How to create a lead generating website for your personal brand through strategic, proven approaches

As online service providers, we live in a world where the internet is our oyster and we can attract clients on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. I’m here to talk to you about the most intricate (in the best way) one of all: how to create a lead generating website for your personal brand.

You might be thinking… “Okay, so why do I need a website if I have all of these other social platforms to reach my target audience?”

The truth is, those ‘other social platforms’ actually own your content. The beauty of having your own website is that you then own your content and YOU can control how you’re then perceived. It’s an ‘expanded’ business card, if you will, and is extremely powerful in the quest to reach your ideal client online.

Fun fact: I’ve often had clients fall into my lap, saying they chose me over my competitors because I had a clear, clean, easy-to-navigate website. *Internal screams for my competitors but also not mad the client went with me lol* My clients ultimately felt like they were able to get to know me and my services better before reaching out. DON’T BE MY COMPETITORS!!!

Good news: I’m here to give you all of my juiciest secrets for having a website that marries beautifully with your online marketing strategy AND converts leads – so that you don’t have to only rely on social platforms to obtain more business and you don’t have to worry about losing out to your competition. Let’s go!

 

Secret #1: A compelling “About Me” Page

In a perfect world, all of my clients would start writing their content for their website AFTER they’ve created an “About Me” page. That page is arguably the most important page on your website and I am going to tell you why.

Your brand is a reflection of you – and there is a story to how it came to be. A big piece of setting yourself and your brand apart in a saturated market is just that – what sets you apart. You can effectively do this by sharing your story of who you are and how you got here. 

Here’s my favorite structure for a perfectly captivating about page (and take my own as an example):

1. Header with your title
2. Quick bio of yourself
3. Expanded ‘story’ of you and how you got here today. Get into the juicy stuff – the good, the bad, the ugly. (Vulnerability is authenticity, my friend)
4. Imagery to break up the intensity of your story
5. Introduction of your mission
6. FLIP IT BACK ON THEM! This is where you can insert all of the ‘I’ve done it so you don’t have to’s”
7. Fun section – allow them to get to know you personally with quick facts
8. Freebie
9. Call-to-action

Number 9 is key: you’ve just given them your life brand story and now they’re emotionally hyped up. Give them a good next-step to take an action with you. 

Secret #2: A strong, visible lead magnet

By having a website, you’re inviting visitors (hopefully ideal clients) to browse and get to know you. While they’re there, there should be opportunities for you to obtain their information. In comes the lead magnet (that doesn’t just have to live on social media!)

 Your lead magnet is the one evergreen piece of your brain that you give away for free in order to give your ideal clients a taste of what it’s like to work with you, and a phenomenal opportunity to upsell into your value ladder. It’s one of the BIGGEST ways to grow your email list, and therefore having it on your website, strategically intertwined into your content, is a must.

Your lead magnet should exist as a ‘section’ sprinkled across a few pages on your website. I also recommend giving a visual of what it looks like along with a captivating headline (speak to your ideal client’s pain points!) to get them to redeem it.

Strategically speaking, this is where I recommend featuring your lead magnet:

1. On your home page, immediately after the header
2. In a sidebar on all of your blog pages (just like this one!)
3. Halfway to a quarter of the way down your about page (as naturally as it fits)
4. On your services page, towards the end (preferably above your footer)

Secret #3: Pricing transparency

A huge mistake I see entrepreneurs make with having a website is not being transparent about their pricing. Showing your pricing on your website – and honestly, in any of your marketing – is crucial because it will save you SO much time… most specifically in your sales calls with unqualified leads.

There are two ways you can be price-transparent on your website:

1. Show pricing directly after your services, wherever those live
2. OR require a lead-capture (aka their email and first name) to then download a pricing guide from your website

Number 2 is a bit more involved as you’ll want to use a third-party email service to automate that pricing guide download but this is 100% RECOMMENDED. This allows you to see exactly who is interested in your services as well as grows your email list. HELLO, warm lead!

Secret #4: SEO Optimization

“Oh no, she said SEO.” More like OH YES SHE SAID SEO! You know how you do market research to develop your content and offers across social media? You need to do the same with your website – and implement an SEO (search engine optimization) strategy with that same research.

Simply speaking, this is so that when people turn to Google to search for the things you have to offer, you are in the running to show up on that first page. It’s important to remember that showing up on the first page for certain keywords may not happen overnight (because it totally depends on how saturated that keyword is!)

Quick tips to ensure you’re ranking for your site pages:

• Make sure that there is only ONE H1 tag applied to each of your pages, and that it’s the focus for the keyword people are searching. Example: my About Page H1 is “Meet Your Marketing Mentor”
• Each page on your website should have a title AND a meta description, where you’ll use keyword-rich verbiage that your ideal client is searching for, as it pertains to your offer. For example (and bear with me), my about me page title is “Marketing Mentor | Online Business Consultant | Lauren Bordelon” and the meta description is Lauren Bordelon is a marketing mentor and online business consultant who focuses on inspiring other creative entrepreneurs to market themselves online authentically and effectively.” ← All based on keyword research performed to attract my ideal clients

For a more detailed explanation of SEO, check out this blog.

Secret #5: Consistent Blogging

Fun fact: the lifespan of blog content is 2+ years. Compared to social platforms, it wins in a landslide. What this means is that your blog content lives on and can continually be attracting clients who are searching for what you have to offer on Google.

The trick to this is consistency. My tip is to blog at least once per week if not 2-3 times per month and make sure that the blog itself is also SEO optimized around the keywords your ideal client is searching for.

Of course, I always recommend doing market research to determine how that content will be in line with your content strategy, but I also love to use a few tools to get to the bottom of what people are really searching for on Google. They are:

• Keywords everywhere
• Ubersuggest
• Answerthepublic.com 

They each have free versions (limited, but amazing) to help you build blogs based upon what your ideal client is searching for.

Secret #6: Branded Imagery

It wouldn’t be very me of me to leave out the fact that VISUALS are important, so here we are. Your personalized brand deserves personalized imagery, and that’s a fact. And news flash: you don’t HAVE to have an expensive branded shoot to achieve this.

What I’m getting at here is that it’s important to have imagery of yourself on your website so that people can get a feel for who they are working with. My general rule of thumb is to use 80-90% imagery of yourself (and try and have it reflect your brand colors!) and your people and 10-20% can be stock imagery that matches your branding. But please be careful to avoid stock imagery that is stale, cringey, and screams FAKE. 

My favorite stock image sites:

• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Freepik

In closing

While I encourage EVERY online business to have a website for all of the above amazing benefits, I am also here to say that the truth is this: you do not need a website to run a successful online business. However, not having one leaves a LOT of money on the table, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, allows you to have less control of your content. 

If you’re reading this blog as someone who doesn’t yet have a website… a word of advice from me is to build a website when your brand can support it, which is typically in a time of growth if you are able to outsource, or if you have previous experience working with a web platform and/or are tech-savvy and can build one on your own. Take your time with it and make sure it aligns well with your brand and how you speak to your target audience. 

Already have a site and are using this blog as inspo to spruce it up? Go you! These 6 secrets will more than help you on that journey. Either way, I’m here to support as you work through your site strategy. Book a 90 Day Marketing Plan or a Marketing Audit and we’ll chat it out so you’re well-positioned to be a (ideal client) lead generating machine.

– Lauren

P.S. Are we friends on Instagram yet? If not, let’s make that happen. All the good times go down over at @brandgoodtime.