Kelly Rice [00:00:00]:
Having a high converting website is being able to attract and keep your prospects attention. So the next website tweak that we want to encourage you to make is to add a clear header to the very top of your website. Now, when someone visits your website, the first thing that they should see before they scroll, before they do anything, is a clear statement that tells them exactly what you can do for them. And this immediate type of validation will make them more likely to continue browsing your website and ultimately wanting to do business with you. Hey there. You're listening to the Priority Pursuit podcast. A podcast dedicated to helping small business owners and leaders define, maintain and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.
Victoria Rayburn [00:00:50]:
We're your hosts, Kelly Rice and Victoria Rayburn. And today we want to share a few simple tweaks that you can make to your website to increase your website's conversion rate. Now, this certainly isn't the first time we've discussed website tactics on the show. You can go back and listen to several episodes about websites, but as a reminder, your website is the foundation of your marketing and communication efforts. And built strategically, it can be your small business's most powerful marketing tool.
Kelly Rice [00:01:19]:
Yeah, and the key to what you just said is if it's built strategically, right? So it's not enough just to have a website. Your website needs to drive prospects to take action. And when it does, it will serve as a 24/7 salesperson for your business. And it will allow you to make your sales goals and gain strong leads while you focus, hopefully, on the other important aspects of your business. And as we talk about having a life outside of the office, that will help you as well.
Victoria Rayburn [00:01:51]:
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so Kelly, on that note, let's get into today's topic. Obviously, websites are powerful. For those of you listening, there are six tweaks that we want to encourage you to make to your site to increase conversion rates, just so you know where we're going today. But Kelly, I know our regular listeners are not going to be surprised by the first thing that we are going to say, but do you want to go ahead and say it anyway?
Kelly Rice [00:02:15]:
Yeah, you know, I do. And I know that y'all can guess kind of what I'm going to say, but you need to understand your audience and clarify your messaging first. And this is because if you want your website to convert visitors into paying customers, it has to be able to convey a clear message. And as we all know, clear messaging is communication that your ideal customers can understand quickly and easily. And it is literally the key to successful marketing. So for the record, and honestly, just to put it bluntly, if you'll allow, all of your marketing efforts and tactics, including building a website, are a waste of time and money and resources if your messaging isn't clear. So in regards to your website, studies actually show that if it takes longer than 5 seconds for a website visitor to understand what you offer, how you can help solve their problem and how they can work with you, they are practically guaranteed to leave your site, which really just means lost business for you. So when your website has a clear message, though, it helps prospective customers quickly and easily understand how you can help them, how they can work with you, and they're much more likely to do the thing that you want them to do.
Kelly Rice [00:03:31]:
So whether it's buying something or scheduling a discovery call, filling out a form or downloading something, it will help them do that a lot easier. So for our regular listeners, I know that you all are familiar with how to clarify your messaging because, I don't know, we've talked about it like a million times, but for our new listeners and as a refresh, so if you haven't done it yet to clarify your messaging, you'll want to write what we call marketing guiding statements. These statements are written guidelines that they really just position your business and your brand as a trusted partner. What it really boils down to is that you're seen as somebody that's helping your customers or helping your customer make their lives better, right? Solving their problems. And the process of writing these statements gives you the information that you need to write clear and concise, effective messaging for your website and other marketing aspects, of course. But like your social media, post emails and all of the things that you need to write, words for marketing guiding statements can help you do that because your marketing cannot be successful without clear messaging. So to help you with this, we actually put together a free mini course that breaks down exactly how to write your marketing guiding statements. And you can access the mini course at a link in the show notes or by going to treefrogmarketing.com marketingguidingstatements and by the end of this course, you will know exactly what to say to convert your prospects into paying customers on your website and in all the other marketing materials and posts and all that stuff that you need to write.
Kelly Rice [00:05:11]:
So again, you can access the mini course at the link in the show notes or by going to treefrogmarketing.com marketingguidingstatements and go do it right. Go do it. If you haven't done it. Now. We've said it a million times.
