Lessons

Lesson Info

About Page: Your Call to Action

I want to talk about the about page to as a place where you could build your trust because again, they're not walking into a store, they can talk to you, they can't they don't know if they don't like it if they could return it, and people are kind of taking a big chance when they come to your site, especially they're spending a tine of money, so you have to use your about page to build trust as well in some ways that you can do that is through testimonials have customer testimonials, there doesn't have to be a lot it could be two or three you can also have awards that you've won maybe have a skin care line and you want allure magazine's bust of two thousand twelve award or something like that definitely put it on there if you have press mentions, especially major press mentions definitely share either the logos or something about that on your about paige to build that credibility and trust and even endorsement. So if you have celebrity endorsements or if someone has endorsed your produ...

ct definitely put it up there and again, it just helps to indirectly build that trust because the more of these things that people see on your web site, the more subconsciously they're like, oh allure magazine I trusted you know or this celebrity loves this skin care I trusted so think about that so I know a lot of people don't really think about that on there about page, but this is again a great place where you can build trust and if someone's likely to trust you or someone trust you, they're more likely to buy and take out their credit card especially if it's the first time buying at your website. So now let's talk about the last thing on your home pay or near about page, which is your call to action. So what is it that you want people to do next after they visit their web site just like I feel like every single page on your website if you haven't done this yet, go through every single page and see if there's a call to action at the end or at the top or wherever feels natural on that particular page but what it is that you want people to do next on again, this can change throughout the year maybe you're running a mother's they sail now or maybe you launched the new collection or maybe your products just got into whole foods and you want to drive people to whole foods, right? All of those calls to action can also be on your about page so what do you want people to do next and how can you guide them again? We've been talking a lot about the customers journey through your website but it really is a journey just like they physically walk into a store there typing, in your view, are all they're going from place to place and trying to make decisions whether they know it or not. There are constantly making decisions about whether or not to buy throughout all of the different points that they come across through your website and then make sure the call to action stands out. If you have just a little piece of text that says, click here, it might not be that visible, but what if you have a button with an image that says, wanna learn more about our ingredients? Click here, right? If you could make it stand out on the page, the better and the more likely people are actually tio take that action, so we're going to bring back ice w basics of brooklyn, because again, I believe our website is really great, so I wanted to put that up there just so you could take one more look, but huge is that such a great job of having really awesome things and her call to action here, it says, check out the goodies, learn more about our products and start shopping so she's literally telling people to start shopping, and it might seem weird because you think, well, people know they have to do that that's why they're here here, but again, the more obvious you could make it for them, the more likely they are to actually take that action. And then she also has, you know, wanna meet some of our vendors, so she has two different calls to action on this page and that's totally fine to just anything more than that can get a bit overwhelming. All right, so another page that I wanted to share with you is stacy adams, and again, you've read this and, you know, this is a company that has been around a long time, and this is their whole branding, they're all about how their quality and everything that they do with their product has can be trusted because they've been around a really, really long time. So again, they're not necessarily talking about how you can benefit from your products. They do that later on in the page, but their most important thing that they want people to understand is that they've been around, they can be trusted, and they have one hundred years, I think, and behind them, which sets them apart because most companies that have similar products might not have that. So this is their main focus, their main point of branding that they're trying to get across. And this is another one it's from twelve south, and they designed accessories for apple products, and I wanted to bring this up there because it uses the word you a lot. It talks about personal izing everyone wants to know that their stuff is unique and personal to them, and they do such a great job. Yes, you're getting an accessory, but there's so much more behind it, and then they also have a call to action about take a look at all that what we have to offer, and I was talking before about making sure that the call to action stands out and doesn't necessarily stand out in a big way here, but they have highlighted in a different color, so you do know that that's, a clickable link and it's sort of it doesn't look the same as all of the other text on the page, so the more obvious you could make it the better. But if you care a lot about design and stuff fitting in with your branding, then you can also do this as well. Just make sure it stands out and it's obvious that people should click on there. All right? So let's, talk about another thing about your about page, because a lot of people don't think about this, but you can really use your about page to grow your list so in instead of just having your opt in box on your home page or on your side bar or in your footer, you can also put it maybe in the middle or at the bottom of your