Episode 27 – These 5 Keys Will Turn Your Website into a Money-Making Machine

Introduction    00:00:03    Marketing, explosive growth, and revolutionary secrets that can catapult your business to new heights. You’re now listening to The Underground Marketer Podcast with your host Tudor Dumitrescu, the one podcast devoted to showing new businesses how to market themselves for high growth.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:00:24    Welcome to the underground marketer. This is the place where we deliver the real truth about marketing and explore big ideas that can help new businesses thrive and grow into big ones. I’m your host Tudor. And today we’re going to be discussing the five keys to building a website that sells. So, um, a lot of people have been asking me about this. A lot of people are looking to improve their website with the aim of getting more conversions or showcasing greater credibility, to the extent that their website actually convinces visitors and potential customers to get in touch with them and become paying customers. So this will be useful for pretty much anyone, regardless of what sort of product or service you’re trying to sell through a website. So it will apply to you if you’re a coach, you know, if you own an e-commerce business, it doesn’t really matter what kind of business you own because the principles are going to remain the same.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:01:29    So the first key that I want to discuss with you is the most important one. And that’s having a clear promise that is easily visible above the fold. So, um, above the fold means in the hero area of the website, and that’s the section that they see immediately, as soon as they land on your homepage. And the reason why you want a clear promise, there, there are actually two reasons for it. Number one, you want to promise what’s the biggest benefit that they will get out of staying on your website and interacting with you. And number two, you want to select your audience. You know, you want somebody to read that promise and instantly they will know this is for me or not, this is not for me. These are both ways of providing value to your audience, and it’s going to increase your credibility. It’s going to help position you as an expert.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:02:27    And of course, it’s going to help you sell more of whatever you’re selling. So how do you go about crafting this promise that you place above the fault? Well, ideally you want to start by identifying three different things, the problem, you know, what problem are you solving? Who are you solving the problem for? That’s number two and number three, what is the solution to that problem? Once you have all three of these, you can combine them into a phrase that summarizes both who this is for what problem you’re going to help them with, and how you know, and you put that in your hero area. You know, so for example, the issue are a coach who is helping, let’s say recently, divorced moms, get back into the dating scene. Your who is recently divorced mothers. Your problem is losing the love that they previously had thinking that they will never have a partner again, that sort of stuff.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:03:36    And then the, how is by coaching with you, alternatively, if you are an e-commerce brand and let’s say that you’re selling eyeglasses, then obviously let’s say that your niche, in this case, is young people, young university students, specifically young intellectuals. So that’ll be your who your problem would be both resolving the problem that they have with their site, obviously. But that’s the obvious one. You want to go more for something that helps them make an identity statement, right? So if you’re a young intellectual, you want to showcase this to the world and the glasses that you’re wearing could help you do this. So that’s what I probably placed there. And then the solution is obviously your glasses. So a quick phrase like that when your target audience reads it and they can use it to identify, am I part of this target audience, or it might not.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:04:35    And is this of interest to me or is it not? It’s very important that you have that above the fold. You know, I’ve seen hundreds, thousands of websites where the offer and the promise is not clear, you know, somebody lands on your website and it looks like you’re sort of expecting them to figure it out on their own, you know? And in a certain sense, this is understandable because I mean, you know your business intimately, but don’t assume that your prospects know your business as well as you do. They don’t, they have no clue what you’re doing at all. So if in those first three seconds, once they land on your website, they don’t clearly see what you’re doing. Chances are that they will bounce off and they will leave your website forever. You know, so the issue is confusing. And the easiest way to be confusing is by not having a clear promise above the fall, that’s easily visible that easily identifies the audience, tells them then what problems it’s going to solve for them and how, if you don’t have that, then you’re going to struggle to make sure that your website is very clear.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:05:46    And again, this is very important because statistics show us that people on average, they spend three seconds on a webpage and then decide either to bounce off or continue. So those three seconds are essential. You know, if you lose people in those first three seconds, you’re going to struggle to get them back. So that’s number one to improve your website. And it’s very frequent. So please fix it. You know, never let your website not have a clear promise about fault. Key number two is to use visible CTEs that’s calls to action using the double CTA method. So here’s what I mean. CTA is call to actions. There are buttons, you know, that you place on your website with an activity that you want your people to do. Ideally, you’re going to have one button, which is your main CTA button in your menu to the right.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:06:39    The right-most item would be a button with whatever main action you want them to take. Then in your hero area, ideal, you’re going to have either just your main CTA button or two CTA buttons, your main CTA bottom plus a secondary one. So let me get briefly into what the double CDA method is. So I’ve used this method to solve one particular problem. Many times when people land on your website, they’re not ready to start doing business with you. For whatever reason, maybe they’re just contemplating doing it. You know, maybe for example, let’s say that you’re a roofer, right? And you fix people’s roofs and somebody lands on your website. They have a small problem with their roof. They’re, they’re sort of contemplating to hire a roofer to help them out. But they’re also thinking, you know, maybe I can fix this myself. Um, you know, I’m not quite sure that I’m ready to hire somebody yet.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:07:39    So they land on your website. And the only call to action you have is call me up. Let’s set up a free session to give you a quote, a free inspection to give you a quote for your problem. And they’re not ready to do that. So they’re not going to do it. They’re going to leave your website. They’re never going to come back. You’ve lost them. So to prevent that I’ve started using this double CTA method. And what that means is that you offer people two calls to action, the main call to action in the case of the roof, where that call me and the secondary call to action for cases, when they’re not ready to call you yet. For example, with the previous rule, for example, that we were discussing a secondary CTA, could be something like how a free, let’s say downloadable free PDF guide that tells people how they know if they can fix a roofing problem themselves and how they know if they need to call a professional to help them out.