A good site structure is an important part of an effective website, but if your offer sucks, all your planning and designing counts for nothing; so don’t sweat the small stuff and get on with what matters…
As a web design company we’ve seen a lot of people get worked up over making sure their website structure is perfect. They can get so embroiled in the process that they may never actually get their new website off the ground. The end result is they stay with an out-dated and ugly website, or worse, no online presence at all!
Certainly, an easy-to-navigate site structure is a crucial part of good website design, but it isn’t rocket science. Most businesses only need the usual pages like a home page, our services/products, about us and contact us. That really shouldn’t take you much time to figure out. Get that part done, and get it done quickly.
Do you know what the most critical part of your website is?
It’s the offer. This is where you should spend the majority of your thinking time.
Now, when I say ‘the offer’ I’m talking about you creating valuable and relevant content that you ‘offer’ to your online visitors… for free. You need to tie your expertise to an offer that shows the reader you’re an authority in your industry and, just as importantly, so they join your marketing list so you can nurture them towards a sale.
How to make a compelling offer on your website
You only get one shot at exciting your visitor and so you better make your offer the most compelling piece of information or useful tool that you can come up with. It should solve a problem or offer an opportunity. Not just that, the offer should be the BIGGEST and best thing that you can afford to give away. And it must have value to your target customer.
The compelling offer should have a prominent position on your home page, it should be easy to know what they have to do to get it (e.g., a ‘download now’ button). And don’t forget to keep promoting your offer on the internal pages too.
Now, if you have an eCommerce site, the selling part still needs to be the highlight of your website BUT don’t negate the power of an offer. Why? Because if they don’t buy today and you don’t grab them onto your mailing list, you’ve probably lost them forever. But, if they’ve been attracted by your free offer of value and they give you their contact details in exchange, then guess what? You can now massage them with light but regular contact (offering more value) to increase the chance they will return and buy another day.
Now, some people say you shouldn’t give your trade secrets away for free, but is that what you’re doing here? If you get the user’s contact details and you have the chance to talk to them again and again, isn’t that worth the ‘freebie’? And even better, if you don’t try to push your sales messages too soon, and you get them used to regular contact with you (where they receive more value and industry insight) then you’ll not only increase the chance of a sale, but you increase the chance of multiple transactions over time because you now have an ongoing customer relationship. That sounds pretty good in exchange for some free tips or tools, right?
So, now it’s time to work out the very best offer you can create for your potential customers.
Let’s take our Web123 offer as a case study. We offer a free website starter kit to anyone prepared to give us their basic contact details and a short (optional) survey. Our starter kit is valued at $357 so we think that’s a fair exchange. The kit includes:
- ’30 Must Haves for A Professional Website’ eBook
- Website Strategy Workbook
- Invaluable Action Plan Template
And very soon it’s going to include a series of videos too.
We think it gives an enormous amount of value to small businesses who need a helping hand starting off and setting up a website.
As you might imagine, it took a lot of thought, time and effort to pull it all together. So let’s break down why we did it.
Firstly, by providing thoughtful, valuable (and free) website design help, we continue to prove our expertise in the web industry; it builds the Web123 brand; it builds our authority; and, it shows authenticity that we don’t just pay lip service to the idea of educating small business.
Yes we are ‘giving away’ the strategies of how to create a successful website… with or without a Web123 site. Are we worried about losing business? Nope, not at all. Because right now, in terms of conversion, it’s the best marketing tool we have. It really works for us.
So, what could YOU offer to your potential online customers that will build their trust and increase your conversion rates? You better make sure it’s authentic though, as web visitors are a savvy lot who smell a dummy offer. Be genuine, offer value and in return you’ll gain a new group of potential customers who are open to receiving your message; and you can’t ask for more than that.