allow page again. If someone has invested their time into reading your entire story, even if it's long, they're more likely to give you their email address. So this is ahh great way to actually get people tio to come in here, give you their email address and they already trust you because they've taken the time to find out more. So this is concrete matter. This is I wanted to show you there about page I think this is their opt in box so let's close out of that. But I really loved this because they start off with a video and about their story. And again, this is such a great place where you could have video and we're not going to watch it now. But it's really a great story. And then I feel like the whole look of the about page really reflect their branding. They use the same fund, the same color scheme they have something that they it sort of fits in with the rest of their branding and the rest of their what? Site and they talk about the guys that found that the company they have their picture again a picture speaks a thousand words. You see, these guys, they're more human. You're more likely to I actually want to be part of their mission and their story and then let's see? So what I loved about this is that they walk you through there. They guide you through your journey on their website, so if you down on the bottom and you want to find more, you click on next chapter and you keep reading, right? So this is a long, long way. This is another way, elizabeth, like we were talking about what if you have a lot of information? This is one way that you can break up that information and sort of get people involved into being a part of it. So bye clicking more and sort of this reads like a story rather than just about page, and you click on the next chapter like they're investing in you and they wanna read more and again, this is so much information on here, but you can keep, you know, keep going, and at the end, what did they want to? They want you to start shopping because after you've read everything you've probably decided that this is something you want to check out more, so then you could just go ahead and start shopping. So this is they do such a great job of getting people tio sort of go through their website and be involved. All right, so another about paige, another pop up here again totally reflects the branding, but this is from furbish, and they designed a lot of one of a kind gifts and fabulous finds for the home and and their signature mix of bold color, so again, they talk about their bold colors there, their logo reflected. Their image here reflects the lifestyle of their audience, and they just really great. The reason I wanted to bring this up is because after you read there about page again, they're telling you what it is that you that they want you to do next. So this is to check out the product, check out the details, they're giving you ideas, so they're not just saying go shopping there, saying more ideas for you so it's sort of you feel like they're taking care of you because they're looking out for you, and they want to give you more ideas of things that you could do in your own home. And this is tracy's website tracy matthews dot com and I love this because first of all, I love that you're asking a question and I think if all of us can start off our about page with asking a question that gets the conversation started right away, right? You read it and you want to know more because she she's making you want to know more about what it's about so I mean, she talks about her clients and so again, that builds trust right away because, you know, she has clients and you know that if her clients I have great things to say about her, then obviously other people feel the same way so it's such a subtle way to build trust, but it really helps to both price. And then there is a great photo of tracy and I highly recommend if you don't do a video, you should at least have your own photo up on your works it's so important to you have people connect with you three or photo? So for all of those online studio audience, if you don't have a photo, stop everything you're doing and go ahead and put a photo on your about paige and eventually the goal is to get to a video, but again, tracy has the video on her home page, so she does have the video there as well and then she shares her story here so again, this is all about her customer than this is her story and then again really subtle that you can trust her she won awards right? So that's something that automatically builds trust with her audience and then again she talks about why her big why here and then she uses the word you again my approach is as unique as you are so she's constantly or york I'm talking like you're not in the room but you're constantly engaging your audience and again you're walking them through your story and sprinkling it throughout with how their story and their needs fed into what do you have to offer and I just really love that and here you know she's saying I would be honored to create something for you click here to get the process started so if she had loved this out someone would have to go back up here think about ok do I go here? Do you know where do I go but again should she's guiding you through what it is that she wants you to dio next? So this is just so great so I have here the page for relish s so if you want to come up all right, so I love first of all, I love your website, but I love your about paige even more and um I love this picture that you have up here I think it totally if someone is looking for that style they know exactly that your products are a good fit for them so I love that I also love your picture over here because it does people again people want to connect with people especially when you are a smaller entrepreneur so that's awesome that you have here you have some of your other team members on here which I think is really great it have team members definitely highlight them if it makes sense for you I think for you it definitely makes sense to do that and then you talk about you talk about your team because for your business the experience that you have is really relevant to your audience and what why they would choose you and they would choose to work with you so I think this is totally appropriate and