5 Things That Will Take Your Website to the Next Level
Image by Kristin Caldwell Photography
So, you have a new beautiful website: Now what!? While your website may be fully functioning and doing its job, there are a handful of features you can implement that will make it work extra magically! Today I’m sharing 5 of my favorite things that will take your website to the next level.
5 Things That Will Take Your Website to the Next Level
1. Interactive Quiz
You may have noticed that I have a quiz titled “What’s Missing From Your Digital Marketing Strategy?” that gives visitors tangible, actionable results when they follow the prompts to answer 7 key questions about their online presence. This is a fantastic way to showcase your knowledge in your field, as well as grow your email list while providing something of value to your target audience member. As a certified partner and longtime user of Interact Quiz Maker, I wholeheartedly recommend their system for creating a quiz of your own - it’s ridiculously simple, easy to integrate to your website and email marketing platform of choice, and most importantly: totally aesthetic!
2. Opt-in Freebie / Freebie Library
Another route for growing your email list involves what us oh-so-fancy industry pros call “freebies”! Freebies are typically made in the format of downloadable PDF documents that provide exclusive content of value to your audience in exchange for their email on your list. I do this by way of a freebie library - a password-protected page that only my subscribers receive access to (immediately, I should add, as soon as they sign up for my list!). You can easily set this up in your website and email marketing platform such as MailChimp using automations.
3. Live Chat Support
If you’re a business that has customers frequently asking questions of you prior to booking or setting foot in your store, consider integrating a real live chat program for your site. I had this feature for a couple years actually, but decided to turn it off when I could no longer keep up with it (it enticed quite a few folks and I got frequent inquiries!). This low-barrier form of communication allows people who are simply browsing your site for the first time to have their lingering questions answered before taking the next big step of action. I used a program called Drift and I swear by it! It’s free, easy to use, and there’s a great mobile app so you’ll never miss a beat.
4. Branded "Pin It" Pinterest Button
You may notice that a “Pin It!” graphic appears if you hover over any image found on my blog here (go ahead - try it!). This is branded in my colors and hand-lettered by my original brand designer, then digitized and produced in a small circle to create that button-like shape. When you click on the circle, it prompts your browser to open up Pinterest and allows you to save the blog post for later reading/sharing with others. This is key when it comes to growing your work - you should absolutely have the ability to pin your images enabled on your site regardless, but going the extra mile with a branded, custom “pin it” button shows that you really know your stuff, and that you encourage shares/saves! You can implement a custom button by using some simple CSS code - this tutorial by Station Seven is my fave.
5. Custom Artwork
One way to really spruce up your site and showcase your unique personality is to implement some custom graphic design or other artwork to your pages! I commissioned one of my dear friends to create a series of pieces inspired by my favorite drag queens since I’m obsessed with queer culture and have pride in FFM being a queer-owned biz. Instead of simply drawing the drag queens, she inserted my own features into iconic poses and looks of theirs, so it looks like me IF I were those queens for a day! I added these to my business cards and at one point had them on each service page of my site (I've since removed them to showcase more imagery of the team). Any unique way you can show off your individuality is a win in my book and allows your audience to connect with you just a bit quicker!
I hope these 5 ideas inspire you to spice things up. While it’s not always necessary to execute a full redesign on a website, improving your overall strategy should always be a priority. Have any questions or need to bounce around an idea? Let’s chat in the comments below!
