5 tips to create a money-making website

Man, are there a lot of terrible websites out there!

Worse, they aren’t making their owners any money.

In my work helping business owners nail their message and understand what sets them apart in the marketplace (hint: it’s who they really are), I can tell in one glance whether a website is making money for its owner.

Here are some tips to make sure your website is doing all it can do for your business:

1. Be clear, not clever. The two biggest problems business owners have here are: 1) using insider language and the jargon of their industry (that the rest of us don’t get) and 2) using poetic language or metaphors that don’t resonate with their audience. You can still have fun with your copy, but at the end of the day, the goal is always to make sure other people get what you do.
2. Connect with your audience’s day-to-day problem. As a business owner, you’ve got to develop your ability to see the situation from the Other Person’s point of view. How do they feel? What do they want? What frustrates them? What do they wish would happen instead? This is a muscle that doesn’t get built over night, but the most successful marketers tell me, “My people want…” and then craft their website to meet that.
3. Don’t expect people to buy immediately. Few people get married after one date. Same goes for business. You need a way to keep in touch with people who are likely to buy from you – 3 months, 6 months, or even a year from now. I like newsletters and emails. Put an Awesome Free Gift on your homepage that’s hot hot hot, and then commit to sending regular content so you can warm up those relationships.
4. Stop copying your coach. Mentors are great. But copycat websites are a dime a dozen – and it will never work for you like it works for them, because you are you. You have a different magic. It’s okay to use templates and draw inspiration from websites you admire. But if you are committed to becoming a real stand out in the marketplace, you need to ask the burly and not-always-neat question “what makes me different?” And then let whatever you discover flow through your website and everything else you do, say, and create.
5. Own your quirks. Don’t want to sound like everyone else on your website? Then get ready to feel vulnerable – and turn some people off. There is a cost to attracting clients you love – you need to stand for something beyond making money. And not everyone will agree with you. That’s okay. When you double down on who you are – and stop trying to be all things to all people – good things happen. Trust this. Experiment with it. And don’t expect all your experiments to work, either.

I had one website before the design you see now – a generic WordPress theme that I set up myself – that cost zero dollars. That first website helped my business cross $100,000 in annual revenue.

The website my business had now was created two years into my business (we are now at year 6). I spent $1,500 on it.

I share the numbers with you because I want you to be a smarter shopper for design and branding. I’ve talked to too many business owners who think that spending $5,000 or $15,000 on a branding and website development package makes sense. For some of you, that can be the case. But you don’t need to spend that kind of money to make money off your website – or make the impression you want to make.

Don’t underestimate the power of a simple, clean, clear website that conveys what you do and who you do it for. We show business owners how to do this in our Write Your Website production lab. If you’d like some hand holding and community as you get your website good, done, and set up to list build and win clients, please join us for the February session.

Mighty thanks to SEOPlanter flickr photostream for the photo.