Some of the really valuable insights that I teach inside the Modern Marketing Collective centre around four types of content that every business needs. These are connection, credibility, value and promotion, and today I’m talking about how to apply each of these specifically to your website.

Understanding these four categories will be super helpful for everything marketing related, from posting on Instagram and creating your newsletter to how you structure your offerings and content across your entire business. 

CONNECTION 

Connection is all about building loyalty and likeability. Research shows that 86% of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support. This means that it’s really important to show people who you are so they can see who is behind the business. 

The ‘About’ page is one of the most visited pages of websites, which gives you an opportunity to bring yourself into your brand and build connection with your audience. If you haven’t already, make sure you include a photo of yourself and tell people a little bit about what you value. This is one of the amazing benefits that small business has, as opposed to larger corporations, because you can really build your unique personality into the business. 

CREDIBILITY 

Building trust is huge when it comes to building community and ultimately, making sales. 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone that they don’t even know, which means that

awards, testimonials, case studies, reviews, and media features are really, really powerful. 

You might already have some of these included on your website, and if you don’t, start gathering some of these items and start weaving them throughout your website. You can get quite intentional and specific here in terms of boosting your credibility when it comes to the different pages on your website. For example, I have podcast reviews and statistics on the ‘Podcast’ page on my website, which helps build credibility for my show. 

VALUE

This category is all about understanding how to craft your message and make it crystal clear the transformation you offer, the problems you solve and the solutions you provide to your audience. Think about how you can showcase the value that your business brings.

Messaging is absolutely key because it’s something you apply everywhere, from social media to emails, your bio, your website content. Establishing the right messaging can be a challenge, but when you are able to simplify and break it down to make it really clear, your audience will know exactly what you are offering and how you can help them.  

PROMOTION

I like to think of selling as an invitation and this is something you should absolutely be including all throughout your website. Don’t have any dead ends on your website! 

Be really intentional about what pages you are linking people to. What is the next step in their customer journey? Make it really clear and explicit through your language and also the layout of your website. 

Your services and offerings aren’t going to be for everyone, but by crafting a website that truly shows who you are, what you are offering and exactly how you can help people, you are setting the scene to help build trust and the demand for what you have to offer.

LINKS: 

Apply to join the Elevate Business Retreat here! 

Check out Emma Troy’s Showit templates here, and use my affiliate code VIPEMILY for $100 off your purchase. 

Previous episodes mentioned:

• The Four Types of Content Every Business Needs
• How to create a high converting website in 2023 with Emma Troy
• 9 elements of a high converting opt-in page

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[00:00:00] Emily: Welcome back to the show. I hope that you are so, so well. Today I’m talking to you about really how to improve your website when it comes to the type of content you wanna think about having on there. And I actually recorded a podcast episode way back when I first started my podcast. It was episode number 16, and it was about the four types of content that every business needs.

[00:01:14] So you might wanna actually go back and listen to that one for an overview of content for your business, for your marketing. And in this episode, I’m applying those four types of content categories that I teach and share about to your website specifically. Now before we get into all the juicy tips, I want to remind you, well, actually, I wanna let you know that applications have just opened to the Elevate Business Retreat.

[00:01:41] So applications have just opened. Now the Elevate Business Retreat is a retreat I offer exclusively to my beautiful, amazing, wonderful, smart members of the modern marketing collective. But I wanna let you know about it just in case it peaks your curiosity and your interest. Now, the retreat is an amazing, magical, wonderful, immersive few days away from, well, the day-to-day of life of working in your business of the distractions, the busyness, the getting stuff done. To step away from that and to be in a beautiful place and space around myself and a group of eight other business owners, all women, to immerse yourself in ideas and strategy, talks and thinking and dreaming up the next level of your business. 

[00:02:45] To take part in workshops that I run and design and curate, especially for this retreat, to be part of a hot seat where you get to ask and receive feedback on that area of business or areas that you would most like to have helpful advice from people that aren’t necessarily in as close to your business as you are, to hear what perhaps I would do or I would suggest, as well as the other very smart, amazing businesswoman at the retreat. And to really step away and walk away from the retreat with a deeper sense of understanding who you are as an entrepreneur, as a person and to structure, refine, restructure your business in a way that really serves you best. 

[00:03:39] So applications are now open and we have a few coming in already, so you might wanna hop over pretty fast to go ahead and get yours in. You can go to emilyosmond.com/business-retreat, find out all the details, the dates of the 11th through the 13th of October, 2023. The location is in regional Victoria, a gorgeous town called Trentham that’s here in Australia. And uh, I think that’s kinda the key details to know you can go ahead and see the different pricing options. I have an early bird price that is available until the end of June if there are place still available at that point too.

