4 Pages That Can Make or Break Your Website

Guest post by Tracy Needham of Compellingezine.com

Your website can and should be the hub of your business – a place where prospects can go any time of day or night to find out exactly how you can help them. And every page on your website should somehow smooth the path toward the sale.

But four pages in particular are key…

The Home Page

Like a Wal-Mart greeter, your home page needs to immediately convince the visitor she’ll quickly find what she’s looking for before she turns around and walks back out the door.

This means sharing a little about what you do–in your prospect’s language, of course–and why she should care. It also means offering guidance as to where she may want to go next on the site. (Based on your most popular offerings.) And overall, it’s good to keep the layout and navigation simple.

But before she goes to another page, you want to encourage her to sign up for your newsletter. That way you can keep in touch even if she decides not to take action on anything today.

The About Us Page

That’s right–the page we often think about last actually plays an important role in building credibility and enhancing your likability. In fact, one Marketing Sherpa study found that a personable About Us page can boost website conversions 30%!

Remember…people buy from people, not companies. (Plus, they’re generally skeptical about buying from unknown businesses on the internet.) So your About Us page is critical to establishing yourself as an expert and developing the all-important know, like and trust factor.

Here are a few key dos and don’ts:

• DON’T post a formal bio (save that for your media page)
• DON’T start off with a dense but essentially meaningless mission statement
• DON’T post long lists of journal articles, previous speaking engagements or other similar items. Put a link to them on the page instead so visitors aren’t overwhelmed
• DO tell them about you– your experience, your story (if relevant) and a little about who you are personally
• DO use a more casual, conversational style
• DO include a photo or two

Sales Pages

The workhorse of your website–each product or service should have its own sales page. The style and format is designed to minimize distractions, and the copy is makes a compelling logical and emotional case for your offering. The goal is to motivate her to act now–whether that’s buying through an online shopping cart or contacting you for a free consultation.

Unfortunately, sales pages are usually the weakest link in a website–offering a paragraph or two of information and a price or “contact us” for more information.

The problem is…no one wants to email or call you for more information. It takes too much time and she dreads being trapped by a hard-core sales pitch. She won’t bother until she’s fairly sure you can meet her needs. So you need to give her the full scoop upfront. There are a number of key building blocks for a good sales page, which I’ll go over in the next issue.

Contact Us

Yes, even the Contact Us page is critical to your credibility. Even if you’ve given them a way to respond on your sales page, people will check it to see if you’re a “real” business. I often look to see where a business is located so I know when a good time† to call or email may be.

One huge mistake is NOT having the company name, street address, phone, and email listed. If you’re concerned about privacy, get a UPS box or rent a virtual office. Because not having those items makes your business look sketchy. And more people check than you think.

A second common error is offering a contact form as the ONLY way to contact you. Some people just won’t do it. Plus, the slightest internet breeze seems to break the forms and then no one can reach you at all. That’s why the best route is to offer as much contact information and as many ways for them to contact you as possible.

In short, all four of these pages are essential to creating an effective, business-building website.

Copywriter and marketing strategist Tracy Needham publishes Compelling Marketing weekly ezine with proven marketing strategies, tools, and resources to help small business owners and solopreneurs make the best use of your time and money. Get your FREE tips now at www.CompellingEzine.com.

© 2009 Compelling Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Tracy and Jonathan are friends and colleagues, they even participate in a Mastermind Group together. I have seen Tracy put together some incredible copy. Recently, I was part of a closed door meeting where she shared the secrets that her and another of My Mastermind Group used to jump website response with compelling copy by upwards of 10%. Really Great Stuff! If you are not on her email list you should join today.~ Jonathan Munsell

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