What is your website for?
“What happens next?”
I got to this one in the usual way. Unusually. It started with a message from a coach:
“This might be more than a yes or no question. I don’t have a website at the moment. Do I need one?”
Short answer?
Yep.
That was that. But then the contrarian in me stirred because I could point to cases very close to me where businesses, including coaches just like this, didn’t have a site, and still made good money.
And so I started to write, because any time there’s a fork in the road, I like to take a stand. Not just on whether you need a site, but what it’s actually for.
Most people fall into one of two camps with the website.
The direct response crew tend to see it as a funnel.
Give as little freedom as possible, with direct routes to the check-out. I’m actually more aligned with direct response than the second one…
Others think it’s about making a creative, pretty page…
A place to ‘find’ the business, with good SEO. They have amazing photos, and logos, and usually link back out to their instagram page halfway down the main page. Maybe they think they might get followers (and that somehow, that’s more important than them staying on the site)? They also tend to have blog posts that feel like they were written by a machine, hoping that it helps search somehow.
We go a different route.
In a lot of the other articles, and podcasts, we’ve been talking about the ‘trust’ economy, and how this has accelerated. Basically, while this ain’t new, trust levels are now at record lows, while polarisation is at record highs.
This makes things interesting for small business.
There’s an opportunity for those who are less self-serving, and are willing to play the game properly, to establish massive amounts of relative trust, and perform quite well. And this is what we’re seeing, kind of a ‘split’.
Anyway, maybe if we had to distill the ‘trust economy’ idea down to a question, it could be this:
“What happens next?”
If we think about the way we got to where we are, it’s because business owners, leaders, and media outlets were moving too fast. They were too self serving to ask that one question in their biz-ness over the last twenty years. And managed to hit a long enough string of false claims in a row, to break down trust.
That’s how trust always works.
When we take the risk to make a promise to others, then work to keep that promise, we build trust. When we make a promise, or a claim, then break that promise, we lose trust. Trust is sequential. This is why there’s no such thing as a ‘closed’ sale - the sale never really ends (and ‘everything is marketing’).
Back to the website thing
If you think about your marketing, which is really the contact point between your business and your audience, whether that’s through networking, social media, or a podcast, this is where people are introduced to your world.
OK, so the question is “What happens next?”
Well, the thing about people is, they are curious. They’ll go down comment and thread rabbit holes just to see what other people who they don’t know are saying about a topic that they don’t agree with. In a sense, if they are intrigued by your story (marketing), they will go deeper if they can.
This is why you should always have a website. Because you can.
And because they will go to it.
You have an opportunity to clarify your business story, connect the dots in your marketing, and invite your audience into the next layer of your world (email list, articles like this one, your offer, et cetera).
[More: When you have a good site, you’ll also feel a stronger sense of identity, which is as important as anything else.]
Here we’re going to look at five jobs your website has, so that whether you go to a ‘site builder’ or you do a WIX job, or a Squarespace, you have some understanding on the why’s of each part. Then your copy and images, et cetera will make much more sense.
Job 1 - Point to the Change Happening in Your Audience’s World
A good business is based on ‘change.’
Change drives attention, and it also creates natural urgency, because as social animals, when there’s a change, we foresee problems, and we don’t want to get left behind. Change is linked to status.
There are two types of change, one is personal, and one is cultural.
Some friends of mine run Bulletproof for BJJ. Strength training for BJJ athletes. Now besides a brief chat early on about messaging, I have had nothing to do with these guys professionally. But I do want to do a full case study on this at some stage. Anyway, here’s the top of fold for the site:
“Be Prepared for BJJ.”
The change? You’re trying to advance in BJJ (individual).
Another example of this I’ve pointed out before was the RA MA website.
The change? The move into the technology age (cultural).
What is changing in your audience’s world that they can’t ignore?
Examples could include:
Opening a gym (career/business)
Their clients looking for new solutions (B2B) (wealth)
They are getting older (ageing)
They are entering a race (status)
They have a test coming up for the Fire Department (vocation)
They have just become a parent (parenting)
They want to have a kid (pregnancy)
Something has led to them deciding to get healthy or out of pain
There could be hundreds. These are just a few top level ones. We can feel what change does to our attention, if we just open up a news website. You’ll exclusively see (and feel) change.
Change isn’t just ‘change’ for the sake of it.
Change naturally creates a choice for the reader.
“What do I want to do here?”
This presents a fork in the road, and, if you’ve pointed to the right change, it will be a fork that’s impossible to ignore.
One path, is the old game, and the other, is the new game you can help them to play.
Job 2 - Show why the old game ain’t working anymore
And how some are now moving forward in the new game.
