You know how you feel when you think about cleaning out a kitchen drawer or the hall closet.
You dread it, you put it off and finally you break down and force yourself to do it.
Once itโs done, what follows is nothing short of magical.
You feel fantastic, so happy that youโve done it. Youโre proud of your work and you feel much lighter.
You think to yourself, why did I wait so long to do that. Wish I would have done it ages ago. And you realize it wasnโt such an awful task after all.
Your website is even more important because unlike your kitchen drawer, which most visitors to your home never see, everyone who visits your website has full access to every nook and cranny.
And if itโs been a while since you took a close look at your website I bet there are some areas that can be cleaned up and improved. Which will not only make you feel better, it will increase the probability that you will attract more clients. And thatโs the whole point, right?
Convinced that this is important and feeling committed to taking action?
Awesome, letโs get started. Let me give you a run-down of some of the things you want to look for.
I recently got some amazing feedback on my website from my master mind members. Donโt worry, if youโre not in a master mind you can ask a fellow entrepreneur to swap website reviews with you.
But donโt rely only on the feedback from your reviewer, first you need to take a look yourself so you have a context for the feedback you get.
And if you canโt find someone to exchange website reviews with you (although I really think you can if you think about it), go ahead and do it yourself. Itโs better than not doing anything at all.
So hereโs what you need to do, read every single word on every page of your website. If that seems too overwhelming, commit to doing one or two pages a day until youโre done.
As youโre reading through your website keep the points below in mind.
Page Organization
Is the information organized in a logical way with the proper formatting hierarchy? For example, I got some great feedback about my โSpeakingโ page.
It was a chronological list of all of the talks Iโve given. Which was not easy to read or helpful for people who are looking for themes or categories of my talks.
So I reorganized the page into three sections by topic, much more logical. And I changed the font and color of sub-headers so it flows better.
Emphasis on the Right Things
Make sure that the most important elements on each page stand out. For example, in the past on my Work With Me coachingย page I didn’t have a clear overview of how I could help my clients. I added a visual description, along with text, to make it much easier to see the ways I can support my clients.
Design
Iโm not talking about a complete rebranding (unless thatโs exactly what you need). Just to take a look and see what can be tweaked. I noticed that the color of my links was too light and they needed to stand out more. So I found a darker color that works much better.
And while I was looking at my links I realized that I didnโt have a hover color (which also helps people identify links). Having a hover color means that when you hold your mouse over a link the link changes color. Turns out this was a really fast and easy thing for my web person to change.
Too Much Content
Content is king but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Say what you need to say to make your point but make sure you are being concise. Have you heard the quote from Blaise Pascal (often mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain), “I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter.”
I got feedback that my โTestimonialsโ page was too long (this is the new shorter version). Before I had a special section at the bottom that included success stories from ezine readers. I got the outstanding suggestion to move all of those ezine testimonials to my ‘Free Report Page’ (because my ezine comes with my free report). Brilliant, why didnโt I think of that?
Website Copy
Is your website copy all about you or about what you can do for your clients? Make sure your copy is client centric and use the word โyouโ more than the word โIโ.
Clear Call to Action
Make sure your main call to action is on every page of your website (in the top of the sidebar) as well as woven into the text on your pages.
Miscellaneous Errors
Be on the look-out for misspelled words, broken links, grammar mistakes, and strange formatting.
Donโt delay, make these changes to improve your website then you can sit back and revel in your action knowing that youโre presenting your business in a way that is attractive to your potential clients.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE?
You can, as long as you include this information with it: Stephanie Ward is the Marketing Coach for Entrepreneurs who want to create meaningful and prosperous businesses.ย Grab yourย FREE copy of the special report โ7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Timeโ plus business building tips, at: https://www.fireflycoaching.com.
Share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.
Thanks for sharing all you’re doing with your own website. I know that you’re a fan of Derek Halpern’s website advice, so I wanted to pass on one thing he said at SOBCon this year: one page, one goal. Look at every page, and decide what the one single goal is for that page. Then make the whole page follow that goal.
Thank you Becky! Great tip about one page, one goal – love it! And thank you for being such an amazing Master Mind member and giving me some good suggestions on my website.
Nice review. I had my site cleaned up in June. But I noticed that the links need to stand out more will change this. Still working on that call to action!
One thing I started changing was making sure my links open into a new page. I feel like readers are more like to go back to reading your page and not bounce off. I didn’t know to do this when I started and it is simple. It seems as if you go to just one link on your article (in wordpress) and click the box to open in a new window, it changes all the links within the article. I am 1/2 way through doing this.
I also changed my mission page as it was too verbose. Now it is short and sweet. Revamping all my static pages as well.!
Best,
Rajka
Thank you for your feedback Rajka! It’s an ongoing process for sure. Great tip about having links open to a new page. Wishing you continued success.
This made me look into my own blog. I realize that I need to tweak the design of my blog, add a contact page, and a call to action. I want to capture leads!
Fantastic Nica, thank you for sharing. Wishing you continued success and many new leads!
As a great book emphasizes, “Don’t make me think.” I agree that every page should have a purpose. Use images liberally–not just text, as you point out.
Good stuff.
Phil
Thank you for your comments Phil, much appreciated! All the best.
Nice succinct review of common elements of a well designed website. One additional attribute that needs to be considered is how the site looks and behaves on mobile devices. More people are consuming the web via tablets and smart phones, so you could be losing connections if your site gives a bad experience on those devices.
You’re so right Eric! Mobile is exploding and it’s so important to know what your content looks like on these devices. I recently did a post on this very topic: http://bit.ly/ndHZlR. Thank you for your warm feedback.