5 Simple Website Changes: Insider Secrets To Doubling Your Online leads

INSIDER SECRETS TO DOUBLING YOUR
ONLINE LEADS
5 SIMPLE WEBSITE
CHANGES

WHERE MAYHEM IS
MANAGED.
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WRITTEN BY THADDEUS TROLL
Thaddeus is the Manager of Mayhem here at GreatCircle
Studios. He studied at Mythics University gaining his Golden
Egg in Human Interactions before continuing on receive a
Bachelors in Digital Media and a Minor in Design. Thaddeus is
a student of digital media and consumer engagement. He
spends most of his time researching industry trends and
finding solutions to common Web Marketing Mayhem.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.
@GreatCircle
EDITED BY LYDIA ALEJANDRO-HEATHER DESIGNED BY CARMEN DAVIS
Lydia is a copywriter for the Web Concierge team
at GreatCircle Studios. She studied creative
writing and mass media communications at the
University of South Florida. In her free time, she
enjoys playing with her dog, Cal, drawing
digitally, creating original characters to cry over,
and singing along to classic rock songs at the top
of her lungs. @lydiandro
Carmen is a copywriter and content strategist
for the Web Concierge team at GreatCircle
Studios. She is a purveyor of books,
copywriting, web marketing, and digital design,
and she has a knack for tripping over her own
shadow. Her greatest love is Lola, her 1945
Royal typewriter, followed closely by the Harry
Potter series. @carmencopywrite

DOUBLING YOUR LEADS.
INTRODUCTION
CHANGE 1: WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
CHANGE 2: IS YOUR WEBSITE COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY?
CHANGE 3: SMASH THOSE BARRIERS!
CHANGE 4: GUIDE YOUR VISITORS THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE.
CHANGE 5: NURTURE YOUR WEBSITE.
CONCLUSION
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
4
ONE CHAPTER AT A TIME

INTRODUCTIONI
I am the President of GreatCircle Studios and over the past fifteen years I have been actively working within the
web design, SEO, and web marketing industries. This has afforded me a unique perspective. In this guide, I share
with you successful actions that can be easily implemented, and these can double your online leads, regardless
of industry or vertical market.
I started my own web design and SEO/web marketing company roughly 7 years ago, and I have been in this
industry for over 15 years. I’ve been intimately involved in the production, design, marketing, and day-to-day
management of over 1,500 individual service-based websites. Over the years, I’ve developed basic workable
principles that, when done correctly, will work every time.
I’ve found that the overwhelming majority of business owners reach out to our company and simply want to
know…
“How do I get my website to generate leads for
my business?”
WHY I CREATED THIS GUIDE
The short answer? There is no silver bullet. There is a multi-phased approach that one can and should follow,
and it involves SEO, web marketing, web design, statistical analysis, newsletters, blog posts, content creation,
backlink generation, and potentially offline marketing that ties into one’s online presence.
This guide describes the 5 major changes I’ve seen websites make that have doubled their company’s leads.
This guide was written for business owners or for those who are in charge of a website. The following
guidelines are easy to understand as well as easy to implement.

WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
6
FIND OUT WHO THEY ARE AND ZERO IN ON THEM
1

Here is where you begin. When you
make and run a website, you should
have an idea of who you would like the
website to appeal to. But after this,
what do you do next? Don’t worry,
dear reader—that’s exactly what you’ll
be learning in this section.
Unwittingly, plenty of clients always
violate this very basic principle. Ideally,
a business owner or the one
responsible for the website would
know the answer to the question,
“who should my website target?” On
one hand, most site owners can quickly
and easily answer the above question.
However, when they’re then asked,
“Does your home page communicate to
your audience?”
Shockingly, most of them will say,
“No!”
5 SIMPLE WEBSITE CHANGES: INSIDER SECRETS TO DOUBLING YOUR ONLINE LEADS
1

2
If business owners in question know
their target audiences, then it makes
sense for them to know where they
want their target audiences to go from
the home page and what the top two or
three things they want their audiences
to see are.
In many cases, they have no clue what
these two or three things are. If they can
answer the first question, however,
many of them have nothing on the home
page that indicates where they want
their target audiences to go. Uh-oh—
definitely not a good sign!

