Hey there, my friend, welcome to the podcast that’s on the other side of 300! Welcome to episode 302.
Thanks for leading me your ears right now – I know you have lots of other things you could be doing or listening to – so I appreciate you.
This week’s podcast is about websites and 5 things you probably should change today. I don’t talk about websites that often mainly because I don’t build them and therefore, I’m not an expert in them but today I am coming at websites from a marketing point of view. And frankly, I think that’s exactly what you should be doing, as it’s kind of the whole purpose of the websites isn’t it? To fill funnels, to sell, to showcase your business? Aka marketing?
But before we get into that did you get a chance to listen in to last week’s episode? The 301st one? My guest was the lovely Kerryn Powell, and we chatted about building community and strategically networking. It’s SO worth a listen because frankly, your network is equal to your net worth in my opinion. So, listen to it at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/301 , after you’ve finished here today of course!
I have a couple of EOFY sales happening right now – firstly my Nine Week Marketing Transformation program is on a special for half price – so just $500 and you get 2 x 30 minutes chats with me included which is valued at $497 – so basically you get the course for free! Check it out here: https://bit.ly/MarketingWithJenn
And my LinkedIn Retreat with Jules Brooke only has 2 spots left – and has a EOFY sale on – so you can get $500 off with the code EOFYJJ – so if you’re on the fence, jump off it and get involved. It’s in August for 2 nights, I’m hosting with Jules Brooke, and we have spaces available. Want to learn more? Go here: https://bit.ly/linkedinretreat
Be quick because the end of the financial year is close!
Okay, so let’s dig into the 5 things you probably should change on your website today.
- Check the speed of your website.
How: head to a website like Pingdom to check out your speed – https://tools.pingdom.com/
Why: Because no one likes a slow website! Slow websites frustrate users and lead to higher bounce rates. Fast-loading websites improve user experience and boost search engine rankings.
What do to if your website is slow: The most obvious thing is probably to compress images. After that, my expertise finishes because improvements can be made by caching, use a content delivery network and other things that, frankly, I would email me website developer Sarah Crawford (shout out to you my super star) and say, hey Sarah, what does all that mean – how can I make my site faster!
So, check the load speed and if it’s slow, reach out to your website developer for help making it faster!
- Check to see if you have made yourself easy to buy from
What do I mean by that? Well, if you are trying to sell me something, how hard is it for me to buy? If you’re selling me a course, with a sales page, how far do I need to scroll to get to the “buy now” button? Because the reality is, that if I’ve landed on your page to buy your course, program, downloadable etc, there’s every chance this is NOT the first time I’ve heard of it. I have probably done my research and I am quite possibly just here to buy. Do NOT make that hard.
Point: check your “buy now” buttons!
PS – do they stand out or are they hard to find? Because some colours are hard to find for some people and some people have terrible branding colours which makes buttons less obvious!
And if you’re e-commerce, can I quickly add to cart? How many clicks does it take to add to cart on your website? Is the process of buying, simple? Because if it’s not, I will get tired and frustrated and move to the next website that sells what I need.
Impatience outruns loyalty every time!
- Give me some social proof!
There’s, unfortunately, a lot of websites out there that have a “testimonials” page – yep, a WHOLE page dedicated to telling someone (I am not sure who) how good you are!
If you have a testimonials page, please do me a favour and go and look up your Google Analytics for that website and take a squiz at how many people look at that page and then how large the bounce rate is. I would take a guess that the answer is not so many look at it and the bounce rate is pretty high.
100% have social proof like testimonials, reviews, case studies on your website but thread them through the website – rather than a dedicated page. Just like you would highlight your awards and recognition throughout the website, do the same with social proof.
Have them on your home page, product pages, about you page, all the pages – wherever they are appropriate to enhance the users experience and give them a better understanding of you, your business and its products or services.
Oh and if you have none – no reviews, no testimonials, no case studies – then hop to it! They are critical for any website – just not a dedicated page of them!
- Give your About Me page a glow up!
You know how I said to go and have a look at your Google Analytics and see how many didn’t look at your testimonial dedicated page? Well, while you’re there, have a look at how many DO look at your About page.
Your About page is about connecting with your looker, establishing credibility, and demonstrating how you can solve their problems.
Which means – it’s actually NOT all about you! That is the bit most people miss! They think because the page is title “About Me”, that it’s about me! And it’s not – sorry but it’s really not.
It’s about, again, connecting, creditability and solving the problem of the person looking. What the person looking is actually looking for is the answer to the question “Is this the right person for me”, “Do I align with this person”, “is this person like me”.
Remember, people do business with people who align with their values and who they know like and trust!
So, yes, absolutely have things on your about page about you – clearly! But it’s not ALL about you.
Have compelling headlines, have a clear value proposition, use storytelling (and more stories!), put your credentials and achievements, testimonials, some person touches, great photography, some calls-to-action, your contact information and make sure the page is clean, on brand and leaves a positive impression!
Check out my about page – it’s not perfect, nothing is, but it might be inspiring: https://socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/about/
Check out some other about pages to see how they are set out – especially some superstars in your industry.
Here’s some examples: my client Nikki https://seemakeplay.com.au/about
Jenna Kutcher – it’s next level: https://jennakutcher.com/meet-jenna
Okay, last one number 5 – and it has to be capture leads – doesn’t it? I’m a marketer – of course that had to be one of the things to do!
What’s your lead capture on your page? Someone arrives on your website, takes a look around and leaves? No way, not today! You have to do your best to get them to leave you some data. Of course, in exchange for that data, you will give them something fab – but you want it.
Now, you might THINK you hate pop-ups, but you don’t! And a good pop-up can be worth it’s weight in heavy gold! But get creative with pop ups – have some fun with them. One of the best I’ve seen is one that makes it look like someone is popping out from the side of your computer waiving at you!?!? It was so cool.
But besides a pop-up, do you have a newsletter sign up? Not the one WAY down the bottom of your page but one that present and obvious? Or do you have some pretty cool freebie downloads you can offer?
I don’t care what business you are in, if you haven’t got something that will help collect data from a website visitor, then you are literally leaving money on the table my friend.
Do better.
So, that’s it – there 5 things to do to improve your website today.
- Check your speed
- Make yourself easy to buy from
- Re-arrange your social proof
- Give your About page a glow-up! and
- Capture leads starting today!
Which will you go and do? Which has been on your to-do-list for way to long? Let me know, I’d love to hear and if I can, I’d love to help.
Hop into the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group and let me know, which one are you tackling?
But that’s it for episode 302. If you loved this episode and found it valuable, please take 30 seconds out of your day to leave me a rating and review if you want where you are listening.
Do you have a friend who might like to listen in too? Can I ask a favour, and have you share this episode with them? I’d love that and appreciate it SO much.
Again, I’d love you to join in the community in the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group. You can join the group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners
See you next week on the podcast for episode 303.
But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.
But whatever you do,
…….. remember small business peep, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!
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