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3 Keys to Making a Website That Works · Marketing For Tradies

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, and welcome to this episode of the Purpose-Driven Business Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I'm going to take you through the three major key things your website needs if you want to create one that actually works.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know, I run an online agency called Eastbound Digital and we create websites for service-based businesses and coaches that want to build more brand authority and make more sales online.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much anyone can make a website.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many DIY builders out there that anyone can go and create an account with and get a website up and running pretty quickly.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: But to create a website that actually works and does the job or gets you the outcome that you're actually aiming for is a whole other kettle of fish.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it really breaks my heart when I see a business that has so much potential, but they have a website that really doesn't match the goals and authority that they may want to have and is what is going to bring them more leads and sales into their business.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So in this episode, I'm going to take you through these three key steps that you need to cover if you want to create a website that actually works.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into the three things your website needs, I firstly want to preface this episode with the fact that you really need to create clarity on what the goal and outcome is for your online presence before you do anything.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: For example, with the website clients that we work with in the agency, we generally tend to see two types of people.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: The first is what we call authority and.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this person already has a fully established business.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: They could be in the millions of dollars in revenue per year or even per month at this stage, but they need a website that's going to help them build more authority in their market and trustworthiness for people that are maybe already working with them or are thinking about working with them.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not so much to actually generate new leads and business.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: On the flip side, we also have what we call lead generation Lenny.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this type of person is someone that is actually looking to actively grow their business and generate leads through their online presence and specifically to drive traffic and get leads and sales or clients through their website.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, to make a website that actually works, the first actual step is to know your goal.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So do you fit more into the first or second category?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're creating a website and you have a goal of generating more leads and sales online for your business, but you're creating it with the mindset of you're just looking to create brand authority like those more established and bigger multi-million dollar businesses, then you're not going to get the outcome that you want, even if you follow the steps that someone is taking to create a website that has that outcome instead.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the first absolute step is to always know your goal.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But because most or the majority of clients that come to us are in the second bucket of wanting to generate more leads and grow their business using online presence strategies.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: The three steps I'm going to take you through today are more focused on that side of things because I think it will be much more helpful for you to know the three areas you need to focus on if you want a website that works or aka gets you more leads and more interest in your offers.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So with that said, let's get into the three steps to make your website work.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: The first step in this process is to make it searchable.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So what do I mean by that?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Make it easy for people to find you.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how many businesses have a website but just have no way for their prospects to actually find them.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: We do a lot of SEO in the agency.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So in terms of making a website searchable, this can be one of the best ways.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I honestly believe SEO may be one of the most underutilized marketing strategies out there, especially for service-based businesses.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is there's a few reasons why this may be.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think people believe it's too hard, too complicated, and too expensive because of past experiences or people that they've spoken to, but also because there seems to be a lot of people in the SEO industry that are spamming businesses, which is probably giving it a little bit of a bad name.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: But for people that are doing SEO and doing it right, one of the biggest advantages that it has over social media is that it really changes the dynamic of getting in front of the right people at the right time.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think about social media, you're kind of putting yourself out there and hoping that you maybe attract the right person or you're trying to get in front of a mass amount of people, knowing there might be a small amount of those people that are actually interested in what you offer.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas with SEO and making your website searchable using Google and other search engines, you're literally putting yourself in front of those people that are actively searching for what you offer.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So these people that are out there punching in keywords into Google and asking Google questions or actively looking for specific types of products or services are much further down their buying journey.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So they're more so in the consideration phase of looking for the right business for them rather than trying to figure out if the service that they're looking for is what they actually need.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you're going to get a faster turnaround of people that are interested in those services because if you're if you're in front of them, I mean, if you're able to get in the higher rankings for keywords related to the services and offers that you have, and they're going to turn into leads and clients easier than those ones that need convincing that what you offer is what they actually need.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So let's take physiotherapy, for example.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're out there on social media trying to convince someone that they need physiotherapy, there's only going to be a small amount of people in your audience at any one time that may have an injury or need physiotherapy for some reason.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the goal of social media is essentially to convince them that your service is what they need.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas if someone has already made the decision that physiotherapy is what they need to help them with their injury or help them with an ailment that they have, then if they come across your business on search, they're more likely to just go ahead and make a booking straight away because they know that that's what they need.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of optimizing your website for search and making it more searchable and ticking off that first step in this process I'm taking you through today, keywords definitely play a big role in this.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the key is to find keywords that are highly relevant to what you actually offer, have a high search volume, so a lot of people are typing it into Google, and that it has a low difficulty.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not going to be super hard to rank.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the ideal situation is to have high relevance, high volume, and low difficulty.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: But this is this isn't always the case.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's not possible.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to find a balance of the three.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: But there are tools online that can help you do keyword research and find a balance of all three of those metrics.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of other things that you would consider if you're putting together a more comprehensive SEO strategy.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But finding the right keywords and putting them into the right places on your website are definitely one of the first and most important things when you're wanting to optimize your website for search and ultimately make your website more searchable in general.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But being searchable also isn't just about search engines and Google, right?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like we do focus a lot on that because SEO is a big part of what the agency offers and it is an underutilized marketing strategy.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: But being searchable overall and getting your website to work and covering this step, it's all about just making it as easy as possible for people to find you.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So even on your social media accounts or any marketing channels that you use, you definitely want to have your website really accessible and easy to click through to.