Why Your Website Sucks (and how to fix it)
95% percent of the websites I look at for solopreneurs, coaches and small businesses SUCK.
And yeah, if you're reading this, and you have a website, I’m probably talking about you!
It's not your fault though, so don't get all weird about it.
You're not a web designer.
Imma tell you why your website sucks, and then you can go and do something about it, k?
1. It's all about YOU.
Me, me, me, me... bruh... we've all been stuck being talked at by someone before. Did you want to stick around or were you forcing a grin while side eyeing the nearest exit and hoping someone would come save you the entire time?
This might be more along the lines of copywriting but what's a website without that? ... if you offer a service in exchange for money, and your website is supposed to be helping you sell that service... your clients want to know that you understand THEM. It's more important that the people visiting your website feel seen, and understood, and have a chance to become aware that your service helps THEM solve THEIR problems, than it is to tell them about all the specific in's and out's of what you do. When people feel seen by you, they'll stick around to see how you can help them.
2. Your Call to Action is unclear, non-existent or competing with 5 others
Take a step back and give yourself space to decide what is the singular, most important goal of your website, then curate your content and your CTAs to encourage your visitors to move in that direction.
Is the goal to sell a product? Or book clients? Is it to generate leads, promote events, promote your art?
If you have multiple goals, pick the most important one and let every step someone takes through your website lead them towards that goal for you. Then, along that pathway, provide optional doorways into other pages of your site that prime them in being ready to take the main action you want them to take, while also accomplishing your secondary goals in the process.
3.Your hero section is all... philosophical or poetic...
(This is cute but...)
It doesn't tell anyone who you are, what you do, who you serve and the VALUE that you offer.
Spell this out, right off the bat, in clear and concise terms, in the very first section that anyone will see on your site. When you get poetic, it's unclear to someone whether they should stay because you are what they're looking for, or head back to google...
When it's unclear... they're taking their butt back to google, even if you are the person for them.
So the main take aways here are...
Speak to YOUR audience. Speak to their problems, show them you understand them, and always speak in a conversational tone. Then, make your offer appear as the solution to their challenges(Because it is!).
Define a primary goal of your website and curate your content to LEAD people toward that goal with clearly defined and consistent CTAs
Be clear about who you are and what you do in your hero section. Leave the poetic flavoring for some other part of your site.
Bonus #4 Fix your broken navigations links. If anything is confusing at all, people are going to bail. We don't have the time or attention spans to sit and figure out where to find your contact form. Broken links(esp in the navigation) are going to amp up confusion and blast them back to google faster than you can blink.
It hurts to see so many people squandering their #1 marketing opportunity with under-informd web design practices. Again, it’s not your fault, you are not a web designer (although you’d be surprised to see how many ‘professional’ web designers are making these exact same mistakes too!). I hope that this article was useful and maybe points you in the right direction in improving upon your already existing website to help you get more leads and fill your schedule with the work you love to do the most.
