As small business owners, leads are the lifeblood of the business.
It's always tempting to look for the next marketing trick or technique to generate interest in our services, but so often there is huge opportunity right at the front door.
I was completing one of my free website audits just recently and it stuck me just how much untapped potential there is hiding right underneath our noses if only we look...
The marvellousness of your website
On social media it can be hard to get your message in front of the right people. I don’t want to say we’re ‘fighting’ for attention…but sometimes it can feel a bit like that can’t it?
But it’s all worth it when social does its job properly and someone clicks on the link to your website….
And boom! Someone has decided to grace you with their undivided attention for a few precious moments.
It’s a chance to leave a great first impression. To make a mark. All eyes and ears on you and your business - Just you and your ideal client hanging out in cyberspace together.
How bloody marvellous of an opportunity is this?!
This is why I LOVE website design so much. It's so liberating.
It’s empowering to know that your website is the one place where you have 100% free rein - away from the noise and conditioning of social media - to carve out your own little slice of heaven on the internet.
Heaven might sound a bit melodramatic, but for your ideal clients it can feel like that…when they’ve been searching for someone just like you and then they find you, you’re like the missing piece of their puzzle!
Your website is a place where you can hold space for your people to feel seen, heard and understood.
A place for your unique gifts and perspectives to shine, uncensored.
A place to be beautifully, unapologetically YOU.
Half of the battle is getting people there, but once they are there, then we've got to make those minutes of undivided attention work for you - we need our website to be compelling enough to make people WANT to take action.
Your secret sauce as a small business owner
As a brand and website designer, I look at A LOT of websites and it's fair to say that they come in all shapes, sizes and qualities.
So often though, I see brands with truly beautiful service offerings falling at the first hurdle when it comes to getting people excited and inspired enough to take the next steps.
Many businesses have perfectly functional websites which tick boxes in terms listing their services, experience and credentials…but they’re missing a trick in terms of really creating an experience for their visitors that will move people into action.
Because we don't just want functional do we? We also want a little bit of magic too.
As small business owners, we have something very potent in our marketing tool kit and that is the potential for creating TRUE human connection. It's the ace card up our sleeve. Our secret sauce.
The likes of John Lewis have their customer avatars nicely defined, but they’re in the business of marketing to the masses and they’re constrained in what they can say and the language they can use.…but as smaller businesses, we can connect deeply with each other one on one - and this can be our super power!
So what does this mean for our website?
When people land on our site, we have an amazing opportunity to create an experience for our visitors. An experience which gives them a glimpse into our world and what it looks and feels like to work together. We can literally paint this picture for people.
If we can get the perfect people onto our site AND we get our part right, then we’ll inspire others to work with us.
Our website becomes the perfect appetiser to the main event, which is working together (in whatever shape that takes for you)
Does your website have hidden potential waiting to be released?
How good is your website at getting people excited about working with you..?
I’d really encourage you to look at your website objectively and ask yourself the following deep and meaningfuls....
What I kind of feeling do I want to inspire in people with my products or services?
What does the transformation I offer people feel like? Do you leave them blissed out? Grounded? Inspired? Motivated? What are these feelings?
Now the hard bit…how well does your website do at actually evoking these feelings in your visitors?
Does it give you all the feels and make you want to book your services? (if we can't get excited, how can we expect others to..?)
What we want to do is capture a little slice of that transformation energy and wrap it up in our website.
This is not just about our branding and how we talk about our services…
It's about taking a step back and taking a holistic view of your brand and then being intentional about how you package that up into your website.
It's about diving deep into your messaging and really uncovering your truth.
It’s about creating visual impact where we can, such as using video and full width hero imagery, colours and gentle scroll animations that speak to the feeling we want to leave people with.
It's about navigation, layout, structure and what kind of calls to action are brand appropriate.
When we consider our website as a portal into our world and not just a resource for sharing information in a dry fashion, the opportunity is SO much greater. So much else is possible on the other side. And this is what we want to lean into and showcase.
Another important question I have for you today...
How excited does your website make you feel?
Joyous, liberated, excited?
Or frustrated? Overwhelmed? Bored?
More often that not I meet business owners in the latter camp.
I’m in my happy place when I’m tinkering with websites. I find it so freeing to be able to express myself unhindered.
As the most important part of your marketing eco-system, I believe your website should make you feel lit up, confident and inspired to market your business.
Maybe it’s a little too much to hope that you’ll love playing with your website as much as me, but I want you to feel empowered by it - not stressed out.
Your website shouldn't give you a sinking feeling every time you think of making a change or adding a blog post.
There's been a lot of masculine energy in the website design world in general, but it doesn't have to feel overwhelming and techy any more. Happily there are now options which make designing your site a positive and uplifting experience.
Your website can feel light and fun and bubbly if you want it to! I would love to show you how.
I offer a limited number of free website audits each month - please feel free to apply for one if you feel called to. I cover messaging, structure, style and SEO in these reports.
Website design is constantly evolving, as is your brand. So your website is not something to do once and leave…there will be constant refinement and once in a while, a radical overhaul.
Maybe it's time to reimagine your website into a happy place to be for both you and your clients.
With heart,
Lucy
About Lucy:
I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in the UK. I help wellness & creative businesses build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can create positive ripples in the world.
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