How to make your website look better
5 easy changes you can make to your website —today— to keep people on your page and book more clients
The whole point of your website is to use it as a tool to further your cause and grow your business.
We also live in a digital age where it’s so easy to use website builders to make your own sites. I’m definitely not knocking them— I’m obviously a huge fan of one in particular— and most people who are just starting out can’t afford to hire someone to do this for them.
I get it— I was born with a mindset of figuring out how things work so I can do it myself. Outsourcing is hard for some people!
Here I’ll show you 5 easy changes you can make in just an hour or 2 that will help your site be found in search engines, and create a better journey for those who are looking for what you have to offer. Goal: Increase conversions.
make sure people know in <5 seconds who you serve and what you do.
Your entire site should have one main purpose, and each page within it can serve more specified purposes, but still under the same umbrella, so everything is related. This helps search engines AND humans understand what your site is about.
This might seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked in the haste to get a site up.
>>> The purpose of your business is probably obvious- to provide specialized lawn care, to create dream wedding cakes, to create minimalistic interiors for families….
>>> But the overall main goal of your website could be to book more clients, foster loyalty, grow a following, sell products, educate and show your expertise on a subject, etc.
>>> Each page on your site should support your purpose and goal ^^^, but also needs a specific reason for existing— a plan on what you hope to accomplish with it, and clear actions you want a visitor to take.
Make your site load faster.
Google determines a web page is slow if it takes more than 2.5 seconds to load.
Page speed is crazy important not just because people are impatient, but because search engines want to serve up the very best. And if the very best is slow, then it’s not really the very best.
According to Forbes, visitors won’t wait longer than 2 seconds for your page to load, and most of them won’t come back.
How to optimize your website for speed:
Banner images are used sparingly and they are no larger than 500kb
The rest of the images are under 150KB.
Use .jpg for images. Limit videos, gifs and other animations.
Limit redirects. If you change a URL and it needs to be changed in multiple places, you can set up a 301 redirect to take care of all of them at once. Those can add fractions of seconds to site speed.
Delete unused code or scripts.
Aim for 5mb or less of page size / 1mb for mo
Check your site’s speed in by opening your site in Chrome, then Inspect: Mac - ⌘ + Option + J, or Windows - Ctrl + Shift + J.
Click the Network tab at the top (might have to click the arrow if you don’t see it). If there is no data, hit refresh and look for where it says __ MB transferred at the bottom.
Contact me… but with instructions
Make it easy for people to know what to do next
You’ve probably heard the term Call-to-Action (CTA)— usually it’s in the form of a buttom but it can also be a link in a text, like click here to book a consultation for your web design project.
These buttons or links need to be sprinkled throughout each page, so that it’s obvious -TO YOUR VISITOR- what you want them to do next. These buttons or links should ideally all lead to the same page.
If you have a very long page with a form at the bottom, break it up with anchor links that jump to the bottom (like you see with recipes). There will definitely be people who don’t want to read the whole dang thing and just want to buy. Make it easy for them to do so.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but take a quick glance over your pages to make sure this is done. It is forgotten about way more often than you’d think. I made a checklist (<— free copy) to remind myself of this as well on every page I build.
*Pro tip— Keep the text specific to the action: ‘I’m ready for a more peaceful home’, ‘bake my wedding cake’, etc. Rather than ‘click here’ or ‘book now’. This is an SEO tactic that helps search engines understand more about how the pages within your site are all relevant and connected.
Use a form or a scheduler
If you have a general “contact me” button that opens a box where people can type whatever they want, it’s time to stop.
You’re missing a huge opportunity to get intel on your clients. Creating a short form
It’s a conversion killer. How many people have filled that out? You might have had some, but I promise you are missing many. People aren’t sure what to include, how much to include, or what exactly you’re looking for. Cut down on the back and forth, and straight up ask them what you need to know with a form.
People need instant gratification. An generic, open-ended “what are you looking for help with today” or “tell me about your project” doesn’t give the same closure as asking specific questions and them telling them to look in their inbox for next steps, or allowing them to straight up book a consultation.
It’s not professional. You’re the expert and you know what information you need or what needs to happen next. Leads don’t. Close the search loop with an action so they won’t go back to Google and find someone else who DOES offer an elevated level of professionalism.
