Are the words on your website costing you customers?

1. You introduce yourself

If you’re a small business operator, talking about you, your experience and your reputation is a really effective communication technique.

Instead of hiding behind your company name, introduce yourself as the founder of the company. People relate best with people, not brand names.

Make sure you connect your website to all relevant social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This will help bolster your credibility and make people feel comfortable about getting in touch.

2. Put a face to your name

Your website is also an opportunity to show a shot of you and your employees. This helps your customers put faces to names, helping your company to appear more human, approachable and more memorable. 

Don’t have the budget for a professional photographer? Don’t fret. There are other means of effective communication. Unless professional photography is your business, looking authentic is more important than looking slick.

3. Show off your work

Depending on your business, this could take many forms. For example; a folio of past works demonstrating your product knowledge, or testimonials written by past customers. It’s far more credible to have others talk up your experience and expertise than for you to awkwardly do it yourself.

For this very reason, actively collect and ask for reviews on external websites like Google or Yelp and link to them from your site. Building up this kind of objective feedback will keep referrals coming.

Unless professional photography is your business, looking authentic is more important than looking slick.

- Ben Keenan

4. Talk about your why, not just your what

Yes, you can explain that you have twenty different services in bullet points, but why should I turn to you rather than your competition that offers the same thing? This is what is known in marketing-speak as your “unique selling proposition” or USP. It’s the one thing you do better than anyone else.

So maybe you’ll save your customers money. You may offer bundled products or have created some kind of efficiency that knocks out the middle-person so that savings are passed on. If this is so, explain clearly how customers can get more value for their money than if they decide to go elsewhere. 

Perhaps you’re more expensive. In that case, you are offering premium packages, sourcing from the best suppliers, or offering a bespoke service. Show your customers the benefits of investing in higher quality, make your headline about buying the very best, and your unique selling proposition becomes a version of, “The best money can buy”.

There are thousands of complicated and cumbersome things we’d rather not deal with on a daily basis. There are times when we might need a service in the dead of night. If this is you, then what you are selling isn’t the service you offer. In these instances, your unique selling proposition might be convenience, simplicity or responsiveness.

5. Tell people exactly what you want them to do

This is what’s known as your ‘call to action’. All of your website copy should point to one consistent call to action that brings that website visitor one step closer to becoming a customer.

It could be booking a free consultation, signing up for an email newsletter that offers valuable free information, or requesting an obligation free quote on a form that will help them better understand how you can help.

Remember; they’ve just met you. Ensure what you are offering is easy to say yes to, gives them something of immediate value, and lets them know you are here to help. Do this right and trust will be gained.

*Originally published: February 23rd 2016. Updated February 2nd 2018.