A consultant website serves as a source proving legitimacy and expertise for successful consultants. We’ve talked before about starting with the basics. (If you haven’t, go read this now, then come back!) A clean, engaging website helps position you as a leader in your industry so you can make a greater impact.
A successful consultant website includes 3 important things that many tend to overlook.
- Clean, organized navigation
- An end goal/purpose for the website (why have a website at all?)
- A clear purpose for each page of the site that supports the larger goal of the website
Clean, Organized Website Navigation
A few years ago everyone was being creative with their freelance job titles. This slipped over to naming website pages, too. You could visit a website and see pages like:
- Home
- Services/Work With Me
- Contact
- Musings
- Unique Thoughts,
- Today’s Tips
- Articles
- Blog
- News
- Annals
- Diary
- Journal
- Writings
- Some other creative name that wasn’t descriptive of what it was about
This did show some creativity and uniqueness. Yet, it was confusing to know what you’d find when you clicked on them!
Now, well-organized, professional websites have clear titles for pages in the main navigation menu. This makes it super simple for people to look for the information they need. Which, makes it easy for the visitor to learn more about what you can do for them and how they can connect with you. Simple as that.
An end goal in mind when creating the site (or What’s the purpose of having a consultant website?)
Many people know they want clients, so they think ‘I need a site.’ But it’s a little more complicated than that.
Building a website is so much more simple if you have a clear goal before even starting. Identify what you want to accomplish with a website. This helps set the purpose for each page. Having a purpose for each page makes writing the content for that page more simple. Creating a page around purposeful content supports that greater website purpose, too!
(Building a website with a purpose also makes showing up on social and using social alongside your website to grow your business so much easier!)
How do you set an end goal /purpose for your site?
Think about what you’re trying to do with your site. I’ve listed some common goals below. If you’ve heard of SMART goals, you’ll want these to be SMART. (Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Relevant. Time sensitive. I know some don’t subscribe to this goal ‘system’ but go ahead and read about some goals you can set for your consultancy. Maybe you already have ideas of how to break down some goals of your own?)
The curriculum, educational, and evaluation consultants I work with typically have one of three main goals:
- getting a prospect to schedule a call
- creating more word of mouth referrals (their site being a resource for those referrals to prove their expertise)
- building their email list so they can share more expertise.
A clear purpose for each page
Now that you know the overall goal for your website, you can start to think about how each page of your website will help support that goal. The trick here is to be working towards ONE goal for your website.
Here’s a simplified example of how each of the common website pages can support a main goal of scheduling a call by all leading to scheduling a call:
Home page – Your Home page explains your uniqueness. It has a call to action that directly supports that goal. (It links to your services page.)
Services page – Your services page describes your expertise, is clear, and concise. It’s easy to read with headings and short paragraphs. The call to action supporting the goal of scheduling a call with a link to scheduler app.
About page – Your About page shares a little of your background, training and published works. It includes an introduction to the evaluation methods you use in your work. It describes how you approach projects differently. It includes a call to action taking the visitor to the services page.
Contact page – The contact page includes a link to your scheduler for a free 15 minute consult call. It may include a section listing highlighted blog posts for people not ready to schedule a call.
A successful website for a consultant includes three main things. It’s one built with clean, clearly organized navigation. It’s built with one end goal in mind, and with each page of the site supporting that end goal.
Of course, there are other things a successful consultant website should include. There are also other goals to consider for your own website. We’ll tackle those another time!
Next Steps:
Do you have a website that needs a little help? Or are you looking for some help in setting a goal for your new consultant website? Let’s connect! Hop on my calendar for a no-pressure, no-selling free 15 minute call. Let’s get you unstuck and online with a website that works for you and your consulting business.
Not sure where to start, but don’t think you’re ready for a chat? This Fool Proof Content Planner may help!
