When you meet someone in person, you exchange business cards. When you meet online, then you’re more than likely doing so via a social media site. After, the person takes your business card home and so as not to talk to person on the other side of the computer to death, you’ll need a website for them to visit. Websites are not at all difficult to make, can be done at a cost of next-to-nothing, and serves you very well, whether you’re already in business or up and coming.
A website that’s locked, loaded, and ready to shoot will consist of these four things:
1. An “About” page
It doesn’t necessarily have to be called “About,” but it must be easily found and recognizable. Perhaps, you want to call yours “My Bio” or “About Me” or “History.” On this page, you’ll want to give us a brief (keyword: brief) chitchat about yourself. Make sure that whatever you say, it has to do with what you do.
We don’t care that you played basketball in junior high unless it wasn’t until you injured yourself, had to quit playing, and decided to pick up a pen and write; from there, your love of writing began which ultimately led to your life as an author. We also don’t need to know that you were born in 1972 in a small, country town of Philadelphia to parents, Willy and Mary Lewis.
I recommend writing your bio in first-person unless you actually have a team behind you. Saying stuff like, “We provide ultimate customer service,” isn’t fooling anyone. Ain’t nobody providing nothing, but you, yourself, and you.
Although it’s business, it can still be fun and personable.
Keep it fresh, interesting, and relevant!
2. A page consisting of your services/products
What do you MOST want me to do before I leave your website? Buy a book? Schedule an appointment? Share/like your blog? Make it interesting. Connect with me. If I’m your ideal client, that is. Hammer your target audience down into one person. Now, talk to that one person. Speak to their needs and wants. Make them need/want what you have to offer.
3. A fresh presentation
Think of your site as a dessert. It’s sitting right there on a tabletop. How does it look? Does it look so good that you wanna take a bite right now? Now, how does it taste? Is it fresh? Is it hot? In order to get this, you’ll want to…
Make sure that your site is easy to navigate. Keep your menu headings as limited as possible. It should be clean, clear, and organized, especially if you’re selling something. Why in this whole wide world would I want to do business with you if your website is cluttered?
Is your website mobile-friendly? Pull it up on your phone and see. Do your pages take forever to load? How much crap do I have to download? The harder it is for me to get through it, the less likely I am to stay. If you’re freezing up my PC, forget about it!
Finally, keep it fresh. When was the last time that you blogged or added a new product? Throw in a new testimonial every now and then. Give us an updated picture and/or video of you in action. If I visit your site once a month, then I should see something different every time. Keeping it fresh is also a factor in your PR ranking.
Recap…shall we? Make sure that you have an about page, that your services/products are easy to find, your content is fresh, and trying to contact you should not be a game of “Where’s Waldo?” And with that being said, make sure that you have a…
4. A contact page
Even if I don’t need to get in contact with you, I want to know that should I ever need/want to do so, then it will be easy to do so. At minimum, make sure that you provide an email address in addition to the contact form.
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to provide a telephone number. I totally understand not wanting to publicize your personal cell. That’s okay. Tap into your resources. Google Voice will give you a phone number free of charge to give to the public. All calls to that number will forward to your cell. Cool, right?