The whole point of having a website is to convert traffic into sales. You could be getting a million visitors a day but unless those visitors are compelled to take some sort of action like subscribing, signing up for an account, clicking an advert or making a purchase, you are wasting your time and money. In this post I am going to show you the best landing pages on the internet and talk about why they are so good. Hopefully you will then be able to apply them to your own landing pages.

ISSUES WITH CREATING A SUCCESSFUL LANDING PAGE

Before we take a look at the best landing pages on the net I want to talk about a few issues that inevitably arise when creating these things. Unless you address these issues at the onset you are likely to run into many conversion problems down the track that will cost you a lot of time and potentially cash. The lessons learned from the top pages are only useful if you are all over these issues.

• Each goal requires a different landing page
  What is your goal for this landing page you are creating? Are you trying to get more subscribers or are you trying to get someone to buy a product? Do you want the person to visit your site again and again or are you looking to just get them to click an advert and leave? Each one of these goals requires a very different landing page design. It would be foolish to think that a successful landing page in one group could always translate to being successful in another. Make sure you are well aware of your goal before you start.
• The landing page must address different types of visitors
  Who is coming to this landing page? Is it men or is it women? How old are these men or women? Do they have a college education? Have they got children? How well do they know how to use the internet? All of these considerations are vital when creating a successful landing page. For example, if you fail to consider how ‘net savvy’ your visitors are you can miss out on a lot of earnings. Darren Rowse from Problogger.net often says that Adsense ads on his site earned next to nothing because his visitors are so experienced that they know what the ads look like and purposely avoid them. This doesn’t mean Adsense ads are useless, it just means that they don’t work as well with an experienced demographic. All of these considerations need to be made in advance.
• Making the landing page more successful
  Let’s say you have a landing page that is converting about 20% of your traffic into sales. That’s pretty good. You are making some money and are thinking about scaling it up. But hold on a second! How do you know that 20% is the best this page and product combination could be making? What if you changed the links from black to blue? What if you added a picture of a pretty lady? Could the conversion rate go up to 40%, 50%, more? It is important to do what internet marketers call split testing where you run several different versions on the same ad and see what converts better. The best way to manage that is with Google Website Optimizer. This amazing and robust free tool lets you run different versions of your ads and see what elements of each one is helping/harming your campaign. Learn how to use it now.

THE NET’S BEST LANDING PAGES

Now that we have looked at a few basic issues that arise when creating landing pages we can move on to learning from the best ones. I have selected these landing pages to show you what the big guys are doing and why they are doing it. Hopefully it helps some people out there with their own campaigns.

1. Facebook – Low barriers to entry

We all know the Facebook landing page. We have seen it a thousand times when we log into our accounts. But stop looking at it like an existing member and start looking at it like someone who is approaching the site for the first time. Does it make you want to join? Is the layout important? I have heard a lot of experts say that the Facebook landing page is almost obsolete because people would join it no matter what because the reputation of the site is so established. That is an interesting point. I’m not sure I agree.

The Facebook landing page has three important elements: an image that illustrates the concept of the service, the word “free” above the sign up area and the full sign up area on the front page. These elements all come together in a very effective way by saying, “Facebook lets you talk to your friends for free and its fast to sign up”. This page is different a lot of landing pages that tell you to “click here” before you can sign up. The ease of access is a big factor in Facebook’s success; even your grandma can do it.

Summary – Landing pages that require a sign up need to appear simple, even if they are not. They also need to provide some sort of incentive or benefit in order to coax the user into spending their time filling out a form. An image can act as an enticement as well as illuminating the benefits.

2. Twitter – dynamic and social

Twitter’s landing page is extremely interesting because it is actually a lot busier than your typical landing page. More than just a “speech” to get you to join, Twitter has made their landing page quite interactive. Sure, it has the little slogan, “Share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” but it also has a search button right under that so you can see what is going on in your chosen area. This is a very clever idea because it acts like a free trial or incentive. The landing page is getting potential members interesting by showing them how well this thing works at spreading gossip and news.

The main thing this landing page seems to be doing is trying to get you involved. It is a very dynamic page. It lists the most popular trending topics of the day, week and month, it asks you to do a quick little search to see whats going on and it also uses phrases like, “Join the conversation” to get you feeling like you are missing out on something by not signing up. They have done this interactive landing page extremely well.

Summary – Twitter gives you a live “preview” of what’s going on in the site. I remember visiting it for the first time thinking that I was standing outside a house party looking in through a window. There is a lot going on. Show people what they are missing out on by highlighting the features and benefits of joining up. Don’t just describe them, show them. This is how free trials work.