Many website builders have native forms for this purpose, and you can also find free schedulers to integrate with as well. I personally use Dubsado my contact forms and schedulers because I’m able to send automated responses and automated appointment confirmations so I never miss a lead.
Keep your navigation and header clear and uncluttered
This is a big one thats SUPER easy to implement. You do NOT need all your pages listed in your header. It’s way too confusing and we all know confused people don’t buy. Keep only the most important pages linked there and the rest can go into your footer— I hear it often referred to as the ‘junk drawer’, ha!
My suggestions: About, Blog/Portfolio/etc, Services, Contact/Schedule/Book/etc.
Probs don’t need drop downs in your menu. Definitely don’t need a page just for testimonials. You may or may not be able to combine services on a single page.
*Pro tip: you don’t need a link to your home page. Instead, link your logo at the top to your home page, so if anyone ever wants to go back ‘home’, they can click that button and go straight there.
Write for the skimmer
No one reads long, boring blocks of text. Trying to cram in all-the-details leaves your page overwhelming and is a hard bounce-pass right off the page and onto another one.
Think of your content from your potential clients point of view. What do THEY want to know?
Likely, they just want someone to solve a problem for them. They’re looking at price and value and experience. They want someone that knows what they don’t know, so they can feel taken care of.
What they DON’T want is a novel on you background, or an extremely detailed explanation of every deliverable. You can drip in more details in a name-dropping sort of way, and share specifics in spurts. But not all at once, and not in big paragraph form.
Set your font sizes for consistency (each header and paragraph is always the same font & size throughout the entire site) and use headers to break the text up into digestable chunks. I
Include appropriate imagery to make the pages more interesting and don’t forget to tweak formatting for mobile. I downloaded a free app called Responsively so I can check sites on several different screen sizes.
Keep your text as short as possible, while still getting your point across.
Use keywords in key places.
This is so simple but so overlooked. One of the best ways to gain traffic AND connect with your right-fit clients is to take the time to find fnd out what words they are actually using. Then place those words strategically ~yet conversationally~ in specific places on your site.
It’s much easier than it sounds, promise.
First, do the research.
FIND KEYWORDS: Start typing in a search bar in any search engine, Pinterest or YouTube (yep those are all search engines), and note what words or phrases the platform predicts you will type. Google will often suggest alternate ‘searches’ at the bottom of their page if you haven’t found what you’re looking for. This is a great jumping off point, and fine if that’s all you want to do.
If you’d like to take it a step farther, there are other places that would give you more information and guidance. I use Uber Suggest, Keywords Everywhere and Google Ad keywords. There are MANY sites that can help with this.
FIND OUT WHAT THEY THINK THEIR PROBLEMS ARE: Now pay attention to what people’s perceived pain points and desires in message boards, reddit threads, amazon book reviews, facebook groups, etc. Start keeping an ear/eye out for this from now on. What you know they need, and what they think they want are often similar but different. You need to learn their language.
Next, use those words on your site.
Implement keywords or phrases in your titles, headings, URL’s and image names. Keep the URL’s short with dashes between the words. Images show up in searches now, so don’t forget about those.
Create content and offers around your ideal client’s perceived problems and use the same words they use.
Download this free website content & SEO checklist to make sure you don’t miss any places to place those keywords!
Need more help?
>>> Ready to DIY your website? Here’s a FREE content workbook so you know what to put on it. cost: $0.00.
>>> Already working on your website and need a checklist to make sure you have everything covered? Grab this website self audit/SEO chekclist I made just for you. It’s free.
>>> Or is this overwhelming and you’d like someone else to audit your site? I can do that too— sign up for a website audit right here. I’ll report back with findings and suggested changes. I have a limited number of free audits I do every month, and we don’t even have to talk to each other— introverts unite!
Did you know Dubsado is free for your first the 3 clients?
Use the code PARADISE for 30% off your first year or month when your trial is over!
[free] SEO Checklist
Everything from this article, but condensed.
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When I’m not wrangling kids, I’m likely drinking my 4th cup of coffee while scouring the world wide web to bring you the latest content on marketing, automations, messaging, simplifying…. so you can close that laptop, be more present, and make more money.