Website Essentials: Design a Website that Attracts and Creates a Unique Client Journey that Sells
Do you have a website? Does it attract and convert your ideal client? Are you getting the type of work that you want?
Whether you are just starting out on your business journey or are already thriving, our websites can always improve and evolve just as we do!
WHY A WEBSITE?
Well, customers expect it. People who want to do business with a trusted brand expect a website.
Having a website will allow you to…
Provide social proof & professionalism
Improve credibility
Showcase your services
Control the narrative
Collect and convert leads
Stay relevant within the competitive market
Build your SEO
Websites have become more affordable so invest in you and your business and get that website up and running!
7 COMMON WEBSITE MISTAKES TO AVOID
Optimization is Lacking
Branding is Inconsistent
Copywriting is Unclear
Content is Dated
You Aren’t Building a List
Contact Info is Hard to Find
Not Mobile Friendly
“A bad website is like a grumpy salesman.”
-Jakob Nielsen
OPTIMIZATION
We want our pages to run quickly so hone in and focus on these components.
SIMPLE DESIGNS: When it comes to designing, less is ALWAYS more. As you create your client’s journey work to be clear and only showcase what makes you shine to minimize any confusion.
PAGE LOAD TIME: Videos, graphics, transitions, etc., can lead to slower load times. Work to improve the load time of your website by eliminating unnecessary bells and whistles. We want your clients to stay intrigued and invested so work to minimize annoyances and distractions!
USE TEXT VS. IMAGE: Finding the right balance of text and image is very important when it comes to providing clarity and explanation. Be sure to find a balance that intrigues your ideal clients and speaks to them in both ways!
RESIZE IMAGES: It is helpful to resize your website images to fit your website needs. Again, we want to cut back on any unnecessary extras on your site for a faster load page.
AVOID MUSIC: We all love a good tune but let’s leave that out of your website. Not only can music be distracting, it will also work to slow down your load page.
SEO: Keywords. Keywords. Keywords. Give yourself some more traction and implement keywords everywhere through Search Engine Optimization (SEO)!
GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP: You can work to increase your SEO benefits by linking your website content with Google+. The benefits are worth it!
Less is more. Keep in mind your Google ranking will be affected if you are not optimized. Minimize transitions and graphics to avoid busyness and slow downs. Stay mindful of your client’s journey every step of the way!
BRANDING
This is so important for us floral designers and event planners. Again, less is more. Remove any busyness and avoid the extra overlay keeping these elements in mind.
CLEANLINESS & SIMPLICITY: You can never go wrong with a clean and well put together website. This will help to get rid of distracting elements and keep your ideal client intrigued!
PROFESSIONAL IMAGES: Take the time to invest in professional images. These photos represent both you and your brand. Make sure your portfolio is nicely presented as well as your head shot(s) in your “About“ section. (*Tip: It’s beneficial to present yourself in a frontal photo that looks your viewer right in the eye. Show that confidence!)
CONSISTENCY IS KEY: We cannot stress this enough. Provide consistency all throughout your website, this includes your Website, Instagram, Logo, Heading, Business Cards, Honey Book, etc., Everything needs to and should match!
LOGO: Find a logo that works for you. It is never a bad thing to reach out and work with a professional to help you create and design your logo. Once you have your logo make sure it is consistent throughout every part of your brand.
COLOR PALETTE: Just like your logo, find a color palette that works for you and stick to it. Stay away from colors that are off brand to ensure uniformity and brand recognition.
CHARACTER: Find what makes you unique and push that. What is your brand personality? What are you trying to say to your clients?
EMOTION: Create those professional relationships between you and your clients. What type of content are you creating that will tap into your clients needs, dreams, aspirations, goals, etc,?
Keep logo and branding consistency anywhere and everywhere.
COPYWRITING
Who, Why & What? Provide clarity, be concise and work to be conversational.
CLEAR MESSAGE: Have a clear message about who you are and why you do what you do. Again, clarity is major!
PERSONALIZE: Work to personalize your site. Share in your bio what makes you special and how YOU will best serve your ideal clients.
TONE OF VOICE: Find your voice and let it evolve over time. Make sure you use a tone that speaks to your ideal client and find adjectives that best fit your brand and creative process.
BE CONCISE: Tell us who you are without going too far into long and drawn out stories or bios. We want to keep our viewers engaged!
