People often ask me what makes a great website? Not just a good one, a great one.
Whilst there are lots of moving parts to a website which will all have an effect on how well it performs, the reality is, you could strip all those parts (like strong branding, good imagery, fast hosting) away and still have a website which converts visitors into customers and makes a lot of money
It’s all down to storytelling. Your website is telling a story through your pages.
I’m guessing you’ve probably not thought about it in this way before. So often when we’re gathering content to create or rebuild a website we’re busy thinking about:
Yes, they’re all really important parts of a successful website but the first thing we want to do is look at what story our website is telling people.
The most important thing about you website is for it to be relatable – if your visitor can relate to the story you’re telling, they’re most likely going to turn into your customers.
When telling your story on your website have a think about:
What’s the style/look/feel of the site? Is it saying you love vintage/shabby chic? Or that you like sleek and stylish? Or bouncy and colourful?
Do all your links work? If not, it’s telling people you don’t have good attention to detail.
What are your words actually saying? Is it ‘I’m an industry expert, you should bow down to my expertise?’ or is it a more meek ‘Hi! I’m in the same position as you, a little overwhelmed, a little stuck’.
Neither of these are great strategies. Here’s why:
2 truths about websites:
- No-one builds a website for websites’ sake – they build it because they want to make money from it.
- No-one lands on a website for the hell of it. They’re looking for the product/service you’re offering.
It’s not that simple though. With loads of people offering the same service or product, who your customer chooses to buy from is directly related to your storytelling on your website.
Here is what you need to do to turn your website into a lead generating, money making, marketing machine:
Make sure you really know who your ideal customer is.
Ever heard of an Ideal Client Avatar? It’s a fancy way of saying the person you want to attract the most to your product or service. This is where you begin. Grab a pen and paper and jot down:
- Who they identify as: Female/Male/Non-Binary
- Their age range
- Their job type/industry they’re in
- Their hobbies
- Their spending habits
The deeper you go into this task, the more you’ll know about who you want to attract (and who you don’t!) and will be able to tell a story just for them.
Write your customer’s story
What are their pain points?
Why are they on your website?
For example – if you’re looking to attract a small business who is having trouble managing all their admin tasks you may write about them feeling there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Like this:
Do you ever feel there aren’t enough hours in the day?
Once you’ve included this highly relatable detail you can look at writing your own story for your customer to read.
Write your own story
This isn’t the story you thought you’d be writing. In essence it’s about your customer and how you can help them. For example, using the small business example you may say that when you first started out you tried to do everything yourself and found yourself in a puddle of overwhelm. Since then you learned systems to help you – those same systems you’ll use to help them.
Be consistent
Remember to be consistent. If you’re talking about helping people find a place of flow and ease in their life/business/experience then it’s important your website flows and they can navigate it with ease. After all – these small, yet important factors are telling your story better than any words can.
When you look at it that way, is your website telling the right story? The story you would like your customers to read?
If you think your website isn’t quite telling the story you’d like it to, and would like to chat about how we can get it telling the best story for you and your customer book in for a coffee and a chat using the button below.
Leave A Comment