Three Questions to Ask Before You Publish Any Website

In reality, there are a lot of variables that affect website design and what your website should have and shouldn’t have. However, if you are selling something online, whether it be a service or a product, there are three questions that are universal and need to be asked before anyone publishes their website. Below are the three questions and what to do in order to answer those questions.

Preface: Your website needs to be roughly 80% visual, 20% text. The average attention span of adults is 8 seconds. That means you have less than ten seconds to capture the attention of your audience. Fun fact: When someone is browsing the internet their attention span is less than a goldfish.

1.What is it that you offer?

Within a second of someone visiting your page, they need to know exactly what you offer. Do you sell hand knitted scarfs? Are you a business coach for photographers? Do you specialize in event planning for corporate parties? What is it that you offer and who do you serve?

The easiest and most effective way to be clear is in the header of your website under the logo add a tagline. You can also add a full-width image right below your menu and have an introductory phrase placed on top of the image.

The point should be for them to know exactly who you serve as soon as the homepage loads. If you’ve been following me for a while then you’ll know a huge believer of ‘niche marketing’ which is part of knowing who your ideal clientele is. (You can read more about that here). Your tagline or introductory phase should call out that niche market you specialize in serving.

For example, if you’re a health coach but you specialize in Diabetic Management then your website should read “Health Coach Specializing in Diabetic Management” as opposed to simply “Health Coach.”

2. How will it make your clients lives better?

People are selfish, and by that, I mean they don’t care about what exactly you’re offering or what the exact plan is for you to get them from Point A to Point B. All they really want to know is how will this make their life better, simpler, easier – you fill in the blank.

Right after they find out what you offer their attention should immediately be directed to how will it make their life better. It doesn’t have to be laid out by saying, “my coaching will make your better by putting systems in place…” it can be more visual.

For example, Satori is a project management system for coaches (it’s awesome). They do a wonderful job of carefully laying out how they make their clients lives better in a beautiful, attention-grabbing way. Notice, it is laid out in a boring paragraph.

3. How do they purchase from you?

Perhaps the most important question of them all. Hopefully, by this point, they’re thinking, “I’m interested. How do I purchase it?” It seems silly that the creator of the website would make it hard for you to purchase or inquire but I’ve seen it time after time.

The top right-hand corner is prime real estate on your homepage. Your most important call-to-action needs to placed in that corner. If you want them to call you then put a large button that reads, ‘Contact Me Today’, if you want to them to buy your course then it could say something like ‘Let’s Start’.

[Tweet “The top right-hand corner is prime real estate on your homepage.”]

Teachable does a great job of directing their audience. They have put their main call-to-action in that corner because that’s ultimately what they want you to do, get started using Teachable today.

They also place another huge button that stands out from the background color near the center of the page. If the background color to your homepage is blue then don’t make the button blue as well. The button should be the opposite color or something that pops in a sea of blue. I’d recommend an orange or white button if it’s surrounded by blue.

Lastly, at the bottom of the page, they place another button there asking you do the same thing. One their main homepage they have three separate buttons all directing you to do the same thing.

When you go to your website the homepage should answer all three of those questions within 8 to 10 seconds of landing there. If it doesn’t answer those three question within that time frame then you are losing potential income.

If you want help today on how to thoughtfully craft your website to produce more income then schedule a consultation with me.

Together we will optimize your website to generate more income.

If you’re going the DIY-route then get a checklist of what every page of your website should have in the Luxe Digital Resource Library.

In the library, you can find resources on how to optimize your business and brand identity through checklists, printable organizers, templates, tutorials, worksheets, eGuides, and more.