In this video, you’ll learn how to maximize the effectiveness of your consulting website’s homepage “hero” section.
The website and page examined in this video is the topmost section of Jonathan Start’s consulting website.
[View Slides]Transcript
Welcome to Consulting Website Design 001: Homepage Hero.
In this series, I’m going to give consultants and small firms one actionable tip per video, to improve their website in five minutes or less every Thursday afternoon.
This video series is specifically for consultants and boutique firms who want to start using their website as more of a business development asset, and not just a digital brochure.
In the first episode of the series, we’re going to take a look at the hero section of your homepage.
In the example today, we’re looking at the website of mobile consultant Jonathan Stark.
The hero section in web design often refers to the topmost section of your homepage.
This section is really important because it’s often the first thing that your potential clients will see when they come and visit your website, and it will often determine whether the go any deeper into it.
I think Jonathan does a great job with his hero section for three different reasons:
- First, he has a very clear value proposition, where he tells his reader exactly who he serves and what he does for them,
- He gives them a clear call to action for the next step,
- And the professional headshot really enhances the design and completes the homepage of the website.
What you’ll see on most consultant websites that aren’t as good this, their problem is that their value proposition is much less clear.
They’ll say something like “I help businesses” instead of naming the target market.
And most of them won’t have invested in a professional headshot.
When we strip these two elements away and compare it to the original, you can see that the original is much more compelling, much more well-designed, and much more professional.
When it comes to this value proposition here, there are a bunch of different ways you can do it, but I like Jonathan’s formula:
I help {TARGET MARKET} {WHATEVER YOU DO FOR THEM}.
In his case, its increase mobile engagement.
One thing you could add to this is a {SO THEY}, and then you go a bit deeper into the “why” behind what you do.
I’m not sure what the benefits are for Jonathan’s clients, but it could be something like:
I help credit unions increase mobile engagement so they retain more clients.
That’s just another way you could tweak your value proposition.
But I think that Jonathan does really good job on the hero section of his homepage, and if you put yourself in the shoes of a CEO or someone of that level at a credit union, they read that, they’re probably going to be interested and read on to the rest of the website, which is obviously something Jonathan wants. And that’s going to lead to more conversations with more prospective buyers.
I think this quote from the book, Professional Services Marketing, does a great job of driving home the point of why you should have a professional design like Jonathan:
If professional services firms want their clients and prospects to believe that their credible and distinct, they need to demonstrate that they are credible and distinct. Simply stating the words “I’m credible and distinct” is not only insufficient but can even create the wrong impression.
Action Step
Take a look at the hero section of your homepage, see if you can tighten up your value proposition, and think about investing in some professional photography — and that’s best if its either you or if you’re a small firm, your team.
Whatever you do, please don’t use a slider.