Your website is the most important marketing tool in your arsenal. It’s what clients will use to determine your credibility. It’s what they’ll use to find out your rates. It’s what they’ll use to learn about you. It’s what they’ll use to learn about your services. In many cases, it’s the primary way your potential clients will interact with you before they actually try your service.

So how do you make sure your website is top notch? How do you use your website to inform and sell? These tips will help.

Tip #1: Use a Professional Theme or Template

Choose a theme or design template that looks professional like Sticky Branding. Make sure you not only choose a professional theme but one that you can personalize. Choose one with a changeable banner or with customizable columns or colors.

You want to make sure your site doesn’t look like a hundred other sites out there that share the same theme. But you also want to make sure that you have a professional theme that’s already proven its merits in the marketplace.

Tip #2: Use a High Quality Photography

Have a professional photographer take a photo of you. A great photographer will be able to get the lighting, the posture, the angle and everything else right to give you an image that really shines.

Use this image on your website to demonstrate credibility. You can use it as part of your banner if you can make it look artistic, or use it on your “About Me” page or on your sidebar.

Marketing researchers have long known that showing a face builds trust and credibility. In fact, on Facebook Ads, pictures of someone’s face generates more clicks than just about any other kind of ad.

Tip #3: Get Their Email Address

Get the email address of the people who land on your website. Not everyone’s going to buy on the first go around. They might come to your website, be very impressed with what they see – But intend to buy later.

If that’s the case, you’re much better off getting their email. That way, you can follow up with them again and again, even once they’ve already left your website and forgotten about your service.

Give them something in exchange for signing up for your emails. For example, entice people to sign up with a free gift or free report. I offer the Small Business Success Kit.

Tip #4: A Personality Driven “About Me” Page

Your “About Me” page should help people get to know you. Not only should it be factual and informational, but it should be personality driven. People should get a sense of who you are, what you stand for and hopefully for a sense of your personality.

Talk about your background. Talk about the results you get for your clients. Talk about your credentials and what qualifies you to do what you do. Try to write in a personal, free flowing way. Avoid writing in corporate language. The goal is for your potential clients to feel like they know you a little bit once they read your About Me page.

Marie Forleo has a great about me page that now only shows her personality, but is very focused on the visitor to the page.

Tip #5: A Crystal Clear Service Page

Your service page should have a crystal clear outline of all your services and product offerings.

If you’re just getting started, you should probably put prices for your services on your website. If you’re in a higher end market and you’ve been doing what you do for a while, you might ask people to contact you for a quote instead.

In either case, people should have no uncertainty about what you offer. If you’re a graphic designer for instance, you want to have packages for your logo design, your banner design, your website design and your flyer design services all clearly laid out on your website.

Tip #6: Have Samples

Your samples or are one of the most important parts of your online sales efforts. As great as your site is, as great as your testimonials may be, as great as your packages page may be, ultimately what clients will use to determine if they want to work with you is your past work.

Put up as many samples as you can on your website. Make sure you put your best foot forward by putting up samples that showcase the best of your capabilities.

If you don’t have any samples because you’re just getting started, consider doing some pro-bono work or just doing the samples for imaginary clients. The idea is that you want to have something to showcase, even if it’s not paid work yet.

Tip #7: Call to Action

One big mistake that a lot of service providers make is not having a call to action. A call to action is simply a request for someone to take action.

If you’re selling a service that can be purchased on the spot, then you should have a purchase button right on your page. For example, if you sell 30 minute consultation calls for $100, then you should have a $100 buy button right on your services page.

On the other hand, if you do more custom work, your call to action might be a form. The form gives them the chance to tell you what they’re looking for and to give you their contact information.

Tip #8: Run a Quality Blog

Having a high quality blog is a fantastic way to drive more traffic to your website, but don’t expect your blog to pay off for at least 3 to 6 months. In the beginning, it’s going to feel like a lot of effort.

But once you have a website that’s stuffed full of useful content, you’ll start to get a lot of traffic from search engines. That traffic will very quickly turn into more sales and more business.

Furthermore, having a high quality blog will help you build credibility. People who see your blog are going to immediately feel that you’re a credible person to work with.

Tip #9: Optimize for Search Engines

Put some energy into optimizing your website for search engines. Make it your goal to have your site come up in the search engines when people type in keywords related to your niche.

Start by making your website search engine friendly. Make sure you use relevant keywords in your title tags. Make sure your archives and category pages are noindexed and nofollowed. If you’re using WordPress, use a tool like All in One SEO to handle all your on site SEO.

