Today we are talking all about the keys to having a high converting website with Elizabeth McCravy. Elizabeth McCravy is an experienced web design professional, podcast host, and business coach. Her vision is to help business owners highlight their value and show off their skills through a strategic, unique, and high-converting website.
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Meet Elizabeth McCravy
Elizabeth McCravy believes that smart strategy combined with plenty of personality leads to a thriving business. As a web designer, podcast host, and business coach, she spends her days designing gorgeous, strategic website templates from her home in Nashville and shares all her business strategy tips and tricks on her show – the Breakthrough Brand Podcast.
She’s helped over 700 business owners highlight their value and show off their skills through her library of beautifully designed and easily customizable website templates, and she’s on a mission to help every entrepreneur create a strategic, personality-filled website.
Elizabeth is a Showit Top Designer and a go-to resource for the online business community. When she’s not teaching or designing, you can find her binging Law and Order: SVU, putting her certified yoga-teacher skills to work, or nose-deep in the latest mystery novel.
What are some of the key elements to having a high converting website?
Elizabeth starts off by defining a high converting website. She states that a high converting website is a website where people visit and take the steps and actions that you want them to take (ie: filling out an info form, reading your blog, purchasing something, etc.).
From there, she continues by highlighting the first keys steps to having a high converting website:
1 – Have a very solid brand statement.
A brand statement is the first big block of text someone reads on the homepage of a website (it usually comes after the logo and navigation sections).
Elizabeth empathizes that this is the first thing people read on a website. People need to read that statement and understand 3 things: that they are in the right place, know what you offer, and know if you can solve their problem.
Building on that, Elizabeth says that this statement should be strong, clear, and concise. People have very short attention spans and naturally skim read. We should take this into consideration when designing our websites and writing our brand statements.
Elizabeth then gives some quick tips for writing your brand statement:
- Use plain and simple language.
- Make it aspirational (your ideal client should read it and think yes, that’s what I need, perfect).
- Do not use industry jargon.
- Content should include: what you do, who you serve, and why it’s unique/the transformation you’re putting people through.
2 – Include a call to action directly under the brand statement.
Moving on to her second key to a high converting website, Elizabeth says it’s imperative to have a call to action button linking them straight to the action you want them to do (a freebie, free training, or straight to your service or contact page). This call to action button should be front and center.
Making sure this call to action is front and center will easily guide users through the website experience and help them easily understand what you offer.
Elizabeth summarizes by saying that making sure you have a solid brand statement/vision and a straightforward call to action, will guide the rest of your business/website. You can always update later but doing this first thing will help you keep your brand consistent across the board.
What advice do you give to those biz owners who are auditing/updating their businesses for the new year?
To answer this question, Elizabeth reminds us that there are a few key elements of a website that you should always remember to update in the New year!
1 – The copy in the footer.
You will often have the date here, make sure it is current! Along those same lines, update any language that highlights a period of time (ie: ‘We have been in business for 5 years.’).
Elizabeth says that it is generally best practice to avoid using that type of language because it’s much less upkeep! She suggests that if you do have this language, set yourself reminders to update it! Making sure these tiny details are up to date goes a long way in making your website seem more credible, reliable, and professional.
2 – Add in new testimonials.
Elizabeth says this does not need to be difficult or complex, just sit down for 20 min and add in stronger and newer testimonials!
3 – Change out your photos.
Elizabeth suggests updating the photos on your website for the New Year! Even just substituting in extra photos that you haven’t used before will make sure your website stays looking fresh and current.
4 – Update your example client work (case studies).
Elizabeth calls on all designers, photographers or anyone with a portfolio, to make sure you are adding to that. Ideally, this is done throughout the year, but giving it a refresh for the New Year is also a great idea!
Elizabeth says setting aside just an hour or two to update these few elements of your website will make all the difference for users on your site.
What advice would you give to entrepreneurs trying to build unique and personalized websites to themselves, their brand and their business?
Elizabeth says her best advice is not to copy other people’s websites just because you like their success and their business. She states that this will leave business owners with a website that people may look at and say, “Oh cool, this looks like so-and-so’s website.” But does not allow for the conversation to go any farther than that!
Instead, she challenges listeners to gather inspiration from other websites by asking themselves some insightful questions: What do I specifically like about this website? Do I like the brand/owner and their success or do I actually like the design elements of the website? What specific elements do I want to implement into my website and why? What would these elements contribute to my brand?
Elizabeth continues by giving viewers a money-saving alternative to having a custom website built out immediately. She says that you can use a customizable website template to create a personalized and adaptable web design.
She assures us these templates won’t look like cookie-cutter websites that a million other people have. Rather, templates allow business owners to update their sites easily and inexpensively. She says this is an important element to look for when building your business because your website is able to evolve with you.
She ends by saying that once you have your brand, offers, and company image solidified for the long run, then you can bring in a customer web designer to build out a full website. Giving your business time to evolve with a website template, will make you confident in your investment in a custom design and drastically decrease the number of edits and updates you need to make to it down the road.
What are some common mistakes you see biz owners make on their websites and how can these issues be remedied?
In response to this question, Elizabeth says that not including links to your social media on your website is the #1 mistake she sees business owners make!
She emphasizes the importance of this practice by saying that people want to ‘hang out’ with business owners on their turf and social media is the way they do this. It’s an app that they are familiar with. When they click over to the company/owner profile, it’s the same format as their profile which gives them the confidence to click around and explore more than they immediately will on a website.
She advises listeners to always have their social media linked at least in the footer of their websites.
What do you like about Showit? What are some features you would highlight?
When asking about Showit, Elizabeth states that she has been a long-time advocate for Showit! This is the platform she uses to build her websites and templates. She starts by stating their best feature overall is that if you can see it, you can change it (including with their templates).
She elaborates by saying that this feature allows users to really cater any aspect of a website to their personal brand and business. And not only can you change the features, but Showit is very user friendly and makes changing these features very simple.
She gives a couple of examples to highlight this flexibility!
First, you are able to easily change out the entire color scheme of a website in seconds!
Second, Showit has a very customizable mobile view. She highlights the fact that over half of all website viewers come from mobile users! Being able to customize this view so freely allows you to easily portray your brand image and offers no matter what view you are in.
Elizabeth re-emphasizes that, with Showit, you have a lot of creative control over your site without having to go back to a creator or a designer any time you want updates. This gives business owners the confidence they need to let their business and image evolve.
If you’re ready to start creating your high converting website, connect with Elizabeth by checking out the links below!
LINKS MENTIONED
Check Out Elizabeth’s Podcast!
Check Out Elizabeth’s ASAP Freebie!
Check Out Elizabeth’s 11 Headlines Freebie!
CONNECT WITH ELIZABETH MCCRAVY
Check Out Elizabeth’s Website!
Connect With Elizabeth On Instagram!
Check Out Elizabeth’s Template Shop!
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Keys To A High Converting Website With Elizabeth McCravy
December 14, 2022
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