Whether you’re a photographer, business consultant, or life coach, you’re competing with thousands of others offering similar prices. Consider how your site appears to clients and you can gain the edge over your competition and position yourself more competitively in the marketplace.
1. Choose a slick design
Many businesses and freelancers will choose to have a completely bespoke theme developed to suit their purposes, but if you’re on a smaller budget, a well-designed premium theme could easily do the job.
2. Optimise site speed
Most users won’t bother sticking around for longer than just a few seconds if your page is slow to load (more than 3 seconds). The same will be true of prospective clients. Make sure your site loads quickly by choosing a minimal design and avoiding large images and video.
3. Remember SEO
A website that is properly optimised for search engines will make it easier for clients to find you, which is especially important if you offer your services mainly in one locality.
4. Be easily contactable
You might have the best designed business website in the world. It would be almost completely useless if there was no contact information to be found. Make sure you include a clear “Contact” link in your site navigation and include several different ways to contact you.
5. Be yourself
When you’re finding clients online, they don’t always have the benefit of meeting you face-to-face as they would in the real world. Dealing with a faceless entity is pretty unappealing to most people, so go ahead and let them see who they are thinking of working with.
6. Polish your copy
Many freelancers and small businesses make the mistake of making their website all about them rather than the client. Rather than simply listing your skills and achievements and talking about how great you are, work towards forming an emotional connection with prospective clients and positioning yourself as a solution to their problems.
7. Write a blog
Your business website doesn’t have to be just a set of static pages. Blogging is not only great for SEO and helps to drive extra traffic to your website, but it’s also a great way to demonstrate your knowledge in your industry area and position yourself as an authority. Several writers, life coaches and more, all get work through clients that have discovered them through their blog.
Invest in your website for business success
It’s easy to put off working on your own website when there’s client work to be done, but putting a little time and/or money into making your site more attractive to prospective clients can really help to grow your business fast.
Edward Solomon has over 30 years’ experience in project management, technical education, computer networking, web design and development and is a Digital Business Consultant for PENNInk Productions Ltd.