Victoria Rayburn [00:05:25]:
Go do it. And also, I guess you all just so we're on the same page. I know we said that this episode would include quick tweaks you can make to your site to increase your conversion rates. And I promise that the next five are pretty quick. But it is going to take some time to write your marketing guiding statements, likely several hours. And then you may want to sit on them for a few days and come back to them and refine them. Clear messaging is just so dag on. Important to your website in any facet of your marketing for that matter, that we just couldn't have an episode without mentioning it at least once.
Kelly Rice [00:06:00]:
Yeah, right. And when you take the time to write your marketing guiding statements, it's going to make all of the next tweaks a lot easier. So, Victoria, will you jump into the first tweak?
Victoria Rayburn [00:06:13]:
Absolutely. Now. Okay, so we can't tell you how many times we have heard small business owners, leaders and their teams say, we have no idea what to write on our website. Well, if you write your marketing guiding statements, you are going to have almost everything you need to write your website copy. Then from there, you'll want to put that information into a story based framework. Now, we're going to discuss what this means in a minute, but with the average human attention span being just 8 seconds or less, your marketing, including your website, has to quickly, very quickly capture and keep your audience's attention as well as be memorable. And the most effective way to do this is through story. We as people naturally love and remember stories.
Victoria Rayburn [00:07:02]:
While very few of us can retain lists and facts of statistics, we are actually 22 times more likely to remember the information or to remember any information when it is presented to us in a story like framework. For example, quick question. What did you study in history class as a freshman in high school? You probably can't remember. You probably can't tell me one thing you learned, let alone what the whole topic of the course was. I mean, I know I can't. I don't even remember what it was. I just remember I saw Mr. Benner every day.
Victoria Rayburn [00:07:32]:
But I can tell you a very specific story that he told us. How when he was 19 years old, he ate a piece of pecan pie at his girlfriend's parents house and found out he was diabetic. And how his someday father in law had to take him to the hospital. And it was super embarrassing. Like why I retained that, I don't know. I mean, it's because it was told to me as a story, it seems really odly specific. But the fact of the matter is that we as people enjoy and remember stories. And as a small business, you can use people's love of stories to your advantage by turning your marketing, including your website copy, into a story.
Victoria Rayburn [00:08:13]:
And to do this, your website copy needs to establish your small business as the guide who can help your ideal customer, who is the hero of your marketing and website story, solve their problem. Now you can learn exactly how to do this if you go back and listen to episode 107, how to write website copy for your small business, how to write your home service and about pages. I know that's a really long, really long title. I probably didn't need it to say the whole thing, but that's what it's called. Go back and listen to 107. We'll be sure to link to this episode in the show notes, but in this episode, prefrong content director Angel Toby walks you through how to write the main pages of your website using a story based framework so that you can capture and hold your website visitors attention and ultimately convert them into paying customers. And as a reminder, I know this sounds like a lot of work, but if you just take the time to write your marketing guiding statements, it will not take you that long to write your website copy.
Kelly Rice [00:09:07]:
Right? We talk about utilizing a story based framework a lot and that's really important because when we talk about story, we don't mean like the once upon a time story, right? We don't need you to tell the story about the peeking of high and went to the hospital and all of these things for people to remember your brand. It's the framework that you use that gets the brain to pay attention to that. So when you use that, especially on your website, it will lead your customers to want to purchase from you or work with you or fill out a form or do whatever it is. So your competitors websites will include like random facts and we're so good at this and here's all the things that we do and just kind of talk about them all the time, which some of that information is needed. But in contrast, your site will invite your prospects into the story where they walk away successful. And that is going to help differentiate you in the market just completely.