[00:04:16] you can go ahead and put your application in, which is just telling me really like a little bit about you, your business, what you’d like to get out of the retreat so I can let you know if I think it’s gonna be a really good decision for you. alrighty. So that’s that. Now let’s get into this episode.

[00:04:30] So I wanna set the picture here by sharing with you the four types of content that I teach that is super, super helpful for you to structure your content, your marketing, all of the things around, whether it’s your Instagram, whether it’s your email marketing, whether it’s your bio, how you structure things.

[00:04:55] And in this episode we’re looking at how you bring these four types of content categories onto your website specifically. Now as you are listening to this episode, and if you feel as though you’d like a hand with your website, if you know it’s time you actually created one. If maybe you know that your current website is all outdated and not really representing how you would like your business to be seen, if you don’t really have the budget, perhaps, do you have a website custom made or you don’t really wanna go down that route?

[00:05:23] Or if you just don’t really have the expertise, the skills, or the time to build on yourself from scratch, then I have something for you. So my wonderful website designer, Emma Troy, creates the most amazing websites. They’re designed on a platform called Show It. And uh, I really find that it’s such a great one for the most beautiful esthetic designs.

[00:05:44] So a few years ago, I came across Emma Troy. She came recommended to me. I’d seen some of her websites that she created and contacted her. I bought one of her templates and she customised it for my business. And Emma has offered you as listeners and people in my community, A special on her template so you can go ahead and explore them.

[00:06:05] And if you would like to buy one, you can enter the code VIPEMILY to enjoy $100 off Emma’s templates. So you can head along now to emmatroy.com.au/shop. You’ll also find the link with this podcast too, and go ahead and explore the beautiful templates that are designed to convert really well as wow. And like I said, just enter the code VIPEMILY to enjoy a hundred dollars off. 

[00:06:36] Alrighty. So the four types of content you wanna be thinking about for your website is number one, connection. Number two, credibility, number three, value, and number four, promotion. So what do I mean by these? And then we’ll get into how you can apply them to your website.

[00:06:51] So number one, connection is really how you build loyalty and likability. And research shows that 86% of consumers say that authenticity is a really key factor when deciding what brands they like and support. So pretty much all of us, I would argue, say that authenticity is just like so important when we decide what businesses we want to buy from, what brands we would like to work with.

[00:07:18] So how can this come across on your website? So often I will go to someone’s about page on their website and I want to see a photo of them. I want to see who is behind this amazing small business that I have just found. I want to hear a little bit about them, what they care about, what matters to them. I want to see their face and I want to read what their name is.

[00:07:44] I wanna understand what their name is. So a little checklist here for you. First of all, do you have an about page? And I’m pretty sure the about page is one of the most visited pages off websites. So make sure that you have one there, if it suits and makes sense for your business, and then check, do you actually introduce yourself on your website?

[00:08:03] Do you have a photo of yourself? If that feels good to you, do you have your name on there? And often I might see if that isn’t About Page, it might kind of talk about the business. And this business was created on this date and is a little bit of the background of the business, but it’s very anonymous around who is behind the business.

[00:08:24] And I think that as small business owners, it’s such an opportunity for us to build that connection when other of the bigger brands, the corporates, they can’t really do that so easily. And so take this opportunity to bring yourself into your brand and into your website and really build on that connection piece with your audience.

[00:08:43] Just further on that note is that when you were thinking about writing the copy for your website, you may like to consider again, if it makes sense for you in your business to use “I” instead of “we”. So you might like to say, ” I really care about”, or “I offer this” instead of “we”, if it is really you as the solo business owner or the main person in your business.

[00:09:08] That’s something that I generally do through my marketing on my website, through my emails, through my social media, is use the term “I”, because it just makes sense. I’m the person that is really leading this business and the main person that also interact with as well. 

[00:09:24] Okay, so we’ve looked at connection. Two is credibility. And credibility is really about building trust. Now 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone that they don’t even know. And what this tells us is that things like awards, testimonials, case studies, reviews, even media features are really, really powerful. And these are basically having other people or other organisations endorse and recommend us. So first step here is if you don’t actually have any testimonials or reviews, recommendations, case studies, or any awards or media that you’ve been featured in, you may like to start collecting these. And secondly, seeing as we’re talking about how you have these on your website, Is, are these visible on your website?

