7 Must-Have Features to Turn Your Website into a Client Booking Machine (that works while you sleep!)

7 Must-Have Features to Turn Your Website into a Client Booking Machine (that works while you sleep!)

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If you provide services as your main profit producing activity in your business, and you don’t have a plan in place to continue to secure NEW clients going forward…. We need to talk!

Here’s what happens. Business is going well, you’re hustling to find new clients, and eventually you find yourself at the ultimate goal…BOOKED OUT! Your days are spent serving ideal clients, doing exactly what you were meant to do, and you’re dreaming of how you could happily do this forEVER.

No need to go back to that crazy marketing schedule that you created for yourself when you were trying to find clients, right?!

I mean, you don’t really have time anymore to post in Facebook groups 24/7, write new blog posts, and work on your Pinterest strategy…you’re spending all your time actually serving clients.

But then suddenly (and it ALWAYS happens all at once!) shiz hits the fan ...

• one of your clients has hit a rocky spot in her business and needs to cut back on expenses
• another one is planning a cross-country move and needs to put everything on pause “just for a few months”
• the other has experienced such amazing growth that she decides it’s time to hire employees specifically devoted to her business, rather than continuing to outsource

You’ve just gone from the perfect client roster to “everything is about to fall apart if I can’t pick up a new client by the end of this month!”

I understand that you don’t have a lot of time to market your services, especially when you have a full set of client work. That’s why you need a “sales person” that does the selling of your services for you, on auto-pilot, 24/7 while you work with clients (and sleep!).

Hiring someone else, you say? NOPE! I’m talking about your website.

It’s time to turn your website into a client booking machine that does the work for you, so that you have a constant stream of new client inquiries coming in every single week.

I’m going to show you 7 must-have features that need to be present on your website for it to do the selling for you. By making these simple website tweaks, you’ll soon have a warm list of potential clients ready and waiting for you when a spot opens up in your client roster. No more new client hustling for you ever again!

And don’t miss grabbing my complete, free swipe file of 21 proven website design features that WORK, specifically for booking more clients.

I’m giving you the Ultimate Website Checklist to Booking More Clients, complete with screenshots, real life examples, and URLs (so you can check them out on your own!). You'll see exactly why each easy-to-implement feature is a must to make their website is a 24/7 sales machine that works while they sleep. AND how you can do the same!

You’ll see the 7 must-have features that I’m talking about today in action, as well as grabbing a slew more of quick tweaks you can make in less than 10 minutes to your own site. So go ahead and grab your swipe copy file, and then it’s on to the 7 must-have website features.

7 Must-Have Website Features to Turn It Into a Client Booking Machine

1. A Super Clear Way to Hire You, Accessible from All Website Pages

When someone wants to hire you on the spot, or at least is ready to contact you to discuss the possibility more, you don’t want to make it difficult for them to figure out how to do that. When you’re a service-based business, you need an easy way to contact you that is in view no matter what page of your website that they land on.

Ideally, this would be a category in your navigation bar, or a different clickable button that “sticks” to the top of your page at all times. This isn’t the time to get “snazzy” with your wording. Copy that is very clear, and includes a call to action, works the best.

For example: Hire Me, Book Me, Call Me, Become a Client

We’ll get into more details about your services, packages, and the details of what you offer in a different step. For now, this button is to encourage action specifically from those people that are excited to book you right away. Don’t make them wait!

Jess Creatives makes it very clear with a Hire Me Button in her navigation area:

2. Provide a specific contact form ONLY for potential clients (if you want to talk in advance)

This step applies if you have a service where you want to either speak with, or email with, a potential client before accepting them as a client. In most scenarios, if your service package includes intensive or personal work with your client, you will want to take this additional step to ensure it’s a good fit for everyone before booking.

You don’t want potential clients filling out your standard contact form on your website. It’s too easy for those responses to get lost in your inbox, and you’re likely not going to get the initial info that you want from a new client with your standard form.

There are two ways to do this:

1. Present your standard offerings, and then give a direct link to your calendar to schedule a free call.

Miranda Nahmias does this for her virtual assistant agency at The VA Collective:

Or ….

2. Provide a form that collects the pertinent info (name, email address, website, maybe Skype name), as well as gets a general idea of what the potential client wants (package interested in, budget, etc.)

Krista Rae of KristaRae.co does this for people that are interested in her blog strategy sessions.

This gives you a way to weed out people who may not be a good fit, before always jumping on a free call first.

3. Spell out EXACTLY what it means to work with you.

Never assume that a potential client understands what the process is like to work with you. They may have never hired someone in your industry before, and even if they have, it’s likely that you do things a little differently. The more details you can provide about the experience in advance, the better.

A person that is confused or unclear may never take the time to send you an email to get answers, and they may never book a call to talk more. By laying out the expectations in advance, your chances of booking that client (who now can imagine your work process unfolding in her head) has just gone up substantially.