I love the quote that you have here but I think most of all I just love like you look at this page and I know exactly what I am getting and I just love the quotes they have on the photo and it just does such a great job of showcasing who you are but also how someone can benefit on dh then your mission having get up there is just key to draw people even more in so great job on your home page the on ly change or a tweet that I would make is to sort of have a call to action and just guide people to what it is word you want them to go next after being on your home page so yeah so great job on that awesome pictures thank you. Thank you all right, so yeah, if you want to come up oh, so this is your website and I have to say I really loved this oh it's not very big. No, no, because I wanted to talk to you about that I think that's why having on stage here? Because I think you have your description here and I know your store is not up and running yet, but when you are ready to get your start on running, this is why I wanted to bring up because you have such a great aesthetic and the look of your just your branding that I really think from everything we've talked about here today, I think if you could incorporate some of those elements when you are ready to launch in the summer of twenty fifteen, which is soon, then you definitely you're going to be so far ahead and I think it's great that you have something here now because I think often times people don't launch a website because maybe they're not ready yet or they feel like, well, I mean, I don't have any thing to sell but I think doing this builds anticipation and I don't know I don't remember your home page if you have a new opt in form but what you might want to do here is you might want to say enter your name and email address and we'll notify you when we launch so I think that something or you could use this page which is really basic right now but it does the people know what you have coming up if you use this page to build your list so that way when you do launch you could email everyone and say thanks so much for you know for bearing with us we finally launched here's all we have to offer you so that's a recommendation that I would make for you just put an opt in here and your incentive would be to get people notify people when you launch so okay great job and I loved that the fact that you have it here even though your website is not ready and I think all of us some of us might not have ah a product to sell but you should definitely do what you're doing and just share a little bit of information people will find you they'll want to know more and if their interest that they will give you their email address to be notified when they're ready so thank you thank you for being in the hot seat all right, so I wanted to just share a couple more things that I think everyone should have on their web sites, so these are so again sort of things that I wasn't sure where to fit them in because they don't fit in the about page or the home page or the product description, but I really think these elements everyone should have, especially to build more try so a privacy policy if you don't have one, make sure to get one in there and also terms and conditions, and these are some that you can there's lots of online web sites that provide a template for you that you could just download if you just google privacy policy template or terms and conditions template, you will definitely find it there. But again, it's such a subtle way to build trust that I think if you don't have this, people might be wondering always this site secure, or is it safe for what's their privacy policy? Like so make sure to have those in there, and the other thing that's really important is that contact page, and we're going to talk about that in just a second, but you need to give people a way to contact you and to make that obvious, and then if you have some press mentions, maybe not all of you have that now. Make sure to have that to have a press or in the news page where you can highlight all of your different press mention so yes, yes very was nothing for me so am I previous business I had tons of press for george design but in my current business because I'm so busy, I don't I honestly don't go after it even though it's something I teach all the time what would you recommend in that case like would you still feature other process? I mean because I've still been in the press like in all the majors, so I would still mention it because you are the designer and the press was maybe for designs you've done in the past, but you're still making those products and it's still relevant so in that case absolutely yes, yes as long as it's relevant, you know, for example, with my t shirt business, I'm not going to mention my t shirt press on myself website because they're totally not relevant. So great question um, so your contact page should have your mailing address. I know mailing addresses sort of a scary thing to share but get appeal box it just really helps to build trust especially sometimes people want to know where you're located issue let's have your phone number if you feel comfortable sharing that again, most people are not going to call but it's still important to build that trust and it should also have social media links um along with other places on your web site where you can put those and then also a contact form and this is an example of my own home my own contact page I launched grow joy but it really has all of those elements I did take out the phone number I had it on there and I put it my phone number on there when I'm launching a new product or doing something where people actually need to call me but I took it off because I was just getting a lot of people calling saying hey can you help me you know can you take a look my product description and let me know if it's okay so stuff like that that I only do with private clients so I was getting too many of those so again think about your own business and again a just as you need and look at your business and I'll when I'm launching something new I'll definitely have my phone number up there because I know people are going to have questions so you also need on fake you page and a customer service page and we're going to talk a little bit