Natalie Franke [00:10:00]:
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Kelly Rice [00:10:45]:
Many small businesses don't have an effective marketing strategy, and because of this, they try one tactic after another without seeing results. This not only prevents consistent business growth, it makes managing marketing efforts more difficult than it should be. As a marketing agency for small businesses, we understand how frustrating it can be when hard work doesn't deliver the results that you want. Because of this, Treefrog has developed a proven four step marketing system that will help any small business grow. On our website. You can also schedule a 30 minutes discovery call to discuss working with Treefrog to build a marketing strategy that will allow your small business to finally see the growth you've been working so hard to achieve. Now, I know we keep talking about people's short attention spans and all of that, and I think there was a study done that goldfish have longer attention spans than humans, but I don't really.
Victoria Rayburn [00:11:34]:
That much to think about, right?
Kelly Rice [00:11:36]:
Like squirrel. Yeah, we're there. But so much of having a high converting website is being able to attract and keep your prospects attention. So the next website tweak that we want to encourage you to make is to add a clear header to the very top of your website. Now, when someone visits your website, the first thing that they should see before they scroll, before they do anything is a clear statement that tells them exactly what you can do for them. And this immediate type of validation will make them more likely to continue browsing your website and ultimately wanting to do business with you. So here are just a few examples of clear and concise headers for various small businesses, just to give you an idea of what we mean. So if you're a plumber, enjoy a worry free experience from a top rated Indianapolis plumbing company.
Kelly Rice [00:12:35]:
And the reason that we created it that way is that their customers were worried about having a stressful experience. So we're immediately telling them, hey, you don't have to have a worry free experience with us. We're a top rated Indianapolis plumbing company.
Victoria Rayburn [00:12:50]:
You said you don't have to have a worry free experience with us.
Kelly Rice [00:12:52]:
Oh yeah, you don't have to have a stressful experience. We want you to have a worry free experience. Yeah, thanks for that. Or Indianapolis weding photographer for the type a bride. Right. There's a big difference between a type a bride that's very detail oriented and I want all of these things in place as opposed to maybe just a traditional bride that is like, oh, I'm just looking for a wedding photographer. But if we tell them that they're a wedding photographer for a type a bride, me who may be a type a bride, I'm like, oh my gosh, they're going to be so detail oriented. Okay, great.
Kelly Rice [00:13:21]:
I'm going to pay attention and now I'm going to scroll down to find out a little bit more. Same thing that we put on like our website. Take your company to the next level with a marketing agency for small businesses. So you can kind of see from these examples that the header isn't a time for you to be cute or abstract or kind of vague. Remember, you have less than 5 seconds to engage a potential customer and show them that you can help them. And because your header is the very first thing prospects will see, you want your header statement to be as straightforward as possible and include your main keyword. It's important, but it's also an entire nother part of the show. So I'm sure we have other episodes on keyword stuff and Victoria can talk to you all day long about that.
Kelly Rice [00:14:08]:
But it is important, right? You don't need to be cute, you don't need to be abstract. Just tell people what you do and how you can help them in the header. Yes.
Victoria Rayburn [00:14:16]:
And if you have more keyword questions, guys, please go to treefrogmarketing.com keywords. We have a guide that walks you through exactly how to choose and use keywords for your website. But as much as I would love to talk about SEO, I am going to stay on track today. I'm going to stay focused. My very short attention span would love to talk about SEO, but yeah, anyway, adding a clear adder to your website, it's just a really small tweak that you can make. That does make all the difference. Like Kelly says, somebody comes to your website and it immediately validates that you can help them. And then another small but effective way to increase your website's conversion rate is to include a direct call to action or for short, what we call a CTA.
Victoria Rayburn [00:14:57]:
Basically, you need to clearly tell your website visitors what you want them to do.
Kelly Rice [00:15:02]:
Right? It's like telling a two year old you can't expect them to know what to do. You just have to tell them they're thinking about so many things, so thinking about guiding them to do the things they want to do. The CTAs are so important. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I was just like, yes, or even.
Victoria Rayburn [00:15:22]:
Like your spouse, sometimes you need to tell them directly exactly what you need.
Kelly Rice [00:15:25]:
Right. I feel like sometimes during these when you talk, I just go in and be like, amen.
Victoria Rayburn [00:15:30]:
Yeah, keep going. Sorry, we really like what we do or something.
