Building Brand On Your Professional Website

A web site built for an independent professional, the folks we call advisors, consultants, coaches, counselors, trainers, designers, artists, and freelancers of all types, is not like a product site. Professionals may have an “alphabet stew” of credentials and certifications after their names but the essence is that they see themselves as experts. They want you to view them the same way.

They may have trained to develop a skill or earn their certification. They may have worked in industry and developed a working knowledge in an area you can’t fathom. You may not be able to see the world in the way they do and have come to believe your vision is flawed. You may have tried your hand at their specialty and found yourself lacking.

In simple terms, you have problem and need their capabilities.

The process your prospects go through just to get to your web site:

• Realize they have a problem

• Query friends and colleagues about solutions

• Google the names they are given

• Check out referrals on Linked In (and other social media)

• Look at your web site

What your clients/ patients/customers are looking for

In a word, they want a solution.

Before you even begin building a web site you need to decide who you are going to work with. You need to get the physical and psychographic description of your target prospect in your mind. Some people call this avatar your “ideal client.” No matter what you call them you need their answer to this question:

“When it comes to (service you offer) what is the single biggest challenge, frustration or question you’ve been struggling with?”

It is easier if you are already in business. You can ask the clients you have been successful with what brought them to you. Listen carefully. Sometimes you can pluck words out of their comments that resonate with others like them.

Here are examples drawn from my files:

“The Defogger” for a management consultant drawn from a testimonial comment noting how he brought clarity to a situation when others could not.

“When you can’t afford to lose” for a negotiator. This phrase was repeated in multiple interviews with clients selling their businesses. It resonated with every prospect we tried it on.

“Leading Change That Matters” for a Singapore based organization that manages change for countries and multinationals. We recommended that they change the name of the new offices from America to Americas because of the greater number of prospects. This descriptor has now been adopted for Asia and Africa.

How to structure your professional web site

1. Make it easy to get into but full of information if they want to know more. Use the language you’ve garnered in interviews and reviews of testimonials to quickly identify the problem you help them solve. Here’s the desktop opening panel to my consulting home page for example:

3. Use distinctive photos and videos to provide a graphic boost to the site. Photos are more powerful graphics when combined with the words you elicited. They are always stronger than icons and cartoons. Here is a clip of a home page for a successful client. She put a welcome video right up front. The phone number is on the navigation bar. there is a revolving list of kudos, an offer and a way to sign up for the blog. But notice the copy. It paints a word picture of her “ideal client.”

4. Use their language to explain your services in bullets first. This will allow your prime prospects to determine if you have a specialty they can use to solve their problem. Here’s an example from my client files:

"When you can't afford to lose"

6. Make your calls to action obvious. Don’t pussyfoot around! Tell them what you want t hem to do or direct them to the additional information they want. Make their next steps obvious. Here’s an example from my professional speaking site:

7. Never rest on your laurels. The internet is morphing as you read this. Your prospects are growing and changing. You have to stay dialed into what they are saying today and tomorrow. Listen. Adapt your site. Check to be sure it is working. Change it again. The objective is to make it better with each change.

And so it goes…

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His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development for independent professionals on and off-line.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com
DIY Training: www.ingomu.com