Why aren’t you getting the page views you need for bookings and sales? In today’s world of online information & image overload, you have a nanosecond to grab your viewers’ attention and to start building trust. Once they land on your website, you must have a clear, visually sticky banner to pull them in immediately and to get them to scroll further so you have the opportunity to build a relationship.
3 Common Mistakes on Speaker Website Banners
Mistake #1 You’re Not Creating Eye-Candy for Your Viewer
Your website banner is flat out ugly. I’m sorry to say that but, it’s tough love time. Step back and take a look at your website banner (some call it your header). Ask yourself “Is this pleasing to the eye?” “Is it high quality?” “Does it match my brand?” “Do I get compliments on it from friends and colleagues?” “Am I proud of this?”
I want you to have a beautiful banner, one that is pleasing to the eye. Eye-candy. This visual will be the first thing that visitors see and if it is out-dated, blurry, slapped together, messy, cluttered or not visually appealing, it will fail to draw people in to read on and see what you’re offering.
Mistake #2 You Are Not Connecting with Your Audience
Nothing kills a business online like confusion. Humans are wired to have the ability to sense when something is just not right. Some are better than others, but most of us can tell when that little voice inside our heads wants us to move on – or even run – from a situation that might not be good for us.
Your banner or header has to connect with your viewer immediately, and there’s the challenging part, it has to instill trust immediately, too. Remember, we’re dealing in nanoseconds here and with people who are already cautious about spending time and money online. First impressions still count, and online, they are instantaneously made by your banner.
Mistake #3 You Are Not Giving Clear Direction
Your banner is the starting place of a journey for your site visitors. They won’t get past step one if you’re not telling them what to do or where to go next.
You’re the best guide for your site visitors after all, but you have to make it very plain to them what you want them to do.
If you don’t tell them, they’re likely to get lost along the way. When your visitors lose their way, you lose the potential of a connection, booking or sale.
Lost visitors are also very likely to go back to the search bar in their browser and move on. Where do they go? That’s right, your competitor’s, well-organized, visually appealing, clearly laid out site – and shopping cart.
3 Fixes for Your Speakers Website Banner That Will Help You Get Booked
#1 Fix: Remove Your Ugly Banner Today and Brand Your New One
Remove the overcrowded text, the bright and jarring colors, and blurry images. Crystal clear and beautiful is what you want. Make it pop & bright if that’s on brand for you, but it still has to be visually appealing and easy on the eyes. Jarring colors repel our brains, especially if they are not “softened” with grounding colors that let our brains rest, too.
Let the banner announce your brand. This includes colors, tag lines, language, fonts, etc. You want it to fall nicely in line with the rest of your page design.
It needs to be eye-catching but not cluttered. Clutter causes confusion, so leave some white space for the banner to breath and the eye to rest.
Need some tips and ideas on designing a banner? See the video below. It’s a Canva tutorial so you can easily create a beautiful design for your website. You can find great web banner templates using Canva here.
#2 Fix: Have A Clear Message
Tell your viewer exactly what you do in as few words as possible. It’s important to make that clear so you can immediately connect with the person you are meant to serve and who will buy from you or book you – your audience.
You’re not interested in other people, only your niche, your audience because those are who are already looking for you and your solutions to their problems. Make your message perfectly on point for them. Your speaking career is about them, so should be your speaker website and banner.
For example, on the Charli Jane Speaker website banner it’s very clear what I do. I make sure this follows on all my banners on social media as well. You should, too.
#3 Fix: Tell Your Viewers What You Want Them To Do
Again, a confused buyer won’t buy and a confused planner won’t book. They’ll never make it far enough into your site to buy from you or book you.
So, if you have already confused them with a low-quality image, repellant colors, on your unbranded banner and now you don’t tell them what to do, then they have become so confused that you’ve lost them.
And in losing them, you may have lost a huge opportunity. At the least, you’ve lost that connection and the opportunity to grow the relationship.
Your visitors not only want to know immediately what you do and see a beautiful looking, bright, breathable banner, they want you to tell them what to do next.
Take them by the hand on a shared journey.
The image above is my website banner and I start the journey with a big yellow (branded) button that says Start Here. This is my hand outstretched to them so we can begin the journey together.
You Can & Should Fix This Today
If you’re not a designer or you’re short on time and inspiration, find someone right away and hire them to design your banner for you. The cost should be affordable, especially when you consider how long this will remain on your website, how many people will potentially see it and how important it is to get it right, right from the start. Here’s a key area for high ROI.
Think of it this way. You’ve worked very hard and you’ve finally bought your dream home. You’ve landscaped, decorated the interior, and power-washed the exterior. It looks so lovely from the curb. However, you have a ratty old front door that hasn’t been repaired or cleaned in years. When you have visitors to your home, they stare at it when up close on your doorstep waiting for you to let them in. They don’t say anything, but they wonder why you still have such a front door. Why does everything else look so nice and attended to, but then there’s this door. Something’s not quite lining up. It’s become a bit of a mystery to them and that’s what they focus on – all else is lost in their memories.
You wouldn’t do all that other work on your home and property and not clean, paint and renew your front door, would you? You might even decide to replace it all together with one in a favorite color that “pops” or soothes and announces for you “Welcome! So glad you’re here. Let me show you around. Make yourself at home.”
Your website banner is your front door to the world. Make it lovely, on-brand and make it pop, and a clear starting point to a wonderful visit. Set the stage for your visitors to get the very best impression of you and the work you do from the first moment they arrive on your online doorstep.
Start today by taking these 3 steps to fix your speaker website banner. It will make a world of difference in getting your visitors to stay longer and interact with you. You’ll be much closer to your goal of a booked schedule!
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