Websites. This is a topic that stresses out many of the entrepreneurs, authors, and coaches we work with at Worthy Marketing Group. The rise of technology over the last 20 years means that anyone can create a lovely website, right?
Well, yes. And no.
Web designers get crazy on this subject. Perhaps rightfully so. They are professionals with time invested in learning their craft and coding languages. And know this: a lovely, fast, well-converting website is worth its weight in gold. And guess what? Behind every truly great website, there’s likely a great web designer. Not Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.
But here’s the thing. For many of our Worthy Marketing Group clients, a website is less a piece de resistance and more a necessary evil. What we mean by this is that a responsive, well-organized, well-designed website is a definite benefit for most businesses — including authors and coaches. But it’s not the end-all, be-all of marketing for many of our clients.
Think of your website more like a business card. You need it. It needs to look good. It needs to be readable on a phone or tablet. And it IS noticeable when you don’t have it… but other than that, folks might not pay as much attention as you think they might.
Our Worthy Marketing Group website is actually a great example of this. We’ve been working with authors for over 10 years, and in that time we’ve connected with most of our clients via word-of-mouth. However, as we scale and grow, we are working to build our portfolio on our site and have always had a way for future clients to contact us.
As you build your site, here are the key pages you need to have:
homepage
This is the page where you will make the case for your brand, whether it’s offering a book, program, or practice. This is where you will gather all your best stuff and put it on display.
At the end of the day, your home page should make YOU feel good. This is a reflection of you. But remember, a website should be calm and easy to read–if it feels odd or surprising, give it another try.
the about page
The second page that we include with most websites is the About page. There is a fine line in crafting the copy for this page:
#1 You want to include enough information so that your potential clients or customers can read your About page and get a solid understanding of whether your product/services are a good fit for them.
#2 Even though you are sharing the most about YOU on the About page, you also need to keep some basic copyrighting tenants in mind: remember that going on and on about your accomplishments can get pretty boring for a reader.
Let’s consider a hypothetical massage therapist creating a new site. Here are two options for the about page:
Option One: focus on the WHY of the ‘about’ information.
How did you get trained? Get certified? Get established?
For many of us, our knee-jerk reaction is that we consolidate all of our credentials in one post and present them in a resume-like format. Thinking of the WHY behind your credentials helps to tell a story that engages with your reader.
Option Two: consider using “I get you” language and perspective
This means that instead of unfurling your professional resume, share the information with the perspective of HOW you got to where you are and HOW that will help your potential clients or readers.
the blog page
You have thoughts. A blog is a place to collect them. Even if you’re not writing weekly or monthly blog posts, we still think you need a blog page to collect your offerings/thoughts/things as they come up. There are about a million blog posts (see what I did there!) on how to create a blog, so we’re not going to take a deep dive here. But here’s one of our favorite tips: when writing your blog posts titles and subheaders, think about how people search for information on Google. Write your headlines like a Google search.
Resist the urge to be clever with your blog post titles. If your expertise is in women’s health, don’t go the clever route with your blog post titles, instead, write titles that are to the point. (You can be clever in your copy and excerpt descriptions.)
Don’t: Spring into Spring with these Five Arm Exercises
Do: Five Ways to Build Upper Arm Strength On Your Lunch Break
the services page (speaking/events)
Another page you’ll want to include is a page that explains in more detail about your offerings or services. For some authors, this is a speaking or events page. These pages serve two purposes: social proof and information.
The services page should showcase your connections and public profile–showing your potential readers and clients that you are an expert in your field.
Include any ways that folks can get to know you better on this page. Do you have a TEDx talk online? Include it here. Are you doing a talk at a local event? List it here (and on your social media!).
contact page
The final “must have” page is the contact page. This is usually the ultimate “call to action” for your site (at least until you have product offerings on the site). Having this page means that a client has usually taken enough time to comb through your website to know a bit of what you’re about and means that you’re likely getting someone who really wants to talk with you on the other end of the form.
A few things to consider with Contact pages:
#1: Do you want a log of your inquiries? If yes, then consider looking into using Gravity Forms plugin on WordPress.
#2: Do you want to reduce spam? Then use a contact form with Captcha to reduce spammy comments and emails.
#3: Do you want to be super-accessible? Then keep it old school and include an email link so folks aren’t forced to use your form. There are some bots and such that can grab live email links online, so consider hiding the link to your email by deleting in your web design software or expressing as text (i.e. hello {at} worthymarketinggroup {dot} com).
book page
And of course, if you’re working with us, you may need a book page, right? We have a whole post about why you don’t need a separate book website for your book launch, (spoiler: just add it as a page on your regular brand site!).
What pages do you love (or hate) on your favorite websites? Pop your answer in the field below!
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