more about this in the product description but you want to take all of the questions that people have when they come to your web site and put them there and this will really help to eliminate a lot of email questions, teo, and it'll save you a lot of your time. You also want to have shipping sizing ingredients all of the information that someone needs to know when they're buying your products. You can have a specific page that highlights all of that. You also want a return policy and a guarantee, there's nothing worse than someone coming to your site and, for example, with a parallel skin care a lot of other products they think, well, what if I don't like it, or if it doesn't work for me or if it doesn't fit? So I highly recommend everyone have a one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee and return policy with their own products as well, and you also need a store locator page. So if you sell your products in stores, make it easy for your customers to find their local stores when they could buy your products. And if you do sell wholesale, your website should also have a nympho page for hold for retailers that are interested. I know for me wholesale was a huge focus my first two years of my business, so this was front and center on my website, they should also have an option to sign up. And create an account and order online and even more importantly it should have testimonials from other retailers that talk about how easy a product is to sell, how much money they're making, how much their customers love it and even a store locator page so retailers love to be given a shoutout or tio to be featured on your web site in a store locator page to drive people to their physical location and yes, you might be losing the sale online but you are making your retailers happy and if they're going to re order then you're going to be happy as well and a few more things if you want to create partnerships make sure to have an affiliate program page I know I've seen it on some pages if that's something that you do in your business make sure you give them the option to sign up for your affiliate program and he also want affiliate banners again to make it easy for them tio promoted products I know I'm going through the super quickly but these are just some things that we don't need to spend a lot of time on but they are important things that you should have on your website yes so for affiliate for like a product based business like how does that sort of work? We get outside question a lot and I have an idea but I would love to hear it your recommendations of how to promote products via like physical products, be affiliate party yeah, so I think with affiliate and I just have an affiliate program for both my cell business on my t shirt business, I worked a lot with bloggers who put my banner on their their blogged s o again it works I mean pretty much the same with services or in full products physical products, but the point is you just want to make it super easy for your affiliates to get all of the information they need and to sign up. So instead of just saying things like email us to get more information you want to say, here is the sign up form, and as soon as you sign up, you'll get access to your links maybe after your proved I know sometimes you need to approve affiliates before they do it, but making it easy for them to promote your products by providing banners and links and like social media copy and stuff like that and again, that could be behind the scenes. It doesn't have to be right on the affiliate sign up page it could be the next page they go to after they sign up for an affiliate accounts. And so what kind of percentage would you pay? Um depends I would say for products I would do fifteen percent, but I've seen some obviously the hired the fee you pay or the commission you paid, the more likely they are to promote you. So for example, if you sell a ten dollars product offering ten percent, they're only going to make a dollar off of it that's not much of an incentive for someone, so think about it. If you were to promote that type of product, what would make it worth it for you and again keep them in mind and what would make it worth their time? Um if you have a higher and product like a five hundred dollars necklace than offering ten percent, they're going to get fifty dollars or even five percent that's a pretty good, pretty good deal for for an affiliate promotion so it depends on your product pricing but thank you for asking that. Yeah, all right. So lastly, if you want to get press and I know all of us want to get press, make sure to have either some sort of a press kit or a press release or some sort of area on your web site or the press can get more information and this could include high resolution images of your products, your head shot and other major press mentions as well and again, the more price you get. Interestingly, the more press you are going to get so you want to highlight all of your press mentions as well and lastly, if you really want to know what's working, make sure to go ahead and install google analytics or any other analytics program too really tracks you were traffics coming from see what traffic is converting it to customers and newsletter subscribers and really see where people are going through your website and monitor constantly I do this once a month they look at all my stats for the month, you know, see if things are what's working when my most popular pages where how many people are converting where they're coming from and all of that again we can do a whole class on analytics and why and what he should be tracking but keep that in mind as well. If you don't have google analytics or another analytics platform, make sure to add that as well and then lastly set up goals to track your conversion so this is something that a bit too technical for us to get into but you not only want to know how many people are coming to your website, but you also want to know how many of those people are buying that's a goal how many people are signing up for your newsletter that's another goal may be your goal is to get people to go to your about page and read more so you consent all of this up and see what sort of things are tracking throughout your website and what's working