If you don’t already know who your target
audience is—and in some cases there can be
multiple audiences—then you’d better find out!
Is the audience in a specific vertical market, like
software buyers, chiropractors, and dentists? If
you service different kinds of vertical markets,
then you may want to take the time to contact
your clients and develop a good understanding
of their demographics. Are they young or old?
Male or female? Trolls or humans?
Before you go any further, here is a quick caveat
on determining your target audience. Do not get
caught up in the trap of claiming that you can
service everyone. If you follow this logic, then
you won’t succeed— not unless you’re Wal-
Mart. But let’s face it: if you’re reading this, then
you’re probably not Wal-Mart!
3

This exercise doesn’t need to take weeks or months. In fact, most of you might
already have a good idea of who your target audience is. If you have taken a good
look at your target audience’s demographics and found that specific niche, then
you are ready to advance to the next step. Hooray—that’s one out of five changes
down! So. without any further ado, let’s dive right in and get into the next step!
4

IS YOUR WEBSITE COMMUNICATING
EFFECTIVELY?
2
YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS THE LOCK. YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD BE THE
KEY.

Communication is a crucial step
to success. Since you have a
target audience, it’s only logical
for you to use your website to
speak to them, right? This
section will tell you how to do it!
More often than not, you’ll
narrow your list down to only
one or two target audiences. It
also helps to understand that
the average site visitor gets
overwhelmingly inundated with
marketing messages on a regular
basis. That’s why you need to
make your website stand out
from the crowd.
TINY NUGGETS OF TRUTH
•“838 billion marketing messages have
been sent in 2013.” –Forrester
•“91% of consumers use email at least
daily.” –ExactTarget
•“66% of consumers have made a
purchase online as a result of an email
marketing message.” –Direct Marketing
Association
•“71% of internet users are more likely to
purchase from a brand that they are
following on a social networking site such
as Twitter or Facebook.” –Top Rank Online
Marketing
5

Have you attracted your
target audience? Good. But
are they sticking around?
Internet users have a very
short attention span, so as
soon as you’ve grabbed
them, don’t let them go!
TINY NUGGETS OF TRUTH
•Jakob Nielson of the Nielson/Norman
Group reports that on average, a person
leaves a website in 10-20 seconds.
•Neil Holley-Williams of SiteProNews
reports that the number is even smaller,
and that the average web surfer will leave a
website in 8 seconds.
Because the average web page visit is so
brief, a website must make its proposition
as clear and concise as possible—and it
would probably help to look good while
doing so.
6

Now, have a look at your home page in a
new light—from your target audience’s
point of view. If you’re unsure of how to
do this, here’s one way to tackle it:
1. Go to your website and turn off your
monitor.
2. Sit back and think about who your
target audience is. Close your eyes. Put
yourself in their position. Hum your
favorite tune if it helps.
3. Turn on the monitor again and look at
the home page from the target audience’s
viewpoint. What do you see? What
communicates to you? What initial
impression do you get about this website
and, hence, the company?
7

8
You’ve taken a look at your website, and you’ve considered whether or not it
speaks to your target audience. If it does, then great! However, there’s also a
pretty good chance that what you’re seeing on the home page is probably not
what you want to communicate to your target audience. If that’s the case, then it’s
time to jump right in and tune it up.
Before you proceed to the next step, however, be warned—this step may require
you to get your hands a little dirty or to take lessons from one of our trained trolls.
It might not be a cake walk, but have some confidence in yourself! You can do it!

SMASH THOSE BARRIERS!
3
WHIP OUT THE STEEL-TOED BOOTS AND KICK THEM TO THE CURB

9
If you’ve been faithfully following this guide so far, you should now know exactly
who your target audience is and you should have determined whether or not your
website’s home page captures your target audience’s attention. Now that you know
this, then keep moving forward. Here are three things you can do to fix your
website’s home page next!
REMOVE
BARRIERS
ESTABLISH A
CLEAR USER
PATH
TELL
VISITORS TO
DO
SOMETHING

Get rid of all everything that’s not directly related to the top 2 or 3 things you want your
site’s visitors to see. Make sure that your navigation is clean—in this case, less is certainly
more!
On average, a person will view a website’s navigation menu for only up to 6.44 seconds.
Draw attention to no more than 2-3 key things that you want your visitors to see. If you
don’t, you might wind up with something similar to the terror on the bottom of the box to
the right. Clean up that messy clutter if you have to, but don’t pat yourself on the back just
yet. You still have two more things to do next!
✓
AdFlavor.net: an example of clean navigation.
X
Restaurantguideatlanta.com: an example of poor, cluttered
navigation. 10
REMOVE BARRIERS

ESTABLISH A CLEAR USER PATH
11
Where do you want website
visitors to look? Where do you
want them to go? Once again, less
is more! Take the most important
items on the page and emphasize
them. There are many design
techniques that can be used here
to assist you. Remember to look at
your site from a user’s
perspective—don’t do anything
too over-the-top that will distract
from the path that you want your
visitors to trek along.

