Two Strategies for a Quick Website Refresh

The new year is right around the corner, and it’s time to see how your website works for you.

One thing that can make a huge difference as you plan your success in the new year is to look at how your website is attracting (or repelling ) people.

 If your website isn’t doing its job, it’s time for a quick refresh.

One thing that many people either go crazy about or ignore entirely is their website.

 Your website has not been touched in five years, or you’ve done a completely new rebrand every 18 months since you started the business.

Do you fit within either camp? 

 As you gear up for another year in business, you want to make sure that you plan for your business to be as successful as possible.

Step one is ensuring that your website attracts the right clients. 

Now there are three main aspects to a good website. 

• Design
• Copy (the words)
• Imagery

It has become easier to access quality websites and templates so that your website is up to snuff and doesn’t make people feel like they just jumped back to 2008 (or worse, 1998!)

 Once you get your design figured out, the two other central aspects of your website are your copy (aka the words), and your images.

Depending on what type of business you are, you’ll either going to pay a lot of attention to the images side or you will favor the copy side.

 But the best way to successfully have a great converting website is to have a website that uses the right images and good copy.

Why? 

People are busy.

 They don’t want to spend too much time trying to figure out what it is that you do and how you can help them. So your website should quickly show them how you can fix their problem.

The images are the hook.

The first indication is that they are in the right place and you can help them.

 So let’s think about what type of images you need to do a quick website refresh.

The images you choose make a considerable difference in conveying who you are, what you do, and what type of transformation you offer.

 Because remember, people don’t buy products; they buy a transformation.

 People don’t need a curling iron. They need curly hair.  The curling iron being sold is a means to an end.

They don’t need that course on Instagram, they need the knowledge that will help them create the engagement that they will get from that course.

And to go a step further… it’s not even the engagement they care about; the clients find and trust them from that engagement.

So your course isn’t about Instagram but getting new clients.

You don’t sell a curling iron; you sell the happiness and confidence of having curly hair.

In today’s market, having images to hook the viewer is critical. You need them to understand they are in the right place within seconds.

To ensure your images are helping you, I will give you two quick tips. 

Quick Website Refresh Tip Number One:

The first image people see on your website when they go to your homepage must convey who you are, how you can help, or what problem you solve for them.

This lets them feel confident that they are in the right place for their needs, and that they are going to look around some more.

I looked at a website recently that sells graphic tees, but the first photo on their website was the picture of a sunflower. 

Now a lot of their shirts have graphics about saving bees. But the image of a sunflower just made me wonder if I went to the wrong website.

Sunflowers don’t make me think about graphic tees.

I had to scroll down away until I saw anything about the t-shirts.

Eventually, I got why the sunflower photo was there, but most people are not going to get past the confusion they feel at the first moments to figure out what is going on.

They are going just to jump off your site and never come back. (We don’t want that!)

Make sure that the first image people see on your website answers one of these ideas:

• Conveys what your business does simply and quickly
• Who you are
• What problem do you solve
• Convey what emotional state your viewer is in
• Or what emotional state your viewer will be in AFTER working with you

Quick Website Refresh Tip Number 2: 

You need to show your face on your website a lot more.

I know many people like to hide behind their product and say that all that matters is, the product (either physical or digital).

But you are wrong. 

Today, we are all online.

We are creating relationships online, and we aren’t meeting people as often in real life.

We still crave that human connection, though.  So you need to share it by showing up on your website.

People want to know who they are buying from.

It doesn’t matter if you are selling your expertise, membership, a download, guides or give them resources to make their lives, or businesses better.  The person buying wants to know who they are buying from.

So, you sharing your face on your website in many places is an important strategy for 2020.

I suggest you also have a couple of couple images of you looking directly at the camera, you working and a sneak peek to your personality.

Those are my two big tips for a website refresh. 

Hop on over and check out your website. How does it stack up for the new year? 

If you’re interested in learning more techniques and more information on how your images affect your website conversion, I am running a free live challenge this week (December 16-20th)

You can find out more strategies for your website in the challenge: Brand Worthy Imagery Challenge