages to see if they support your goal or are simply taking up space. More is not always better, and engagement rules, no matter what the goal.
How you engage is a combination of what you say, who you are speaking to, and creating a vibe that has your ideal client or customer feel they’ve found what they are looking for.
You went into business for a host of reasons and making money is probably one of them. Your website plays but one part in your marketing and sales process, but done strategically, each one of your site pages can contribute to the bottom line.
Give those visitors plenty of ways to say “Yes, thanks, I’m in!”