Emily: Welcome back to the show.
I hope that you are so, so well.
Today I'm talking to you about really how to improve your website when
it comes to the type of content you wanna think about having on there.
And I actually recorded a podcast episode way back when I first started my podcast.
It was episode number 16, and it was about the four types of
content that every business needs.
So you might wanna actually go back and listen to that one for
an overview of content for your business, for your marketing.
And in this episode, I'm applying those four types of content
categories that I teach and share about to your website specifically.
Now before we get into all the juicy tips, I want to remind you,
well, actually, I wanna let you know that applications have just opened
to the Elevate Business Retreat.
So applications have just opened.
Now the Elevate Business Retreat is a retreat I offer exclusively
to my beautiful, amazing, wonderful, smart members of the
modern marketing collective.
But I wanna let you know about it just in case it peaks your
curiosity and your interest.
Now, the retreat is an amazing, magical, wonderful, immersive few days away from,
well, the day-to-day of life of working in your business of the distractions,
the busyness, the getting stuff done.
To step away from that and to be in a beautiful place and space around
myself and a group of eight other business owners, all women, to immerse
yourself in ideas and strategy, talks and thinking and dreaming up
the next level of your business.
To take part in workshops that I run and design and curate, especially for this
retreat, to be part of a hot seat where you get to ask and receive feedback on
that area of business or areas that you would most like to have helpful advice
from people that aren't necessarily in as close to your business as you are, to
hear what perhaps I would do or I would suggest, as well as the other very smart,
amazing businesswoman at the retreat.
And to really step away and walk away from the retreat with a
deeper sense of understanding who you are as an entrepreneur, as a
person and to structure, refine, restructure your business in a
way that really serves you best.
So applications are now open and we have a few coming in already,
so you might wanna hop over pretty fast to go ahead and get yours in.
You can go to emilyosmond.com/business-retreat, find
out all the details, the dates of the 11th through the 13th of October, 2023.
The location is in regional Victoria, a gorgeous town called
Trentham that's here in Australia.
And uh, I think that's kinda the key details to know you can go ahead and
see the different pricing options.
I have an early bird price that is available until the end of
June if there are place still available at that point too.
you can go ahead and put your application in, which is just telling me really like
a little bit about you, your business, what you'd like to get out of the retreat
so I can let you know if I think it's gonna be a really good decision for you.
alrighty.
So that's that.
Now let's get into this episode.
So I wanna set the picture here by sharing with you the four types of content that
I teach that is super, super helpful for you to structure your content, your
marketing, all of the things around, whether it's your Instagram, whether
it's your email marketing, whether it's your bio, how you structure things.
And in this episode we're looking at how you bring these four types of content
categories onto your website specifically.
Now as you are listening to this episode, and if you feel as though you'd like
a hand with your website, if you know it's time you actually created one.
If maybe you know that your current website is all outdated and not really
representing how you would like your business to be seen, if you don't
really have the budget, perhaps, do you have a website custom made or you
don't really wanna go down that route?
Or if you just don't really have the expertise, the skills, or the time
to build on yourself from scratch, then I have something for you.
So my wonderful website designer, Emma Troy, creates the most amazing websites.
They're designed on a platform called Show It.
And uh, I really find that it's such a great one for the most
beautiful esthetic designs.
So a few years ago, I came across Emma Troy.
She came recommended to me.
I'd seen some of her websites that she created and contacted her.
I bought one of her templates and she customised it for my business.
And Emma has offered you as listeners and people in my community, A
special on her template so you can go ahead and explore them.
And if you would like to buy one, you can enter the code VIPEMILY to
enjoy $100 off Emma's templates.
So you can head along now to emmatroy.com.au/shop.
You'll also find the link with this podcast too, and go ahead and explore
the beautiful templates that are designed to convert really well as wow.
And like I said, just enter the code VIPEMILY to enjoy a hundred dollars off.
Alrighty.
So the four types of content you wanna be thinking about for your
website is number one, connection.
Number two, credibility, number three, value, and number four, promotion.
So what do I mean by these?
And then we'll get into how you can apply them to your website.
So number one, connection is really how you build loyalty and likability.
And research shows that 86% of consumers say that authenticity is
a really key factor when deciding what brands they like and support.
So pretty much all of us, I would argue, say that authenticity is just
like so important when we decide what businesses we want to buy from, what
brands we would like to work with.
So how can this come across on your website?
So often I will go to someone's about page on their website and
I want to see a photo of them.
I want to see who is behind this amazing small business that I have just found.
I want to hear a little bit about them, what they care
about, what matters to them.
I want to see their face and I want to read what their name is.
I wanna understand what their name is.
So a little checklist here for you.
First of all, do you have an about page?
And I'm pretty sure the about page is one of the most visited pages off websites.
So make sure that you have one there, if it suits and makes sense for your
business, and then check, do you actually introduce yourself on your website?
Do you have a photo of yourself?
If that feels good to you, do you have your name on there?
And often I might see if that isn't About Page, it might kind
of talk about the business.
And this business was created on this date and is a little bit of the background
of the business, but it's very anonymous around who is behind the business.