[00:10:22] Now, you might have these on your homepage somewhere. Maybe it’s a as seen in section and you have logos of different media that you’ve been featured in. You may have some photos of you holding awards. And hey, how about an idea that you have that on your about page too. You can double up there having the photo of you and you holding your awards.

[00:10:40] you may have a feature in your, maybe it’s on the footer of your website. Maybe it’s on those key pages that you actually have some testimonials, some case studies. You may even bring in photos of those people, of those clients, of those students that have, shared some lovely words about you. So weaving this through your website.

[00:11:00] Now, also, you may consider having some of these testimonials on your Offers pages, talking about how people have, had really amazing results from those different offerings, those different services, products, programs that you offer, and I actually spoke about this in last week’s episode, looking at your opt-in page and the potential, have a testimonial there around just the benefits and the amazing experience that someone has had with that opt-in that they receive from you.

[00:11:30] So look at how you can weave these in to different elements of your website. For instance, on my page which is talking about my podcast on my website, I actually have reviews of people of my podcast. So you can see how you can get quite specific here in terms of boosting your credibility when it comes to the different pages on your website.

[00:11:51] And a little other thing here is something I didn’t mention with the credibility is numbers and stats. So for instance, on my podcast page, I also have the number of countries that it’s listened to in, or that this podcast is listened to in. I think I’ve got the number of reviews, of what number stars the reviews are.

[00:12:11] I could even have how many years I’ve been publishing the podcast for. So just different numbers that help to show that, been around a while, you’ve got some credibility there, you’ve had some great wins. And looking how you can weave these in across your website to really boost your credibility and just let your people know that yes, you know what you’re doing, you have some expertise and here are some other people or places or media or companies that back that up.

[00:12:36] Okay, number three is value. Now, when I talk about value, I really mean. What is in this for your audience? So when you’re sharing your social media, you wanna think about bringing value to your audience. When you are thinking about your website, I want you to think about really showcasing the value that your business brings to your customers and making sure this is really, really clear. Like messaging can be one of the hardest things. It’s one of the modules in the Modern marketing collective, and it’s actually one of the shorter modules, but I say to my students, this is one of the hardest ones. Because messaging is a bit of a craft and a bit of a science and it’s can be pretty tricky cuz we’re so close to our own business just to simplify it and break it down. 

[00:13:24] Now this is something I want you to think about when it comes to your website, and by the way, in the collective we look at your messaging because it’s so key, because it’s something that you apply everywhere. Like I’m talking about today, on your website, on your social media handles, through your content, in your bio, all of the touchpoints, and it’s also something that you’re likely going to be updating as your business and your office and your own interests evolve.

[00:13:49] So you may wanna do a bit of a check here on your website is it up to date in terms of the value that you bring, the transformation that you offer, the problems that you solve, the solutions that you provide. All these different ways of looking at how to craft your message and the value you bring to your audience.

[00:14:06] And if not, how can you make it so clear and simplify it and make sure that it’s represented across your website? Often the place here to have it would be in the opening section of your website. So when people land on your website homepage, that might be a great spot to have it then as well on your different pages for your offerings, you would want to think about how it’s represented there, and again, in really that first section so people know is it for them or is it not for them too.

[00:14:32] Now, also, when it comes to the value that you have to offer in your business and to your customers, I often say to my students, and we have a workshop on this in the collective as well actually by Emma Troy, who I mentioned earlier in this episode, who has the most amazing website templates. but around really structuring your website to be really high converting and looking at mapping out your offerings on there to make it really, really clear.

[00:14:59] So “this is for you if”…” this one is for you, if”. And making it really, really crystal clear and logical as to what problems your different offers solve. Now, you may have heard me talk previously about your different offerings, and I call this your offer ecosystem, and I do have a bias to keeping this really, really simple to having maybe an introductory offer for people to get a taster of working with you, a signature offer that you build your business around, and then a V I P offer. That might be a great next step or more intimate offering for the people that already love you and love to work with you. again, I actually have a whole training and module on this in the Modern Marketing Collective, but I’ve just given you a little overview of what that looks like.

[00:15:45] So when you are looking at your value and what you have to offer in representing this on your website, again, this might be how you present your different offerings and make them really clear, really simple. Break them down into those three things you might have them displayed as those three different offerings across your homepage, each of them linking to that page about that particular offer and the problem it solves, who it’s for, the value that it brings.

[00:16:10] So I hope that kind of just helps you maybe visualise how you can display information on your website. Okay. Let’s move to the last one here, which is Promotion, and I’ve just touched on this a little bit too, but promotion is really how people can buy from you, what exactly it is that you sell.

