Website changes that can lead to finding new clients

By Nate Hoffelder, The Digital Reader

Guest Columnist

With the pandemic dragging on in the U.S., public events such as conferences and trade shows are effectively canceled for the indefinite future. Your chance of meeting new clients (or colleagues who might refer you to new clients) in person is essentially nil, which means that your website is 10 times more important today than it was last year.

If you haven’t taken some time to refresh your site recently, now is a good time to do so.

In my last post for An American Editor, I discussed 18 questions you should ask when refreshing your site. Today I would like to share seven specific changes you can make to your site to win more clients.

Let’s start with email.

Get a professional email address

One easy way to set yourself apart from all the other editors out there is to get an email address that matches your website’s domain. Almost everyone has their email with Gmail, Yahoo, AOL or another of the big web service companies. Those services are fine, to varying degrees, but using MyName@MySite.com simply looks more professional. It sends the message that you are serious enough about your work that you choose to present a professional image. (Editor’s note: It also gives you a permanent e-ddress, so you can change providers as necessary without having to notify everyone you’ve ever corresponded with about a new point of contact.)

At the same time, you should also choose an address that starts with your name or occupation. If your current email address references either your kids, pets or hobbies, that again does not present a professional image. My email address is Nate@NateHoffelder.com. It’s not terribly original, no, but it does present the right image, while an email address ending in Verizon, Comcast or AOL would not.

Add a Services page

Clients can’t hire you if they don’t know what you do, and that is why your website needs one or more pages listing your services.

I used to have several service pages, each focused on a single service, but now I just have the one services page on my site. I list four services on that page, and for each service, I explain what I do and how my clients benefit. I also have a button that links to my contact form.

Pro tip: The easier you make it for a website visitor to take action, the more likely they are to become a client. (Repeat after me: A frustrated visitor is a lost client, while an engaged visitor is one step away from being a paying client.)

Include testimonials

One of the best ways to convince a potential client to hire you is to tell them what others are saying about your work, which is why you should add at least a few testimonials to your website. I have about 20, which might be overkill, but I formatted my testimonial page so they are not too overwhelming.

Find the eight or 10 testimonials in your files that you think are the best, and copy them to a new page on your site. Be sure to fix the formatting so the client’s name is in bold, and use enough white space between each testimonial for them to stand out.

Add samples of your work

Your website’s visitors are going to wonder whether you have the skills they need. The best way to show them that you do is to have samples of your work, either on your site as links or images, or as PDFs that can be downloaded.

If possible, try to include both a before and after. This will give potential clients a better understanding of your style, and what you bring to the table. (Editor’s note: One important caveat for editors and proofreaders, though — Be sure you have the client’s permission to show what you did for their material. Not everyone wants the world to see the “before” version. And even with that permission, do your best to anonymize the material to minimize the potential for embarrassing the client.)

Collect emails for your mailing list

Email newsletters are one of the most-effective ways of marketing your services. An e-letter is your best opportunity to be invited to talk to potential clients by sending messages to their inboxes. But before you can send newsletters, you need to get email addresses for prospective readers, and for that, you need a mailing list sign-up form.

Even if you don’t want to send newsletters now, you should still have a sign-up form just in case your plans change. I can’t tell you how many years I wasted by not collecting email addresses, and I don’t want you to repeat my mistake, so please do yourself a favor, and add a mailing list form to your site.

While we are on the topic, why stop at one form? My recommendation is that you have a form for your mailing list in the footer of every page, in the sidebar next to blog posts, as a pop-up, and at least twice on your home page.

Speaking of which, what does your home page look like?

Create a home page

One common problem I have seen with neglected websites is that they usually do not have a custom-written home page. Instead, blog posts take up the prime real estate. This is a terrible oversight because the home page is one of the most-viewed pages on a website. It is the best chance to introduce yourself to potential clients and win them over.

The marketing industry knows website home pages are so important that marketers have written whole book chapters about only that page. They’ve written 2,000- or 3,000-word blog posts explaining in detail how to get just one aspect of the page perfect.

I am not going to make you go read those voluminous posts, but I do have a post for you. It covers the six key elements you should have on your home page. I think that a website’s home page is so important that it has its own 996-word blog post. If you have limited funds or time, it is the one part of your website that you need to work on.

Ideally, however, I think you should improve all parts of your website. You never know which part will influence your next client the most.

Any questions?

Nate Hoffelder has been building and running WordPress websites since 2010. He blogs about indie publishing and helps authors connect with readers by customizing websites to suit each author’s voice. You may have heard his site, the Digital Reader (https://the-digital-reader.com), mentioned on news sites such as the NYTimes, Forbes, BoingBoing, Techcrunch, Engadget, Gizmodo or Ars Technica. He is scheduled to discuss websites for the 2020 virtual Communication Central/NAIWE/An American Editor “Be a Better Freelancer”^® conference this fall. The Digital Reader was a sponsor of the 2019 conference.