The Crucial Role of Your Website: Building an Impressive Online Presence

Kristina Stubblefield: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of WedPro Business Solutions. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield. Today I am talking about the pivotal role your website plays in your online presence. Just as a strong foundation is crucial for constructing a house, a well structured website, Is crucial for building an online presence.

I've been in the website development field since the days of AOL community pages. For some of you out there, you may be thinking, what in the hell is she talking about? Well, that was back in the days before it was actually websites. It was community pages built inside of AOL. And I've seen the evolution and the impact a solid website can have on a business.

No matter the industry that you're in, your website is not just a digital address, it's your business's [00:01:00] home in the online world. It represents your brand, your values, your offerings, and gives your customers a place to connect with you. When we talk about a good website. You may often think about content, but the layout and navigation are equally as important.

A well structured layout and easy navigation can enhance user experience significantly. The layout should be clean and organized, and navigation should be intuitive. Visitors should be able to find the information They're looking for without jumping through hoops or having to deal with a bunch of hassle and Let's not forget in the digital age that we're in you only have a few seconds To capture people's attention.

So your website needs to make a strong impression on Quickly. This involves having a compelling [00:02:00] headline, engaging visuals and content that immediately resonates with your audience. So, what should your website include? I'm going to share with you a few things that come to mind. First, the about us, or about you.

Tell your story. Who are you? What do you do? And what are your values? I tell clients all the time, why do you do what you do? There's got to be a reason. Share that. You're pulling back the curtain. Remember, people want to connect with people. You've got to let them in a little bit. I'm not saying that you have to share with them everything, but just letting them in a little bit allows for that connection to develop.

Next, products and services. You want to showcase what it is that you have to offer with clear and detailed descriptions. Now, depending on your specific area of expertise and what you're [00:03:00] offering will determine how you will lay this information out. But you want to share with people, is it? That you can help them with, what are the pain points that you can address for potential clients?

You want to pull them in and make sure that you are very clear with the services or products that you offer. And what I mean by that is, do you need to list them out? Is it packages? It's not always the same for everyone, but if you think about it, if you're someone that didn't know anything about your business, your products, your services, and they, uh, this person came to your website, And they went to your products or services page.

How would you explain it to someone that knows nothing about who you are or what you offer? Now, the next thing I will share, and some people look at me and they'll be like, well, isn't that a given? Yes, but I really like to [00:04:00] address this, your contact information. Please make it easy for customers or potential customers to reach you, whether that is by email, a contact form, a lead form, phone number, whatever it is that you prefer, make sure that it's easy for them to find on your website.

Most of the time, it's a good idea to have it in multiple places. One of the things that I share with clients or when we are building a website for someone, we will put the contact information at the bottom of the products or service page. And why is that? Well, if someone's on your website. And they're interested in what it is you have to offer.

Why do they need to go and click on a contact button? Don't make them jump through another hoop to reach out to you. Make it easy, have a button where they can contact you or fill out a lead form or contact form at the bottom of that product or services page. Next, [00:05:00] testimonials and reviews. I feel like this is so important to include on your website, whether you have written testimonials or you have video testimonials or reviews or case studies.

I encourage you to put them throughout your website, or maybe you have a page that lists all of them. Now, I would encourage you to also sprinkle them throughout your website. Make sure there's a couple on the homepage, and it just depends how you're laying your website out. But it's not a bad idea to sprinkle them about, and that doesn't mean that you can't also have a testimonials or review page as well.

But those help build trust and that's so important as I've talked about in previous episodes. When I speak on stage, I talk about perception, people making buying decisions online before they've talked to you, had a meeting, or filled out a form or an email to you, they are making [00:06:00] decisions to take the next step based on what's on your website and anything that can help build trust helps a person make a decision to take the next step with you. So those testimonials and those reviews, in my opinion, are crucial on a website. Next up call to action. Now you heard me say information about contacting you previously, and you want to make that very accessible to people to get to your contact information, but calls to action.

What do you want the people to do? They're on your website. What are you asking of them? Do you want them in to inquire about a date? Do you want them to inquire about a product or a service? What do you want from them? Don't automatically assume, that word, so tricky, assume that they know what to do. Don't just assume that they'll go to the bottom of your website, find your email address, go out to their email program, and type an [00:07:00] email to send to you, because I'm here to tell you Most of the time, that's too many steps for someone.

So your calls to action, whether you're using lead magnets, you want them to fill out a lead form or a contact form, make it very, very clear as you guide them what to do next. Think of it as you are guiding them to take the next step. Those are just some of the things that come to mind for me. Now, you know that I'm going to mention video. Video content has surged in popularity in recent years, and I mean, for good reason.

