The ultimate guide to Home Page content

Your home page is your ultimate sales page and this can be a bit tricky for those of us who don’t consider ourselves ‘Sales People’.

A good way around this, for shrinking violets, is to remember – your home page (and every page on your site) should sell your service to your customer. Your home page is less about you, your product or your service than it is about what problems your customer is having and how YOU are the person/service/product to solve this problem.

Businesses are defined by the customers they serve, not the products they sell.

In order to get in front of those customers, to serve them, remember your site is part of a sales cycle:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Evaluation
4. Engagement
5. Nurture

Awareness

Awareness comes from the environment of you:

• Face to Face
• Word of mouth / Referrals
• Social Media
• Events
• Your Site

Make people AWARE by repeating what you do in each of these locations – your LinkedIn profile, your twitter handle, your business cards and on site: Put what you do / what you sell in the sub heading (h2), the first 100 words, the meta description, use it to name your images and put what you do in the Alt Tags of your images

Consideration

CLIENTS CONSIDER YOU when you tell what solutions you provide. Tell your clients and customers you understand their problems, their pains, and that YOU are the solution to this. Sell the problem-free future

Evaluation

YOUR SITE IS AN EVALUATION TOOL: Use your cheer squad and increase trust and understanding of the solutions your deliver, through testimonials, case studies, blog posts. Get people to write reviews for your products or services as soon as you have delivered – while the relationship is warm, it’s the best time to ask for a warm review.

ENGAGEMENT – 2 WAYS!

PEOPLE ENGAGE PEOPLE – use a good photo of yourself and your team. Keep it up to date, relaxed, approachable. There are some great portrait photographers who specialise in value for money professional site and business portraits – choose one whose work is candid, relaxed and whose style you think represents your values.

GET PEOPLE TO ENGAGE YOU: Give clear direct calls to action – the single thing you would like a client to do – a link to your calendly account so you can book a conversation; a link to a referral qualification page (see our website worksheet)

Nurture

NURTURE your clients:

• deliver good content that shows you know the needs and problems faced by your clients
• Offer free information to entice customers onto your mailing list with clear instructions on how you manage your list, and what information will be delivered. Then, deliver good, thoughtful information.

Selling product or services to current customers is the most efficient business you can do. Nurture your clientelle with warmth, good service delivered on time and well, with follow ups and care, and they’re far more likely to buy again / use you again and refer you on, which takes you back into Awareness … consideration… evaluation… engagement… nurture

To Recap:

Your home page and any sales page on your site should showcase the sales cycle. It’s a narrative formula: awareness,  consideration, evaluation, engagement and nurture.

• Tell your story in terms of what solutions you provide.
• Make people AWARE by repeating it over and over.
• Start your sales pages with this pitch.
• Get a great photo.
• Reinforce your value and increase trust with testimonials and proof – fill your your blog posts with case studies
• Use Clear direct calls to action so people can engage you – articulate the single thing you would like a client to do.

Remember, the essence of the cycle is that the world may spin around you, but the centre, your message, your deliverable, is steady.