Trying to figure out the secrets to a high-converting Showit website?
Your website is such an important tool for your small business. It enhances your credibility and shows that you take your business seriously. It also helps you communicate and connect with your audience, and sell your products and services.
And if you’re like so many other small business owners, you may be wondering: What’s the secret to a high-converting Showit website? What is that secret sauce that will make my website stand out and truly show-off my know-how, experience, and expertise — so visitors know that they’re in the right place?
So today I’m breaking down the 5 essentials for a cohesive and high-converting Showit website.
Speak Directly to Your Target Audience
Find Your Niche
From the moment someone lands on your website, make it clear that they’re in the right place. Do this by creating a tagline – a clear, concise, statement that shares who you are, what you do, who you serve – and place it at the top of your homepage.
You want to make it as clear as possible who it is you serve. You may be thinking “But I don’t want to turn away potential clients because I can help everyone”. That may be true, but you want to make sure that you are bringing in those absolute dream clients that you’re dying to work with – and who are dying to work with you.
You will still attract others outside your target audience, but those clients are just the icing on the cake. Focus on your one true client and they will come running.
Make it About Them
Show you understand where they are now and where they want to be. One of the biggest mistakes some DIY websites make is having the content all about them. Yes, you want to tell about yourself and weave your story. But you want your website’s visitors to come away with a vision of what they can achieve after working with you, how their life, their business will change. You want them to wonder how they will ever get to that place without working with you.
A Cohesive Design
The Visuals
Having your branding in place is a key starting point before investing in a new website. Your branding sets the tone for your business and enhances your website. Branding is so much more than just a logo!
Your brand is the experience your audience has and the feelings they get when interacting with you. Also, it is what makes you stand out in your market and connects your audience to you and what you do.
Your branding will include elements such as a primary logo, an alternate logo, brand icons, fonts, and colour palette to be used on your website and throughout all your other collateral marketing materials.
Making sure your branding is established before creating your website is going to allow you to have a cohesive site that is not only beautiful, but will serve you for a long time and attract your Ideal Clients.
Images
All of the images on your site should be high quality. Make sure they are not pixelated or blurry.
People like to work with people, not a faceless business. Your website visitors want to see photos of you to know that you are a real person! This will allow your visitors to put trust in you and your work,
Along with professional headshots, you will want to have some high quality stock photos for your website. There are a multitude of great websites for both free and purchased stock photography. I love using images from Haute Stock and The Styled Stock Society. You can also check out sites like Pexels or Unsplash.
Organization and Layout
Is your website confusing to navigate? Is it obvious what the next steps are on the visitor’s journey? Many DIY websites are unorganized and super overwhelming. Here are ways to keep your website clean and organized.
Fool Proof Your Navigation
Too many options in your main navigation can lead to analysis paralysis. Limit your top navigation to 5 pages. The less options, the better. The rest can go in the footer. These pages should be the crucial pages that someone needs to read through before taking the next step to get in touch. If you do need to link to many pages, group the pages if at all possible to use drop down menu functionality. Too many choices gets confusing to users. Also, don’t get too cute with your page names. Make sure people know what they’ll find if they click on those menu items.
Have a CTA on Every Page
Every single main page of your website needs a clear call to action.
As part of the website journey, once a visitor reaches the bottom of a page, what’s the next step? The last thing you want is someone getting to the bottom of a page and being lost and confused.
Make your calls to action as clear and simple as possible. Make it easy by adding a button instead of asking the person to scroll back up to your navigation. Even though site visitors can access pages from the top and bottom navigation, it’s up to you to guide them along their site journey.
Site Journey
You can definitely have multiple calls to action on a page however, each one should only lead to one destination.
The reason for this is you want to make the journey easy for your visitor. Providing too many options is overwhelming and leads to confusion.
Again, it needs to be super clear where your site visitor needs to go next.
One exception is your homepage because it’s meant to be an overview of the other pages with a call to action leading to each individual page. You’re still guiding them through their journey, but they are able to choose where they want to go.
For example, if you’re a business coach and your goal is to get people to sign up for a consultation, a typical site journey might look like:
- Homepage > About > Testimonials > Services > Contact
If you’re a wedding photographer, maybe it’s:
- Homepage > About > Portfolio > Services > Contact
Simplify Your Services
Do you have 15 services listed, and every one has another 15 points on what clients receive when booking said service? Having too many options is overwhelming to potential clients. They don’t know what’s the best option and become paralyzed at making a decision. Your website should clearly list only the services that you love to provide and how you can help your customers with their problems.
Emphasize the benefits of what clients will receive after working with you. For example, say you’re a wedding photographer. Yes, your clients are going to receive x amount of images and x hours of coverage. But what they’re really getting is their wedding day memories captured from getting ready, to the first kiss, to the last dance. A mindset coach, your clients may receive workshops and meditations. But they’re really getting a completely new way to embrace their life and the benefits that come with it. See where I’m going? Show potential clients the transformation or the benefits of working with you.
Contact Info
You’ve spent all this time creating a beautiful website that speaks to your ideal client compelling them to work with you. Now is not the time to leave them guessing on how to work with you. Along with a contact form you should also have your email listed at the very least. Because what would happen if your contact form didn’t load, or there was some sort of glitch and their information couldn’t be processed? They would move onto the next person. Just make it super easy for them and don’t give them an excuse not to contact you.
Also your contact info can include your social links, Facebook, Instagram, or an option to schedule a call directly with you.
So there you have it! Those are 5 secrets for a high-converting Showit website.
If you’re ready for a highly converting Showit website that brings you results, let’s connect!
