When you’re creating a website for your consulting business, what pages should you include?
Should you copy what every other consultant does, or is there a better way?
How do you design a website that will actually generate real business results?
These are all tough questions you must answer when creating your consulting website.
In this 5 part series, called “Essential Consultant Website Pages”, I’m going to break down how you and your designer can create the most effective sales-oriented website for your consulting business.
Page by page, and section by section, I’m going to teach you how you can design and structure your consulting website for success.
By the end of this series, you will…
- Know what pages you should create for your website based on what your prospects want to know
- Learn how to think of your website as a series of sections and modules that “pull” your potential clients into your sales pipeline
- Understand how you and your designer can create a buyer oriented consulting website that brings you more leads, more trust, and more clients
The better design decisions you make for your website, the better your website will turn out. This series will help you make better decisions when creating or re-designing your consulting website.
NOTE: This series outlines the best practices for business consultants and boutique firms. If you don’t fit this description, this series isn’t for you.
How to Build an Intriguing Consultant Homepage
Your homepage is one of the most important pages of your website, yet it’s one that many consultants get wrong.
By the end of this article, you will…
- Know what the homepage of your website should aim to do
- Learn how your homepage should be structured and designed
- Have 3 examples of superb consulting website homepage designs for inspiration
Your homepage is not for winning your prospects over with content — it’s for intriguing your prospects and “pulling” them deeper into your website.
You’re not going to win or lose consulting business based on your homepage (unless your website is poorly designed and turns your prospect off right away). But you will be able to drive your prospect to want to know more and read on.
Your home page should be focused on creating 3 things: Relevancy, Credibility, and Interest.
The difficult part is creating these 3 things while focusing on your prospect and not just yourself or your business.
Relevancy: Part of providing your prospects with a good experience is showing them whether or not you are relevant to them within seconds of landing on your homepage.
Within 10 seconds, they should know whether or not you are relevant to them. This is what makes using your “tagline” as the first section of your website so effective.
Your tagline, or “Fishing Hook”, when done right, will get your prospect to think: “How do you do that?”
They won’t think that unless you address their business in your tagline. And to make your tagline more effective, you address the primary benefit the people in your target audience are interested in.
Here is a simple formula you can use:
I help {primary audience} achieve {primary benefit}. Unlike my competitors, {differentiaton statement}.
Keep your tagline focused on one audience, and on the most important result you can provide for them. You may provide more (and you probably do) later on, but your tagline is used to “get them through the door.” Focus on the primary benefit that you provide.
Don’t be afraid to be repetitive when you know you’re touching on a result (or pain point) that your client wants to achieve (or avoid).
Credibility: Now that you have got your prospects attention, you must use your homepage to establish credibility.
You’ve given them a 10 second summary of what you do, and now they want to know if you’re legitimate. The best way to show that you are is not by telling them. Instead, you want to use social proof — let your previous clients tell that story.
If you don’t blow your own horn, there is no music. And if your clients and others blow the horns through testimonials, then you have an orchestra playing in harmony, and with inspiration.
-Chad Barr & Alain Weiss, Million Dollar Web Presence
There are a few different ways to use social proof, and you want to use as many as can throughout your website. Your homepage especially.
Social proof takes 3 main forms:
- Client testimonials: Client testimonials are testimonials from your client. This is where you include a picture of your client, their name, and the testimonial that they’ve given you. Good testimonials are powerful because they tell a story. They paint a picture to your prospects of a business’ bleak before (without you), and a sunny after (with you).
- Client logos: Client logos are the logos of the clients you’ve worked with. Add half a dozen of the logos of well-known clients you’ve worked with, and you’ll dramatically increase your perceived credibility.
- “Featured In” logos: “Featured In” logos are the logos of the websites, publishers, or podcasts that you’re featured in. These are very powerful for positioning you as a thought leader, and they can link to your specific feature.
Add two out of the three to your homepage, and you’ll establish more credibility to your prospects.
Interest: Now that you have your prospects attention, and they have started to trust you based on your social proof, you want to make make it easy for them to learn more.
This is where you give your prospect “call-to-actions” to go deeper into your website.
These can be case studies, your articles, a resources page, or even an opt-in to your list to receive a lead magnet.
The entire point of this last section of your homepage is to persuade your prospect to begin the process of educating themselves using your content.
Some may desire to contact you immediately after learning what you do, and who you’ve helped. But most will need to trust you more before contacting you or opting into your list.
All of the other pages of your website are for establishing that trust so they take that next step.
Best Consultant Homepage Examples
Below are examples of consulting websites with excellent home pages. When you are browsing these, break them up into “sections.” When looking at them as bits and pieces instead of pages, you’ll gain a better understanding of what they are trying to accomplish with their website.
Whenever you are stuck on your own homepage, look at these examples for inspiration.
Don’t copy them, but learn from them. Take what you learn and apply it to your own business.
1. Ethercycle
The Etherycle home page is terrific at establishing trust and credibility. The top half displays incredible social proof, which instantly builds trust with their prospects.
The second half features compelling copy by the founder, Kurt Elster. Even though he is talking a lot about their company, he’s doing it in a way that paints the picture of a better life for his prospects.
Finally, his homepage gives the reader a chance to reserve a confidential discussion. After building trust, establishing credibility, and painting the picture of an improves business, he invites prospects to talk.
Inscape Consulting is another example of a great home page. In a few scrolls, you will learn whether Inscape consulting is relevant to you, download a free whitepaper, see various forms of social proof and testimonials, and get to see and hear founder Greg Nichvaldoff.
Although it is a bit text-heavy, the homepage is full of relevant CTA to take the user down a journey of learning about how the business can help serve them.
Within 8 seconds, the prospect can know whether or not Inscape Consulting is relevant to them. Within 20 seconds, they will know whether or not they wish to inquire more. The homepage gives them many different opportunities to click and explore the website further.
Jonathan Stark’s home page is simple, straightforward, and perfectly pieced together. The “Hero” section features a relevant image and a bold question that prompts the reader to read on. Right below that, he prompts his prospects to receive an enticing lead magnet by signing up to his email list.
He follows this up with an “Ask Yourself” section, where he is qualifying his prospects. If his prospects answer yes to any of these questions, their interest is going to skyrocket — it will feel as though Jonathan’s consulting services are made for them. They will click the CTA.
After this, the homepage has various social proof, in the form of logos and testimonials. Below this are videos of his talks, further demonstrating his credibility and expertise, and giving his prospects a way to see and hear him. He follows up this section with an “about” section for those interested in learning more about him.
He includes an entire contact form in his footer, which rounds out the homepage and makes a strong addition, and is something that raises his conversion rate given how persuasively structured his homepage is designed.
Looking for more examples of great consultant websites and homepages? Check out my article on the 22 Best Consultant Websites (And Why They Have Them).
Next Steps: Improving Your Consulting Website Homepage
Take a look at the homepage of your consulting website.
- Does your potential client know whether your business is relevant to him within 10 seconds?
- Does it use social proof to establish your credibility, not you talking about yourself?
- Does it lead to other pages on your website that will help educate your prospects?
Make sure your homepage creates relevancy, establishes credibility, and draws interest.
I’ve built a consultant homepage template, which you can download for free: high-converting consultant homepage template
It works with X Theme or Cornerstone, and you can install it to your website in seconds. It features all of the best practices outlined in this article.
You can also view how that looks in your browser here: ConsultantWebsiteTemplate.com