Tell them who you and your website or company are, and make it brief. After that, make sure
they clearly know what you want them to do. Utilize “call to action” statements like “click
here” and “view now.” As you know, site visitors have the attention span of a goldfish, so
grab them by the shoulders and tell them to do something! Don’t rely on them to decide
what they’ll click on next!
This above point ties in quite nicely with website change #4, which you will see in a few more
pages.
TELL VISITORS TO DO SOMETHING
✓
Skype.com—short, sweet, and to the point with
a clear call-to-action.
Farmers.com—so much text that the
call-to-action is lost.
X
12

Now, dust off your hands and reward
yourself with a break, a drink, and your
favorite snack. You’ve just finished one of
the more difficult parts of this guide! That
wasn’t so bad, was it?
However, you’re not finished yet! You’re
only a little more than halfway through.
So, now that you’ve crushed barriers,
highlighted the path you want your site’s
visitors to walk along, and told them to do
something, you’re ready to take the next
step. This time, break out the hiking boots,
because you’re about to lead them on a
quest!
13

GUIDE YOUR VISITORS
THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE
4
TAKE THEM ON A JOURNEY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS

You’ve got your target audience and a tidy home
page that communicates with this audience.
While the path you want them to navigate
through may be crystal clear to you, it might not
actually be for them. That’s where you and your
hiking boots come in. Your next job is to lead
your visitors through the website and show them
exactly where they need to go. At the end of the
path, tell them what to do next.
Now that you’ve got your home page dialed in,
walk your visitors through your site and to the
pot of gold at the end of the cyber rainbow.
A successful service-based company website has
the flow of its website mirror its sales cycle as
closely as possible. So how do you do this, too?
Simple: imagine your website’s pages as a sales
journey. Your site should be just like your sales
cycle, mirroring it as if you were talking to
someone on the phone or meeting them in
person. Start your quest through the website
from the beginning—take your visitors by the
hand and show them exactly where you want
them to go.
Siyelo.com—a great example of a website that
flows well. Visitors begin navigating at the top
of the screen, and as they scroll down or click
on the navigation links on the top right-hand
corner of the page, they are guided through
the website as if they are being led on a sales
journey. Neat, huh?
14

Now, let’s assume that your website communicates to your target audience. Your
home page now captures their attention, and they’ve started their journey by
clicking through to the pages you’ve emphasized to them. At some point, you
want them to do something, right? Enjoy that pot of gold you’ve left for them at
the end of the rainbow, perhaps?
Of course you do! If you can mentally walk through your site, then they can too.
At the end of the path—or the sales cycle you are mirroring—here is where you
want your visitors to do something. Utilize “call to action” phrases (like the below
examples) to further guide them.
15
CALL NOW
FILL OUT THIS
FORM
CLICK HERE
FOR FREE
DOWNLOAD

Once you’re finished showing your visitors where to go, take off those hiking boots
and relax. Have another drink. By now, you’ve successfully completed steps 1-4 of
this guide. You’re so close to the end!
This final step is one of great importance. It must not be underestimated.
It’s time to go into parenting mode, because you’re about to look after a child, so
to speak.
16

NURTURE YOUR WEBSITE
5
AFTER YOU WATER IT, WATCH IT GROW AND TRIM IT AS NEEDED.

17
Having a website is like having a child. A website needs
someone to monitor its successes or failures and to care for
it. If you think of it this way—would you stop nurturing it?
Would you stop tending to it? Doing nothing with a website
you have created is the equivalent of neglecting your
firstborn son. Ouch—nobody wants to be called an
irresponsible parent!
Watch your website’s statistics like a hawk. If you have to,
adjust the site to increase your leads. Keep a “change log.”
Every time you make any changes to your website, jot down
what change was made and when it was implemented. Then,
take a weekly look at your website’s statistics and ask yourself
the following questions:
If your changes increase conversion rates, keep them! If they
cause conversion rates to drop, then revert to the old version.
If that doesn’t satisfy you, then come up with something new
and give that a try. All in all, look at your statistics or metrics
and adjust your site accordingly to obtain better results.
But what exactly should you have your eye on? Three very
important metrics.