One mistake a lot of people make with this stuff, is to simply make a statement.
“The New Game is this: ________” And just use those words.
That can work, but hopefully you picked up why it often ain’t enough on its own. Because if we aren’t careful, it can just become a self serving claim.
This is because the story driven, or new game approach isn’t a tactic.
It’s a strategy or framework. So if we just use the words, or point it out without support, we’re ignored. What we need to do now is, show why the old game isn’t working (ideally, with proof), and how the people are winning moving forward.
This is a case of the ole’
“what got you here, ain’t going to get you to where you want to go now…”
Let’s go back to the Bulletproof for BJJ site:
“The majority of grapplers are stiff, sore, and under-performing. Truth is, they’re not sure how long they’ll be able to keep it up.”
Strong. Though it has a slight claim feel to it. Having said that, it’s more of an unspoken truth than a claim. I’m no expert, but pretty much every person I know who does BJJ seems to be constantly, often seriously, injured. So they’re more just making a point.
The reader should feel friction here. For the readers that agree with your change, this friction comes from the fact that they don’t want to be left behind, and this is important for them to pay attention to the next part of the story.
Job 3 - Describe the new game
A while back I had to go down to Melbourne to get my US passport renewed. It was a pain in the ass.
Anyway, when I was in the passport office, up on the wall were a bunch of TV’s screening a travel advertisement to the states. They showed a bunch of different landscapes and cities, knowing that if you were there getting your passport, at least you were the right audience to advertise to.
This describes the ‘vision’ of what life can look like after the purchase.
Not what life looks like buying the service.
But what it enables us to do.
Often on a website, a business will start off with a big claim at the top.
Then quickly move into what the problem is and the solution that they have.
The issue with this can be we aren’t yet bought into the story. We get defensive, and look over the ‘breakdown’ of the offer with a blank stare.
But when we start off by pointing out the change, and raising the stakes, we are suddenly interested. We are hooked into the story, and we are curious as to what it can look like. This creates vision of taking positive action, whether or not it is with this business.
In Creator Club, we’re all about service businesses that thrive in the trust economy. Through using a story driven framework. So here, we describe what that looks like, and what life looks like as a Creator. In fact, now we dedicate a whole page to ‘Meet the Creators’.
Job 4 - Point to content
When a business is story driven, it means they’re driven by the story of the business, literally. Meaning the change they want to make is more important than anything else, and, the revenue they get from selling the offer or product is a result of that.
Thus, tapping into two of the universal laws of human nature:
‘Whoever needs it the least, wins,’ and ‘always lead with generosity.’
By not focusing firstly on the sale, they occur to us as less needy. And by generously creating content, they are always providing helpful goodwill for those who want to play the new game.
This gives us some radical insights into the type of content that we would expect:
How to win the new game (tips and strategies)
Stories of players winning the game
Reiterating the importance of the change happening
Some businesses will have more here. Some less. Some more entertainment focused. Some more educational. Each business is different in terms of what this content looks like. For us, it’s articles, podcasts and books. On the Bulletproof for BJJ page, it’s podcasts and articles. On the Red Bull site it’s customer success stories.
Either way, this is where any ‘asset building’ long form content would sit.
All of this making the site is not purely a sales funnel to the offer, but a gateway to your unique world and biz-ness story.
Job 5 - Present paid offer with success stories, and tell ‘em what to do to buy
The direct response DNA. One of the purposes of business is to create customers.
So, you want to have a clear way for people to work with you, or buy from you.
Each business is different, but this could be:
A phone number to call
A contact form on the site
An email address
Something to download
This will lead to the ‘next step’ in the sales process, whatever that is.
And the success stories?
These are key content pieces that help your audience to see that although you didn’t make any big promises or claims, your offer delivers the results. These are important on a website, because no matter how compelling your social media or podcast are, the buying happens on the site, and the success stories help to sooth necessary concerns that arise before purchase.
Summary
Back in the olden days of business, you would just hang up a sign on a shop front to say you are open for business, and wait for word to spread.
Some people think of a website this way.
An announcement, or a place for people to ‘find’ you, which would mean ‘make it very pretty’ and creative.
Others see it as part of the funnel, giving the visitor very few options, other than to buy.
While we are of course looking at a site that’s optimised for sales, looking at it from a story driven perspective means slowing the buying cycle down, not speeding it up.
Giving the visitor more time in your world.
In effect, this is because we are selling the story before the offer. We are marketing the story, before the offer.
A good website can be a strong, central ‘hub’ for your business story, and clearly articulates the change that is relevant to your client, and how you help them navigate that change, through content, and through your service.