4 Questions Your Website Homepage Must Answer
Answer these and you'll have a website that gets you more clients
Your website can make or break your business.
The latest stats show 85% of people won’t even consider doing business with you until they’ve checked out your website. So if you have a good website, it can do a lot to help you get clients.
The important word in that sentence is good. Because if you have a bad website, it will do the exact opposite.
I’ve actually walked away from working with people because of their website. So if you don’t have a good one, you’re probably better off not having one at all.
But a good, well-crafted website can be one of your most important marketing assets. It attracts the people you want to work with and takes them closer to becoming a client. A website like that is optimized to build your business.
Unfortunately, most of the ones I see aren’t like that. They’re more like an online company brochure. They provide information, but they don’t help you get more clients.
I’m actually in the midst of updating my own website. It’s almost done (just a few more tweaks!). That means my head is very much in website land. So my articles over the next few weeks will focus on what you need to do to get yours optimized and bringing you more new client leads.
To kick things off, today we’re going to look at the 4 specific questions your homepage must answer. But first, I want to make sure you know the “coach’s website golden rule.” Here it is…
Your Website Is NOT About You
While people will come to your website to find out more about you, your website is not really about you at all. This is why the company brochure approach is a recipe for disaster for a coach.
When your future clients first visit your site, they’re not the least bit interested in you. They don’t care how long you’ve been in business, what kind of degree or certification you have, or where you got your training. They’re on a mission.
Let’s do some pretend play to show you what I mean.
Imagine you have plans to meet friends to go for a run this weekend. But you blew out your running shoes last week. You’ve been putting off buying a new pair because your wide feet make it really hard to find a pair that fits and is comfortable.
You figure you’ll have the best luck at the mall. Since malls typically have 50-100 stores, you’ll be able to find at least a few stores that sell running shoes.
First you check the web to see what shoe retailers they have at the mall. They list a dozen of them that sell shoes. Of those, they have 3 that specialize in sneakers –– Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and The Athlete’s Foot.
You’ve already bought shoes from those retailers in the past. You found they fit great in the store, but when you take them out for a run, they end up hurting your feet.
Then further down the internet results page, you see Road Runner Sports. You see they specialize in finding the perfect fit sneaker for any type of feet!
In fact, they have something called the “Virtual Fit Finder.” This is their proprietary system for helping people find running shoes that fit like a dream. It’s based on key learnings from their history of helping over 40 million people discover their perfect fit shoe.
With that knowledge, they created a list of 10 questions to get to know you as a runner. They ask things like…
How often and how far do you typically run
What kind of cushioning you need
What shoe size and arch type you have
Where in your body you have any kind of aches or pains (which gives them insights into your gait)
And so on…
You answered the questions and got matched with your dream sneakers.
And when you went for a run with your friends on Saturday, you were amazed! Your feet have never felt better.
This story of you trying to find running shoes for your hard-to-fit feet is very similar to what people experience when they’re looking for a health coach. Let’s use it to illustrate what your website homepage needs to do.
It starts with answering the first thing people want to know when they get to your site:
1. Can you solve the problem I have?
I’ve read that people will decide whether or not to stay on a website within 2 to 7 seconds of getting there. That’s why your homepage must tell people the problem you solve right away. If a person has to hunt around your site to find the answer, there’s a very good chance they’ll click out.
In our story example, you were well aware that you’ve had a lot of trouble finding the right running shoes. And you saw lots of options of stores that sell running shoes. But not ones that address your specific problem … until you got to Road Runner Sports.
So many of the websites I see start off talking about the coach. (This goes against the Golden Rule –– your website is not about you.)
Instead, make it easy for people to see right away that you can help them. Open with a powerful headline that lets them know they’re in the right place.
2. Why can you get me results when nothing else has worked?
Most of the time, a person has tried a lot of different solutions before they’re willing to work with a coach. Maybe they’ve even worked with a coach in the past who hasn’t gotten them results. So they’ll have doubts about you.
So you need to break through their doubts and skepticism. One of the ways I do this with my clients is by looking for ways we can change a person’s perception of the problem.
This is how you’ll stand out from other health coaches and bring magic to your website. (And to ALL of your marketing.) That’s why I spend so much time helping my clients find their “Pixie Dust.”
In the Road Runner Sports example, the problem many people have is the shoes feel great in the story. But when they take them on the road, they realize they’re not so comfortable after all.
Road Runner Sports changes people’s perception of why none of the shoes they’ve tried solve their problem. Because it doesn’t matter how good the shoes feel in the store. It’s how they adapt and support your running style that matters.
That’s why they combine a person’s foot measurements, pressure points, and their gait analysis to find their perfect fit shoe. That’s their Pixie Dust.
3. How will you get me results?
The 3rd question tells your future client how you’ll get them from where they are now to where they want to be. That’s where your Signature System comes into play. It’s how you put your Pixie Dust into action.
Your Signature System helps build people’s confidence in you because it shows them that you have a plan.
In the above story, it was the Virtual Fit Finder.
The problem I see with a lot of Signature Systems is that they’re nothing more than a basic “roadmap.” (Between you and me, that’s entry-level marketing.)
Instead, your Signature System should seem more like a magic wand. It should sound transformational as opposed to informational. (This is an important topic and there’s a lot more to it. So I’ll be covering it in more detail in a future post.)
Okay, let’s recap where we are so far. The 1st question lets people know they’re in the right place. The 2nd one lets them know you have some Pixie Dust that will get them results, even though nothing else they’ve tried has worked. And the 3rd question shows them the magic wand you have that will get them the transformation they want.
Now let’s get to the 4th question…
4. How will I benefit from working with you?
In copywriting, we call this “future pacing.” It’s one of the ways you get your site visitor excited about working with you.
This is about helping them imagine what their life will be like once they have the results they’re looking for.
You can tell them, but that’s entry-level marketing.
The best way to do this is to show them. Show them with testimonials that talk about results and case studies. Both of these add much more power to your site.
You want people to see that others are living the life they want to live. That’s extremely powerful!
So those are the 4 questions your homepage needs to answer. The answers should be easy to find and easy to understand. Don’t make your site visitor have to hunt and peck to find them. And please don’t leave up to them to “figure it out.” You need your website to do the work so your site visitor doesn’t have to. (Because they won’t)
Here are a couple more articles that will help you with your website:
3 Common Website Mistakes That Cost You Clients
This Kind of Website Gets You More Clients