Website Critique And Review For Better Conversion, Placement In Google & Long Term Profits
By: Sandi Krakowski
During my last 14 years online I've had numerous websites, blogs and even flash designed bells and whistles presentations. One thing is for sure, not all websites are built alike. Today, I'd like to do a website critique and review so I can share with all of you some tweaks and tips you can instantly apply to your own business for better conversion, placement in Google and long term profitability.
First things first… if you've been reading me for any length of time you already know where I'm going to go. Some of you are new and this will be your first time hearing it.
Sadly, some of you will continue with your broken website and do anything you can to get around it by focusing on something other than what I am going to share with you here and now. Here it is. WordPress. I am not suggesting you use WordPress, I'm not advertising for WordPress and I'm not trying to persuade you to come over to my side of the fence and use WordPress. Bottom line is, if you want to be have higher conversions, be on the first page of Google fast and you want to build a business that will bring in the most amount of money that you are not tied at the hip to a webmaster for, get WordPress.
Not just any WordPress site will work.
You will need to have your own domain and hosting package with WordPress. Do not use the free version of WordPress. You don't own anything on those sites, you're pretty much borrowing space. You can be shut down at any time… and don't go through the pain I did a few years back when I attempted to sell something on a WordPress.com site… I was shut down without any notice. You are not supposed to use WordPress.com for any commercial usage.
HostGator or GoDaddy offer hosting packages with WordPress built in that you do own. Get it. Plain and simple. And be sure that you go through my entire 30 Day Make More Money With Your Blog course.. all 30 days. I can always tell when someone stops at day 15 or 19 because the questions they ask me are telling on them. This class could have easily been sold for well over $ 249, so do yourself a favor and go through the entire course, step by step, and DO what it says. I took the time to prepare this for anyone who was serious about developing a website. Many of my clients and I mean MANY of them end up on the first page of Google in their respective niche by the time they finish this very short and concise 30 day course.
More than 100,000 people have used our 30 Day Make More Money With Your Blog course to get themselves into the driver's seat fast… so that is your first step. After that, you'll want our WordPress For The Business Owner course. Now listen…. hear me out here… I am NOT trying to sell you. I could send you to a ton of free classes that will make your head turn and you'll need to take out a Techno Geek Greek Speak Manual to even understand what the heck they are talking about….. or you can spend 4+ hours with me, on the WordPress For The Business Owner course that to date tens of thousands of our clients have gone through. It's done in plain English, screen shots and is the easiest course on the internet today for anyone who is serious about building their own business website. This is the course that brings more, "OH MY GOSH!!!" emails than any other course after the 30 Day free class. So get both.
You have two choices…. keep struggling, keep asking a ton of Gurus what to do…. or get these two things, one is free, the other is a measly $97.00 and we give you an entire month in our Forever WordPress Community where you have access to my experts for free. Ridiculous!
30 Day Make More Money With Your Blog Course– http://www.arealchange.com
WordPress For The Business Owner Class– http://www.arealchange.com/blog/wordpressi
NOW… we are ready to do a live website audit and critique.
The reason I took the time to share with you what you need as the foundational key to getting online and making money is this- what I am going to share below will REVOLVE around WordPress. How it's set up, what the layout is doing and not doing, if the theme is working or not, if the copy is converting and how the Opt In is working. If you don't go through these two courses I refer to above, for example, when I comment on keywords you're going to have a ton of questions. I teach Keyword Research in both of these classes and this will push you past everyone who is just 'trying' to make things work online to where many of my clients are today, making an income they never dreamed was possible, part time. Some of our clients have left their jobs and now work at home full time.
I certainly can't promise you everyone can do this because I have no control over what people do with their time, their desires and their gifts. Many people hide behind fear, they procrastinate, they need someone to tell them, "You are going to make it" more than 5 times per week and never move forward. But the select few who get past all these limiting issues go onto create an income for themselves that many times they are teaching others! Many of my students are taking my WordPress and Social Media training and creating their OWN trainings to teach people. Fact of the matter is, it works.
Website Review and Audit
I went though my Facebook Friends on our Facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/sandikrakowskibiz and went looking for a good site I could review. My goal was not to find something that had so many problems that I'd confuse you ( there are many people following us on Facebook who have not done what we teach in these courses and they are frustrated) but there are a TON of people on our Facebook page who are getting ridiculous results….. so I went to look for those particular sites. 🙂
Healthy Living For Real People With McKenna Gordon
McKenna is already on track with her WordPress blog. Set up with the theme called Thesis, she has the best setup to get onto Google as quickly as she can. Thesis is my absolute favorite and the theme we use here at ARealChange.com. It can't be beat when it comes to SEO, Google Placement and ease of use.
First aspect of review- colors. McKenna has great colors that not only mirror her message, but more importantly mirror who she is. People do business with people not products. Even though we have valuable products and services to bring to the marketplace, you'll learn in my book, "Read Their Mind: How To Hear What The Marketplace Wants And Build A Huge Business" that the bottom line is Y-O-U. McKenna has done a fantastic job mirroring who she is on this website and then leading us with her message…. that by the way is solving an urgent pressing problem.