3. Flickr – socially proofed

Flickr’s landing page is, again, another busy one. It has quite a few elements in its design that take it away from simplicity and towards a more incentive approach. The first thing you see on this landing page is the photo which gives you an example of the kind of thing you will see in the site. You then get the slogan, “Share Your Photos. Watch the World.” This is quite a voyeuristic idea as it is enticing you to look at what other people are doing with their photography and, indeed, their lives. The most interesting part of this landing page, however, has to do with social proof. Right under the photograph you have a line of text that tells you how many photos are being uploaded. At the time of writing this article there were 5,385 uploads in the last minute. This provides a massive sense of security to potential users as it convinces them that other people are using this service. Almost 99% of the time you need to show some social proof. People need to see that they aren’t the first to try something out.

The one weird thing on this landing page is the advertisement. It takes up about 1/5th of the landing page. This is a strange move to me because you are using your landing page to send visitors away from your landing page! It would seem more sensible to me to get people to sign up first and then hit them with the adverts. Perhaps Flickr now have so many users that the landing page can be used to make money via a secondary stream?

Summary – Always remember that people hate being first. Show them how many other people are using your service. Flickr’s landing page is an exercise in mass testimonials.

4. Lava Life – seductive and simple

In case you’re not aware, Lava Life is one of the biggest dating sites in the world. I remember them as being one of the first to pop up in a market that is now saturated with thousands of different options. Whatever your race, religion, hobby or fantasy, there is a dating site for you. Lava Life was also one of the first to advertise on TV and radio and as such made big waves with people who would not normally try online dating. But when you spend the money to advertise on TV you need to make sure your landing page is as tight as can be. In only a few seconds you need to turn a curious advert watcher into a signed up member. And Lava Life do a pretty good job.

The first thing your eye sees on this landing page is the pictures. Don’t be fooled into thinking that these are any ordinary pictures either; these are carefully selected based on what Lava Life knows its potential members want. Note the ratio of male photos to women photos; twice as many women. Notice how good looking they all are, each one representing a “perfect” woman in one way or another. These photos are designed to get your eye in the general area of the sign up form which is, like Facebook, all on the front page. It is interesting to note the language used on this site such as “where singles click” and the join button that says “begin” instead of “sign up”. All of these are very active words. It is also interesting to note that this is only the second landing page to use photos of real people.

Summary – Images have a powerful effect on where people’s eyes land and where they look next. Humans are naturally empathetic creatures so they will attempt to think and feel what the person in the image is thinking and feeling. Use images to direct attention towards a call to action or to act as a preview of what you might find by signing up.

5. Amazon – ultimate personalization

Of all the landing pages in the world it is Amazon’s that makes the biggest impression. I struggle to visit this site without making a purchase. Literally. Over the years I have bought tens of different items from Amazon, referred hundreds of people (through affiliate programs) and told many friends about how easy it is to use. Visiting the landing page of Amazon is like visiting your own little personalized shopping centre. Everything that you want (and probably didn’t even realise that you wanted!) is right there challenging you. Amazon succeeds in getting you to purchase, revisit, share your experience and discover items that you would never normally have thought about.

So let’s look at the design. The first thing you will notice (at the time of writing) is that the Kindle is taking up almost half of the promotional space above the fold. This is an Amazon made product and so they are pushing it hard, especially now that the iPad is out and competing. Once your eye is finished with the Kindle you move on to the area below where your personal recommendations are made. This is always quite shocking to me as there is, 99% of the time, something in that row of books or products that I am thinking about buying. Their personal recommendations work extremely well.

The interesting thing about the Amazon homepage is that they are not afraid to promote every service that they offer. You can get virtually anywhere on the site from the homepage. You have categories on the left, financial information and account across the top, popular items down the right hand side and so on. The approach to this landing page is almost one of “get them clicking and they will buy”. And it works. The longer you spend looking at items on Amazon the more likely you are to buy something. And they are well aware of it.

Summary – Landing pages need to be personal. We don’t all have the technology to seep through someone’s purchasing history like Amazon does, but we do have the ability to write our copy so that it is directed towards an individual. Landing pages should be conversational and speak to people’s emotions and desires. You might even need to help them discover why they actually need your product.

Conclusion

By looking at the most successful landing pages we can learn how to structure our own. Define at your goals, know your target audience and design the page with their interests in mind. Remember to always run split tests and continue to optimise the landing page as much as possible. It doesn’t matter whether your landing page is a website, a store or a long list of copy, you can always learn by looking at what others are doing.

Literally. Giant astronauts. Here in Adelaide the 2010 Fringe is underway and they have created quite a buzz around town by secretly putting up six giant astronauts on buildings and in city parks. Quite a feat and not entirely random; an astronaut wearing a pink tutu is the main mascot of this year’s festivities. But getting from a flat image of an astronaut to six giant, building-scaling, inflatable figures is extremely innovative. It has made news around the whole country and got people everywhere excited about taking part in the month long comedy shows, musical performances and, yes, drinking.

