How To Build a Website With a Story That Converts
- Pam K, Founder
- October 27, 2022
- Max 5min read
Introduction
Take a deep breath. Don’t let that title stress you out. I know how intimidating phrases like “build a website” and “story that converts” can sound.
If you’re like most of our clients, you don’t want to have to deal with technical jargon or the pains of researching the nitty gritty of high-converting websites. You just want to focus on helping your customers and that’s why we’ve written this guide which will break down exactly how to build a website with a story that converts.
If you’ve spent way too much time or money (or both) on designing and building a new website only to find out it isn’t converting your visitors or that it has a high bounce rate, then this article is for you.
The Idea Behind a Story for Your Brand
STOP SELLING! Now that sounds like stupid advice but hear me out… Specifically, I mean stop selling until you do something else first.
Do what? I call it transforming the thinking of your prospect, that is the visitors on your website.
Why is this important? Because words are what really sell. Words are what turns a visitor from having the belief that says “I can’t get the result that I want” into a “Yes! Sign me up right now!”. Words are what transform thinking.
How so? Of course a visually appealing website is necessary because first impressions count, but more importantly, the words that your prospect reads on your website needs to make them feel like you understand their needs.
This is our secret recipe to crafting a successful brand message that delivers results.
What is a Brand Story?
A brand’s story is brand messaging used in marketing that is proven to generate results.
Story-based marketing has been used for quite some time now. You will notice, for example, websites built with brandscript based on the Storybrand 7-part framework.
While we can’t give away the details of our secret recipe for crafting a brand story, we are going to help you understand what type of messaging works for businesses and the five strategies you can implement today.
We’ll also show you some examples of websites which use story-based marketing and why it is important for you if you want to build a high-converting website that converts more visitors to leads and sales.
Step 1. Clarify and Use a Consistent Brand Message
Your business deserves to be heard loudly and clearly. The only way your prospects will want to buy what you are selling is if they know how your business can help them.
Business owners who can’t tell a prospect in five seconds or less what their business can do for them and how they can help them are destined for failure.
Why? Because they didn’t spend the time thinking about crafting their message in a way that speaks to their audience. I have seen one too many businesses fail due to a lack of clarity in what they can do to help their prospects. Your prospects want to know how it is you can help them to solve their problem.
Where should you use your brand message? Everywhere and anywhere you have written copy about your business – from your social media channels to your website to your email and SMS marketing campaigns.
This is an example of a clear and concise brand message by Zoe Facility Services.
Step 2. Focus on the Problem You Solve
Without a problem that you can help to solve, your business may as well not exist.
Why is defining a problem so important? Because the different prospects who visit your website may be facing different hurdles.
Because different businesses help solve different problems for their customers, and without defining and reminding them of the problem (or problems) you solve, they will not resonate with what your brand provides as a solution.
So how do you craft website content that focuses on the prospect’s problem? By elaborating on how not solving their problem is going to inhibit them from achieving their goals or living the life that they want. By showing them what is at stake if they do not solve the problem that you can help solve them.
Here is another great example by Zoe Facility Services on the problems they solve for their customers.
Step 3. Be the Guide, Not the Hero
So how do you write a clear and consistent brand story so the conversion becomes frictionless and easy? Definitely not by telling them how great you are.
Why not? Because people generally care only about how they are going to solve their own problems, especially when they are specifically looking for a business that will help them do just that.
“But doesn’t my experience and expertise count?”, I can hear you say. Sure it does! But if the copy on your website solely relies on you telling your visitors how great you are, you’re not going to convert those prospects into leads and sales.
So what do you need to do to convert your visitors? Think about your messaging through the lens of a guide instead of the hero.
Who is the hero of the story? Your customers of course … and you will be the guide who will lead them through the customer journey in order to solve their problems. Add a dash of authority and compassion or empathy throughout your messaging while positioning yourself as the guide and voila! You have yourself a new customer.
The following is an example of a business’s guide by Stark Smiles.
Step 4. Have a Clear Call to Action
What is a call to action? A CTA is an action you want your prospects to take which tells them how to do business with you.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is not having enough CTAs and sometimes not having a CTA at all!
Why wouldn’t you want to have a call to action? Now, I realise that it isn’t always easy to ask your prospects or customers to buy your product or service but look at this way – you are selling them a product or service which is going to HELP them solve their problem!
What is the best way to write a direct call to action? By using active action-oriented words and phrases. Too many business websites use passive phrasing and words which don’t work such as “Learn More” or “Discover Our Services”.
Why do passive CTAs not work? Because people don’t move into mystery. They move into taking action which they know is going to immediately help them solve their problem!
Here’s an example: which of the following two questions would you be more likely to respond to definitely – “can I show you more?” or “when do you want to book in for your consultation?” ?
Pro Tip:
Avoid “yes” or “no” questions like the plague.
Here’s another great example by Stark Smiles of a clear and concise call to action.
Step 5. Have a Plan and Lay It Out Clearly
Plan, what plan? Plans which serve the purpose of showing your customers how you will help them solve their problems if they decide to do business with you. While not the same thing as a CTA, they serve a similar purpose of guiding your prospect to take action.
How so? Your plan informs your prospect, in a clear and concise manner, of how easy the process will be after they decide to purchase your product or service.
Need an example? Plans should have three to four steps at the most to avoid being confusing or uninformative. Here’s one example by Zoe Facility Services.
Conclusion
There you have it – five strategies on how to build a website with a story that converts prospects to leads.
Now all you need to do is take action now and get your high-converting website designed and built with website copy and marketing strategies that deliver results!
See what I did there? 🙂
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