And I think that as small business owners, it's such an opportunity for
us to build that connection when other of the bigger brands, the corporates,
they can't really do that so easily.
And so take this opportunity to bring yourself into your brand and into
your website and really build on that connection piece with your audience.
Just further on that note is that when you were thinking about writing the copy
for your website, you may like to consider again, if it makes sense for you in your
business to use "I" instead of "we".
So you might like to say, " I really care about", or "I offer this" instead of "we",
if it is really you as the solo business owner or the main person in your business.
That's something that I generally do through my marketing on my
website, through my emails, through my social media, is use the term
"I", because it just makes sense.
I'm the person that is really leading this business and the main person
that also interact with as well.
Okay, so we've looked at connection.
Two is credibility.
And credibility is really about building trust.
Now 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone
that they don't even know.
And what this tells us is that things like awards, testimonials,
case studies, reviews, even media features are really, really powerful.
And these are basically having other people or other organisations
endorse and recommend us.
So first step here is if you don't actually have any testimonials
or reviews, recommendations, case studies, or any awards or media
that you've been featured in, you may like to start collecting these.
And secondly, seeing as we're talking about how you have these on your website,
Is, are these visible on your website?
Now, you might have these on your homepage somewhere.
Maybe it's a as seen in section and you have logos of different
media that you've been featured in.
You may have some photos of you holding awards.
And hey, how about an idea that you have that on your about page too.
You can double up there having the photo of you and you holding your awards.
you may have a feature in your, maybe it's on the footer of your website.
Maybe it's on those key pages that you actually have some
testimonials, some case studies.
You may even bring in photos of those people, of those clients, of
those students that have, shared some lovely words about you.
So weaving this through your website.
Now, also, you may consider having some of these testimonials on your Offers pages,
talking about how people have, had really amazing results from those different
offerings, those different services, products, programs that you offer, and I
actually spoke about this in last week's episode, looking at your opt-in page and
the potential, have a testimonial there around just the benefits and the amazing
experience that someone has had with that opt-in that they receive from you.
So look at how you can weave these in to different elements of your website.
For instance, on my page which is talking about my podcast on my website, I actually
have reviews of people of my podcast.
So you can see how you can get quite specific here in terms of boosting
your credibility when it comes to the different pages on your website.
And a little other thing here is something I didn't mention with the
credibility is numbers and stats.
So for instance, on my podcast page, I also have the number of countries
that it's listened to in, or that this podcast is listened to in.
I think I've got the number of reviews, of what number stars the reviews are.
I could even have how many years I've been publishing the podcast for.
So just different numbers that help to show that, been around a
while, you've got some credibility there, you've had some great wins.
And looking how you can weave these in across your website to really boost your
credibility and just let your people know that yes, you know what you're
doing, you have some expertise and here are some other people or places or
media or companies that back that up.
Okay, number three is value.
Now, when I talk about value, I really mean.
What is in this for your audience?
So when you're sharing your social media, you wanna think about
bringing value to your audience.
When you are thinking about your website, I want you to think about
really showcasing the value that your business brings to your customers and
making sure this is really, really clear.
Like messaging can be one of the hardest things.
It's one of the modules in the Modern marketing collective, and
it's actually one of the shorter modules, but I say to my students,
this is one of the hardest ones.
Because messaging is a bit of a craft and a bit of a science and
it's can be pretty tricky cuz we're so close to our own business just
to simplify it and break it down.
Now this is something I want you to think about when it comes to your
website, and by the way, in the collective we look at your messaging
because it's so key, because it's something that you apply everywhere.
Like I'm talking about today, on your website, on your social media handles,
through your content, in your bio, all of the touchpoints, and it's also
something that you're likely going to be updating as your business and your
office and your own interests evolve.
So you may wanna do a bit of a check here on your website is it up to
date in terms of the value that you bring, the transformation that you
offer, the problems that you solve, the solutions that you provide.
All these different ways of looking at how to craft your message and the
value you bring to your audience.
And if not, how can you make it so clear and simplify it and make sure that
it's represented across your website?
Often the place here to have it would be in the opening section of your website.
So when people land on your website homepage, that might be a great
spot to have it then as well on your different pages for your offerings,
you would want to think about how it's represented there, and again, in really
that first section so people know is it for them or is it not for them too.
Now, also, when it comes to the value that you have to offer in your business
and to your customers, I often say to my students, and we have a workshop
on this in the collective as well actually by Emma Troy, who I mentioned
earlier in this episode, who has the most amazing website templates.
but around really structuring your website to be really high converting and
looking at mapping out your offerings on there to make it really, really clear.
So "this is for you if"..."
this one is for you, if".
And making it really, really crystal clear and logical as to what
problems your different offers solve.
Now, you may have heard me talk previously about your different offerings, and I call
this your offer ecosystem, and I do have a bias to keeping this really, really simple
to having maybe an introductory offer for people to get a taster of working with
you, a signature offer that you build your business around, and then a V I P offer.
That might be a great next step or more intimate offering for
the people that already love you and love to work with you.
again, I actually have a whole training and module on this in the Modern Marketing
Collective, but I've just given you a little overview of what that looks like.