Kelly Rice [00:15:38]:
Anyway.
Victoria Rayburn [00:15:40]:
Whether it you need to tell your two year old, like you need to tell your spouse, you need to tell your website visitors exactly what you want them to ultimately do in this situation. That could be buy now or to schedule a discovery call. And then you need to encourage them to take action by doing three things. So first, make sure that your CTA stands out and is actionable by putting it on colored buttons. Now, your CTA should be as concise as possible, preferably no more than four words. Like fewer words the better. And then it also needs to fit nicely on a website button. Like you don't want a button with 85 words on it.
Victoria Rayburn [00:16:20]:
That's confusing. Like short, concise. Yes, exactly. And then as you build your website or have the designer build your site, because as a reminder, a small business owner or leader, you don't have time to build your own website. You need to take things off your plate. But anyway, put your CTA on buttons. Use color to help those buttons stand out and make your buttons link to a page where site visitors can take action. For example, if your CTA is schedule a discovery call, make the buttons take prospects to a page where they can schedule a discovery call.
Kelly Rice [00:16:52]:
Don't complicate it.
Victoria Rayburn [00:16:54]:
Exactly.
Kelly Rice [00:16:55]:
Yeah.
Victoria Rayburn [00:16:56]:
From there you want to include CTA buttons in the top right corner of your menu and then throughout your website. So as prospective customers peruse your website, they're going to be ready to take action at different times. For example, some are going to need to read testimonials before deciding to work with you. Others are going to need to see the price before they are ready to schedule discovery call, buy, invest, whatever. But by placing CTA buttons strategically throughout your website, you can ensure that your website visitors can easily take action whenever they're ready, making them much more likely to inquire or purchase before you lose their attention. How many times do you go to do research about something and you get near the end, but you don't take the next step literally because your phone rings or whatever else. Make sure the button's always available to them. And then last but not least, and this is important.
Victoria Rayburn [00:17:48]:
Use the same CTA. Remember, your website needs to give visitors clarity. If every button on a web page gives your website visitors a different instruction and takes them to a different web page, you're only going to cause confusion and increase your chances of losing a prospect. Instead, use the same CTA over and over and over again so that website visitors know exactly what they need to do to work with you, buy from you. Now, the exception is if you have an opt in on a service or product page that's going to allow you to put them on your sales funnel and continue the conversation. But what you don't want to do is have a service page where there are some options to schedule a discovery call. And then there are like 85 options to other resources. And things like people are going, they might check out your resources, but they're not going to get to the end point because there are just too many options.
Kelly Rice [00:18:37]:
Right? And it's going to feel like a lot if you're like, oh my gosh, I'm going to put a call to action in each of these sections. It does because when we as business owners read a website like our own websites, we read it from top to bottom. But your customers aren't doing that. They're kind of scanning. And then, so whatever section that they land in, you need to remind them what to do. So don't feel like you're overwhelming them with all these CTA buttons because they don't read it the same way that you do.
Victoria Rayburn [00:19:02]:
Exactly. And if you want to see an example of how to use CTA buttons, just go to our website, treefrugmarketing.com. Our CTA is schedule a discovery call. And if you go to our site and look through our different pages, you're going to quickly notice CTA buttons all over the place, telling prospective customers what to do next. Now remember, if you are leaving room for uncertainty on your site, by not clearly telling website visitors what they need to do, you are drastically increasing the likelihood that people will leave your site before taking action. In other words, without a clear CTA, you are missing out on business. So add one super easy tweak, right?
Kelly Rice [00:19:43]:
Because why? People's attention spans are short. But when you have CTA buttons throughout your website, you will increase conversion simply because you've made taking action possible for them. And before they forget what they need to be doing. Because it's right there. Right. But the fifth way to increase your website's conversion rate is to make sure that your site is easy for your ideal customers to use and navigate. So basically make sure that your website doesn't require users to do a bunch of clicking or detective work to find the information they need. So we recommend only including like five or six options in the main navigation because you need to make it extremely easy for people to find what they're looking for.
