One of your most important tools as a professional speaker is your website. They’re not just “online business cards” these days. If done correctly, your website can be a highly-targeted sales tool that not only gets you speaking gigs, but also helps you establish credibility and build a community of people interested in your area of expertise.
Here are six great ways to make your professional speaker website stand out from the crowd.
1. Does It Fit Your Personality?
Sure, it’s easy to buy one of those one-size-fits-all, looks-just-like-everybody-else’s templates, but wouldn’t it be great if your website told your story at first glance? What does your personality look & feel like? How do you want to be perceived by potential clients? Your site design, color scheme, and content should perfectly reflect who you are.
2. Lots of Testimonials
It’s a huge turn-off when somebody goes around bragging about how great THEY are, isn’t it? So, let your happy clients tell the story for you! Encourage them to share very specific, measurable examples of how you’ve helped them. Display your testimonials in a variety of formats on your site — video, audio, and written.
3. Easy-to-Find Contact Info & Social
Crazy as it may sound, having clear and easy-to-find contact info and social media links on EVERY page isn’t as common as you might think. Potential clients want to find you… so, make it easy!
4. Very Simple Navigation
A website visitor should only have to click two times at the most to reach ANY piece of info on your website. Why? The length of our attention span while online can literally be measured in milliseconds. If a potential buyer can’t get to what they need quickly & without having to think too hard, they won’t hesitate to leave your site.
5. ONE Call-to-Action per Page
Each individual web page or blog post should have a goal… perhaps it’s to sell a product… maybe it’s to encourage a CEO to contact you… perhaps it’s simply to ‘click for details.’ The clearer & more specific the call-to-action, the better. If we don‘t give people a next step, they’ll do nothing.
6. Niche-focused Content
This might feel counter-intuitive, but the SMALLER your niche, the BIGGER your potential client base. (What?!) It’s true. It’s all about being perceived as an EXPERT in our industry.
BONUS TIP!
(This is me, getting onto my soapbox!) When the time comes to create your professional speaker website, be sure to work with somebody who is focused 100% on the speaking industry. Most designers out there don’t specialize in speaker sites.
Admittedly, many have crazy-low prices, but you end up paying significantly more later in hosting fees, malware removal services, or simply to fix certain functionalities that shouldn’t be broken in the first place. Then, of course, there are those few developers who OVERcharge. (OY! Don’t get me started!)
Bottom line… just choose a developer who specializes in high-quality websites for professional speakers… who isn’t scary-cheap or crazy-expensive… and who can create a unique site that helps you establish credibility, get found, and get hired. (…climbing off my soapbox.) 🙂
Known by some in the speaking industry as “the Butterfly Herder,” Cynthia works closely with emerging professional speakers as they grow from speaking as a hobby to getting paid to speak full-time. In addition to creating websites for professional speakers, she consults in the areas of online presence & credibility, public relations, and content & product creation. Visit her website at www.SpeakerWebsites.com.
Love your advice. How did you get so wise?? You are not even that old!!!
Awwww… thanks a bunch, Dave! 🙂 I love this stuff!