If you are starting or running a consulting business or any other kind of professional independent services, building a great website[1] is more vital than ever before. Every potential client will look into your business before they trust your judgement with their business. Clients will visit your website to decide whether or not to trust you with their business, so having a great website can be the difference that swings client decisions in your favour.

You might start with thinking about what a good website feels like visually? A consultants website needs to appear professional and have content that will market your offering accordingly. As a minimum, your website needs to be a showcase of your talents, knowledge, case studies/experience, professional skills, and show an innovative process to your consultancy offering. A modern consultant website will demonstrate your authority in the space and aim to persuade clients to engage with your call to action. Your website should be a primary source of leads for your business.

In this quick article we look at five of the most important ways to make sure that your website is set up for success.

Start with the main USP. Develop a few sentences around what makes your consultancy business different to your competitors. Businesses typically shop around and want to find a company that they feel will be best for them. Introduce this main text on your homepage and clearly explain what makes you different. Demonstrating your value to them is a good place to start.

Articulate exactly what you do, who you can do it for, and what makes you the best choice.

The overall design and visual offering. First impressions are hard to ignore if you get it wrong. The overall design for your website[2] needs to be professional. Keep it clean and simple where possible. Professional services are typically corporate looking and should be easy to navigate. Make sure that sections on the site are easy to find and that communication is easy to get right. The basic structure of the website should have these pages as a minimum – Home, About, Testimonials, Services, Blog, and Contact.

If you have design skills, or are willing to hire a graphic designer, you should consider introducing bespoke elements to the design that are influenced by your brand. This gives the user the impression that you are focused on your brand offering and have a high level of skills to offer.

Make Content[3] that actually engages your audience. Websites nowadays are the perfect place for businesses to showcase their knowledge and experience. This is even more important for consultancy websites. Creating articles and case studies is the perfect way to demonstrate your expert knowledge and previous experience. This will give them a sneak preview of what it’s like to hire you as a consultant.

This is also important from an SEO point of view also. Search Engines like to promote web results that are up to date and have a vast amount of content specific to the search queries. Choose strong long-tail keywords that closely relate to your consulting services and integrate them within the content scattered throughout your website.

Rather than being an afterthought, a consultant’s website should play a prominent role in marketing the business to both new and current clients.

Make it as easy as possible for potential customers to engage with you and your brand. It doesn’t always have to be a request for business, but they should somehow start to be aware of your services. Consultants should always use emails, online newsletters, blog posts, webinars, and other simple web-related tools to easily stay in touch with clients.

You should also make it as easy as possible for clients to do the most important thing you want them to do—get in touch with you. Put a clear call-to-action on your site, where people can click to take the next step. As a consultant, you might offer clients the chance to book a free one-on-one 30 minute consultation with you, so that you can get to know each other.

Add a link to your email newsletter service to have visitors enter their email address to sign up for updates. Notifying clients when you are offering a new service or post is how you develop strong client relationships. Avoid an over the top salesy approach and offer clear value to the potential customers. They are business owners and will not want to waste time or respond to over the top advertising.

Showcasing your credibility is really what makes a difference. Make sure that you add personality[4] and a history of your achievements and accomplishments. It is standard for consultants to show pictures of their office environment, their extended team, comprehensive background information, highlight their accomplishments, display logos of clients they’ve worked with, and include some case studies.

Written testimonials and relevant reviews will also help convert potential clients who visit your website. Don’t be afraid to simply ask your satisfied clients to jot down a quick reply describing the positive experience that came from working with you and place this on your website.

If you are starting or running a consulting business or any other kind of professional independent services, building a great website is more vital than ever before. Every potential client will look into your business before they trust your judgement with their business. A modern consultant website will demonstrate your authority in the space and aim to persuade clients to engage with your call to action. Your website should be a primary source of leads for your business.

VIMAR is experienced in creating high quality websites to improve your consultancy business.

Contact us to see all the possibilities that your consultancy has to improve business leads.