So when you are looking at your value and what you have to offer in representing
this on your website, again, this might be how you present your different offerings
and make them really clear, really simple.
Break them down into those three things you might have them displayed as
those three different offerings across your homepage, each of them linking
to that page about that particular offer and the problem it solves, who
it's for, the value that it brings.
So I hope that kind of just helps you maybe visualise how you can
display information on your website.
Okay.
Let's move to the last one here, which is Promotion, and I've just touched on
this a little bit too, but promotion is really how people can buy from
you, what exactly it is that you sell.
Now, my little tip for you here is to have lots and lots of invitations
across your website, and I really call promotion and selling.
It's really an invitation.
You're only ever going to have a very small percentage of people
who buy from you in your audience.
So for instance, you'll have a lot of people that may visit your website
relative to the number of people that are actually going to buy any one time.
So when do you know that?
I think it just helps give permission or awareness even that your ever
only going to have a small percentage of people buy and that's normal.
So you just keep putting yourself out there and keep inviting people and keep
letting that invitation be there knowing that you are just doing it for those
percentage of people, that small group of people that are ready to buy now.
And I think it just helps normalise as well.
Building up that demand over time, knowing that when you put something out
there, It is not going to be everyone in your audience that buys right now,
but you are setting the scene and letting people know and helping people
build the trust and the desire and that demand for what you have to offer.
Okay, so when it comes to promotion across your website, we wanna make sure
you have lots and lots of invitations.
So Emma and I, I'm pretty sure we chatted about this in the episode, a couple of
episodes back around creating a high converting website, but making sure that
there aren't, I call them dead ends, and I talk about this through your content
not having dead ends through your content.
For instance, the end of social media posts.
Don't just end without giving people an invitation of what to do, whether
that's to comment and engage, whether that's to jump over and grab your
lead magnet, or whether that's to go ahead and get in touch with you or
buy something that you have to offer.
And it's the same thing around not having dead ends on your website.
So on your homepage, where are you linking people to?
Is there links through to those offerings that you have?
Are there links through to get your lead magnet, on your about page, knowing
that that could well be one of the most visited pages on your websites, where
would you like people to go to next?
Also as well, thinking about on your website if you think that people or your
experience that people may have some questions that pop up as they are reading,
even invitations for people to reach out and get in touch with you and ask you on
my page about my core offer, the modern marketing collective, I have details.
Hey, if you've got any questions, don't hesitate to reach out
and email this email address.
So even letting people know what they can do if they're not ready to take
that main step that you have for them.
But what might be a great step in the meantime or a way that they can get help,
ask questions, have support too, is a nice way to think about things as well.
Now I also want you to think about what is that next step for people.
So if you have displayed your services, and remember how I spoke a little bit
about ordering your offers, making them super, super clear for people
to understand each of those different defined offerings that you have.
And this might be something that you're building in your business as you go.
I know that I definitely didn't start there when I started my business.
but okay, what is the next step for them?
Is it to go ahead and book a chat with you?
Is it to go ahead and submit a inquiry form?
Is it to submit an application and making sure that you have, maybe
it's like a really nice, clear, bright button so people know.
Click here to apply or book a chat really explicitly letting people
know what the next thing for them to do is what that next step is.
For instance, I mentioned at the side of this episode that my retreat is now open
for applications, and at the bottom of that page, I have a bright orange button
that says, because there's something like a click here to apply or apply now,
making it really, really obvious for people visually through the language that
you use and with multiple places too.
And if you have quite a long page about one of your offers or quite a long
sales page, think about whether it would make sense for you to have those
buttons multiple times down that page as well as people are reading and they're
like, oh yeah, I'm so ready to do this, that they don't have to scroll all
the way to the bottom of the page too.
So that is an overview of how to apply these four types of content
to your website specifically.
I love kind of looking at the different ways that we can take this same framework
of the connection, the credibility, the value, and the promotion, and
really filter the way that you are marketing through this framework.
So I hope that was helpful for you.
I could probably talk on and on and look at all different, even more areas of
your website, but let's keep it concise.
I will wrap it up there don't forget as well that if you would like a hand
to have maybe your website updated.
You know that you just don't have the time or the skills right now to be able
to create your own website from scratch.
Maybe you don't have the budget, or you just don't really want to
go ahead and hire someone to design your own website from scratch too.
And you think that a template might be a brilliant way for you to get your hands
on a really intentionally designed, Website framework for you then to make
your own with your own images, your own copy your own colors, your own branding
then you may well like to check out Emma Troy, who is a exceptional designer.
She specialises in, Show it.
I think she's a recognised partner with Show it or something too.
It'll be on her website.
But you can go to emmatroy.com.au/shop or just Google, Emma Troy.
Jump over, check out her templates and if you would like to buy one, then you can
make the most of my affiliate code being a proud affiliate for Emma, having worked
with her myself for the last few years.
So you can enter VIPEMILY to enjoy a hundred dollars off her templates.
All right, that is it from me, and I will speak with you really, really soon.
Bye.