STOP – before you head out the door to your next meeting or make a call to meet with a new client, consider this: before that meeting, your guest will search for you online. They will search for you online and want to know:
—– THE SHORT VERSION —–
- Are you legit & professional?
- What do you actually do?
- What experience to you have?
- What do others think of you?
- Will you add value?
- Are you easy to contact?
Read on for the full article.
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If your online reputation is well managed, the first thing people will find when they search for you online will either be your website or your social media presence. Social media is easier to get traction (hits on a search engine) – but your website is easier to control. So… if they find your social profile first, make sure it directs them to your website.
Your website should form the cornerstone of your online brand; you control the content, the context, the clutter ratio and the competition.
So… before that meeting or that call, check whether or not your website answers the following questions for your online stalkers…
1. Are you legit/established/professional?
Everything from your logo, fonts and colours to the way that you craft your wording and select your images. At a glance, your visitor will make a judgement on just how legitimate and professional they perceive you to be. This will be a key determining factor to how far they continue into your site – at this point, perception is everything.
Some things to think about here:
- Does my site flow well?
- Are the images, colours and fonts uniform throughout my website?
- Is my profile picture professionally taken?
- Is my professional designation clear?
- Would a single-page scroll site work better than a multi-page site?
- Are there easy calls to action?
2. What is it that you do, exactly?
A good test for this is to ask five people you love and trust to tell you what they think you do, and then ask them to go to your website and see if they would get that from your site? Then… check if it aligns with what you actually do.
Use your header tags (h1, h2 and h3) to communicate your key service offerings and write blogs that expand on and educate visitors around these key service offerings (Key Selling Points).
Keep it as simple as possible – we try to consolidate KSPs to the magical number of three – but if you push up to six it’s not a train-smash.
3. What experience do you have?
This is best shared through portfolio presentations (showing work you’ve previously worked on), client profiles (types of clients you work with) or through testimonials. Often, when someone is burned by a poor provider, they have failed to ask for portfolios or referrals ahead of the project.
Generally, they don’t repeat this mistake – so make sure they can easily engage with this element of your online brand.
4. What do others think of you?
Testimonials and referrals. This is of huge value – don’t make it up, source actual client testimonials that people could google and check out. LinkedIn is extremely useful for this as your visitors can check out the clients that have worked with you, and start to picture how you will add value to them too.
5. Will you add value?
Try not to avoid sounding too clever or too technical if your target market won’t understand the jargon and back-office speak of your industry. Use words that will motivate how you will solve problems for your clients without erring on the cliché or sounding disingenuous.
People love authenticity – the more authentic you can be when speaking to the value you provide – the better.
6. How can I connect with you?
Once you’ve established the early stages of trust, there now needs to be an easy way to engage with you further:
- form for easy contact where they submit their details to you
- cellphone or office number
- email addresses of you and your team
- social media links
If you don’t have a website – none of the above questions will be easily answered.
I hope that helps! If you feel I’ve overlooked something, or would like further clarity – please reach out to me or my team!
