6 Things You Need For A Strategic Website

You may have heard this from us before, but launching a successful brand and website is much more than just having pretty design. YES, we can really get into the fonts and colors and graphics and layouts, but if the website doesn’t bring in new customers and convert website viewers into paying customers then the design is useless. It's pretty with no function. 

Our job as designers is to highlight the function and make it look pretty. So the KEY is the content and the presentation and layout of the content so that you will see maximum impact.

Every industry has specifics of what works and what doesn’t work, and while we aren’t going to get into the details of each industry, we do want to point out a few key components that basically every website should have. 

6 Must-Haves For Better Website Strategy

1. Simplified Offerings 

We talk to so many entrepreneurs and small businesses that want to offer EVERYTHING in their business. Or they want to list every little detail of what’s included in a service package. But, when your website is crowded with so many offerings, it is confusing to the website viewer. We could not encourage you enough to simplify down to a few offerings in your business. This way, your services are clear and the viewer knows exactly what the business is, what it offers, and what to do next without being overwhelmed with *all the things*. 

PRO TIP: If you’re having a hard time discerning what offerings to keep and which to ditch, here is a good rule of thumb to remember: If the business’ various services are marketing to completely different audiences then having two separate brands and websites is the best solution. However, if the business is marketing to the same audience, but offering different services that cater to different points in their journey, then they can have the brand as one. For instance, our company sells website templates and also custom web design services. We market to one ideal client (female entrepreneurs ages 25-44), but we can appeal to both the woman just starting their business and also a more seasoned business owner looking to take their brand to the next level. 

2. Strategic Navigation Structure 

We like to think about the navigation (or the headings at the top of the website) as the bones of the website. It’s the key component to the overall wireframe of the website. The navigation creates a visual roadmap to guide the users through the website and information on the website. It gives a brief snapshot of the business and the website in only a few words. 

In having a strategic navigation, we have a few guidelines and best practices. 

• Keep the primary navigation to 6 or fewer tabs. This keeps things from getting too overwhelming, or from making your audience have to choose from too many options. 

• Make sure the navigation is appropriate for the industry of the brand or business you’re designing for. We have 3 main categories and “industry-specific” navigation tabs we tend to work with: 

  • Service-based business: The navigation tabs should be Home, Services (possibly combined with pricing), About, Portfolio, Blog, and Contact.

  • Blog/Content Site: The main navigation tabs should be the main 3-4 categories of your blog (for example: fashion, lifestyle, travel, and recipes).

  • Shop/E-Commerce Site: The main navigation tabs should be the main categories in your shop (for example: necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings.)  

• Skip fancy words like “Journal” or “Investment” when naming those tabs. Choose clarity over creativity when it comes to the words you use to make it easier to understand for your audience. 

3. Brand Bio Statement 

A Brand Bio is a one-sentence, digital elevator pitch for a brand or business -- but WAY faster. That’s why it’s key that we recommend a ONE-SENTENCE statement. 

If people land on your website and can’t tell what you do within 3-5 seconds of landing on your site, then they are most likely to click off and leave. That goes for businesses that sell products, provide services, lifestyle blogs, food blogs, etc. Every type of website needs a clear statement near the top of the homepage that clearly articulates what the business does.

We recommend the Brand Bio go near the top of your website, “above the fold”, so that it communicates the following things: what you do, what makes you unique and different, and how your product or service will change your customers' life.

We’ve created a free, easy-to-use formula for crafting this statement and we call it the Brand Bio Formula. It’s a totally free resource that will make serious moves for your website. It’s essentially a mad-lib formula for you to plug in those elements to make a unique statement that’s super clear and focused. 

4. Benefits-Focused, Easily Scannable Copywriting In Bite-Sized Pieces 

Okay this one sounds like a mouthful. Now let's break this down: 

Benefits-focused means that you should know that when people are scrolling through a website, they are subconsciously thinking, “What’s in it for me?” 