BE CONVERSATIONAL: As you share your story about you who are, your mission, etc., share it with your readers in the least amount of words as possible.
TELL STORIES: Share with us all the goodies about what makes your brand so special! How do you provide that magic to your clients?!
USE KEYWORDS: Keywords are very important. What kind of clients are you trying to attract? Use keywords that will spark interest with your clients. (This goes hand in hand with increasing your SEO optimization)
ADD CALL-TO-ACTION: What would you like your clients to do? How are they to respond to your website? Work to lead your clients to your ideal destination in their journey. Provide Call-To-Actions on every single page more than once.
Share your brand story. Tell how you are going to make your client’s life easier. Use adjectives that fit you and your brand and direct your clients in the direction you want!
CONTENT
Your content matters. Take the time to share on your site the necessities your clients need to know all they should know about you.
ABOUT: Every website should have an “About” page. It’s harder to invest in a company that is not expressive and proud of who they are and who they stand for. Share all you do, why you do what you do and your target audience.
SERVICES & PRICING: Provide these pages and listings on your website to avoid any surprises. It’s important your clients are well informed about your services and cost of service. This will alleviate any awkward moments in your consultations.
PORTFOLIO: Be thoughtful about what content you put out there and be sure to present your strongest work. Are you sharing content that will attract your ideal clients?
TESTIMONIALS: Social proof is needed to build trust. Sprinkle your testimonials throughout your website to provide that social proof and credibility! Select short and to the point testimonials to avoid too many words but share all the great things about you and your team!
CONTACT INFO: Allow your viewers to share their information with you in addition to you sharing yours. Make your website very user friendly and easy to navigate while scrolling through.
LEAD FORM: Having lead forms is very important to collect your viewers information. Any viewer that comes to your website is a potential new customer so make sure you allow them the option to get on email newsletters and other unique opportunities, blog, webinars, etc.,
BLOG: Create a blog that shares news, updates and insider information with your audience. A blog helps to continue sharing your designs and also allows more opportunities for testimonials, images to be shared and new followers to be gained.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Our world thrives off of social media these days. Make sure your content flows nicely and has a consistent balance on all of your social media platforms. Post and share weekly or daily to keep up with the competitive market and yourself!
Avoid too many options if you have too many bars on your menu. Less. Is. More. Minimize any opportunities for your clients to get overwhelmed while scrolling.
LIST BUILDING
Capture your leads and nurture them along the way. Send your clients emails that educate them about you.
LEAD CAPTURE: Gain your leads contact info right from the start with your lead forms. Grabbing ahold of their information will allow you to build that relationship ASAP.
LEAD MAGNET / OPT-IN: Provide your viewers the opportunity to become invested in you and your business journey! Having Opt-Ins and Core Offers allows you to understand your viewers interests for your services and products. You can always adjust your opt-ins along the way but be sure to include these in your website!
CONTENT UPGRADES: Allow your viewers the opportunity to gain access to your community! Each and every one of your upgrades should hold its own purpose. You can tie these upgrades into different posts you share on your social media platforms.
POP-UPS: Grab your viewers attention! Provide eye drawing pop-ups that spark interest and/or educational or promotional moments to continue to build that email list!
WELCOME/NURTURE SERIES: All visitors to your website will not become immediate leads. Create relationships that allow new potential clients the opportunity to gain updated information on you and your services. Keep the relationship nurtured from the very start!
BUILD KLT: “Know, Like & Trust!” Allow your viewers access to all of your information both when they want it and need it. Create a system that works for you!
SELL TO WARM LIST: Stay in touch with the community you have created. Send emails to past clients, volunteers, your peers, etc., Keep your information constantly circulating and moving through the virtual world!
Nurture into the process of building your client’s journey. Qualify your clients by providing them with valuable information prior to your consultations. Minimize any surprises in pricing and expectations.
CONTACT INFO
Having your contact info available on your website is critical.
PHONE NUMBER: Make sure you have a working phone number that potential and existing clients can reach you at during your work hours.
EMAIL: Not everyone likes to make phone calls so be sure to include a working email address that your viewers can also reach you at.
ADDRESS: If you work out of your own public office/workplace. Share your address information so people can drop in and visit (within Covid compliant rules and regulations, of course!)