Videos can convey an immense amount of information in a short time, and honestly, in a very compelling way. And what does that mean? Most of the time it leads to higher conversion rates, more people taking action on your website. Now, I know a lot of people when I meet with them, they'll say, Kristina, I'm not comfortable doing video.

[00:08:00] I don't want to do video. And, you know, that's where my experience and expertise kicks in, you know, it really kicks in because I too have had to overcome this, you know, I don't just get up and like, Oh, I can't wait to do video today. Now, I've done it for quite a while. And of course it's easier.

That doesn't mean it's my favorite thing to do or I can't wait to hit the record button. However, it allows me to connect in a completely different way than through a blog post or a social media graphic. It allows people to get to know me. My personality, how I explain things, how I work with people, what I can do to help someone or their business.

And that's the thing I want to share to you is I always encourage people to include video throughout their website. And trust me, I know it can be scary, but are you going to [00:09:00] talk to people when they reach out? Are you going to be the one to meet with someone if they schedule a consultation or they book an appointment with you or they come in to buy your products?

Most likely, yes, they are going to see you, then they are going to talk to you, then what if you showed up on video and they got to know you, they had an opportunity to connect with you on your website before they ever picked up the phone, filled out a form, they were given an opportunity. To connect with you and if we really think about it and people are doing research online and they are comparing you to others are your competitors utilizing video on their website?

If not, that gives you a competitive advantage. I am here to tell you, in the number of years that I've worked in the website field, video converts. It converts more quickly, and it is usually higher conversion rates. I've been fortunate to be part [00:10:00] of projects where businesses have fully embraced video.

And have slowly moved over a lot of the content on their website from a lot of writing to more videos. And I'm here to tell you that I've also witnessed some clients that have been able to cut back some on their advertising or marketing because They have focused on their content that's on their website and because they have higher conversion rates on their website, they don't need to drive as much traffic there.

Makes total sense. And I attribute a lot of that, a very high percentage of that, to video content. I'm just being real with you. I've always said that I would be as transparent as possible, and I'm not here to feed you a bunch of fluff. I'm here telling you what works. And when it comes to websites, video content, can make a huge impact for [00:11:00] conversion for turning visitors into leads, which we all want to then turn into sales.

I know it probably sounds like I went on this big tangent, but what you can also take away from that, that's how important video content is on your website. And the best part about it, if done correctly. If you have a strategic plan, that video content can be repurposed on social media, in email blast.

There's so many different ways to repurpose content and especially video content. Now, I also need to mention another element to consider, a blog. A blog section on your website can be a powerful tool for sharing useful information, positioning yourself as an expert in your field, and also improving your SEO.

Now, I'm going to dive more into the power of blogging in our next episode, so you will want to stay tuned for [00:12:00] that. Now I would be remiss if I didn't mention SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO helps your website become visible to those who are searching for what you offer. Now, if you want to know more specifically about SEO, I encourage you to go and listen to a recent podcast episode that I did that was all about search engine optimization.

It will probably be very helpful for you as I wanted people to understand what SEO is and how it works. Now with this website topic, I feel like this episode could go on and on. What I wanted you to take away from this is that your website is your online foundation. I encourage you to make it strong.

Make it user friendly, and put your best foot forward. If you're not sure how your website measures up, you can take advantage [00:13:00] of our free website audit. Whether you're listening to this on your favorite podcast platform or you're watching it on YouTube, you will find a link that you can click on to get started.

Now. I know that this was a lot of information and you probably already knew that you needed to have a website but having some of those key elements that I mentioned. Throughout this episode can make a difference for your online perception for how you appear to people when they end up on your website, it can also help you with conversions because at the end of the day, as I've already mentioned, when traffic comes to your website.

You want them to convert. You want them to take action. You want them to do something. So if you take this information that I've shared with you and apply it to your website, this doesn't mean you have to build a whole new website. You can go in and make changes to your existing website. Now, that takes me down a whole [00:14:00] nother rabbit hole because it also depends on what platform is your website on.

How long has it been since you've really updated it? There is upgraded platforms available that have a lot more SEO functionality in that, which is so important. So, if you question any of that, Please take advantage of that free website audit that I mentioned. If you're not already part of my free Facebook group, please consider joining WedPro Business Community.

We carry on the conversation of this topic, but I also share additional strategies, information, tips, and even softwares that we use to make things easier. I hope that you found this episode and this information helpful for your business. Until next time, take care and keep working on your business.