Three Website Strategies That Always Convert
There are three distinct strategies that consistently bring in leads, donations and sales. Most successful websites use a combination of these three strategies because nothing beats them for converting visitors into customers and once you learn to recognize them you will see these strategies everywhere!
THE SOCIAL
PROOF MODEL
Here’s How The Social Proof Model Works:
1. A Menu That Converts. Rather than use generic menus like: About, Services, Blog, Contact. We like to choose menu items that describe your business better and invite action like: Website Development, Branding and Marketing Services, Tips and Tricks and Get Started.
2. An Engaging Image. This is the most important part of your website. The role of the image is not to describe what you do, but to engage and define the quality of your organization. You make a decision instantly whether you like a website or not, long before you re able to digest the copy.
3. An Irresistible Headline. Words are powerful. Create a headline that engages and gets straight to the point of what you are offering.
4. List Of Benefits. Marketing 101 is sell benefits, not features. Here is where you list what your organization will do for your customer or visitor. People don’t care what you do, they want to know what you will DO FOR THEM.
5. Call To Action. As my uncle Al always says, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. People need to be told what to do, so don’t hesitate to tell them what you want them to do.
6. Social Proof. This is where you show everyone the “cool” people who like what you do. We are a social species and a person or organization that is in high demand by others is assumed to very good at what they do. This is NOT the place to give a shout out to your best customers, this is the place to showcase the famous names that have worked with you.
7. Elevator Pitch. In one or two sentences, be very clear about what you do and why it is different (and better) than your competitors. If there are no competitors, or what you do is very new, be clear about why people need what you are offering.
8. Gorgeous Images or Blog Posts. People like to look at pictures as they learn about your organization. There is a reason why people hang pictures on the walls of their homes and offices. It offers a chance to tell people more about what you do and a nice break before hitting them with round two of your messaging.
9. Testimonials From Satisfied Customers. If they haven’t clicked yet, testimonials may get them to pull the trigger. Testimonials overcome a prospect’s skepticism (“Who the heck are you? And why should I listen to you anyway?”) by helping them connect emotionally to other people who’ve used and liked your products. Remember though you re in control, so only use testimonials that tell why your services or product is awesome.
10. Email Capture. Email marketing to your own list is much more successful than marketing to a list you have purchased. So use your website to compile a list of people who already like what you do and are familiar with what you are offering. Tip. Offer something for free and your email capture will be much more successful. It’s called the principal of reciprocity. Give something away and people feel compelled to reciprocate. In this instance, to give you their email address.
11. Social Media Links. This is another form of social proof. People may check out your social media to see how popular you are. We like put the links on the bottom however rather than the top because once people click on those links you may never see them again. If possible, use social share tools, that prompt people to share your web pages rather than visit your social Media channels. The idea of Social media in business is to drive traffic to the place where the sale takes place, not lead them away from it.
12. About Your Organization. The footer is on every page of your website, so this is a great place for a brief summary about what you offer as it will be seen more frequently than if it’s hidden on an about page. Tell people what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve just said.
13. Your Address. This is especially important if you count on local business because it’s also very important for SEO. Say you re a doctor. Most people search by putting in the text “doctor” and the zip code. For this reason, it sends an important signal to Google as their bots crawl your website.
THE VALUE PROPOSITION MODEL
Here’s How The Value Proposition Model Works:
1. A Menu That Converts. Rather than use generic menus like: About, Services, Blog, Contact. We like to choose menu items that describe your business better and invite action like: Website Development, Branding and Marketing Services, Tips and Tricks and Get Started.
2. An Engaging Image. This is the most important part of your website. The role of the image is not to describe what you do, but to engage and define the quality of your organization. You make a decision instantly whether you like a website or not, long before you re able to digest the copy.
3. An Irresistible Headline. Words are powerful. Create a headline that engages and gets straight to the point of what you are offering.
4. Your Value Proposition. What do you do that nobody else does? This is called your Value Proposition. Every organization, no matter how small, has the opportunity to revolutionize their business. Do something none of your competitors have ever done before, take a position that’s bold and imaginative, paint a picture of the future that your customers want to live in.
5. Call To Action. As my uncle Al always says, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. People need to be told what to do, so don’t hesitate to tell them what you want them to do.
6. Icons. Use Icons to spell out your value proposition. Quickly list the three most important things that are different and better about your organization. A great approach is to use metaphors. Sometimes, icons can even be enough to communicate content, which makes reading additional text unnecessary.
