Shrink your Website and Grow Your Business

Jenni here, and I have a pretend scenario for you: You launched your business and things are going great. So great in fact, that you're working with new or different kinds of clients than you were a year ago. You're expanding your offering, including new services, or growing your service area. In this midst of all of this growth, you take a look at your website and realize that it doesn't really describe what you do anymore.  You've outgrown it. 

First off, congratulations, because this is a wonderful problem to have! As fellow business owners, we know that it's no small task to take your business to the next level and grow it to a point that you need adjust your website. But, now that you're thinking about changing your message to appeal to new clients or showcase new products, you're going to need a plan. Interestingly, the best way to grow your website is to scale it back. When we help clients take their online presence to the next level, we're consistently helping them streamline, filter and narrow down. Because when it comes to attracting your dream customers, the more specific you are the better.

For today's blog post examples, we're going to be using our newest website launch from a killer client: Colson Griffith Photography. Colson came to us wanting to expand his business from weddings to family portrait services. But in order to do this, he didn't just add another branch of his business. We got really strategic about how we could funnel his new portrait clients into clear ways of buying him. You can check out his great site here. 

Here are our top ways that you can grow (SHRINK!) your website to keep up with your growing business:

ONE GREAT IMAGE IS BETTER THAN MANY 

When it comes to home page images, we like to use a small analogy: imagine a piece of sheet cake, and you're holding a knife.  If you offer that whole cake to a friend you're giving 100% of the cake. But as soon as you start slicing — in half or in quarters or small pieces, you're giving away 50%, 25%, or 10% pieces.

The same thing happens when you insert competing messages on a home page. If you give your audience one thing to look at and just one button to click, 100% of their attention and action are going to go toward taking that next step. If you give them 4 different messages and 4 steps to follow, they're paying 25% of their attention to each (or less). 

For example, on Colson's site, we used a series of parallax scrolling images to showcase his business, while distilling his messaging into something really clear.  

Streamline your offering

A strategic website will feel like your viewers have a tour guide leading them through the site. It will be extremely clear where they are supposed to look or what pages they should visit next.

This couldn't be more true on your product pages. When you're growing your business you want to get even MORE CLEAR about your packages. By this point you know  your clients better then they know themlseves, so create streamlined offerings that hit their pain points. Highlight these packages on your product pages.

Continuing our example with Colson Griffith Photography, he's developed a singular process for all of his clients: the Photographic Experience. He leverages his expertise in capturing meaningful moments, and gives clients one clear way to engage with him. 

Cut your copy

Finally, this last suggestion can the hardest one of all. We're going to challenge you to take your current site, and cut the number of words by 50%. Yes, you heard right — half of the words on your site should go. Getting really slim in the amount of words on your site will force you to focus on the story you need to be telling, and telling it as concisely as possible. 

If you have a site that is outdated or you want to take it to the next level, we're taking on two more website client for the Summer. Get in touch with us if you'd like to be a client!

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