Why You Need to Be on Your Website
Hey there! Who are you? I (and your customers) really wanna know!
Did you catch my “The Who” reference? ;)
When I discover a new business in town or someone I don't know follows me on Instagram, the first thing I do is figure out who they are.
And no, I don't just mean what their business is and what they do. I want to know who's behind the business.
Oftentimes I'll head to their Instagram, and if I don't see a photo of them or an introductory post with their names, I'll head to their website.
And I've been ASTONISHED that the majority of the time I visit someone's website, I still can't figure out who they are.
Is it really important to have an about page on your website and a photo of you?
YES! Especially if you're in the service industry.
People aren't just hiring you for what you do, but who you are. They want to know who they'll be working with.
And people don't have copious amounts of time to fill out the contact form on your website to ask who the heck you are. They want to get a feel for you before reaching out.
It all has to do with the client journey, which is the order of pages people visit on your website. People aren't committed to buying from you when they land on your site, and if they're not interested in going further, they'll click away.
Here's the client journey I set-up on the websites I design:
Home → About → Services → Contact (service)
Home → About → Product → Check-out (product)
There are calls to action on each page that guides visitors to the next. By the time they reach the end, they know who you are, what you offer, and if they want to work with/buy from you or not.
But that's not all.
A big mistake I see with website copy is when business owners focus on themselves. You actually want to focus on your potential clients/customers and how they're feeling; so your copy wants to acknowledge their pain point and explain how what you offer fixes that.
Even your about page should be more about what you do and why then your life story and how many kids (in my case cats) you have.
The best way to tell if you're more client-focused than self-focused is to scan your copy and see if there are more “you” than “I” statements.
(Psst! "Copy" is words, so in this case, the text on your website.)
Is your website focused on your customers, or is it focused on you? Or are you not even on your site to begin with?
These simple things can make a huge difference in converting web visitors into customers.
Ready to get in front of the camera? Click here to learn how to plan an effective brand photo shoot. Make sure to include a photo of you looking at the camera on your website! You want to build a connection with your website visitors, which can’t be done if you’re looking away from them.
P.S. And always make sure to include at least one photo of yourself and who you are in the grid (the last nine posts on Instagram.)
Looking to learn more about how to design a website that gets you clients? Check out Marketing 101.