7. Gorgeous Images or Blog Posts. People like to look at pictures as they learn about your organization. There is a reason why people hang pictures on the walls of their homes and offices. It offers a chance to tell people more about what you do and a nice break before hitting them with round two of your messaging.
8. Elevator Pitch. In one or two sentences, be very clear about what you do and why it is different (and better) than your competitors. Use this to reinforce the text in the header. Don’t repeat it. Look at the web page as a story telling tool. You tell them what you want them to do and – as they scroll down the page – tell them another reason to do what you want them to do if they still are not interested. Be clear about why people need what you are offering. If they are still on the page you still have a chance to convince them
9. Email Capture. Email marketing to your own list is much more successful than marketing to a list you have purchased. So use your website to compile a list of people who already like what you do and are familiar with what you are offering. Tip. Offer something for free and your email capture will be much more successful. It’s called the principal of reciprocity. Give something away and people feel compelled to reciprocate. In this instance, to give you their email address.
10. Social Media Links. This is another form of social proof. People may check out your social media to see how popular you are. We like put the links on the bottom however rather than the top because once people click on those links you may never see them again. If possible, use social share tools, that prompt people to share your web pages rather than visit your social Media channels. The idea of Social media in business is to drive traffic to the place where the sale takes place, not lead them away from it.
11. About Your Organization. The footer is on every page of your website, so this is a great place for a brief summary about what you offer as it will be seen more frequently than if it’s hidden on an about page. Tell people what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve just said.
12. Your Address. This is especially important if you count on local business because it’s also very important for SEO. Say you re a doctor. Most people search by putting in the text “doctor” and the zip code. For this reason, it sends an important signal to Google as their bots crawl your website.
THE INFOMERCIAL MODEL
Here’s How The Infomercial Model Works:
1. A Menu That Converts. Rather than use generic menus like: About, Services, Blog, Contact. We like to choose menu items that describe your business better and invite action like: Website Development, Branding and Marketing Services, Tips and Tricks and Get Started.
2. An Engaging Image. This is the most important part of your website. The role of the image is not to describe what you do, but to engage and define the quality of your organization. You make a decision instantly whether you like a website or not, long before you re able to digest the copy.
3. An Irresistible Headline. Words are powerful. Create a headline that engages and gets straight to the point of what you are offering.
4. Your Value Proposition. What do you do that nobody else does? This is called your Value Proposition. Every organization, no matter how small, has the opportunity to revolutionize their business. Do something none of your competitors have ever done before, take a position that’s bold and imaginative, paint a picture of the future that your customers want to live in.
5. Call To Action. As my uncle Al always says, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. People need to be told what to do, so don’t hesitate to tell them what you want them to do.
6. Still Not Convinced. If they haven’t clicked on the banner CTA, give them another compelling reason to work with you. This works best if it also supports what you do differently and better than your competitors.
7. Divider. This is to give them a break or set up your next section. It can be some clever text over an image or a series of images alone. The purpose of this section is to give your visitors a break before hitting them with more information to digest.
8. Still Not Convinced. If they haven’t clicked on the banner CTA, or any of the sections above, give them yet another compelling reason to work with you. Sections 6, 7 and 8 can repeat for as many times as you have new compelling reason to work with you. Like an infomercial, keep going until your visitors have decided to reach out. The goal is to entice people to click before the reach the bottom of the page. If you want to turbocharge this, use a heat map software like CrazyEgg or HotJar and make a game out of it. If your visitors are not spending time at any of these section, rewrite the copy or move a more compelling section up until they are all generating maximum interest.
9. Email Capture. Email marketing to your own list is much more successful than marketing to a list you have purchased. So use your website to compile a list of people who already like what you do and are familiar with what you are offering. Tip. Offer something for free and your email capture will be much more successful. It’s called the principal of reciprocity. Give something away and people feel compelled to reciprocate. In this instance, to give you their email address.
10. Social Media Links. This is another form of social proof. People may check out your social media to see how popular you are. We like put the links on the bottom however rather than the top because once people click on those links you may never see them again. If possible, use social share tools, that prompt people to share your web pages rather than visit your social Media channels. The idea of Social media in business is to drive traffic to the place where the sale takes place, not lead them away from it.
11. About Your Organization. The footer is on every page of your website, so this is a great place for a brief summary about what you offer as it will be seen more frequently than if it’s hidden on an about page. Tell people what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve just said.
12. Your Address. This is especially important if you count on local business because it’s also very important for SEO. Say you re a doctor. Most people search by putting in the text “doctor” and the zip code. For this reason, it sends an important signal to Google as their bots crawl your website.