[00:16:31] Now, my little tip for you here is to have lots and lots of invitations across your website, and I really call promotion and selling. It’s really an invitation. You’re only ever going to have a very small percentage of people who buy from you in your audience. So for instance, you’ll have a lot of people that may visit your website relative to the number of people that are actually going to buy any one time.

[00:16:56] So when do you know that? I think it just helps give permission or awareness even that your ever only going to have a small percentage of people buy and that’s normal. So you just keep putting yourself out there and keep inviting people and keep letting that invitation be there knowing that you are just doing it for those percentage of people, that small group of people that are ready to buy now.

[00:17:17] And I think it just helps normalise as well. Building up that demand over time, knowing that when you put something out there, It is not going to be everyone in your audience that buys right now, but you are setting the scene and letting people know and helping people build the trust and the desire and that demand for what you have to offer.

[00:17:39] Okay, so when it comes to promotion across your website, we wanna make sure you have lots and lots of invitations. So Emma and I, I’m pretty sure we chatted about this in the episode, a couple of episodes back around creating a high converting website, but making sure that there aren’t, I call them dead ends, and I talk about this through your content not having dead ends through your content.

[00:17:58] For instance, the end of social media posts. Don’t just end without giving people an invitation of what to do, whether that’s to comment and engage, whether that’s to jump over and grab your lead magnet, or whether that’s to go ahead and get in touch with you or buy something that you have to offer.

[00:18:12] And it’s the same thing around not having dead ends on your website. So on your homepage, where are you linking people to? Is there links through to those offerings that you have? Are there links through to get your lead magnet, on your about page, knowing that that could well be one of the most visited pages on your websites, where would you like people to go to next?

[00:18:33] Also as well, thinking about on your website if you think that people or your experience that people may have some questions that pop up as they are reading, even invitations for people to reach out and get in touch with you and ask you on my page about my core offer, the modern marketing collective, I have details. Hey, if you’ve got any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and email this email address. So even letting people know what they can do if they’re not ready to take that main step that you have for them. But what might be a great step in the meantime or a way that they can get help, ask questions, have support too, is a nice way to think about things as well.

[00:19:09] Now I also want you to think about what is that next step for people. So if you have displayed your services, and remember how I spoke a little bit about ordering your offers, making them super, super clear for people to understand each of those different defined offerings that you have. And this might be something that you’re building in your business as you go.

[00:19:27] I know that I definitely didn’t start there when I started my business. but okay, what is the next step for them? Is it to go ahead and book a chat with you? Is it to go ahead and submit a inquiry form? Is it to submit an application and making sure that you have, maybe it’s like a really nice, clear, bright button so people know.

[00:19:47] Click here to apply or book a chat really explicitly letting people know what the next thing for them to do is what that next step is. For instance, I mentioned at the side of this episode that my retreat is now open for applications, and at the bottom of that page, I have a bright orange button that says, because there’s something like a click here to apply or apply now, making it really, really obvious for people visually through the language that you use and with multiple places too.

[00:20:18] And if you have quite a long page about one of your offers or quite a long sales page, think about whether it would make sense for you to have those buttons multiple times down that page as well as people are reading and they’re like, oh yeah, I’m so ready to do this, that they don’t have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page too.

[00:20:35] So that is an overview of how to apply these four types of content to your website specifically. I love kind of looking at the different ways that we can take this same framework of the connection, the credibility, the value, and the promotion, and really filter the way that you are marketing through this framework. So I hope that was helpful for you. I could probably talk on and on and look at all different, even more areas of your website, but let’s keep it concise. I will wrap it up there don’t forget as well that if you would like a hand to have maybe your website updated. You know that you just don’t have the time or the skills right now to be able to create your own website from scratch.

[00:21:19] Maybe you don’t have the budget, or you just don’t really want to go ahead and hire someone to design your own website from scratch too. And you think that a template might be a brilliant way for you to get your hands on a really intentionally designed, Website framework for you then to make your own with your own images, your own copy your own colors, your own branding then you may well like to check out Emma Troy, who is a exceptional designer. She specialises in, Show it. I think she’s a recognised partner with Show it or something too. It’ll be on her website. But you can go to emmatroy.com.au/shop or just Google, Emma Troy. Jump over, check out her templates and if you would like to buy one, then you can make the most of my affiliate code being a proud affiliate for Emma, having worked with her myself for the last few years.

[00:22:08] So you can enter VIPEMILY to enjoy a hundred dollars off her templates. All right, that is it from me, and I will speak with you really, really soon. Bye.