Hate sales?

Lots of coaches and creatives do.

But what if your site could seal the deal and make those sales for you. 

Possible?

Do pancakes go with maple syrup?! 

Yes! Your site should sell better than Steve Jobs sold metallic apples if it’s optimised for sales conversions. 

Your website is your best, most in-depth, memorable brochure for your business.

In fact, there’s no real point sending potential clients to your site if it isn’t built to convert customers.

Seven Things You Can Do Today To Optimize Your Website for Sales

So these seven ideas to optimize your website for sales are pretty quick fixes. Do one a day and you’ll have a website in tiptop ready to convert sales. Of course, if you need help, just call on me, your friendly conversion-obsessed writer and designer to magic them into existence for you. 

Ok, let’s dive and start optimizing your website!

1. Include Better Buttons

We’re all site skimmers and scrollers these days, so make it crystal clear what next step your client should make. 

The easiest way? Set up your CTA’s to stand out. 

Make a call to action impossible to miss by putting it right up on the hero section. 

Mel Robbins has two in bright yellow:

> Her free training up in the navigation

> A call-to-action to listen to her podcast right on her hero section. 

Pretty impossible to miss, right?

2. Make Your Hero Section The Star Of Who You Are

It’s called a hero section for a reason!

Use it so that people who are landing on your site for the first time know exactly:

• Who you are 
• What you do
• Why you do it differently from anyone else

Keep it concise. 

My favourite way to decide what to write in a hero section is to promise a great solution for your ideal customer. 

Choose to focus on an immediate solution – 3 days after they use your service or product, if you promise fast results. 

Or a long-term, lasting goal: 3 months after. 

Want to know if you got it right? Show it to a few people outside your key demographic. If your mum and your 9-year-old know right away, you have a winner!

Here’s email service provider Flodesk’s quick-term solution, a relief to any founder that stresses about sending ugly, unprofessional emails. 

3. Shorten Your Conversion Cycle

Your site should answer a visitor’s questions as they scroll. 

This is great because they stay on your site longer, and get to know you better. 

A strategic layout helps potential clients make up their minds quickly by revealing new information and answering questions as they click about your site, starting with a homepage. 

A hero section gives them a snapshot. 

Then comes your introduction, a section that addresses their current pain points, and whatever you offer as a solution. Optimised websites also show how you work and what they can expect. 

Brainstorm all the questions people ask ahead of working with you, and include as many as you can into your site’s pages.

Don’t forget FAQs! 

End landing and sales pages by rounding up of any questions they may have about a specific course or service. 

4. Make Buying As Easy As Pie

Onto number four to optimize your website for sales.

Marketing pros call this “removing friction.”

Try your best to make signing up or buying from you quick and easy. 

Have sign-ups work on page, if you can. Ask only for minimal information, like name and email, unless asking something else is helpful to your visitor. 

Let visitors know when the sign up or purchase is completed on a thank you page, and tell them where to find it. 

And give them something else to click! 

Here’s a simple sign up form one of my fave food sites, justonecookbook. You can see they’ve added an option for All Recipes or Vegetarian. Their thank you page offers links to easy recipes to videos on Youtube, so there’s plenty to tantalise! 

5. Increase Trust to Optimize Sales

Pouring in proof works really well to convince a visitor. Create sections for written and video testimonials when you want to optimize your website for sales.

Elfsight is a great plugin for Showit users who want to display Google Starred Reviews. 

Other than testimonials, include logos of brands or personalities you’ve worked with. Appeared in the media or on podcasts? Add logos or episodes. 

If you have professional certifications or awards, display them on your about page, or your site’s footer. 

6. Add Connection Points

Say hi to the hidden half of conversion: Connection. 

Websites that are well-optimised for sales include lots of connections points. What are connection points? They are phrases, messages and beliefs that resonate with readers. 

They are stories that get lightbulbs flashing in people’s heads as they think, “That’s me!” or “I think that too!”

Connection points personalise businesses. 

You can create light connections when you include a list of things you love, images with your dog or doing a favourite activity. 

You strengthen your connection with your visitors when you sound human. What unusual phrase do you use? Including them? What terms are current right now, or are things your ideal customers might say?

Deepen your connections when you share your why for your business. The heart of what you do. What led you here? What keeps you here?

Jenna Kutcher’s site has multiple connections points – from the Julie Andrews’ reference, to her mid-western roots, to that cute as a button button copy, “put on your comfy pants.”

Her vibe is open, warm, fun, trustworthy, experienced – and real!

People love real people, so make connection points at all levels, and reveal who you are. 

7. Design That’s Easy On The Eyes

What’s the holy grail of good website design?

Modern, minimal, easy to navigate. 

Website visitors today are overwhelmed and don’t want to hunt for information. 

Stick to a simple color palette, and use the brightest only for accents, like buttons or sub-text. 

Fonts? There are plenty to choose from but try using no more that three. 

Usually, a simple text font, a heading font and decorative script is enough. 

Now let’s home in on the number one thing I see wrong with sites that don’t convert, and don’t make sales. 

The biggest issue I see is a mis-match between who the client is and who they help. 

If you are a coach that specialises in helping creatives, but you have a formulaic site, big blocks of text, and loads of design philosophy, the creatives you want to work with won’t be convinced. 

As you refine your design, ask, what would the people I help most want to see? 

One best answer?

Website visitors want to see themselves! 

One amazing way to do this is to use quality images that resonate with them. 

This can either be you, living the life they want, or images that represent their desires. 

Hello Seven’s site pictures capture the essence of female solidarity. This is just the audience they want to attract. 

Don’t Be Scared To Experiment

If you’re wondering how small fixes might have any impact on website sales, just look at The $300,000,000 Fix. When designers switched out the words “register” on a button with “continue,” customers added millions in sales. Turns out shoppers would rather clicked off the site and not buy rather than register. No-one wanted to build a relationship, they just wanted a quick and easy way to buy.

So don’t be scared to switch things up. Although you can make educated guesses about what your website visitors want to see, only they can prove it – with the actions they take.

Ready to reinvent your website? Explore my services and let’s get you a site that sets hearts on fire.