One of the biggest mistakes I see on most websites is this- I can't figure out what they do or why they are doing it. We MUST lead with an urgent problem that the marketplace has and a solution for this problem. If in the first 5 seconds I can't figure out what you do, why I should listen to you and what you can do for me…. I'll go elsewhere. It's plain to see and easy to read that McKenna Gordon is helping people live healthy. Not just any people, REAL people. That's an urgent problem, now isn't it? There are many health plans out there but most are not adaptable or easy to use with the busy lifestyles that so many people have. MrKennas radiates health herself (GREAT for her brand) and talks about real living right out of the gates.
Now let me park here on something really critical I just said. McKenna RADIATES her message. She is a living example of what she teaches. I don't know when it started but in the last few years I've seen some serious issues with people creating websites that they do not lead with their life on. People who claim to be able to help with anxiety and stress who look like basket cases on their website! People who say they are the best EFT- Emotional Freedom Technique expert and they look terrifying and not welcoming! I'm sorry, but if I am going to read your blog about anxiety or stress or if I am going to do any research on what EFT is, if I like it or think it's a farce, I won't get far if your picture is SCARY on the top of your website!
If people do business with people it's imperative that we have a picture of who we are at the top of our website. Smile!!! Radiate your message! Even if you don't think you're very pretty or good looking you have to do whatever it takes to BE the face of your message, otherwise, you'll lose me. Instantly. Enough said on that. 🙂
Now I'm really curious… can I spy on you? This is the second or third thing most people will ask on your website. Where can I check you out? Can I see you in action? Can I spy on you? Placed prominently in the upper left hand corner are two places I can- Facebook and Twitter. Great job! Easy to navigate, easy to read and it goes to a page where YOU are active! Woohoo!!! Nothing is more disheartening than to have an interest in someone and you go to their Facebook or Twitter pages and they haven't posted in 5 months. UGH… makes you not want to trust them and go somewhere else. Even if they tell me they are super successful and travel all over the world on their blog, if they aren't interacting with people live on social media, they have lost my respect. Good job again McKenna!
UH-OH! First major problem. 🙁 I am thrilled with your offer, want your opt in, love your blog posts, you seem friendly, are available on social media and you are live…. but ummm… there's no About Page. Who are you? What are you about? Why should I listen to you?
Uh-Oh #2….. Ummmm… are you for real? Do you really have others that you are helping or are you new online? Well, I see 1400 people following you on Facebook and 1300 on Twitter, but I don't see any stories, where are the success cases, who have you helped? Is anyone else thin and healthy like you or did you only work on yourself and you couldn't help anyone else? I need to go find an expert… BYE!
McKenna, I sure hope you're reading this now.
From what I've gleaned on your website you ARE for real and you DO help others. I can see on the interaction on your Facebook page that this is true, but sadly, there's no social proof or credibility on your website. You want to take some of these stories and put them NOW into your side bars. Put at least 4-8 short sentences of what people have said you did for them. Put their first name and put their words in quotes. This is critical. You'll give your expertise an instant facelift.
Secondly, you must create an About Page now…. and put some pictures of you in the kitchen, with family, in real life settings. You're telling me that you can help me live healthy in real life with a busy career so show me… so I can connect with you more quickly.
THIS picture needs to be on YOUR about page.
You have some other great pictures (which by the way please activate your picture section on your Facebook Page, I had to hunt for these) that prove who you are! I love you! Your eyes glow, your face shines, you are fun!!! Please, put these on your About Page and everyone will fall in love with you.
Here's another reason you have to add some more Tabs to your site, like an About Page, some videos and more ways to connect with you. This will also give you more credibility because you give me many options to experience you and what you are about. What you have is GREAT… just expand a bit. And give me a direction. Tell me where I should go first so I don't get lost.
Lastly, your sales page for the Holiday Cookbook.
This price is amazing…. and I am very concerned that you are devaluing your work. As someone who has also published a cookbook myself, I know that this is going to be VERY valuable for people! Typically I pay MORE for digital cookbooks I can have forever on my iPad or my Kindle. So I recommend you RAISE the price of your cookbook to $ 47.00 and give it on a SPECIAL one-time promotion for $ 27.00. This could run successfully through the rest of this year.
Another idea is, you might want to add some video bonus' with this! Show me the hard parts… give me some extra FAQ bonus pages. Invite me to talk to you on a private "My Holiday Cookbook Facebook Group" where we can all collaborate about this! IF you do all that? You could easily promote the SPECIAL BONUS WORK WITH MCKENNA price of $ 67.00 and now the Discount Price is $ 37.00!!!
We just tripled your price and increased your value without a whole lot of extra work. This is how mother of 12 Charlotte Siems had a $ 4500 3 day sale her first time out of the gates with only 300 people on her list and 400 following her on social media! Everything I'm telling you, she did. Now… she's submitted her application for our Diamond Coaching program!
You have a great message, are an amazing writer, I love reading what you offer, I can't wait to hear what you have to say next!
McKenna Gordon.. do these changes and keep sharing your gifts! The world is going to love you!
