What does your website say about you and your business? Is it working for you by bringing prospects into your sales funnel or by guiding them to your contact details to get in touch about your services? Or is it just taking up internet real estate and collecting virtual dust bunnies?

Your website should be so much more than a static business card, and it deserves a facelift – or at least a minor update – annually. Your visitors will make a decision within about five seconds whether to stay on your site or to click away, so make the most of this time by creating eye-grabbing graphics and telling your visitors exactly what you do and who you are. That’s a lot to do in a very short amount of time.

Disclosure: Links in this post (and anywhere on The Savvy Solopreneur) may be affiliate links. Find out what that means here.

Consider outsourcing professional graphics and images

Your website graphics and images are one of the first things that catch people’s attention so make sure they are cohesive and professional. Hire a photographer for professional headshots (or at the very least a friend with a really good camera). Consider hiring a graphic designer who can design a logo and header in colors that match your brand image. Always use high-resolution images on your website and professional printed pieces to avoid blurry or pixelated images.

Unless you are an excellent photographer, it’s probably best to use with stock images or custom photography. I absolutely love Ivory Mix stock photography where you can browse photo collections by color and niche to find the perfect set of images.

Update your About page

You have permission to write in a conversational tone on your About page, unless your market includes Fortune 500 executives, attorneys, or other professions who expect very formal language. Otherwise let your personality and humor shine through as you relate the details of how you got started in your business and who you consider your ideal client.

Some About pages are comprised of two paragraphs while others seem to go on forever. If you opt for a longer page, be sure there’s a reason for the length and that you add some strong storytelling techniques to keep your audience scrolling ’til the end.

Is your website design or theme easy to navigate?

Ultimately you want prospects to sign up for your email list, buy what you have to sell,  or get in touch with you about your services, so look at your website design and determine if those options are placed prominently. Make it as easy as possible for potential customers to buy, enter your sales funnel or reach you. If they have to click too many times to get where they want to go, they will click away and the opportunity will be lost. Even if you are a newbie, you can make your website clutter free and easy to navigate.

Remember that if you sell multiple one-off products, it is generally a lot more valuable to get new prospects into your sales funnel, rather than make a one-off sale. So focus on this above all else. Make sure your call to sign up is prominent, attractive and repeated in a few different eye-catching places around your website. If you need to build a profitable sales funnel (or several) I highly recommend Funnels That Click. It’s an excellent online training that usually costs $70, and it’s currently on sale for less than ten bucks!

Edit out the industry jargon

Yes, there IS such a thing as using too many words to say absolutely nothing. Often this happens when you’re trying to use lots of buzzwords or industry jargon. Get to the point quickly by explaining in as few words as possible what you do and who you serve. Of course, you can get into more detail when you describe your services on your sales page, or when you start to correspond with prospects, but on your website home page, in particular, you want to get those points across quickly.

Is your site safe from hackers?

Hackers definitely have too much time on their hands and no business is too small to avoid a hacker’s attention. Check your website backend to be sure your WordPress is up to date as well as your plugins. Consider upgrading your security plugin to a paid version for even more protection. These upgrades may not be a visible part of your website facelift but they sure will help improve the foundation of your site.

What Else Can You Do to Get More Client Conversions on Your Website?

The guys over at CoachGlue.com, have created a planner called Map Out Your Client-Getting Website Pages that walks you through the steps to create stunning web pages that will attract your perfect prospects. It is aimed at coaches, but can be adapted for most businesses. Your website should be working for you 24/7, and in this planner you’ll find useful exercises and space for brainstorming ways to improve the functionality of your website so more people get into your sales funnel. Click here to get the planner.

Have you collected your FREE printable workbook for solopreneurs? If not just let us know where to send it. You’ll also get a chance to grab The Busy Blogger’s Success Kit for half-price, and my monthly newsletter with tips, freebies, and special offers.