KEY METRICS TO WATCH
BOUNCE RATE
A bounce rate is the percentage of people who visit a
website and then leave immediately. The lower the
bounce rate, the better. If your bounce rate is high, it
typically means one or more of the following is true:
1. Your website does not communicate to your
target audience or the wrong audience is
visiting your site;
2. The navigation or “flow” of your website is
too confusing or difficult for visitors to use, so
they get frustrated and leave;
3. Something is technically wrong with your
page or website. It could be taking too long to load,
or maybe the design isn’t fitting into or running
properly in different browsers.
18The average bounce rate for service business websites is 30-
50%, according to an infographic from KISSmetrics.

CLICK-THROUGH RATE (CTR)
A CTR focuses on the rate at which a visitor gets to a website’s home page and
navigates the site through a series of clicks. CTRs are commonly associated with
advertisements on a website.
Take a good look at your website’s CTR for a moment. Then, ask yourself,
“Where did my visitors go next?” You may find that what you thought was your #1
service and the most important thing people needed to see is not what people are
actually clicking on. Then, ask yourself, “Is the page people navigate to actually the
#1 service that they are interested in? Or is it possible that the #1 service isn’t
catching their attention, visually or otherwise?”
If the latter is the case, then fix the problem as quickly as you can. Redirect your
visitors to the most important thing you want them to notice, and see if this works.
19

So, your bounce rate is low, and your CTR isn’t too shabby. But consider this: what if your
visitors are getting to your contact page, but they are not calling your office or filling out a
contact form you have provided?
If this is the case, then you most likely have an issue with conversions. Ask yourself, “Why are
visitors stopping here? If I were my target audience and I made it this far, what would stop
me from filling out this form or from picking up the phone to call?” On the next page of this
guide, you can take a look at some of the most common ways people goof up their website
conversions.
1. The contact form you’ve provided is too long or it demands too much personal
information that people don’t want to disclose;
2. There is no push or subtle nudge for people to contact your business. For example,
some contact pages only have a phone number, but they do not include an email address or
a form to fill out;
3. The offer isn’t strong enough. A lot of service companies will offer something in
exchange for contact information. This becomes a huge problem for someone who is in this
kind of business and doesn’t offer any kind of incentive, or if the incentive isn’t strong
enough to entice people to disclose their contact information.
20
CONVERSIONS

DID YOU GOOF UP YOUR CONVERSIONS?
21
If you want to do wonders for your
website—which you probably do—
then carefully analyze your website’s
bounce rate, click-through rate, and
conversions. Keep on nurturing your
website this way, and enjoy watching
it grow from cyber youth into cyber
adulthood as you make the proper
adjustments.
If you want to do wonders for your
website—which you probably do—
then carefully analyze your website’s
bounce rate, click-through rate, and
conversions. Keep on nurturing your
website this way, and enjoy watching
it grow from cyber youth into cyber
adulthood as you make the proper
adjustments.

CONCLUSION
START SEEING DOUBLE
THE LEADS, THAT IS

22
Seeing double has never seemed better. When working on your website you should always
keep in mind that your audience is the most important aspect of why you do what you do.
At GreatCircle Studios our only hope is that this guide will provide you with the blueprint to
starting your journey to doubling your leads by:
KNOWING WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY
SMASHING THOSE BARRIERS
GUIDING OUR VISITORS THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE
NURTURING YOUR WEBSITE

23
The average website visitor wants to be informed and told what to do next. Your website
should not only engage your intended audience, it should guide them along and prompt
them to complete an action. While there are no guarantees on whether every website
visitor will be become a customer, these tips outlined in the guide can help even the
smallest of businesses achieve “leads domination”.
Congratulations! You now understand how to determine your target audience,
communicate with them, remove anything that detracts from this communication, take
your audience through your website, and keep tabs on your beloved website. And now,
you’re ready to change that website and market to your target audience like a true
champion.
Thank you for reading 5 Simple Website Changes :Insider Secrets To Doubling Your Online
Leads. Take these suggestions and use them wisely. You will find that they work well and
that they are extremely rewarding once implemented

WEBSITE
MAYHEM
OFFICIALLY
MANAGED

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
36
• Is Your Website Driving Customers Away?
• 5 Simple Adjustments to Make Your Website
Shine
• Is Mobile Strategy Your Priority or Simply an
Option?
• 3 Ways to Attract Visitors to Your Website
• 7 Reasons We’re Thankful for Mobile Sites… And
You Should Be Too

ATTRIBUTION
37
•6 Easy Ways to Improve your Site’s Navigation
•How to Design User Flow
•6 Tips for Effective Calls to Action
•Strategic Design: 6 Steps for Building Successful
Websites
•25 Reasons Why I’ll Leave your Website in 10 Seconds
•What is a Website Conversion?

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