5 tips to improve your website

Hey everybody, I hope you are having a fantastic week. It's Rob here from the Agency Accelerator Podcast and in today's episode I want to talk all about why is it that so many agencies websites fail to truly serve their audience? This has been a bit of a pet peeve for me for a while and perhaps a bit of a grumpy old man rant. However, I think there's some really good lessons to be learned in this episode and hopefully some takeaways that you can go and apply to your own website. So let's get on with today's episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast. Accelerate your agency's profitable growth with tools, tips and value added interviews with your host agency owner and coach, Rob DaCosta. So this week I posted an article on LinkedIn entitled why do so many agencies Websites fail to do these five things? And it generated lots of interesting debate, some people agreeing with me and some people completely disagreeing with me. And I really love that. And of course I guess it shows that it hit a bit of a nerve. So I thought I would record a podcast about this because I see it as a big issue for a lot of agencies where they, their websites don't really truly serve their audience. And I'm convinced that a lot of agencies aren't really clear what the purpose of their website is or where it fits in the sales process for them. So what the website ends up being is kind of brochureware where they can showcase some of the work that they've done, but they perhaps haven't put enough thought into where that fits in the sales process and exactly who their ideal target customer is and, and how they can best engage with their customer. And the fundamental issue with this is that so many websites start off by saying we do this and we do that and aren't we fantastic and here are the people that we've done it for. But basically that isn't really building the know like trust. That's assuming that people already know and like you when they've arrived at your website. But usually that won't be the case because people will have come across your website through organic search or through a link from somewhere else. And so the first thing you've really got to do when someone arrives at your website website is build empathy with them, show them that you understand them so you can start to get to know them and then they can start to like you and trust you. And I believe that most websites fail to do this. And a lot of agency websites fall into the same trap as well. In fact, I think the issue for a lot of agencies is that they know all this stuff, they do it for their clients because they're designers or they're content writers. It's a bit of a bustman's holiday and they don't have time to do it for themselves. So I'm sure a lot of people will relate to this. So I thought I would start off this exercise improving my point by looking for a typical website. So I just typed in Design Agency into Google and I found a bunch and I just picked one at random and I slightly changed their headline out of fairness, but pretty much the headline just started off. So this is the very first thing someone sees when they land on the website. It said, we're a creative design agency. For 15 years we've been creating and redefining brands, helping our clients stand out and be more successful. So this is in that really piece of valuable real estate, the above the fold that someone sees when they first arrives at the website. And of course you've got to be inspiring enough when they read that for them to want to scroll down, to read more or to click on a link. And I'm not entirely convinced that if that is your headline, that's what's going to happen. So let's just explore what I think is is wrong with this. So first of all, as I've said, your website should very quickly demonstrate who it is aimed at and show that particular audience that you really understand them. So it motivates them to want to read on. And so talking about what you do at this stage is completely wrong. And this particular headline gives absolutely no clue as to who you actually do it for. So you would imagine that this agency could work for anybody in any brand. And I don't think that is really a good reason why someone will pick you to work with you. Because as you know, a big believer in having a super clear niche for your agency. And that headline certainly doesn't give any clues to that niche. I think a really good clue and sort of a sanity check that you can apply to your website is if your first pages, the first places that your ideal target customer arrives when they get to your website, if it's full of we, we do this, we do that, then that is a good clue that you need to change your language and make it much more about your customer and not about you. You can talk about you later. Of course, you have to do that in your About Us page and so on. But that first part of the website, it has to be about Your client, not about you. So if you have a lot of we do this, we do that, like that headline I've just shared with you, then consider going and changing that and standing in the shoes of your ideal target customer and writing from their perspective rather than yours. Now, I feel that above the fold real estate of your website, the first piece that someone sees when they get to your website is super crucial. And you need to achieve two things. First of all, reassure your viewer that they're in the right place. And secondly, tell them exactly what you want them to do next. So that might look like having a button to download something or a link to another part of your website. That's a logical flow or even a number of questions that will direct your viewer depending on what their need is and what their interest is. Bear in mind, on this above the fold part of the page, you need to identify the pain points that your clients have and then lead them to show that you can help solve their pain points. So for example, for me, I can say to my clients, are you frustrated that you are taking one step forward and one step back? Do you wish you could win a more consistent flow of ideal target clients? Do you wish your team would step up and be more responsible and accountable? I know those are some of the key pains points that my ideal target client has. And if I talk about that on my homepage, then someone's going to read it and go, oh my God, that's exactly what's going on for me. This guy gets me. Let me read more. The ultimate goal that you want to achieve is you want the reader to feel like you are speaking directly to them in like a one