The real reason you need to update your website

Do I have your permission to speak frankly?

Okay, good.

You don’t really need a website to get clients.

Think about it.

Many business owners tell me, “Stella, I need a website so I can go out networking and look credible.”

No, you don’t. You look credible by being credible.

Still other business owners tell me, “Stella, I need the perfect words on my website so it will convert and get me lots of clients.”

No, you don’t. The word ‘convert’ doesn’t belong in that sentence. Converting potential clients into paying clients doesn’t happen in a single visit to a website. That’s not how it works. You need a whole nurture strategy, so that you add plenty of value before you ask the nice people for their hard earned money.

Still other business owners tell me, “I need a website so that I can start my business.”

Nope. In fact, you should know that “writing a website” is the last thing you need to start a business. What starts a business is getting your first paying client. Again, you don’t need a website for that. Instead, you need to talk to potential clients and ask them for money, in exchange for the value you provide.

So, if those aren’t valid reasons to update or write your website, what is?

(1) Putting yourself on the map. A website can be the first step in establishing a strong online presence that reaches people around the world. When you are ready to declare yourself in that way, a website can be a great way to do it.

When I work with business owners who are “upleveling” their web presence, it’s typically because they’ve outgrown an older version of their work… and they’ve recently expanded their vision for their work and leadership.

They work with me to help them rise, and see themselves in a new, expanded way. Finding new language is a part of that process – moving away from the old, fast-food words that may have worked well in the past for you, but no longer resonate with them or their higher-end clientele.

Putting together a website is an intensive in understanding who you are, what you want, and finding words to clearly and compellingly express that to your most likely buyers. Many of my private clients tell me they go back to their new website to remind them of “who they are” and “where they are going.” It becomes a touchstone, both personally and promotionally.

(2) Writing yourself into the future you want. For me and the Write Club community that I write with on an ongoing basis, we’ve been talking about this idea of “writing yourself into who you want to be” lately.

It’s a bit esoteric, but here’s the gist: one of the best reasons to write or rewrite a website is to declare who you are becoming and to declare I want to work with more of these sorts of ideal clients.

This is a bit witchy, but I swear to you, this is the crux of the matter. The words we use signal  — to ourselves and to others –what we desire.  This is why I’m not a fan of fast food marketing words like struggle, overwhelm, broke, and stuck. Because using them to connect with your reader will attract people who are – wait for it – struggling, overwhelmed, broke, and stuck… and even more dangerous, telling themselves a story of victimhood and helplessness!

I see too many business owners doing good work who unwittingly are communicating on this fast food level, because that’s what they’ve been taught. This is a huge problem! Sound the alarm! Unless you honestly enjoy working with people who want you to fix or save them, you’ve got to adjust the language ‘channel’ you are communicating on.

(3) Signaling to the world how you treat people. For all the bluster about passive income and automated marketing being the entrepreneur’s dream, I’ll say this: I have a different dream. I have dream of the online entrepreneurial treating people as well as they treat their best friends and families. I dream of the day when language on the internet treats people with dignity, respect, and honors them with the whole story… That results take work. That breakthroughs do come, but only with time and engagement. That abundance is real, and comes as a package deal with greater responsibility.

If you really want to stand out on the internet, be classy. Speak to strangers who hit your homepage like you do people in your $60,000 mastermind. Stop making a distinction between “marketing” and “having a sparkling conversation.”

I recently taught a class where we talked about the idea of writing to the ‘inner winner’. Pardon my French, but a lot of web copy sounds like it’s written to losers… to people who are floundering like idiots on the shores of their problem. And then we wonder why the quality of leads drops when we’re online? Really?!

My vision for your website is that you figure out how to talk about your ideal clients’ day-to-day problem in a way that speaks to their inner winner… who has a challenge that she wants to overcome (that you help with). It’s not easy, but I promise you, it will shift the way you write marketing… which in turn will shift the quality of leads you attract.

A website isn’t typically a sales strategy – it takes relationship-building and nurturing to turn a stranger visiting your website into a raving fan who has engaged with your brand deeply enough to become a most likely buyer.

But that said, a website that positions you as a real human being who’s here to solve problems (and not just make a quick buck) will smooth your path for years to come.

 

Mighty thanks to Stuart Miles via freedigitalphotos.net for the “Fans Map Shows Worldwide Or International Followers Or Admirers” image