Website Call-to-Action: Exercise for Reaching Ideal Clients
Does Your Website Invite Heroes?
Today's story is #7 - our last in my 7-week series on how to put your "best foot forward" in your small business so you can attract more ideal clients and customers.
My story today is about putting everything together on your website. Is your website written for your hero - your customer/client - and does it have a clear call-to-action?
FYI - I hosted this story series to give you a sneak peek at my first-ever complimentary seminar on branding your small business - Small Business: Best Foot Forward - 7 Steps to a Profitable and Relatable Brand. I'm thrilled to share we now have 100+ alumni from Best Foot Forward here in NC and hope to announce new dates in the future!
Reaching Your Heroes: Your Customers and Clients
At Greatest Story Creative, we often take our clients through a full branding process - helping them create a consistent message with visuals and bringing it all together in a website.
When it comes to your website - it's critically important that it do 2 things well:
1) Treat your ideal client or customer as the hero
2) Clearly tells the "hero" where to go to get your help (hire you for a service / buy your product)
This number 2 is often referred to as the "call-to-action."
You may have already heard this term on LinkedIn, bandied about in marketing Facebook groups, etc. I first heard of it when I was studying screenwriting and writing feature length screenplays in high school. In storytelling, the concept is something that gets the hero to start taking action on their journey (that will transform them!).
The idea of a call-to-action - for those unfamiliar - is to give a clear, actionable direction to someone so that they take action on buying your service or your product. You want to be inviting clients and customers to take action (aka buying from you!).
Effective calls-to-action give you more prospective leads and business immediately. So let's look at whether you've got this working for you or not right now.
Website Exercise
Let's do a gut check on your website with a quick exercise.
1. Ask a friend (who fits the demographic of your target client or customer) to take a look at your website homepage when they have time.
2. When they go to your homepage only - ask them to write down or share their answers to the following questions:
What do you think I do (or sell)?
Do you feel like the content is speaking directly to you?
Do you know what to do if you're interested in working with us / buying our product?
3. Review their answers and discuss (if you can).
If they get anything wrong - especially about what you do - consider what you can do to make your messaging more clear (feel free to ask your friend for their insights).
If your friend is unsure what they should do to work with you or buy your product - you need to make your "call-to-action" much more obvious.
The results of this exercise should show you several things - 1) if your current messaging is clear, 2) if your current messaging is connecting with your ideal clients directly, and 3) mostimportantly, if prospective clients/customers can and will connect with you quickly (the "call-to-action.")
I can tell you I fell prey to this for many years in my business. In the interest of being "helpful" - I had a mix of calls-to-action all over my site. One place asked you if you wanted an estimate - another spot was a contact form, etc. I wasn't clearly guiding anyone and so I was missing opportunities!
I've since clarified my call-to-action to be two-fold for any new visitor to my website: 1) Ready to move forward on a brand for your business? Apply for a Brand Story Discovery Session. 2) Not ready yet? Grab great weekly advice by joining our newsletter.
This really WORKS. It works because it's clear, simple, and easy to take action on (you can find this right on my homepage). And the results have been incredible. It has led so many more prospective clients to me, and has helped me guide so many small business owners! This decision of defining a call-to-action also helps me have a clear process to share with others, even verbally, when talking about how best I can help someone take action with their business brand.
Your Challenge
I want to challenge you this week to do take this closer look at your website and invite a friend to take a look at it.
Make this your week to define your "call-to-action" and ensure that this directive is clear and highlighted on your website homepage. If you fail the exercise at first, go make some changes and have your friend (and maybe someone else for a third perspective) take another spin.
I'm happy to be that friend if you want my help - just hit reply! Seriously! :)
Looking to Next Week
Next week, I'll be back with another profitable, practical and encouraging story for you guys. I loved doing this Best Foot Forward series and I'm excited to bring you more series like this in the future.
If there are topics you're interested in hearing about, give me a shout! (How's that for a call-to-action?) I'd love to know and make each week as valuable as possible for you. Thanks for reading!
