What makes a great website? What makes a dud? Besides all the obvious things like don’t make your text too small, don’t use 1,000 fonts at once and things like that… What are the major keys?! No matter what you do in your work, if you have a website, you should ask these questions. Today I’m sharing 3 things that I consider top things to making a successful website, and people often miss them. I’m calling these “strong opinions”, but this could also be called “unpopular opinions” because these aren’t said enough. I hope this short and sweet episode gives you some business and website ideas to run with!
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Strong Opinion #1: Copying an influencer's website will not give you their success; it will just give you a website that everyone obviously sees looks like "so and so's" website.
How many times have you been looking at someone’s website and thought to yourself “Wow this looks like Marie Forleo’s website!” or “Interesting… this is the same fonts and colors that Jenna Kutcher uses”, or “Lewis Howes site looks like this one.” As a designer, I see it all the time where the big-time entrepreneurs’ sites are everyone’s #1 inspiration.
And guess what? People have been loving their websites since early iterations that weren’t so beautiful and amazing because they love these people’s BRANDS. You may love the business they built, the success they have, the things they teach you, so you say “I want a website similar to theirs”!
Here's the thing: You're cutting your own brand short when you copy someone else's website. You have something special and unique to offer the world too, and it doesn’t look the same as their sites. (Whoever “their” is to you!). I've even had this with my own brand quite a few times where people reach out asking what fonts I'm using and I don't tell them because I really believe that you should figure out what fonts you want to use for your brand. Don't copy someone else's website because you want their success or because you just don't know what your own brand is yet.
So what I want for you and what I want for myself (and for my template customers!) is that when someone lands on your website, they feel your brand coming through and they're not saying in their head, oh, this looks like Jenna Kutcher's website.
So how do you take action on this? First, ask yourself what you like ABOUT the site specifically that you’re feeling inspired by. Do not consider this person's brand outside their actual site; look at the site itself. Do you like the way type is used? Or how things flow? How can you be your own person and be inspired by those things you love without being the same?
Read More: 5 Fascinating Social Media Marketing Lessons We Can Learn From The Top Influencers/Bloggers
Strong Opinion #2: Simple websites with very few pages are amazing! You don't need a gazillion pages for your site to be incredible.
We often think more website pages = better results. But, when you’re just getting started, you may only need a few pages on your website, which means not using every page your template comes with. For example, my templates come with many pages, and that's not because you need all of them from the get-go. This is because I want you to have what you need to grow WITH your business.
I want the template you're investing in to be the site you're using years from now after you've gotten more clients, added more offers, started your course, made blogging a priority, etc. I want you to have those pages there to grow with you, but you don't have to use them all from the start and you might not even ever need them all.
For example, most of my templates have a "Ways to Work Together Page", that's basically an overview of your services. Maybe you never need that because you only have one main offer so you don't need a page with so many options. Maybe instead you utilize those different sections to create what you do need (that I've very strategically for you to go into other pages of your website). For example, maybe I have a section for your website viewer to schedule a call, but you repurpose it to link to a waitlist for your course.
If you look at your business and think, "I only need three pages," — that is ok. If you only need a Home page, About page, and Contact page - that's FINE! If you only need a sales page — that's ok! I've seen plenty of people do this with my sales page templates. So, don’t believe the myth that you need a gazillion pages to have a successful website!
Getting a New Website Live Fast
I also think too, as someone who's creating your website for the first time, this can take a lot of the pressure off and speed up your process of getting your site live so you can start making money from your website. If you're looking at your template and you're like, I have to get the blog set up, I have to get this call scheduler page and the contact page and all of this perfectly set up, that's a lot of pressure and it can feel a lot better to feel like, "okay, what are the essential pages I need to get started right now?"
Read More: Get A New Website By New Years: How To Customize Your Showit Website Template Really Fast
Strong Opinion #3: You must have photos of yourself somewhere or your site will feel scammy!
I feel like MOST people agree with me on this - but it's still being missed on SO many of the websites I visit. You have to have photos of yourself somewhere on your website or else your site's going to feel scammy, illegitimate, not personable, and all other sorts of problems.
I know not everyone wants to or can invest in professional imagery with a brand photographer from the start, and that's ok! Relying on stock photography can work, but put yourself on your website too! You need to be on your site even if it's not the most “professional” image. Otherwise, it can feel scammy and cause you to miss the opportunity to let your audience put a face to the name.
Your face doesn't have to be front and center, but you need to be on there. To give you an example, the other day, I was searching for accountants and looked over different accountant websites, and I stumbled upon one that was using only stock images, even on their About page. I knew it probably wasn't a scam, but I did have to ask myself, "Is this legit? Where are the people who work here?" So, put yourself on your website — a great place to add a photo of you is on your About page and/or contact page.
Read More: How To Use Paid Stock Photography To Completely Up Level Your Brand
So that’s it my friends — 3 opinions! I could do more and maybe we’ll do a part two later on. I appreciate you being here and reading until the end.
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