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:08:42    And that would be a PDF that would be of interest to a large majority of people who are on the fence about calling a roofer. They would download it, you get their email in exchange for that, and you can build a relationship with them. You know, maybe you also get their phone number, but at least you get their email. You can start building a relationship with them by email, reach out to them, have a, maybe a series of emails that’s going to go out in the next two weeks, say trying to convert them into a client or trying to get them to call you or whatever the easiest method in your cases. So by making sure that your CDAs are visible, the main CTA, always in the menu and the main CTA, always in the hero area. And sometimes you’re going to have the, again, you hear you’re trying to avoid creating confusion.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:09:34    So if you can have both the main CTA and the secondary CTA in the hero area, do it. If you can’t, then it’s not a problem. Just put the secondary CTA in the section immediately following the hero area. That’s something you’re going to have to discuss, to find out for yourself in your own particular situation, and always provide people with two calls to action, because, and you want to make it clear that if they’re not ready to get started with the main call to action, then they should go to the secondary call to action. I also highly suggest that you place the secondary call to action in an exit-intent popup. So that’s a popup that appears when somebody tries to exit or quit your website, place a, your secondary CTA there. And that may also help you grab a few people and their emails before they leave your website forever.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:10:34    So that’s the second key. Again, very important. Not many people do it. You should be doing it. The third key two-way successful website that sells is that throughout your homepage, you need to tell a story that shows a need and positions your product as the solution for that need. So how do you actually go about telling your story? Well, I like to think about four key elements that you have to include in pretty much every story that you tell, right? So there has to be a character. So you have to identify who you’re talking with and who is the, let’s say the hero of your story. You have to identify what problem they have and obviously what consequences that problem brings with it, including frustration and so on. You have to provide them with a solution to that problem or a plan that’s going to help them solve that problem.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:11:32    And you have to show them what success looks like once they apply the solution and solve the problem. So by taking each one of those four different areas, character problem, solution, and success, and building your copy around it in the format of telling a story, that’s going to be useful to one of your prospects is the most effective way to create your website. A story is one of the oldest ways that we use to communicate as human beings. It’s all so highly impactful. What I’m trying to say in this section with this third secret is that the story that you tell them should focus on them. You know, they are the hero of the story. You’re not the hero of the story. You know, many websites, they make the mistake of positioning the business as the hero, you know, and they say that the business is so great.

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:12:29    They’ve been in business for so long and whatever, and the customer doesn’t care. The customer is the hero of the story. So when you write this story throughout your website, made sure that the customer is positioned as the hero, because if that’s how it looks like, then they will feel that you understand them and they will read the story and they will be like, oh yeah, these guys, they actually get me. You know, they understand my pain, they understand my problem. And it seems like they have a solution that can help me get to the success that I already desire. That’s what you want them to say. Once they go through the copy on your website, starting with the promise at the top, which really summarizes the story and then going through the rest of the sections of your website, if you can do this, and if you make sure that your story stays focused on the customer and not on you or your business, then you’re going to see your sales increase massively as a result of your website.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:13:30    And this ties into the fourth key to a website that sells and that’s using credibility boosters throughout. So credibility boosters are any sort of proof that you can offer that your solution actually works and is going to solve their problem. So these include things like testimonials, accreditation’s past projects, case studies results, you ever obtained, anything of that nature that can showcase people that you know what you’re doing, and you can help them out. Credibility boosters also include affiliations that you may have, you know, maybe you’re a member of a certain organization. Maybe you have certain work experience that positions you as the perfect solution for them, whatever it is, you know, once you tell them the story and I mean, throughout the story, while you’re telling it to them, and when you introduce the solution, you have to prove to them that this solution actually works for people like them and can help solve their problem.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:14:39    And that’s what you’re trying to do. And one of the mistakes that I see very often on websites is that they actually ignore the credibility aspect. Look nowadays, especially online. There’s a lot of scams out there and a lot of people got burned at one point or another. They are inherently skeptical when it comes to what they see written on a website and recommendations that they see straight from the mouth of a business. So in order to solve that, you have to prove your credibility. You have to showcase that you actually know what you’re talking about and you can help them solve the problem. Exactly. As you say, that you can, and very effectively to do that is to integrate testimonials within your story. And sort of, if you can let your customers tell the story, you know, let your customers say how they’ve applied your solution and what the difference it made for them.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:15:45    If you can have video testimonials even better, you know, people trust basically the harder it is for somebody to give you a testimonial, the more people are going to trust it because the harder it is to fake it, right? So consider the difference between a written testimony and without a picture versus a testimonial with a picture versus a video testimonial, people are always going to trust video testimonials more because it’s harder to fake, right? There’s the actual video of the person. You hear them speaking, you see them speaking. There’s a lot of elements in there. So I always suggest if at all possible do have video testimonials, if for privacy reasons or whatever, you can have video testimonials, then go for text testimonials with images. You know, that’s what I recommend. Sometimes you may actually need to change the name of your customer, or maybe even the image, just agree with them, tell them, look, I want a testimonial from you and for what I’ve done for you understand that this may be somewhat sensitive for you.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:16:52    And for that reason, I’m happy to post your testimonial with, with a different name and even with a different company name, if they want and with a different image. And we’re going to mention that in a disclaimer and everything is going to be fine and you position it like that to them. And most people are going to say yes, absolutely. And you can go ahead and get a testimonial from them. Obviously, it’s not going to be impossible over video, but you’re still going to be able to showcase images and text for the testimonial. Even if you do use video, I would still showcase at least a quote from the video that’s significant and important because sometimes people don’t go through the hassle of playing the video. So if you have the video and a small quote underneath, you know, they can read the quote and they see there’s a video there and there it’s more than enough to convince most people. 