A common mistake we see in website copywriting is that they focus way too much on the brand or the person behind the brand, and their achievements, rather than focusing on the clients or customers’ journey and how the brand will help change their life. So rather than showcasing the features, the highlight reel, or major accomplishments of the business, it’s best to emphasize  the benefits, how the customer will feel after they work with the brand, and how the brand will help the customer achieve their goals, dreams and desires. 

A website that does a good job displaying this, is Jasmine Star’s company called Social Curator. All the headlines and copy are customer focused. For example, they bold statements say: “Save time and get your life back, finally have vision and strategy, and have support and accountability.” All of those are benefits-focused statements.

Easily Scannable & Bite-Size means to keep your copywriting short, and don’t lump it all into one spot. One of our favorite quotes that we share all the time is from a user experience expert Steve Krug: “Write everything for your website, then cut it in half, cut in in half again.” 

The copywriting on a website should be quick and easy to read. It should be scannable. So rather than having long paragraphs and long line lengths on the page, you should keep everything grouped into smaller sections, or bit-sized bits throughout the layout. 

Really think about the last time that you read a website word-for-word on the whole site. Likely, you usually don’t! People scroll, scan, click around, and they’re primarily focused on the headings, the first sentences, and the CTA buttons...So, you want to put the most valuable information in those areas. 

Take a look at this example here of Kayla Stoecklein’s website. You’ll see that all of her content  is separated in small digestible pieces of information that’s very easy to scan.

5. Clear & Obvious Call To Action 

This one might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how often it’s missed in website design. We see this especially with new designers or with businesses that haven’t figured out a firm direction yet. A call to action is a button, link or direction on your site that tells your reader EXACTLY where to go or what to do next. 

One of the worst things that can happen on your site is that someone would land on it, and then be totally lost on what to do next. That may be because you have too many calls to actions, or because you don’t have any at all that are clear and obvious. 

Why? You might think that people will figure your site out or figure out the next steps of what to do on their own. Guess what? That's just proven not to be true. If someone is confused on your site, they are not going to spend the time to figure it out. You've got 5 seconds or less to grab a new visitor's attention and tell them what to do next, so make it really really clear. 

When it comes to calls to action, we have 3 best practices to put in place in the website design. 

• Size Matters: Make it big! Your grandma should be able to see this button on your homepage. It should be very clear that the call to action is the next step. 

• Keep It Simple and actionable: We wouldn’t recommend using a ton of words here! It can be as few words as “Book A Call” or “Register” “Buy Now” or something similar. But make it specific and actionable. What you really don’t want is to have a paragraph telling them what to do. Give them a quick action step that’s easy to click. 

• Give It Room To Breathe: We believe in the magic powers of white space! If your button is surrounded by other clutter, it’s going to be hard for someone to find it on your site. 

6. An Enticing Email Opt-In 

Let’s say someone lands on the site and is super interested in the brand, but they just aren’t quite ready to book or buy yet. The next step is to make sure the website design includes a way to collect contact information to be fully strategic.

An enticing email opt-in is a really important one when it comes to the overall marketing strategy of the brand. An email opt-in is something you offer in exchange for adding someone’s email address (and possibly other details like first and last name) to your email list. An example would be a discount code, a freebie, a download, free shipping, etc. The key about an email opt-in is that you are offering something of value in exchange for someone’s contact information. 

Email lists are important because email marketing is the best way to connect with customers vs. social media. You can send information, updates, helpful content, discounts, sales, and other details about your business directly to your subscribers email inbox.

Our party line with email opt-ins is that the surefire way to make sure NO ONE signs up for your email list is to say to “sign up for news and updates”. Honestly, that’s not enough value anymore for people to give their email address anymore. You can check out this post for more details on how to add value to your email opt-in!

The Wrap Up

This list of six, along with a partnering of good design, will give you a website that not only looks killer, but also will convert the brand’s website viewers into paying customers. You can shop our Squarespace Website Templates that all have space for these six strategic items!

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