1. Homepage
Well duh… this goes without saying. But don’t get bogged down here with a gazillion things you can do for your clients.
Make it visually appealing and slap your business purpose right up there on it “above the fold” (top half of the page) so that your clients don’t have to figure out what you do, who you are or what they’re supposed to do.
Sounds obvious – but I’m sure you’ve seen sites you’ve clicked through to from Facebook which have left you scratching your head thinking “I don’t get it”.
2. About Page
This is where you can let your personality shine through and allow your clients to get to know the real you.
Forget the boardroom – you’re no longer doing the 9-5 and you don’t need to be stiff-backed and on your utmost best behaviour.
You’re quirky? Good – betcha a whole ton of your customers are too and totally get your idiosyncrasies!
It’s been said I’m a little strange… – but you know what? My perfect people are going to love my slice of strange and want to find out more about me.
3. Contact
“But how can we work with you oh wise one? Tell me pleeeeaaase….. ” *wail*
Let your people call you – or, if like me you detest the telephone (!), let them email, fill in a form, find you on Facebook or Twitter.
Don’t make it hard for your people to find you.
Have a dedicated Contact page and make sure your contact details are available on every single page throughout your website. The easiest way to do this is to include them in your footer – but if you’re selling products or have high-volume sales then I would also recommend you include your contact details in the header of all your pages.
4. E-commerce baby!
Let them pay easily and quickly online.
Sounds obvious right? Yeh… you’d think so. Except two organisations I’ve dealt with in the last 12 months have wanted me to fill in a form online… or download a form and print it (!) – then they want me to fill in the form, post it and send a cheque. You whaaaaat?
Just let the people pay. If you force them to take extra steps to give you their money they’re simply going to go elsewhere and save the hassle.
5. Products or Services
Show your visitors what you are selling.
Explain what you’re selling and show pictures if appropriate.
Let’s think of this in the same way as online dating* – you know you see those profiles which say “I don’t know what to say, if you want to know just ask me lol“. WTF?
Tell your clients what you do and how you help. Simple!
*I’m teetering on the brink of trying but the horror stores scare me!
6. Optin
This is your freebie giveaway or newsletter sign-up. The best way to stay in touch with your customers and grow your relationship with them is to create a freebie download in exchange for their email address.
This will allow you to nurture your clients direct to their inbox rather than a stab in the dark hoping they see your latest Social Media post or think of you next time they’re in the buying market.
7. Social Media
Don’t forget to allow your customers to connect with you on Social Media and also share your stuff. There are some easy-to-use WordPress plugins to allow your customers to share your blog posts and/or pages and it’s also a great way to show “social proof” – that means, “hey!! All these people love me, you should too”.
