As a business owner, you’re likely wondering how to get better leads to hang out on your site. You’ve built up enough credibility and word-of-mouth referrals to have a steady stream of people (what I like to call kindred spirits) headed your way, so lead gen isn’t the problem. 

Now you’re at a point where you want to elevate the people you work with. You’re not the only business owner who feels that way. either Whether you’re …

• A high-ticket, low-volume business (service providers, coaches, consultants)
• A low-ticket, high-volume business (product-based businesses, social impact leaders, thought-leaders) 
• OR anyone else in between (nonprofit organizations, brick and mortars, and so on)

The QUALITY of your leads is the name of the game. 

If you’re nodding your head incessantly and wondering how to get better leads then I’ve got you covered.

How your website helps you get better leads in the first place

Your website is your most valuable online asset. It’s your #1 salesperson and does the heavy lifting of attracting people your way and explaining what you do so you don’t have to.

Attraction starts with SEO — Search Engine Optimization This is essentially when Google puts you in front of thousands of people searching for your offer. 

Once you’ve got SEO running in the background, you then want to craft copy that helps you connect with and convert the people coming your way. 

Because it doesn’t matter how many thousands of people come to your website. If your messaging doesn’t speak to your audience’s felt needs, they won’t feel the urgency to fill out your contact form. If your audience doesn’t feel pulled into who you are as a brand or connected to your story, they’ll look for someone else who does. 

So with all that said, here are some intentional copy updates you can make to get better leads from your site.

Strengthen your value proposition

How you present yourself on your website determines the quality of leads that come your way. 

Your value prop is vital to making that happen. 

You’ve probably heard “value prop” casually thrown around in conversation. Either in webinars or pretty much anywhere across the internet. 

Your value proposition, your unique selling proposition — whatever you want to call it, requires you to answer this simple question:

What makes you different from ANYTHING and ANYONE else out there? 

You’ll typically see a value prop as a homepage headline or peppered throughout a website. It may be few in words, but trust me, these words pull their weight. 

For the hard and fast skimmers, this statement tells them what you’re all about, and fast before the often entertaining, but equally distracting hum of life pulls them away. 

In case you haven’t created a value prop, here’s a quick formula you can use: 

THE VALUE PROP FORMULA

• Your solution
• Your sphere of influence
• Your style 
• Your story

Let’s face it:  there are hundreds, if not thousands of people who do what you do. 

Articulating how you’re different helps you stand out above the rest. Once you’ve nailed down your value prop everything you say and do should point back to it. 

Now that we’re on the topic of “pointing” …

Point out the elephant in the room

As a business owner, you should be an expert in articulating your audience’s needs. 

If you don’t address them, how can they see themselves in your copy? And if they don’t see themselves in your copy, a qualified lead might click away from your site.

Retired CIA hostage negotiator Chris Voss says: 

“You don’t get rid of the elephant in the room by denying the elephant is there. Or trying to say ‘don’t look at the elephant’. There’s an elephant in the room. And that begins to diminish it, not make it go away entirely.” 

All that to say, clients and customers want them to know that you get their needs, not deny they exist. 

If you want to know how to get better leads from your website, work on communicating your client’s or customer’s needs clearly.

Which may also imply your new client’s needs have changed, compared to your old ones. 

How do you identify those changes? You talk with past clients, send them a survey, stalk online forums, or do some good ol’ fashioned Google searches at the very least. 

The best way to get an overall picture of your new ideal client is by understanding their position before they worked with you, how it felt like to work with you, and the results they received by working with you.

 

MARKET RESEARCH HELPS YOU TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY

Instead of assuming what they need, you’re talking directly from their perspective. And their perceived value of you goes through the roof. 

Perceived value, by the way, is how valuable a customer sees your offer. “Value” comes from what they can get out of working with you. Both in the short-term, and especially the long-term. Not necessarily all the bells and whistles you’re adding to offers so people think it’s valuable ← that just makes your offer more bloated. Just saying. 

When your perceived value goes up, your price can go up, and therefore the perfect-fit leads coming from your site goes up too.

Moral of the story: don’t be afraid to address the elephant. They’ll sigh in relief knowing they’re not crazy and be glad you see it too.

Map out your user experience

Make it easy for people to find what they need. As a consumer, how many times have you thought, 

“Ugh, where is it?!” when you scroll through a business’s site to find something.

We’ve all been on websites looking for crucial information and it’s nowhere to be found despite our best efforts. 

Or if you do find certain information, it’s weirdly formatted in obscure places no one is looking. 

Tell me, do YOU expect to find information about price hidden in a website’s footer? I think not. This was in fact, my experience once. And I’m sad to say I took my business elsewhere.  

For all that is lovely and wholesome and pure, please don’t withhold information from people who are trying to invest in you. 

It may not be your intention, of course. 

Rarely do we set out to be internet trolls. From your website visitor’s point of view, however, their computer screen and dizzying eye rolls say otherwise.

Crucial information people are looking for, and depressingly can’t find on websites include:

CRUCIAL INFORMATION PEOPLE LOOK FOR:

• Some indication of price to answer the question, “yeah, yeah, but how much?” 
• If you’re location based, where you’re located
• How your process works (service providers, I’m looking at you)
• What your packages or products include. People want receipts.
• Clear calls to action throughout every page, yes every page
• How to contact you. Email address, submission forms, or phone number will do. 

C’mon, this isn’t even low-hanging fruit. It’s the fruit that’s already dropped from the tree. 

Your website visitors I’m sure are kind folk, but they’ve also got lives. You can’t blame them for leaving if basic information isn’t readily available. We do the same thing to others all the time. 

Be sure to have crucial info all wrapped up in a nice little care package, and available throughout your site. Think of it as common courtesy. 

It should be a given. But that doesn’t mean it’s appreciated any less. 

Anticipation questions and bring them up before your reader even thinks about it

Question: How many nickels would you have for every time you answered the same question on a discovery call? Lots of nickels? Tote bags full of them?

I once heard someone say that “leadership is all about answering the same questions, over and over.” People will always ask questions. It’s in the nature of business. It’s unavoidable. 

But there are certain easy questions that would get asked less often if they were included somewhere like in an FAQ. 

FAQ QUESTION EXAMPLES

• What’s the difference between your group program and 1:1 consulting?
• If I’ve already worked with you 1:1, is this program for me? 
• How do I get involved as a volunteer — where do I start?
• I’m busy, will I still get value from this course if I can’t go through it all at once?
• Should I wash my hair before my salon appointment? 
• Do I have to provide my own snacks for daycare? 

How do I know these things? Because they’re frequently asked questions I’ve written for my past clients.

Anticipating questions with your web copy is a lot like being a waitress at a local restaurant. 

There will be so many people who ask for a refill of their coke. You can avoid the awkward ask altogether by noticing their glass is empty, and refilling it before it even crosses their mind. What a concept! And you’re courteous too, double whammy.

The questions you include here are up to you. 

When you draft out ideas, be sure to reference questions people have actually asked you, questions you know they should asking (but usually don’t), or those questions that seem super specific (but they’re really not since ten other people asked them in the past week).

A few ideas have already come to mind, I’m sure.

Anticipation questions and bring them up before your reader even thinks about it

Chivalry is not dead, you know. People like to be metaphorically wined and dined when reviewing your website. The more you do that, the more likely you’ll garner better leads from your website overall. I’m happy to show you what this looks like through the website copywriting process. *gestures with hand* Right this way.