Website Clarity Checklist

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Today's lesson is by guest teacher Brennan Dunn! Brennan's crated a handy dandy course called Double Your Freelancing Rate, and he knows whereof he speaks.

It's not going to take days to get your website working the way you need it to - our handy checklist can help get you there in just a few hours.

How many times are you using "I" or "we"? It's only natural to want to talk about yourself… but it's also only natural for your client to want to hear about their needs, instead of yours! Everybody craves attention & understanding. To lure in more clients, make them the focus of your copywriting. Answer these questions: What problems do your clients face? What do they value above all else? Then write about that. (And start some sentences with "You"!)

Do you demonstrate why people really hire you? What problems have you solved in the past? What results did your clients get from your work? Does your copy tout your skills ("Photoshop"), or your capacity to solving specific pain points ("Rescued holiday banner ad from disaster and resulted in x% more clickthroughs")?

Is your website saturated with jargon? If your clients knew it all, they probably wouldn't be looking to hire you, so lay off the specialized terms (at least in the beginning!). Do you "do branding work" or do you "make companies look more professional"?

Are your testimonials generic? Do your client testimonials describe a specific scenario — a problem, your solution, the results — with supporting details? If not, you're not going to get the best results. Tune up your testimonials by asking your clients specific questions ("What problems was I able to help you with?") rather than "Please give me a testimonial."

Do you have your phone number on your website? This seems like a no-brainer, but it's an easy and important fix. A lot of high-value potential clients prefer to pick up a phone… if they want to hire you, they want to know who you are, they want to meet you, to trust you. Email is so impersonal. If you don't want to give out your cell number, sign up for a Grasshopper.com account.

Do you have a clear call to action? Are you asking visitors to reach out to you? Do you offer a free consultation meeting, or special report? Don't bury your contact information, or your preliminary offer, make it obvious on every page that you're just a call or email away.