Kelly Rice [00:20:29]:
I know this sounds like it's easy and it's a no brainer, but it can become a challenge. So really take some time to think about how your main navigation should be laid out from a customer's perspective, not necessarily yours. Because if they're not part of your industry and they're not thinking like you, they're like oh, this should be in resources and it's five clicks down, they're not going to find it. So just think about it from your customers perspective and not necessarily yours and try to make it as easy as possible for them to find things. Also, you need to make sure that your website loads quickly. So if it takes a long time to load, users are likely to get frustrated and just leave. So ideally your website should load within 2 seconds or less and you can check the load time of your website by using Google's page speed insight tool. We'll put a link in the show notes so you can just google it.
Kelly Rice [00:21:25]:
And if your site is slow, insights will give you tips for improving your load time, which will improve your customers site experience, which again will help to increase your conversion rates.
Victoria Rayburn [00:21:39]:
Pay attention to speeds, yeah, and we won't get into this, but having fast load times is also great for SEO. It's going to help your website rank higher. It's going to help you get in front of people who are actively looking for your products and services. But yes, I'm going to stay off of that topic and moving on. The last tweak we want to encourage you to make to your website is simply to make sure that your site includes the information your prospects need. Is price important to them? If so, make sure your pricing is clear. Are your prospects looking for a widget with a specific feature? If so, make sure that's highlighted on your site. And are your prospects comparing your packages to your competitors? If so, detail your package options.
Victoria Rayburn [00:22:21]:
Make sure that's clearly laid out. While I do want to encourage you to check out our free guide, eight things every small business's website must include to convert visitors into paying customers via the link in the show notes or by going to treefrogmarketing.com website. Your website's conversion rate is going to drastically, drastically increase when you simply make sure your site answers your ideal clients questions and then also not only will this increase sales, but it's also going to allow your website to better filter leads for you. Meaning you and your team won't need to spend nearly as much time communicating with inquiries who aren't a good fit because your site will better help your website help your website visitors pre qualify themselves. For instance, if your price is listed on your website, they can easily see like oh, I can't afford them or I can't afford them and they will inquire if they can and they will move on if they cannot. And you won't have to have a price conversation via your inbox.
Kelly Rice [00:23:18]:
Right? And who doesn't want to spend more time talking to qualified leads than trying to convince people that they need their product or service? I mean, how many times that businesses have been in the oh, I really want to use you guys, but I can't afford it. What can you do for this? Or what can you do for that? And sometimes there's just no wiggle room in what you do. Pricing is what it is. So again, going back to what you said, Victoria, if price is important, if that's what you're competing on, or that's something that you've identified in your marketing guiding statements that is important to your customers, make sure that it's in there because it will do lots of things right. So as we wrap up this episode, I do want to remind everyone that your website is your small business's most powerful marketing tool. After identifying your ideal client and clarifying your messaging, website development is the first thing that we recommend that small businesses invest in from a marketing perspective. So from working with hundreds of small businesses, we know how important your website conversions rates matter to your overall business and bottom line. So please be sure to create your marketing guiding statements and then implement the tweaks that we talked about today in your website.
Kelly Rice [00:24:28]:
If you already have a website live, or if you're creating a new one so that you can really start seeing those results.
Victoria Rayburn [00:24:35]:
And while we hope you found this episode, if you want to make your website even more powerful again, we want to encourage you to check out our free guide. Eight things every small business's website must include to convert visitors into paying customers. We will link this guide in the show notes or you can find it by visiting treefrogmarketing.com website. There is nothing we want more than to see your small business succeed. And the truth is, you need a website that converts because without one you are limiting your company's growth.
Kelly Rice [00:25:07]:
So on that note. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Priority Pursuit. If you enjoyed this episode, we hope that you'll take a moment to share it with your small business friends to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and that you'll join us next week for even more marketing boundary and priority driven tactics that you can use to build a life and small business that you love.
