Communicate Via Your Website

MY HOMEPAGE NEEDS HELP!

“Jecelyn! I need your help quickly! Someone is trying to make a purchase from me and you can’t access my store link anywhere from my homepage.”

This is the message one of my clients sent me a few months after begging me to remove all the links to her store from her homepage because it felt too “pushy.” I chuckled to myself a bit and immediately set out to put all her buttons back on her site, just happy she was ready to start making sales again.

I’m a web designer and a business consultant, which means everything I do is communication. I love web design because it marries written communication with visual communication and it has a direct impact on the success of someone’s business. I believe your website should do more than just sit there. It should be a benefit to your business.

So much of effective communication on your website is realizing that what is obvious to you, the expert, is not obvious to your prospective client. It’s easy to gloss over the basics, assuming everyone already knows them. However, the basics often bridge the gap between a person’s problem to your solution.

Explain the obvious, repeat yourself, and realize people don’t live inside your head. Your website is people’s intro to you; don’t be afraid to state the obvious and clearly ask them to take the next step.

Here’s what I’ve learned about communicating effectively on your website over the last 7 years of working with small businesses doing web design:

PRO TIPS

1. Say what you do.

Oddly enough, when writing copy for a website, this is one thing I see people overlook the most. What we do is so deeply ingrained in your brain that oftentimes we don’t explicitly say it. When we meet someone for the first time, we don’t expect them to already know our names. In the same way, we shouldn’t expect people to know what our company does unless we tell them.

With so many options out there, people will not waste time trying to figure out what your company does. They will leave the site and go somewhere else. I often have to read halfway down a web page before I know what a company does.

The very first section of your website (we call this “The Hero Section”) should very concisely state what you do, how it benefits your customer and how to buy it. When you’re putting a website together, I always recommend writing the first section last because it is the most important copy on your whole site. It is what will make people decide to stay and read more or click away and find something else to do.

Start here and all the rest will fall in line.

2. Don’t talk about yourself.

It’s a human tendency to focus on ourselves and our own story rather than on what our customers really need.

We like to talk about ourselves and are very invested in solving our own problems. This is actually great news for you when writing marketing materials. If you want to keep your customers engaged, talk to and about your customers.

When someone comes across your business, they’re not initially interested in hearing about when you started your company or why you chose its name. What they want to know is how you can help them with their problems and make their lives better. 

3. Talk about pain.

If the first point is the most accidentally overlooked, this one is the most purposefully ignored. Talk about your customers’ pain. I work mostly with coaches and service providers, and they tend to be kind, empathetic people. They don’t want to cause pain, and so this point often gets a lot of pushback.

Why should we talk about pain on our website?

Pain is the biggest buying motivator there is. People buy to get rid of some kind of pain in their life. The best businesses are problem solvers. We’re here to help people get rid of a specific piece of pain. If you don’t talk about that pain and you don’t talk about the problem that you solve, then people won’t really know if your business is for them.

Pain is the hook that gets people to pay attention. Now I want to be clear: we are not causing people pain. We are calling out the pain they are already experiencing and then offering the solution.

Can you imagine the frustration you would feel if you went to the doctor, and without even addressing the pain you were experiencing in your body, they just went straight to prescribing you medication? They may have the solution, but unless they have correctly identified the pain you are in, you won’t trust that solution. Identifying and empathizing with people’s pain and problems builds trust and understanding and lets people know that the solution you are offering is for them.

4. Have clear CTAs

Does your website have a Call to Action? A call to action (or CTA) is–well it’s exactly what it sounds like. It is a call to the person you are speaking with to take some kind of action with you. They usually take the form of a button and are statements like “buy now,” “shop the collection,” “book a call.”

CTAs are one of the most important pieces of communication you can have on your website. A potential customer has no idea how to get started working with you unless you tell them. Everyone’s process is different and it’s up to you to tell them yours. What is the very first step people need to take to start working with you? That’s your CTA. For my company ThriveHD it’s “apply to work with us” or “apply now.” For Speak With People, it’s “Schedule a Call.”

Your CTA should be specific and let people know exactly what action you are expecting them to take.

In most cases, “learn more” isn’t a great call to action, because learning more isn’t the first step of working with you, it’s the precursor. People who want to learn more will do it without you telling them, and people who don’t want to learn more will not learn more no matter how many times you tell them to.

Once you have your CTA, you should repeat it (or its variations) EVERYWHERE. Likely, the first time someone sees your CTA they aren’t going to click it; they might not even notice it. CTAs should be in nearly every section of your site so that at whatever point they feel are ready to move forward, you make it easy. People also need to see things many times before it really sinks in, so repeating your CTA gives people the opportunity to take in the information and move forward when they are ready.

IS YOUR WEBSITE EFFECTIVE?

Go take a look at your website right now. Pretend that you know nothing about your company or your services and evaluate the following things:

The Hero:

Look at the very top of your website, the part that loads before you do any scrolling. Is it immediately clear what you do and why it should matter to the person reading? Is there a clear call to action that lets them know exactly how to take the next step with you?

The Subject:

Read through your homepage. Are you talking about yourself a lot? Is it full of information about the year you started your company, why you chose your name, etc.? Or are you talking about your customer and what they care about? Are you putting yourself in their shoes and talking to them about them?

The Pain:

Now read it again. Is every part of your website focused only on the positive, or do you have a couple of sections devoted to the pain your customer is experiencing and the problem they are facing? Don’t be afraid to talk about the hard things they are encountering. Just be sure to tie it to your services as a solution.

The CTAs:

Do you have a clear call to action on your site? If so, how many times did you repeat it? Do you have a specific call to action button in almost every section of your website? If not, that is a super easy, super impactful change you can make almost immediately.

You are intimately familiar with what your company does, with the types of words you say, with your expertise, with your process. The people finding you and reading your website have no idea. This is the first they’re hearing it.

What feels repetitive for you, the one who lives inside of your own brain, will not feel repetitive to the people reading the info for the first time. It’s ok to repeat concepts and even phrases on your website because people are unfamiliar with it.

Look at your site through the eyes of your customer.

My client was worried about being pushy but her customers wanted to be able to easily find where to make a purchase. Good website communication is all about tapping into what your customer wants, needs and cares about, and just saying that, truthfully and clearly.

If you can connect with people and give them what they want with clarity then you can never lose.

By Jecelyn Shenkin - CEO, ThriveHD

Jecelyn lives in the Caribbean with her husband and her two kids. She is passionate about helping small businesses grow and thrive, and helping business owners break out of the limiting beliefs and broken systems that are keeping them stuck.

Relevant Resources:

Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller: https://a.co/d/dLqjYHo

Google Page Speed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/

If you paste your website URL here it will give you insight on the speed of your site as well as whether your colors are high contrast enough to readable.

Get a Free Website Audit: https://www.thrivehd.com/website-audit/ 

If you would like a fresh set of eyes to look at your website for these points and more, I would be happy to give you a free website audit so you can get personalized next steps for your brand.