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you have business cards, any marketing strategies that you're using, you want to make it really frictionless for them to see something about your business and take that next step.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: That really is what marketing is all about.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're focusing on trying to get people to the next stage of their buying journey and closer towards purchasing from you, if you can make, you know, seeing your brand or seeing your marketing and then those prospects going to your website, making that step seems really simple, but a lot of people miss it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Making that step really, really easy and making your website easy to find in general and searchable, then um you're gonna drive more traffic to the site and then you have more opportunities to sell them once they're there.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, once you have your website that is searchable and a lot of people are finding it, the second step of this in this process is to make it engaging.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this is where you want to make your website a place where people want to stay or at least stay long enough to know that you're the right fit for them and for them to take action.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: With people's attention spans reducing over the years, which is definitely sad to see and say, but it is the truth.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want a website to work, you need to keep this in mind that you want to have strategies in place to actually keep the attention of your visitor.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't do that, people are just gonna click away because they'll they'll lose interest really quickly.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the two parts of this and two ways or two areas to look at to make your website more engaging is firstly the visuals.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the way that your website looks.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I really believe there needs to be a balance of designs, the way that it looks, and content too.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the words, and that's actually our second step in making a website engaging.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, we're focusing on the visuals and design.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: If your website looks like it's from the 90s, it's unprofessional, it has a lot of stock images, maybe things are broken or outdated, or it's just messy and just not visually pleasing at all.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to impact how much someone can actually trust you as a brand and as a business because what they're going to be doing is judging you.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's just what people do.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And first impressions actually matter a lot, especially when there's a lot of competition in the market.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so what people see will definitely make an impact to how they perceive your business as to whether it is something that they want to pursue further or something that they can build more trust and interest in.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the quality of your brand is going to be perceived based on what they see at this point in time, too.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there are studies to actually support that people judge the quality of a brand or a business based on the visuals of their website.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: So balancing all of the visual elements and making your site or ensuring your site is visually appealing will help you build trust and make a better impact on your visitor.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And assuming that they are in your target market and the right people are visiting your site, it will allow you to initially not subconsciously repel them enough so that they can stay and actually consume your content, which is our next step in making your website engaging.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to keep this really simple, but your content matters a lot on your website.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: But we have to come back to knowing the purpose or the stage of awareness that your visitor is in when they come to the site.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: So there's going to be two types of people generally that are coming to your site.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: The first is the person that's curious about what you do and are trying to figure out if it's for them.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the second is that person I mentioned in the beginning that already knows that they're trying to figure out if you're the best fit for them.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So they're going to have these questions that you need to answer.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And these are just questions in their mind, whether they're aware of it or not.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: But if your website content can answer those questions in the most streamlined way and make the process of answering them as fast and clear and easy to understand as possible, then that's really the recipe for having winning content on your website.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the questions are who are you?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: What do you sell?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Who do you help?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I need it?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Why should I trust you?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And how do I get it?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: People are going to answer or need those questions answered as they go through your site.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So think of that as you're writing the content to make sure that you're covering all those bases because if you miss something, you may still get conversions and you might still have an effective website, but there's going to be missing pieces for those people that need those questions answered as they go through.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And this brings us to our third step in our three-step process, which is conversions.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The last question your potential client is going to have as they go through your site is how do I get it?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: How do I sign up for what you sell?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: How do I take that next step?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: You want to make this clear, you want to make it consistent across your website, and you want to make it easy for them to take action on.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: You also want to be very directive in telling them what it is they need to do.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to just leave them to their own devices to try and figure it out themselves.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: So always use directive, action-taking words.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So what do I mean by that?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean book a call, sign up now, take this action, tell them exactly what they need to do.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to use soft calls to action like contact or get in touch and things like that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Another good one is get a quote.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is telling them what they need to do and what they're going to get.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: So make it clear, easy to understand, easy to find, and easy to take action on and directive as well.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the three steps to making your website work.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: But let's recap.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: The first is make it searchable.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So make it super easy to find, make it engaging, keep people's attention and make them want to stay, and make it conversion focused.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure it's really easy for someone to take action on that next step towards becoming a client.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we've gone through a lot of steps today, but one thing to keep in mind is that this actual process of the buying journey of someone finding you, engaging with you, and becoming a client may happen over a long period of time, or it could happen in literally minutes.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the goal of most marketing and advertising is actually to reduce the timeframe between that entire process.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can do this right and attract the right type of people onto your website, answer those questions for them as fast as possible and get them to take action as fast as possible.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to have a more effective website and get better results from it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: And really, when it comes down to marketing, it is about compressing that time frame, but also reducing friction or issues between those three steps so someone can go through your buying journey and go from completely unaware of your business and what it offers to a paying client as fast as possible.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope this episode has been helpful and taught you something about creating a website that actually works.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned, it is pretty simple when you look at it from a strategy point of view of just decreasing that time frame, decreasing the friction between that buying journey and that process.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: But we talked a lot about like these specific tactics today.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hope that's been helpful and something that you can go and audit your website on and also implement so that you have a winning website too.