Websites are the home of your business. With our world going online more so now than ever before thanks to Covid, there has never been as good of a time to have a presence online. Having a website can be a very effective tool for your business and the revenue you generate and yes, the quality of your website does reflect what your customer come to expect from you. So if you are wanting to charge premium prices, you need to put your best foot forward when it comes to your businesses “home”.
Websites are important to have for many reasons but these are the ones we here at The Ambitious Dietitian see as most important.
- Whilst growing an business entirely on the merits of social media seems appealing, it’s probably not the best strategy for someone who wants to achieve business growth. A website enables you to build trust and credibility ie it makes you legit.
- You will have full control over your website and no-one can take it away from you. You can control the patient journey throughout your website and guide people to the actions you want them to take. It’s not on borrowed land and you’re certainly not going to be worried about any algorithm changes with your website.
- Speaking of social media and algorithms and borrowed land, the one thing your website is good at is facebook pixel tracking, giving you the ability to retarget visitors into your marketing funnels when using paid ads so you know they are being seen by the people most likely to purchase from you.
So what we’d like to move into now is to share with you 5 things that we make sure all our websites have on them because we know that website visitors love to see these elements. After all, websites are expensive so we need to make sure they work for you too!
Lets talk about how you know if your website is working for you or not first though.
Who loves your website? By that I mean how many people are telling you that they love it because if they are, they are visiting it which is a great sign and it’s doing exactly what it is suppose to be doing for you.
- Why does your website still matter?
I know you have social media but a websites is still a must for any dietitian in 2021. I promise you. I hear from dietitians that they don’t need a website because they have an instagram account…… It call comes down to time and place.. What if Mark Zuckerberg shut down Insta and Facebook because you know he owns them both? Where would your business be without them? A website is something YOU own. No-one can take that away from you. No-one other than you can shut down your website. You don’t need to content with algorithm changes or being blocked or anything you aren’t in control of.
2. Website traffic
You don’t deed a ton of traffic, you just need some. Maybe that’s where social media does come into it. You send people from your social media account to your website for it to do it’s thing there for you? Maybe you have a blog on your website that drives traffic to it and increases your SEO. Maybe you have some SEO inbuilt into your website that drives traffic back there? Once they land on your website though, does it convert?
3. Blogging
When it comes to website traffic, blogging is one of the best tools you have to build your business. It’s up to you to drive traffic to that blog through other marketing channels + your SEO keywords. A blog helps you to establish you as an expert and someone who actually knows what they are talking about. It gives you authority. Blog content can also be repurposed across other platforms.
4. Revamp your about page
Did you know your about page isn’t really about YOU but it’s more about THEM? What they want to know is have you been there before, can you help them solve their problem and what they need to know about who you are that can help them with their problem.
5. Discovery call
Or what ever else you want to call it. The FREE bit of time you spend with them to convert them into a paying client. Your sales call. I don’t necessarily suggest this to everyone, but if you are a dietitian who is selling high ticket items or programs/packages that means people will work with you for an extended length of time, then I suggest you see if they are a good fit for you first. People are way more likely to work with you if they have actually talked to a person, asked their questions and got to know them first. So make it CLEAR for them how they can book this and make it EASY for them to do so from your website.
HOMEWORK: Start tweaking your website. Play around, test it out until you hear people saying "I love your website".
Ok, so let’s now change gears and get back to what we were here to do. What do your visitors love to see on your website aka what’s going to keep them there and make them do something important whilst they are on your site ie book a call/appt with you? Here goes….
1.Clear, non confusing navigation and patient journey.
Don’t take your visitors to all your social media accts, your opt ins, your contact us page, your application to work with you, your e commerce store and your blog all at once. Think about the patient journey from the time they land on your website through to the ONE action you want them to take when visiting. You may have several different pages in your website however your home navigation should be kept to the main ones to limit decision fatigue and confusion over the patient journey. We recommend Home –> About –> Services –> Contact Us +/- blog.
SEE EXAMPLE BELOW OF COURTNEY’S WEBSITE WWW.CBNUTRITION.NET
2. Give them different options to get in touch with you.
Not everyone wants to email you, or fill in a form, or phone you so give them options based on what their preference is. Did you know it’s actually a legal requirement to have your email address somewhere on your website? If you do include a contact form, it’s great to include a request for their email address, phone number optional, if you have multiple services/offering a drop down box for them to select what they are interested in and a free text box. If you put in too many variables, visitors tend to opt out of it.
SEE EXAMPLE OF GIA’S WEBSITE www.giastewartdietitian.com.au/contact/
3. An instant explanation of what exactly it is you do.
This needs to be front and centre. How annoying is it when you land on a page and you have to scroll for 2 minutes to work out who the person is and what they actually do? It’s frustrating. You’ve got a matter of seconds to grab someone’s attention so pop this on your home page in the header after or on your hero image.
Bec’s website www.bewellnutrition.com.au states very clearly “A place where mums with children who have food allergies come to learn to nourish their children so they can learn, play and grow.”
5. Personal touch.
Ever seen a website that is full of stock photos and felt disconnected to the business. Yeah, me too and we don’t want that to happen with you. No matter how much of an introvert you are, that hero picture, the one that is right up the top on your home page allows you to connect with your audience straight away. A hero image is a great tool to interrupt a website visitors actions ie stop the scroll and it entices them to explore more of your website.
Audrey went all out in hiring a photographer and an interior designer who helped stage her photos and we think they couldn’t have turned out any better. Check out her site and all the photos at www.ibsnutrition.com
6. Free value
Give them a taste of what it is like to work with you by including on your home page an opt in that gives them a snippet of what it is like to work with you. Let’s be honest, just because people visit your website doesn’t mean they are going to buy from you. I mean, do you buy something from every shop you walk into at Westfield? Nope didn’t think so. The ability to nurture that website visitor ongoingly until they are ready to buy from you is given to you by having the opportunity to showcase your expertise through the ongoing relationship building that email marketing provides. Here’s one example of how Chrissy from Nourish Well Daily is providing an incentive for website visitors to join her email list. https://www.nourishwelldaily.com/
If you have an existing website and you’d like to do your own audit on it, let Daniel guide you through what to look for in this 3 part training . He’ll cover website optimisation, copywriting, user experience, tracking and analytics so your website can turn into a lead generating machine for you.
Join here –> https://theambitiousdietitian.com/websiteauditchallenge/
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