Whether you are an independent contractor, freelancer, small to mid-sized business, or large enterprise, it’s never been more imperative to have a website. Businesses without professional websites lack credibility. Having a robust digital presence is universally expected by customers and clients. Your website is how you make first impressions, demonstrate your value, generate leads, and tell your brand story.
Your website is the face of your business or organization, even if you are an organization of one. Therefore, your website should act as a representative. Like an employee, your website has a job to do: engage visitors with compelling information that speaks to their needs.
Create Positive Connections
Each time someone visits your website, you have an opportunity to create a positive and meaningful connection. Take advantage of that opportunity by addressing their needs and questions, pointing them to trustworthy sources of information, and making it easy to contact you. Don’t just talk about how great your organization is; show visitors how your business can help them.
Your Website Tells a Story
Businesses and organizations often make the mistake of talking too much about themselves when they should be addressing the reader’s needs. Your website tells a story, and that story should be about a hero (your visitor) and their journey. By boasting about yourself, your business, or your services and products, you wrongly frame yourself as the hero in the story. Be careful when crafting the narrative, and remember that your role in this story is to be the hero’s guide.
Once you frame the reader as the protagonist, your role as a guide or mentor becomes more apparent. Your job as a supporting character is to assist the hero and guide them toward action, whatever that may be: buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter, sharing an article, or completing any other call to action (CTA).
Don’t Have a Website Yet?
If you don’t have a website, we can help you get started. If you already have one, ask yourself whether it has the following qualities:
- Usable: Is your site easy to use and navigate?
- Valuable: Does your site provide accurate, helpful information to your audience?
- Relevant: Is the content on your website relevant to user needs and questions?
- SEO: Are you using the right words, linking strategies, and following SEO best practices?
A user-friendly website makes it easy for visitors to find the information they’re looking for quickly and easily.
Website Visitors Need Answers to Problems
People click on your website because they have a question or problem that needs to be solved. For your website to serve them, you must understand who they are, what they need, and how to meet their requirements. Your audience consists of potential and existing customers and clients. They won’t stick around for long if your website doesn’t convince them that you can help solve their problems.
Your website is the equivalent of your organization’s spokesperson and should be just as good – and work as effectively – as your best employee. A well-designed, clearly organized, and content-rich website with a compelling narrative can
- attract new leads.
- grow your audience.
- show the value of the service or product you offer.
What Should My Website Say?
Most websites are used for advertising a business. Because of this, many sites talk only about themselves and fail to address their audience in a way that creates a meaningful connection. Initially, the person visiting your website cares about their needs and problems, not the story of how your company was founded or why you think you’re the best company out there.
You’ll convey a compelling story by demonstrating empathy and acting as a supporting character whose job is to help guide the hero (your potential customer) toward their goal. Provide meaningful value to them through useful, usable, and relevant information that helps them accomplish what they came to your website to do. Your website should leave visitors feeling positive about your brand. Write in a respectful, authentic, authoritative, and trustworthy tone. The wrong tone can make or break the trust between you and your audience.
Calls to Action (CTAs)
If you’ve managed to craft a compelling story for your website, you should be able to easily and naturally incorporate calls to action (CTAs) that seem like the obvious next steps for a user to take. A call to action is any statement designed to create an immediate response. CTAs are things you want your visitors to do on your website. Common CTAs include:
- Contacting you or your business
- Purchasing a service or product
- Clicking through multiple pages
- Completing a survey
- Completing a form
- Signing up for your newsletter
- Clicking a link or button
If your website isn’t easy to navigate, fails to provide clear information, lacks a clear message, or doesn’t have inviting calls to action, you risk losing your user’s attention and forfeiting them to the competition. Don’t let that happen. Instead, contact us and let us help you tell your brand story.
