What you need before getting a new website
Most small business owners don’t realize how delaying the creation of a new website is harming them.
Here are some things I hear from small business owners who don’t think they are ready to build a new website.
"I just don’t have time right now to do a new website."
"Once we have all the branding in place we can begin."
"I’m not sure I know exactly what I want."
I find more often than not, these are limiting beliefs that stop them from making progress. This isn’t true. It’s like saying you can’t date someone until your life is perfectly in order. If that’s the case, you will be waiting forever.
There is no perfect time to begin.
In the meantime, they are losing potential customers. Because a bad website is worse than not having one at all.
Today, I want to share with you the 3 most important (and only) questions you need to answer before beginning a website project.
With these 3 answers, you have everything you need to begin that new website.
Let’s get started!
1. Who is your ideal customer?
The more specific the better.
The reason is, if your website is speaking to everyone, you are speaking to no one. Your website isn’t a catch-all for anyone interested in your business. It’s a journey you take your ideal customer on to start working with you.
What I see many small businesses do is stay generic. Thinking if they cast a wider net, it will yield better results.
The reality is, people want to feel like you are speaking directly to them.
If your ideal customer tells you the website felt like it was speaking to them, you’ve won.
That’s the goal.
Your website should make your ideal customer FEEL something.
2. What is their core problem?
Hopefully if you understand your ideal customer, this one becomes easy.
Understanding your customer’s core problem is the only way you get your website to convert visitors into customers. Everyone wants to get rid of their problems. The more you lean into this, the better.
Additional tip: focus on 1 problem only.
Your ideal customer is going to have many problems, and you can probably solve all of them. The website isn’t the place to do that though (at least not on the homepage). You want to narrow in on one problem.
Preferably the biggest problem your ideal customer has.
3. What is your unique solution?
The key to point 3 is “unique.”
If you copy and paste the exact solution your competitor offers and put it on your website, you won’t get any leads. You need to be different than your competitors. In the business world, this equates to having a unique value proposition.
This unique solution should answer your ideal customers problems from above.
A good differentiator helps you stand out while offering a solution that is different than what your ideal customer has tried before.
Why this is all you need
Trust me when I tell you, this is all you need for an effective website.
Most people get caught up in all the other details…
- What colors should the website use?
- What pages do we need?
- How do we get a logo?
- What platform is best?
These are questions working with an experienced website strategist can help you figure out.
A proper strategy session can help you determine all the things you have spent months thinking about.
I promise if you have these three things in order, you are ready to get started on your website. Don’t let the little details stand in your way.
I hope this helps you take action!
