“Websites now have less than 0.03 seconds to impress a visitor. Less than a split second to invite someone to stay and make themselves at home. Less than a second to have them take a look at your company, your service or your products.”
WOW! You have LESS than a second to impress a visitor when she/he comes onto your website! How crazy is that!
This month, I am celebrating every small business who has a website by naming this month, July Julibee! Last week, I uncovered a very awful truth that only 53% of business owners have a website, leaving 47% of business owners website-less (if that’s even a word)! Most of these business owners are saying that they don’t need a website because their business has been fine without one. Of course, I debunked that theory within 5 Reasons that I hope would convince any business owner to get a website yesterday!
Today, I want to talk about your home page, which is the first page a visitor will see and it will be the first introduction they have of you and your business. If you only have 0.03 seconds to impress a visitor, then what should be on your home page? What kind of content should you consider putting on your home page that will allow the visitor to stick around and read more about you and explore your website?
Here are ways to keep your visitors committed to staying and visiting with you longer!
Have a Clean Layout
Have you ever been to a website that has so much content on it that it’s too overwhelming? You want to get out of there ASAP! It’s too much and it’s not attractive to your visitor, I can guarantee that much. To find out what type of layout your visitor wants, ask yourself what you’re attracted to. What kinds of content and layout do you like looking at? Is it the websites with a clean layout that flows nicely with very little content and more pictures? Maybe you like the websites that has a picture, with what the company is about within 10 word or less?
Think about what layouts you like and how you can replicate that look within your own website. If you find yourself being attracted to a particular layout, then make sure your layout is like that.
Creating a Headline that Matters
Your headline needs to be catchy, short and full of impact. This will be the very first piece of content that your visitors will see. A headline is the piece of content that will entice your reader on what you do and how you help people between 6-12 words. If you only have 0.03 second to catch a visitor attention, then you need to make this to the point with no fluff.
So how are you suppose to create content that is catchy, full of impact and intriguing within 6-12 words? That sounds pretty tough, doesn’t it?
Coschedule suggests that when you are writing headlines for your blogs, to write 25 headlines to determine which headline is the more interesting and intriguing. I don’t have time to write out 25 different headlines for my blog, but for my homepage? Time needs to be taken to determine which headline would be the most interesting to keep visitors from staying on my page!
KISSmetrics says to write for 20 – 35% of your online traffic. Remember, we’re not out here to talk to everybody, just a small percentage of people. So think about your target audience in mind. What words would they want to read? What would be intriguing for them to want to read more about you and your services? Don’t know? Then ask them! Ask your clients, past clients and potential clients to take a survey to determine what words you should be using for your headline.
Your Main Content
Your main content will be what your visitor will read to get to know you and your business a little bit more. But how many words do you need to have in your main content? Experts say less than 300 words. So, what do you put in your main body of content? List your key features of your business, such as what you believe, how you help your clients, and what your process look like. Go back to what you’re attracted to when you’re surfing the Internet and what you come across. Think about the copy these websites use and try something similar to that. Below are a few more ways to make your content beneficial for your visitor.
Mention Pain Points and Benefits
Your business is offering a service that helps solve a problem. Your home page should mention your audience pain points. You can ask these in questions or in statements. On my home page, I ask these in questions. When I am giving presentations, I am also asking questions such as, “Have you been wanting to write, but you think you don’t have anything to say?” or “Are you confused on what to say and how to say it?” This is allowing my visitors to begin identifying with what how I could potentially help them.
I also use statements inside of my presentations and my home page such as, “You’re confused on how to write your own content” and “You feel too overwhelmed with it all so you don’t even attempt to create content.”
Then go straight into the benefits you bring people. Mine are, “You’ll be able to create content easily so you can plan months in advance” and “You’ll learn the strategies to continue to grow your brand and increase your visibility.”
Add Call to Actions
The whole point of having a website is to use it to gain leads, right? Then use it to your advantage! Use a Call to Action. What’s a Call to Action? It’s a way to call your visitor to get to know you more. A few call to actions are to ask your visitor to join your newsletter or to download your free cheat sheet. Or maybe it’s to schedule a time to have a one on one with you. You want to make these call to actions clear, concise, no fluff, and intriguing. I personally would suggest having a freebie to give away. I know for myself, I am more willing to opt in for a freebie that is hitting a need rather than a newsletter. In the end, if the person opts in for your freebie, you’re going to put them on your newsletter anyways.
Testimonials
Do you have a raving fan that is boasting how you helped them? Do you have someone from a few years back that said something nice about working with you? Place these praises on your home page to show that when you work with people, you solve their pain point and they were successful after working with you.
Don’t have a testimonial because you’re a newbie? Here are some suggestions: Ask a potential client if you could work with them for 30-60 minutes for free and in return, they write a testimonial for you. Or offer a produce or service 50-75% off and invite beta clients to test out that product or service with them leaving testimonials. This will show proof of your work, how good you are at what you do and how people lives are changing because of your genius.
I hope this was informative and beneficial for you as you begin to understand why your home page needs to be attractive and catching. There many many more components to making a website homepage look fantastic, so be sure to click on the links I have above and check out what those links have to provide. But your content is going to be one of the many components to helping your visitor decide if they want to spend a few seconds or moments looking through your website. Be sure to make it a good one!
Also, the reason I am talking all about websites this month is because I am gearing up to co-host a FREE webinar coming on August 2 from 12-1PM with Dani Schnakenberg, co-founder of Cooper Leigh Creative! I am super excited about this webinar because Dani and I hit it off from the moment we met over Zoom! Dani is a rockstar at designing websites and has been doing that for quite some time. I felt like we would make a great team since she’s a designer and I’m a writer!
So if you’ve been wanting to create a website that will not only speak authentically to you and your brand, but also been wondering how to write your content to fit your brand and speak to your audience, then join this webinar on August 2 where we’ll be covering strategies to design the website of your dreams and write rockstar content that will speak your message and rock your brand! You can save your seat NOW for FREE and all you will have to do is hop online on Tuesday, August 2 at 12pm CST!
Click Here to Rock Your Website on August 2!
