7 Key Website Elements You Must Have To Convert Visitors To Customers

7 Key Website Elements You Must Have To Convert Visitors To Customers

Your website is the hub for all of your marketing efforts, you can not afford to mess it up, which is why today I'm going to share with you seven key elements that you must have on your website homepage. And the seven elements are going to help you convert visitors to customers. Hi, I am Tim Fitzpatrick with Rialto Marketing, where we believe marketing shouldn't be difficult. All you need is the right plan. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to tune in.

I am going to just jump right into this. I've got seven elements. These are not overly difficult, but man so many people skip these. And I just it is my mission to help you get a website that is going to work for your business and generate leads and represent your business like you want it to.

Key Website Elements You Must Have

So the first element that you got to have on your homepage is the above the fold content. That is the content that is sitting right there on the screen. When I land on your website before I start scrolling down the page, really, really important. We have super short attention spans at this point. If somebody lands on your website and they can't immediately understand what you do and how they're going to benefit and what they need to do to then buy what you have to offer quickly, less than eight seconds. They are not. They're moving on. They're going to another website, which we don't want. So you're above the fold content needs to answer - what do you do? What's the benefit for me, like, why do I care? And then a call to action. What's that next step that you want people to take these message needs to be short, sweet to the point, it needs to be clear and engaging to your ideal clients. I can't tell you how many sites that I land on where the above the fold information either is totally absent. It's just a picture or it just doesn't make sense. And that's not good. So above the fold, super, super important. 

Second element that you need to have on your homepage is what I call the stakes. And the stakes is really what you're talking about in the stakes is you're letting people know what they have at risk if they don't work with you, right? What failure elements or consequences will they continue to experience? What problems are they going to continue to encounter if they don't work with you to solve the problem that they have? So all we're letting people know here is what they have at risk, okay?

Section three, the third element we need to have is our value proposition, and this really highlights what is in it for the customer. What benefits will they experience when they work with you? What results will they see when they work with you? We cannot assume that they know what life is going to look like when they work with you. We need to tell them and paint that picture of what that is going to be like. OK? So super, super important value proposition. 

The fourth thing that we need is what we call a plan. And the plan really is just about alleviating confusion that people may have. What are the steps that I'm going to take? If I decide, "Hey, I want to move forward with this." What are the three, four at Max simple high-level steps that I'm going to take when I work with you? OK? We need to keep this simple, OK? When we so, for example, our plan is talk to us, get the right plan and grow your business with less stress. Those three steps as a marketing consultant and coach, do we do a ton of other stuff? Yes, we do. But if we go into all those things, it's just going to confuse people that we don't need to give them a bunch of detail. We just need to paint them a picture at a high level. What are the three or four steps that you're going to take when you decide to take the next step? That's what we need to let people know it's going to alleviate any confusion that they may have, which is super helpful because guess what? Confused people do not buy. Confused people do not buy. So we need to take that confusion out and eliminate it.

Now, the fifth thing is what I call how are you different? Some content that lets people know how are you different from everybody else that's out there? What are you all about? Why do I care? Why should I work with you rather than somebody else? OK? So all we're doing is painting that picture of, you know, "Hey, this is how we're different from other marketing coaches and consultants." Or whatever industry you're in. It doesn't matter. You just want to let people know how you're different.

Sixth one credibility and authority elements, we all do business with people we know, like, and trust. We need to have some elements. I usually recommend a couple. Two different blocks on that homepage that help establish your credibility and your authority. Don't overthink this. I think the easiest place to start have a content block that has three testimonials, one content block, three across. So three columns, three testimonials. That's all you need. You don't need 8 testimonials. Just do three. Keep it simple. People can kind of read them, get comfortable. Yes. These people know what they're doing. Another content block could be high-profile clients you've worked with. If you can use their logos, it could be certifications that you have, awards you've won, associations you belong to. All of those things will help build your credibility and your authority. This is again, this is not difficult. I would recommend two content blocks, testimonials, and another one, I usually refer to it as like a logo stack that just helps people get more comfortable and familiar with you as a company. Really important, but really easy to do. A lot of people skip this, though, and they're just not present.

Last one I've got is call to action. We cannot assume that people know the next step that we want them to take, we need to tell them what we want them to do. And typically, you should ideally have two separate types of calls to action. One is your direct call to action, which is for people who are really ready to take that next step. For us that's get a free consultation or book a discovery call, book a strategy session, shop now, schedule an appointment. Those are all direct calls to action. But if people land on your website, they're not ready to take that next step, right? Maybe they're in the beginning process, the beginning stages of looking at working with a company like yours, and they're not ready to book a consultation or schedule an appointment if we don't have a transitional call to action to capture their contact information, we're relying on them to come back, which most of them are not going to come back. So we want to offer a transitional call to action, things like checklists, cheat sheet, could be a free email course or a video, a workshop, something of value to your ideal clients where they are willing to give you their name and their email address. And once they give that to you, now you've got their contact information, you are going to give them something of value in exchange for it. And now you've got their email and now you can nurture them, continue to serve and add value to those people so that when they are ready to take that next step, hopefully, they think of you first, okay? Calls to action. Super, super important. There are so many websites, I'm sure just next time your out browsing, check out how many websites that you land on that really don't have good, clear calls to action. Maybe there's a contact us button. Maybe there's their phone number email at the bottom of the page that says, I'm sorry, that's not enough. You need to be more direct, oK? 

So let's review this one more time and then I've got some bonus ones for you. So we've got the above the fold information, OK? We've got the stakes value proposition. Your plan. How are you different? Credibility and authority elements and your calls to action, ok? Now, few bonus elements that I think will work really well. One is your core services. What are your core services? Highlight those on your home page. Not absolutely essential, but I do think it's a good idea. Next one, do you focus on serving specific types of clients? If you do, I think you should highlight that because that will resonate with those people when they land on your page. So highlight your target market or the ideal clients that you work with. Video, if you're comfortable with video, video on your homepage can be a great way to help people get to know you put a face to the company, and really just help people get more familiar and comfortable. Video is awesome way to connect. And then your name, address, phone number, put it in the footer of your website. So that shows up on every page. Do not make it difficult for people to find you. And contacts you. Put your name, address, phone number, I like to put email in there as well. Make it easy for people to contact you, OK? I can't tell you how bad of a customer experience it is when you go somebody goes to a website and they need to contact you and they can't easily find your contact information. Don't do that. Don't hide your information. People can find it if they really want to put it on there, put it in the footer, make it easy. OK, so those are your seven key website elements. You must have to convert visitors to customers.

Conclusion

Now, if you want to and I hope you found this helpful if you want to take a little bit deeper in this. I do a website workshop that I will just send to you. It is a recording of the workshop. I'll break these down in more detail, give you some additional free resources if you want to dig into this. Just do us a favor. Email us info at Rialto Marketing dot com, that's info at R-I-A-L-T-O marketing dot com and just put in the subject line website, workshop, okay? Website, workshop, subject line to info at Rialto marketing dot com. And just let me know. "Hey, watched the podcast episode. I would love to get your website workshop." And we will send it on over to you. No strings attached, ok? So that's it. I hope you found the super helpful. If you've got roadblocks like this or any other marketing roadblock you need help with, you can always go on over to our website at Rialto Marketing dot com R-I-A-L-T-O marketing dot com. Click on the get a free consult button. Happy to chat with you. I guarantee you will get a ton of value and walk away with some clarity on where you should focus your marketing efforts right now for the best return. Thanks for tuning in till next time. Take care.