ADD TO PAGE: Share this contact information on your website throughout your pages. Allow it to be easily accessible and viewed for all of your website visitors.
ADD TO FOOTER: It’s beneficial to again share this information in the footer of your website. Let your viewers know they can reach you at their disposal!
Give your clients the opportunity to get ahold of you through a phone number and an email address separately from your Inquiry form page.
MOBILE FRIENDLY
It’s important that your website on mobile devices is responsive. Minimize glitches and lag through feature simplicity. Your mobile site needs to accomplish what your website does on a computer but within the confines of a mobile device.
RESPONSIVE: Mobile friendly websites that are responsive and have quick load times are everything these days!
SIMPLE DESIGN: Allow your mobile sites to be clear, clean and concise. Phone screens are not that big so keep your information and content short, sweet and to the point!
EASY TO NAVIGATE: This is always a smart move. Allows your viewers the opportunity to scroll through your website with no confusion or annoyances.
CORE CONTENT: Share your strongest and most important content in your mobile friendly version. It’s important to leave out any extra busyness on this platform.
CTA: Always include a Call-To-Action. Lead and guide your viewers in the direction you want. Where should they click? What should their next moves be?
CONTACT INFO: Share your working contact information! We cannot stress how important this element it. :)
AVOID MUSIC / VIDEO: Minimize any slow load times and lagging by keeping your website simple. Take out and avoid any music or extra videos to keep things moving and running quickly!
AVOID POP-UPS: Leave the pop-ups for your computer friendly websites. You want your mobile site to be clean and simple!
Make it a priority to have your website mobile friendly. Much of our world operates through mobile devices so do not miss out on this opportunity to reach new clients and keep existing ones engaged!
TIPS FOR WEBSITES
It is to your benefit to work with a professional to help you design your logo and website. Allow your brand the room to grow and change just as you do.
OUTSOURCE IF POSSIBLE: Take the opportunity to work with other industry professionals. Research those both in and out of your field to help you along the way with designing and evolving your website and online content.
SHOW IT: This is an awesome website platform example that allows you a great deal of freedom while you create and design your website. There’s nothing like having that control over your own creativity and vision. This application will help you achieve those things!
SQUARE SPACE: This is another great resource to use to build your website! This platform has no coding needed and is very user friendly!
WORD PRESS: This is another great management system that allows you to create your website or even your blogs! This is a very simple platform that is easy to navigate and edit.
AVOID “FREE“ WEBSITES: Invest in your own website and provide your credibility and professionalism by avoiding free websites. Show your worth!
BUY YOUR DOMAIN: Protect yourself and your business and take hold of your domain once you have created it right away! This will save you any headaches, conflicts and/or frustrations in the future!
GET DOMAIN EMAIL: Show your professionalism and level of excellence by getting your own email domain. This will not only provide professionalism but this will keep your branding consistent!
KEEP IT SIMPLE: Always keep things simple! In a fast paced world, less is more! Share your information in a way that gets your point across without any busyness! You can do it!
If you are not willing to invest in your business, then it will not grow. Protect your brand to protect yourself.
NEXT STEPS TO IMPLEMENT
First and foremost take a look at your website and see what you are missing.
EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE: Take a look at your website and allow other trusted colleagues and industry professionals to provide some constructive feedback to build you up and make the necessary tweaks!
OUTLINE YOUR DREAM WEBSITE: It all starts with a dream! Write down your wants and desires on some paper and over time make those dreams become a reality with hard work and patience!
DETERMINE A BUDGET This is very important that you keep this reasonable and realistic. Establishing a budget will help you stay focused and on track with your mission and goals.
BUY DOMAIN & EMAIL: If you haven’t already done this, stop what you are doing and go get ahold of your domain and email! Protect your business.
SET UP HOSTING: This is a necessity for your site! Set up your hosting and find a server that works for you and your website’s needs!
START DESIGN PROCESS: Once you’ve collected your feedback and taken notes, create your plan of action for your changes. Put it to work and start that design process!
-Your website is one of the first impressions that someone will get of your business.”
-Stoney Degeyter
Let this be a fun process! Don’t be afraid to ask for help and work with other industry professionals. This is such a wonderful community to be a part of. Be intentional about the brand you are creating and sharing with the world and own it! We are rooting for you!
XOXO, Fleursociety Team!