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:17:49    The other thing here with testimonials, obviously the laws differ from state to state. So just check with a lawyer, what laws you have to follow when you’re posting testimonials, what sort of agreements or, um, you have to get from people who are giving you testimonials, and then just follow that. So that’s secret number four, showcasing your credibility on your website. And it’s very important. And finally, secret number five to a website that sells is giving people a vision of what success looks like if at all possible. So here’s what I mean by that. You want to use a video or perhaps you want to visually show it through images, what success is going to look like for them. You know, if you going back to the relationship coach example, if you’re a relationship coach targeting recently divorced mothers looking to rebuild their life, you can show them with a partner, an image with a partner, for example, and showcase what the result looks like.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:18:57    Or you can even have, if your previous customers agree to it, you can have a testimonial from them where both the recently divorced woman and her new partner, they come on a video and they give a testimonial which showcases the, what success looks like. And it’s very important to help people create a vision of what success looks like. And the reason why is that creating a vision for it is what creates the desire for the product and what amplifies the desire. So if you create this tremendously wonderful vision that everybody wants, that’s lovely, that shows them how their life can be so much better. Then they’re all going to be interested to get that they’re going to have a much higher desire for it. Then if you don’t show it. And the thing here is that it’s not enough to tell people, you know, what success is going to look like.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:19:55    You also have to illustrate it. So images are extremely useful here as this video, you know, so if you have, for example, a physical product, let’s say that you have a physical product, that two drills, a certain type of material, and it drills that material, you know, better than, um, other materials. So it drills that material more easily than other drills. For example, then you ideally you’d take a video of how you drill using your drill bit, right, and how easy it is to do it. Maybe if the laws permit, you can even have a child using the drill bit to drill the hole, to show how easy it is or whatever is going to showcase it best. So, um, give a people a vision of what success looks like. That’s what I would say. Number five is, and a lot of people, they don’t do this.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:20:49    And then they wonder, you know, why do people come on my website? But for some reason, they don’t want what I have to sell for them. You know? And it’s because you haven’t built up their desire. You haven’t given them a vision that they want to live up to and that they want to make a reality in their lives. So those are the five keys to a website that sells. I’ll briefly summarize once again now at the end of the episode. So number one is to have a clear promise in the hero area, above the fold, which showcases, who you going to help, what problem you’re going to help them solve, and how the solution uses visible CTS throughout your page. And especially have one in the right-hand corner of your menu with the main CTA and inside your hero area, the main CTA, and maybe also secondary CTA and use the double CTA method, you know, offer people the main CTA to get started working with you or whatever your main CTA is, and then offer people an alternative.  

Tudor Dumitrescu     00:21:56    If they’re not ready to get on a call with you, what should they do? What would be good for them to do, put yourself in their shoes, ask yourself that question very often, this is a lead magnet that you give them in exchange for their email. And that way you don’t lose them forever. You can stay in touch with them through email, build a relationship and sell them later on that secret. Number two, secret number three, tells a story that shows a need and provides a solution for that need. And remember too, that your story must include character problem, solution, and success. And number four, use credibility, boosters, testimonials, case studies, social proof sprinkled throughout your homepage to showcase that you can actually in your solution can actually solve their problem and lead them to success. And number five, give people a vision through images or video and the like of what success actually looks like if this is at all possible for your product or service. So that’s today’s episode stay tuned for the next episode. And until next time, keep growing your business and providing massive value to the world. Remember you are the reason why we’re all growing richer or freedoms are expanding and we’re all living in greater prosperity. Thank you. And until next time