to one conversation. So that was my third observation. And the next observation I want to make is using a subscribe to my mailing list or subscribe to my newsletter or even a contact us right on the homepage is a complete waste of time because people don't know you and so they're very rarely to jump straight from I don't know who you are to the stage of actually wanting to book a call with you or subscribe to a newsletter on mailing list where they don't really understand what the value of that is. In a way, the newsletter or mailing list is all about you. But it'd be much better to say download my free template on da da da da or download my book on this or take this quiz to tell you how to find your niche or whatever it might be. So it's much better to have that button be something Very specific and of value to your ideal target customer, rather than just saying, subscribe to my newsletter. When I see clients who have subscribed to my newsletter or contact us or join my mailing list right on their homepage, I always ask them, how many leads do you get from this? And the answer is almost zero. So it's just kind of like a waste of space. So much better to think I know my ideal target customer. I know some of the key pain points that they have. Let me produce a short piece of content that I can give them away for free in return for their email address. Now, of course, once you've got them in your email list, you can start a nurturing sequence of emails where you can build that, know, like and trust with them. So in a way, your goal should be to drive traffic to your website and then get that traffic from your website to do something so that they become part of your email list and then you can nurture them through your emails. And I've spoken about email marketing many times before. And you can go back and listen to episode 30 of the Agency Accelerator podcast, which is all about how to build your email sales funnel. Okay, so the last tip I want to share, and it takes us full circle back to the beginning of this episode, is that fundamentally you need to be clear about what is the purpose of your website. If it's just brochureware, which I think it is for the majority of companies, then you're really missing out on it being a great mechanism for being a lead generator for you. So as I've said already, I believe that your website should be the center of your marketing universe and that you drive traffic to your website through your social media, through organic, through paid ads, through networking, through joint activities, and so on. You drive traffic to your website and when those ideal target customers arrive at your website, you make it very clear that A you understand them and B, you tell them what you want them to do next, which would be that download thing or take action in whatever way. Now it seems to me that there is comfort in conformity in that so many websites look the same. They look just like the example headline that I shared with you earlier where they start off by saying this is who we are and this is what we do. And the header menu says about us, our work, our clients, and so on. And guess what guys, that's another we conversation. So it would be so much better to make it rather than our services how we can help you and show on that above the fold part of your website that you understand your clients pains so that you inspire them to want to read more. So I think that your website can be a lot more than brochureware. And if you think about it being the center of your marketing universe and adding really good content on there and directing your prospects to that website so they can learn more about you, then you are going to be getting a lot more value out of your website. Now there's another added benefit to this, and I'm going to nick a term that I read on LinkedIn yesterday where they talked about prospect tourists and these are people that are interested in talking to you, interested and using up some of your time, but they're not really ready to buy from you. And I feel like your website can really serve that audience because you don't necessarily want to turn them away because they might become prospects for you in the future, it's just that they're not ready today. So I certainly use my website as a resource to provide some education based marketing where I can serve that audience with some content, but it is not using my time, which is our most precious commodity. And that way I can make sure that I invest my limited time in nurturing those prospects that genuinely have a need, generally have a need. Now they have a budget and the choice for them is just do they want to work with me or somebody else and that's fair game. And I certainly use my website to serve this audience and to serve as an education based marketing tool for me. So I certainly see my website as a lot more than just brochureware. And indeed you should too. Now being completely transparent and giving time to an alternative viewpoint. Someone did suggest that a website should be like a networking event and if you walked up to a stranger, then obviously the first thing you wouldn't say to them is I can solve your problem. But they would say to you, what is it you do? And you would tell them. And of course I do appreciate that fact. But at the end of the day, if you just walked up to a random stranger and started telling them what you did, they were not your ideal client or they weren't interested, they would quickly find an excuse to leave. So I feel like with your website you almost have to earn the trust of someone before you start telling them what you do. Okay, so that's enough of my grumpy old man rant for today's episode. I hope you found it useful. I hope it's inspired you to go and look at your own homepage of your website and see if there's a few minor tweaks that you can make. And as ever, if you found this useful, then please do subscribe, please do share with your colleagues, and please do consider leaving me a review, especially on itunes. I would really appreciate that as it helps me be found in the rankings. And my last plug is if you haven't downloaded my book, which is part autobiography, part step by step guide on how to grow your agency called the Self Running Agency, then please do grab a copy. It's retailing on Amazon for 5.99, but right now you can grab a copy as a podcast listener for free and just check out the link in the show notes for that. So until next week, I hope you have a brilliant weekend and I will see you on the next episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast.