FFN #37: When Was the Last Time You Updated Your Website?

👩🏽‍🎨 Be Unique

There are 5.35 billion users on the internet, now some might say that’s a lot of competition. Here at FF, we’re glass half full kinda people, so we say that’s a whole lot of potential clients! When you are creating your website, have a clear idea of your branding, determine your goals and then look to other successful people in your field to see how they’ve laid out their sites. Once you’ve gotten your inspo, you can choose sites like Squarespace to create your website using some of their beautiful templates or hire a fellow FF from our Jobs Board (our listings are free!). Don’t forget when you design your website to optimise it for computers, tablets and phone users.

👀 Now to Get Eyes on Your Page

There’s no use making a gorgeous site only for no one to see it. To get more clients to see your site you need content that drives people there, this is where your social ecosystem comes in clutch. Begin to create content on your site in the form of blogs that are SEO-optimised and target your ICA, as well as using social media to loop back to your site. Doing this will help get more clients looking at the great services you offer and hopefully get them to enquire to work with you. We also suggest building a newsletter, as with the recent potential TikTok ban looming, it’s crucial to have people in your marketing funnel that can’t be taken from you. 

👩🏽‍💻 SEO?

SEO can feel like a bit of a maze, but it’s crucial when building an effective website. Set your website up using the keywords you know your leads will search, we love using Answer The Public for this type of market research. Consider what questions a potential client might be asking. If you’re a brand strategist, someone might google ‘How can I improve brand storytelling’ or ‘What are the four 4 types of branding strategies?’.

🙌🏽 This is Not The Space to be Humble

Seriously though it can be hard but your site is your space to brag a little! Show off your portfolio and case studies of your work. Be proud of what you have done and how you’ve achieved results for your previous clients. Don’t forget to create a compelling about section, this can be often overlooked but done right will elevate your case studies and portfolio. Give a bit of background info on yourself and your business, be clear about what people are hiring you to do and add sentences that show you get results. For example, if you’re a web designer ‘I’ve helped decrease shopping cart abandonment by 35% after doing a complete redesign of the checkout page’. If you don’t have hard data, that’s okay! The key is to get creative with how you’re highlighting your expertise. At the end of your About and Portfolio section remember to include a strong CTA which includes them being added to your mailing list.

Peach State

The weather has been a tad ✨wild ✨ lately, but when it is warm I’ve been on the hunt for a drink to go in my beverage lineup to get me through the afternoon or ‘arvo’ as our Aussie team member Sara says. One of my new faves is Peach State’s brown sugar lemon-aid, they have so many great flavours to pick from. I love that they have all-natural simple ingredients too!