Then build backlinks back to your website. Have other people in your industry link back to you. Ask past customers or fans of your site to link to you. Host contests, run classes or do publicity stunts that get a lot of people to link to you.

These two things – On site and off site SEO – Will quickly get your site to rank for relevant keywords in Google.

Tip #10: Buy Paid PPC Traffic

If your average customer value is high enough, you should consider buying traffic for your services. For example, if you’re a child psychologist and on average a client is worth $1,500 to you, then it may very well make sense for you to buy paid traffic in your local area to bring in more clients. Even if each client is worth a few hundred dollars, you can likely recoup your investment.

If you offer a service locally, make sure you target geographically and not globally. Only buy keywords for extremely targeted keywords in the beginning to make sure you can get a positive ROI. Once you have a positive ROI, then broaden your keyword base to include higher volume keywords.

These tips will help you setup a great website that impresses clients. They’ll also help you generate new business through increased website traffic.

A well-formatted press release has 7 main components. These instructions will help you put together a useful press release for the media.

#1 – Company Logo

Add a little branding and a polished image with a small logo at the top of your press release.

#2 – Press Release Validity

“For Immediate Release”;

“For Release Before [date]” or

“For Release After [date]”

Most press releases are “For Immediate Release” and are most convenient for the media to use. If you are sending a release that shouldn’t be used until after a certain date, you may want to wait until it is ready for “Immediate Release”. Noting that a press release is “For Release Before” may put undue pressure on the media outlet and may cause your story to be passed up. The media gets plenty of press releases and they want to be able to use your release when they need it.

#3 – Contact Information

Include your phone number, address, company name, fax number, email and URL. Be as available for contact as possible.

Here’s what the contact information might look like:

#4 – Attention-Getting Headline

Write an attention-grabbing headline that includes benefit for the target audience. Remember, the media wants to know why your release is relevant to their audience, so keep their audience in mind. Avoid hype, promotional language and excessive adjectives. Be direct, succinct and descriptive.

Here is a sample headline:

#5 – City, State and Date

On the same line where you place your summary (#5), include your city, state and date of the release. These items are generally bold and italicized.

#6 – Summary

Before you get into the body of the release, write a sentence or two to summarize your press release. Make it interesting, you want the recipient to keep reading. This information is generally italicized. Answer the who, what, where, when and why as much as possible.

Here’s what a summary might look like, including the city, state and date:

#7 – Body Content

Now you’re ready to get into the meat of your story. Always keep the target audience in mind your audience and writer. Your audience may partly be the editor or report, but ideally your story should target and share the benefits to media’s audience. HINT: Adjust your release to the target audience when sending it do different media outlets.

Keep in mind that your press release is a newsworthy story. It is not an ad and shouldn’t read like one. Read through a local newspaper and see how stories about businesses are put together to give you an idea of how you might position your release as a story as well.

Your target audience is partly the editor or reporter who will be reading the release. Ultimately, however, your target audience is that editor or reporter’s readers or audience. You need to write a story that will be of interest to them.

Quotations from yourself, your customers and other experts add credibility and allow the injection of opinion into the story.

Close out the body of your release with information on how to get further information, including a phone number, email address and website URL.

#8 – Signify the End of Your Release

Add ### at the bottom of your release to indicate your release is finished. Try to keep your press release to one page.

Press Release Template

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Person’s Full Name

Company Name

Mailing Address

Phone Number

Email Address

Precise Website Address / URL for More Information

Attention Getting Headline Here – Include a Benefit for the Reader

City, Town, Date – Summary that draws the reader in to learn more. Make sure you address who, what, where, when, why and when. Be succinct, but include enough information.

Provide some relevant background information about your product/event/announcement. Make sure you include information on why this is important to the target audience. Be factual and succinct.

Add a quotation from a customer or somebody who reinforces your expertise or the importance of your announcement. Include that person’s full name and if relevant, include their credentials.

Include a quotation from yourself that says why you created the products/put together the event, etc. Having a quotation from yourself makes it easier for you to assert an opinion, while still remaining newsworthy. Make sure to include your full name and position in the company.

Finish your press release with a company summary and what you do. Include a statement that says, “For more information, please contact…” and include a phone number and email. Also include the URL of where to get more information on the website.

###

How to Set Up a Professional Website? Follow These 10 Steps to Get the Results You Want