When your prospective clients are comparing one business to another, what exactly are they looking for or comparing? In our experience, your website’s visitors are looking for a business they can connect with, a business owner or team they can trust in, and a final product or client experience they can confidently look forward to receiving as a result of working with you. For small business owners — particularly business owners who depend upon their website for sharing their expertise and booking new clients — web design can make all the difference in how your prospective clients perceive you. Today, I’m sharing 5 ways to showcase your expertise through your web design so you can ensure your website is working on your behalf to help you to book clients!

Book Clients by Showcasing Your Expertise

When prospective clients are comparing your business to another, your web design can either prompt your visitors to learn more and confidently to choose to work with you — or prompt your visitors to continue exploring their options and choose another business. Simply having a website is one thing — but having a website designed to connect with your visitors, and lead your visitors toward confidently choosing to work with you, is another. So, today, I’m going to share 5 ways you can showcase your expertise through your web design, and more effectively equip your website’s visitors to become clients.

1. Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes, wholeheartedly. From your brand design to your web design, it’s essential to view your online presence through the lens of your prospective clients. When you do, every detail — your brand design, web design, photography, and copywriting — is created or curated with your audience’s needs and values in mind. So, what does your audience value? What would encourage or equip your visitors to choose your business over another? Pointing out what sets your business apart, what makes your services value-adding, or what results your past clients have experienced can demonstrate your expertise in a client-connecting way.
2. Understand your unique strengths, expertise, and approach — and use your copywriting to speak directly to your visitors. When it comes to the copywriting within your web design, your copywriting isn’t so much about what you think about your business, but rather, how your visitors will experience and understand your business. Your copywriting is an opportunity to connect with your visitors and share what your visitors will value and appreciate about your business, products, or services. Knowing what sets you apart is valuable, and composing your copywriting in a meaningful, connection-driven way can make all the difference in guiding your visitors toward becoming paying clients.
3. Fulfill the purpose of every page within your web design. Every page of your web design should be connection-driven and value-adding. We believe your web design should provide a foundation of information — enough detail to inform and guide your visitors, but not so much information that they become overwhelmed or discouraged. 
   1. Your Home Page can be a landing place where visitors should be able to seamlessly understand who you are, what you do, who you serve, and if your business is location-bound, where your business is located. Your Home Page can guide visitors to the revenue-generating area or areas of your business, and equip visitors to easily obtain the information they’re looking for. 
   2. Your About Page can be a place for connection — helping your visitors to understand your business, your values, and your unique approach. 
   3. Your Services Page can showcase your offerings in a clear and user-friendly way. It can showcase descriptions of your services, deliverables, prices, frequently asked questions, and calls-to-action to guide your visitors toward connecting with you or booking with you.
   4. Your Portfolio Page can showcase a curated collection of your recent and best work — aligned with the type of work you’d like to do more of.  You may also consider pointing out what sets your work apart, or what your prospective clients can expect as a result of journeying through your client experience. 
   5. Your Contact Page can showcase your contact information in a user-friendly way, equipping your visitors to easily get in touch with you. 
4. Embrace transparency. Ensure your web design equips your visitors to learn about you and your business clearly, openly, honestly — and to connect with you and your business easily. When your website is user-friendly, engaging, and client-focused, your visitors will sense your openness and pride in your business.  
5. Use clients’ past experiences throughout your web design. Rather than creating a Testimonials page, we often recommend sprinkling your clients’ testimonials throughout your web design. When you do, your clients’ experiences can lift up your business as a whole — no matter which page a visitor is exploring. This blend of what you believe about your business, coupled with what your past clients believe about your business can make all the difference in how your visitors view and appreciate your business.

Whether you use one or all of these approaches to showcasing your expertise through your web design, we are so hopeful today’s episode equips you to communicate your expertise, showcase your unique approach, and create an online presence your visitors will connect with and value.

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, founders and entrepreneurs. Enjoy weekly, actionable episodes to build a successful, sustainable small business from the inside out.