7 essentials of a winning & killer website
FOLLOW STEPS BELOW TO convert PEOPLE FROM ‘BROWSING’ INTO ENQUIRING WITH YOU ON YOUR WEBSITE👊🏻
1. Perform a thorough check on your WEBSITE
DO THIS IN 3 WAYS:
a) Fix basic errors on your website:
Make sure your WIX / Shopify / Squarespace badge is disabled & not visible at the bottom of your website/footer. I still see this on certain fitness professionals’ websites. Make sure yours is switched off!
b) Test your website:
When was the last time YOU used your own website? Test it to see if everything is working as it should and all the content looks good and functions well on mobile. I’ve recently come across a website of a fitness professional who had a sliding gallery. The first image in the gallery was perfect, but as I scrolled - I was shocked to see lots of placeholder/dummy images advertising random services that weren’t hers. This was clearly a mistake, one which should have been fixed during testing!
c) Check your website on various browsers:
You can test to see how your website looks on different screens & browsers. Certain things can look considerably wrong on a Tablet/iPad/mobile/or an old version of a certain browser. There are several free ‘cross-browser testing websites that will show you how your website looks on old/new browsers. You’ll be surprised how certain content looks on different screen sizes & browsers.
2. NAIL YOUR WEBSITE HEADING
Not everyone who visits your website knows who you are or what you do, which is why it's a good idea to state that clearly upfront at the top of your Homepage using a clear heading or a ‘mission statement’.
By adding an abbreviated mission statement to the very first section of your homepage will help your audience form the right first impression of your brand. Ideally, you need something along the lines of "I help [your target audience] with the [service you provide]. Then you can follow this with your call to action - like “Find out more”, “Enquire Now”, etc.
3. TELL YOUR BRAND’S STORY
Does your website tell a story? You need to make your audience either stay and hang around on your website and/or sign up/make an enquiry (which will happen when they’ve decided they either like you or trust you and want to find out more about your product or service).
HOMEPAGE CHECKLIST 👊🏻
Use the below list of elements, to ensure your homepage tells your brand story and is informative and clear. You can include all and any of them on your Homepage.
✔️ You should have multiple Headings for all the various sections within your Homepage & Website: this will make it easy and clear for your audience to understand your content when browsing through your website.
✔️ Your homepage should have some snippets of your ‘core offerings’ from the rest of your pages. This will invite your audience to explore other pages of your website! People online have very short attention spans, which means you have to fight hard just to get someone to stick around long enough to explore your website beyond the homepage. So the way to do that is to direct people to your 'core offerings’ using summaries/snippets with buttons to navigate to relevant pages.
✔️ A Blog summary, or/and a social media feed should be included at the bottom of your Homepage, which will make your audience resonate with you.
✔️ A set of results/testimonials before a contact form is beneficial. Providing this credible information will work as a ‘prompt’ and a push for someone to fill out that enquiry form!
✔️ About you section: add a brief ‘bio' and headshot in a short ‘About You’ section on your Homepage. This allows you to restate what you do and who you help (which you can never reiterate too many times) and connect with your audience on a more personal level.
✔️ You can make the bio as long or short as you like. You may just want to add a quick blurb along with a photo of you with a link to your about page to learn more. The key here is to show your face (which builds trust) and communicate your ‘brand story’ and your mission.
4. EXPLAIN, LIST & REITERATE YOUR SERVICES
Guys - here’s a heads up: some of your audience will still not know what some of your services are (or their benefits). So it’s your mission to TELL THEM!
If you’re an Online Coach: you need to have a Blog or a section on your website where you list the benefits, explain how online coaching works. So many people still don’t what this even is!
Explain exactly how Online Coaching works and the stages involved.
Consider having an Online Coaching FAQs section on your website
Consider having a photo of you working on your computer (on your Online Coaching page/website homepage. This will help your audience to visualise you working with them. It will help them to understand what will happen once you start coaching that person online.
TIP: Type in “Online Coaching” into Google and see what results come up. Some results will be Blogs people are writing about Online Coaching, what it involves, etc.
Wouldn’t it be cool if you had a Blog about something similar? You should put as much effort into talking about your niche on your website and Blog, as well as advertising it on your Social Media. This will also add to the ‘Search Engine Optimisation of your whole website.
5. RE-CREATE YOUR BEST social media CONTENT INTO BLOGS
Turn your best social media posts into Blogs for your website. You put your heart and soul into your social media posts... but you can consider taking some of your best ones and ‘building’ on their content & adding more detail - to make them into a blog post for your website. Having this on your website is so useful:
✔️It increases the visibility of your content: instead of it being just on Instagram; if your content is on your Blog AND on your IG it means there’s more potential for a higher reach!
✔️It’s a great idea to have a “summary” of some recent blog posts in your footer / on your home page. So even if your audience doesn’t read your blog straight away, they can see your Blog title and understand you’re showing thought leadership in that area.
This is a great technique to drive people to your website: Similar to what I have done with my social media post that navigated you to read this blog!
Don’t give out ALL of your information on your Social Media; instead, touch on it and then provide further content/benefits inside your Blog! Don’t forget to provide a call to action at the end too.
6. COMPARE YOUR WEBSITE
Compare your website to your competitors’ website. You need to know who your competitors are in your niche - have a look at their website(s) and compare theirs to yours:
➡️ What is good about theirs that yours is missing?
➡️ Can you do anything about it?
Make a list of actionable points - these points can be things you may want to do over a period of time. Make a plan of things you can do yourself - and a plan of things to delegate & get help with.
7. STUDY YOUR website’s ANALYTICS
Look at either the analytics section within your website’s back-end / or your Google Analytics. Lookout to see which pages have more traffic? Is it your latest Blog? Is it your Homepage? Your Analytics will show you what pages are serving your audience the best.
Some of your content may not even be seen by your audience (which is why it’s important to list all of your ‘core offerings’ on your Homepage. Ultimately your analytics will give you a breakdown of what is performing well, what to change and what to do more of.