We recently changed the homepage of our website. Not a lot. In fact, we didn’t really make any major alterations to the design itself. All we did was change the focus of our message.
The reason for the change was to test a theory that we’ve been playing around with lately.
Human beings love stories.
We grew up reading bedtime stories. We go to the movies to get sucked into stories. And we connect with people who tell great stories.
It’s who we are.
So, we figured why not apply that same concept to our website by making our homepage read like a story?
Your story.
You see, it doesn’t take much to find that most websites put all of the focus on themselves. They wax poetic about what they do in excruciating detail. They wear the length of time they have been in business as if it were a badge of honor. And they pat themselves on the back for all of their past accomplishments.
But here’s the thing. You don’t care about any of that stuff.
Your house is on fire and you need someone to show up with a hose and some water. Not a resume.
So, that was our approach. And rather than just tell you about it, we’ve decided to pull back the curtain and walk you through step by step everything we did and why we did it.
And as far as the results go, we’ll tell you all about that at the end.
This is the section that appears above the fold. In other words, it’s the first thing you see on the site without having to scroll.
We replaced all of the busy pictures, sliders and text that you so often see with a very simple look and one sentence:
“We Create Disruptive Brands
for Thought Leaders Who
Want to Impact the World.”
The idea is to paint a clear picture of what your life could look like if you were to work with us. It’s YOUR outcome. Not ours. We’re not cryptic about it. We’re not using industry speak. And we’re not using language that can be interpreted a million different ways.
We’re not worried about the how or the why. We are merely focused on the what because the first question you will ask yourself when you get to our website is “what will you do for me?”
We will transform your brand so you can stand out in your industry and impact the world. Period.
Underneath that statement we have two buttons:
They both have a very specific purpose. We want you to be more than just an observer on our website. We want you to interact with us.
Now, the Let’s Work Together call to action may seem a little aggressive, however there is a reason for it. If you have been to the site once before, it’s not unlikely that you would reach out to us to work together, so we want to make that very simple. But more importantly, it’s there to make the Tell Me More button look more appealing so you will click it.
All the Tell Me More button does is scroll down to the next section of the site. However, keep in mind that we want you to get used to interacting with our site and not just observing it from afar. It’s the digital equivalent of talking to someone at a networking event and getting them to respond “That’s interesting! Tell me more!”
Email Conversion
The next section accomplishes two things. First, we want to build our tribe, so we’re offering a free ebook in exchange for your email address so we can stay in touch and become besties.
But that’s not the only reason for this section.
We’re also setting the tone for what we do, regardless of whether you download it or not. Rather than wasting space with the typical “Download Our Free Tips” or “Join Our Newsletter” which offers no value to anybody, we are restating the outcome you want in a bit of a different way.
Somebody is Going to Change Your Industry. Will it Be You?
In other words, your industry is going to be disrupted by someone. It will either be you or it will be one of your competitors.
This is here just in case you weren’t 100% sure what a disruptive brand can do for you. No, you won’t be dressing up as a clown and showing up for your next sales call. It means that you will have the tools you need to change your industry. And who doesn’t want that?
Services
This is the first time we get into the how of what we do. The challenge is to do it in a way that is not at all about us. Remember, the story is about you.
The way we accomplish this is by throwing out all industry jargon in order to speak in your language.
Here’s how we’re going to transform you into that thing we told you about earlier!
In our case, it’s Find Your Story, Make Your Mark and Grow Your Tribe.
Technically we do a lot more than that if you were to break down all of the actions we take for our clients, but none of that is relevant at this point. We don’t want to overwhelm you with stuff.
But just in case this is not enough, we include a link to our services page which gets a little deeper.
Video
Now is our chance to humanize ourselves and what we do as a company. The best way to do that is through a video that speaks directly to you.
But we’re not just adding a human element to the story. We’re explaining what makes us different than other solutions out there in an effort to differentiate ourselves. It’s our chance to show that we see things a little differently. That we’re not just another marketing company who is going to push around a bunch of shapes, colors and pictures and pretend like that alone is a viable solution to your problem.
We see things differently. We are the only apple in a basket of oranges.
And more importantly, that’s what we’re going to create for you.
Click here to watch the video.
We Understand Who You Are
By the time you’ve made it to this next section, you have a really good idea of where we can take you. What we haven’t really talked about yet is where you currently are.
We can’t get you to where you want to go unless we know where you currently are. The way we do this is talk about the two concerns we all have. Internal and external.
In our case, your external concern is that you want more clients or a bigger audience or to make more money. That’s what brought you here. You know what your external concern is. So, we open the paragraph by talking about it.
We then quickly shift to your internal concern which you likely don’t realize you even have at the time. In the case of who we work with, it’s something to the effect of I want to make a difference or I want to do something that matters.
After speaking to both of those concerns, we finally introduce ourselves as the solution in the last sentence or two.
Notice that this is the first time we have blatantly talked about ourselves.
Testimonials
Now that we have finally introduced ourselves as the solution, we need to prove that we are capable of doing what we say we can do for you. The best way to do that is by introducing people who were once in your shoes and now have the outcome that you want after speaking with us.
This is our social proof. We don’t have to say how good we are or what specifically we do. Our clients can do that for us.
We make the testimonials short so they are easy to digest and we make them very visual so they are human and not just words on a page.
In addition to the testimonials, we also included logos for many of the organizations we have worked with in order to showcase the quality of our work because of who we have partnered with in the past. Most of which you probably know.
Contact Us
If you made it this far, we must have struck a nerve. So, we’re going to “ask for the sale” again. In other words, contact us. And even though we are asking you to take the next step, we make it clear that we’re not going to waste your time. It will be a valuable call. We’re not just going to bombard you with sales pitches.
Another thing worth mentioning. If you notice, anytime we ask someone to contact us, we use the same language. Let’s Work Together. We don’t want to confuse people or be passive aggressive about it by saying something like More Information where they think they are being sent to a page with more details, only to then be sent to the contact page.
We want to be upfront. Because if we are confusing in how we get people to contact us or buy from us, you’re going to assume we are equally as confusing to work with.
Footer
We end with a very sparse footer that includes our final mission statement, a few social icons so you can do further research on us and the key links to our website. Anything more than that is unnecessary.
We don’t need a big call to action like our email newsletter or short bio. If we haven’t accomplished what we wanted by now, putting it in the footer won’t help.
Let’s bookend the header by ending with a similar statement that paints a picture of what life will look like with us as your partner.
The Results
So, you’re probably wondering if all of this actually worked.
The short answer is YES! The longer answer is SERIOUSLY, YES!
And for those of you who just can’t get enough of this post, here’s what we found.
We have seen our phone ring more in the past two weeks than we have in the past three months. But that’s not the best part. The best part is that the people who called were the right people for us. They were people who understood what we could do and what that would mean to them.
The conversations we had weren’t about the price. They were about the outcome.
And they really did have me at “hello” because I felt instantly connected to their mission from the very beginning of the conversation.
As an added bonus, we have been consistently adding a lot of people to our newsletter list and our tribe is growing quicker than it ever has.
All because we took you, the visitor, on a journey. But in a VERY authentic way. We’re not manipulating like most websites do. We’re not making it about us like most websites do. We’re not wasting your time like most websites do.
We’re just telling a story. The most important story in the world.
Your story.