Leah Kalamis does this perfectly, with an entire section on her Work with Me page that is called “How this Goes Down.” She lays out exactly what happens, when it happens, and who is responsible for each step of the way:

4. Create service packages with limited options.

Have you ever heard that if you have too many options, rather than making a decision, your potential clients will just look elsewhere, rather than wading through the overwhelming options? Yup, it’s true!

When you go to a sandwich shop, why do you think they have created specific “signature” sandwiches complete with a catchy name, and all the ingredients spelled out for you? Because they KNOW that packages sell. I don’t know exact sub shop statistics, but I’m going to guess that the large majority of customers buy one of their custom subs, rather than wade through all of the ingredient choices offered on the menu. Why take a chance and create a bad tasting combination, when you can pick a proven mix of ingredients that works? Right!?

Same goes for your service-based business! By providing a limited number of preconfigured packages that encompass the services that you provide, you’re showing potential clients how to get the best value for their investment in your services.

Amber of Amber Creative Co. does this by offering 3 packages at different price points, and different levels of commitment, that encompass her brand and website design services:

5. Share that social proof.

Why do you think social platforms like Facebook and Instagram are so powerful for service-based businesses? Because people like to talk when they have a good (or not so good!) experience with a business. And where better to share your feedback with your network than on social media!

You turn to your friends for their best recommendations for everything you might need from a local pizza kitchen to hiring a dog walker. So it only makes sense that you’d be looking for social proof when it comes to a business that you discover online.

Halley Gray of Evolve and Succeed does this with a full page on her website devoted to Social Proof, complete with client headshots, and 2-3 sentence testimonial statements packing a powerful punch:

6. Blog posts that have a REAL purpose.

I’m a firm believer that if you’re using your blog to further your business, then each blog post that you write should be doing some heavy hitting for you.

You have 3 main purposes that you can pick from for each blog post (but only pick 1 purpose per post):

1. Promote your work with me form or free call scheduling calendar
2. Promote a direct purchase

I’m going to suggest that you either focus on promoting your email list, through a content upgrade “freebie” that is directly related to the services that you offer, OR you promote your client form or free call.

For example, Diana of TheCoffeeDate.com offers a paid Instagram course that she knows appeals to online bloggers and people who identify with the title “creative entrepreneur.” So she has written a blog post about “What to Post on Instagram when you’re a Creative Entrepreneur,” and gives you an opportunity to grab her Instagram Content Creation Guide freebie that you’ll get when opting in to her email list.

Diana knows that anyone who takes the time to read this blog post, and opt-in for the freebie offering, is likely her ideal client that is interested in learning more about improving their Instagram presence. Now that she has their email address, she can stay at the top of mind with her potential clients. Maybe she emails them additional content that’s related to conquering the Instagram algorithm change, or she advertises a special deal on a done-for-you Instagram service.

By collecting email addresses, you now have the opportunity to follow up over and over again, rather than lose that potential client, never to be seen again once they click away from your website. Personally I use and LOVE ConvertKit for my email provider, and recommend them whether you have a list of 10 or 10,000!

7. Present yourself as a REAL person.

If you don’t seem like a “real” person online, your clients are not going to trust you. And if they don’t trust you, then they don’t book you. No longer can you hide behind a website and expect people to feel comfortable booking your services.

There is a reason that content centered around video and live streaming has become such a hot marketing strategy recently. It’s because it works!

If you’re not convinced, try this experiment ….

Follow an entrepreneur that posts regularly on Facebook and Instagram (using still photos, not video). Consume all of their content on their social media platforms for 1 week.

See how you feel about that person by the end of that week….

• do you know them better?
• do you feel more invested in their business?
• do you think you’ll be likely to stay connected with them in the future (and even potentially become a client at some point)?

Now, find a second entrepreneur to follow that posts daily on SnapChat or Periscope, holds live webinars, or has YouTube channel. Consume their content for a week. How do you feel about that person by the end of the week?

I’ve recently been enjoying following Caitlin Bacher and Megan Minns on SnapChat, if you need a suggestion. Both of them share a great mix of business behind the scenes, personal life, what they are currently working on.

Then ask yourself…which entrepreneur and their business has your attention? My guess is it’s the person that has allowed you a little behind the scenes into their own life through video, showing you their little quirks, their personality, and showing their excitement and passion for what they do.

Throughout your website and social media, ask yourself how you can give clients a look into your life, your service offerings, and share with them your own passion. Your excitement will be contagious!

So there you have it! 7 must-have features to turn your website into a 24/7 client booking machine:

1. Super clean way to hire you.
2. Contact form or calendar only for potential clients.
3. Spell out the exact process of working with you.
4. Create service packages with limited options.
5. Share the social proof.
6. Blog posts that have a real purpose.
7. Present yourself as a real person.

And if you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your free swipe file of 21 proven website design features that WORK, specifically for booking more clients.

I’m giving you the Ultimate Website Checklist to Booking More Clients, complete with screenshots, real life examples, and URLs (so you can check them out on your own!). You'll see exactly why each easy-to-implement feature is a must to make their website is a 24/7 sales machine that works while they sleep. AND how you can do the same!

Original article and pictures take summertannhauser.com site