So what can we learn from the Fringe’s awesome astronaut marketing move? Not everyone can afford to make giant inflatable versions of our logos and put them on buildings in the city. Nor would that be entirely appropriate. In this post I want to talk about a few ways to create a buzz for your website or business in a way that really gets people to notice.

Creating a buzz that gets your website noticed

image:novafm.com.au

Not all buzz creating campaigns can be as large scale and successful as the one mentioned in the title. But that does not mean it won’t be a useful exercise. Over time and with practice and many failures you can build up to a Fringe style marketing campaign. And remember, the ideas here are not meant to be literal. I am sharing them as an example of how to achieve a certain goal.

1. Visit industry events and stick stickers
This idea has to be done very carefully because it can come across as spammy and arrogant if done incorrectly. Done correctly, however, you can get the attention of some very important people. The idea is to visit an industry event like a conference or a meet up and get your brand out there in a creative way.

This worked extremely well a few years ago for one budding internet personality when he visited a Search Engine Opitimisation conference in the USA and stuck stickers of his logo and a clever catch phrase all over the place. They were on chairs, tables, cameras, white boards and even on people’s backs! The end results was that his stickers ended up on photos which ended up on people’s websites and Facebook pages. The buzz was fantastic as everyone praised the effort as being extremely creative.

The sticker thing might work for your brand or it might not. The goal is to come up with something that suits your niche and your industry and will get noticed without getting annoying. These types of campaigns should be inexpensive and easy to carry out otherwise the effort won’t be worth the results. Saturate your brand at an industry event in a positive way and your website or business will be remembered by some important people.

2. Deliver your business card in flames
Last night I was in the Fringe Lounge and I met a magician called Nicolas Tweedy. This guy was standing in the middle of a circle of awe-struck people while he made an empty water bottle levitate out of some person’s hand. After flying this bottle around his body and gentle landing it back in the person’s hand he reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and then produced a business card that then proceeded to burst into flames. The crowd loved it. He had their attention.

By the end of the night Nicholas Tweedy had done a full circuit of the Fringe Lounge, showing tricks to almost every person there and producing dozens of flaming business cards. Needless to say, the first thing I did was look up his website and find out where he was performing over the next few nights. And the second thing I did was write about him on my blog. I have a few thousand followers on Twitter who will see this post, Tweedy has started a buzz.

Find a unique way to deliver your business card or introduce yourself to potential clients. If you just hand the card with the same old hum-drum “here is my card” speech you will be forgotten easily. But you will never forget a card that bursts into flames. Find a way to etch yourself onto people’s memories as they will always talk about it to their friends.

Note: You can see Nicholas’ business card trick on the video on this page.

3. Make a seemingly impossible promise
The idea here is to make a promise to your potential clients that seems so impossible for you to keep that they will engage your business almost exclusively to test you out. This tactic is a great way to create buzz in a competitive industry where there is little difference between you and your competitors. The promise will be the one thing that gets you over the line and word will spread fast.

One of the best ways I have seen this done is in Los Angeles where there is a famous burger joint. Everyone on the West Coast of the USA knows about this place because you get a $15USD burger for free if you can eat the whole thing. No time limit. No catches. Just eat the whole burger and you get it for free.

So why does this create a buzz? Well people love “free” and will come from miles away just for the opportunity to get a free lunch. Secondly, people love value. That’s why sales work so well. People will buy a T-Shirt that says “40% off, save $25″ even if they didn’t want a T-Shirt because they perceive it to be good value. When you tell someone they can have a burger for free if they finish it all it implies that it is a giant feed. And people love big meals.

Find a way to make a seemingly impossible promise to your customers. Of course, you have to make sure that it doesn’t back fire. If everyone finished the burger they would go out of business in a week. But they know that only a few people per month will finish it and as such it is a great marketing tool. How can you use this principle in your business to get people talking? If you can find something inventive and original the word of mouth will do the selling for you.

Conclusion
The giant astronauts got so many people looking at the Fringe this year. People that otherwise might have not bothered visiting a show now feel involved in the festivities because they drive past the inflatable men on the way to work or see them on the news in their stomping ground. Sometimes the best way to create a buzz for your business or website is by doing something a little indirect. There will always be TV, radio and online marketing. But what can you do that is different, original and gets people talking?

So, can you think of any successful marketing campaigns that did something a little bit different? Leave a comment.

photo credit: mangpages

Twitter has taken the world by storm. People from all walks of life are now using this social media platform to stay connected, talk about world events and grow their businesses. But there are mistakes being made. Some Tweeters out there are using Twitter to hurt their business, despite their best intentions. In this post I am going to show you how NOT to use Twitter to grow your business. These are some mistakes you don’t want to make.

Mistake #1 – Tweeting as a company
Although Twitter has been around for a few years now, it was around the beginning of 2009 that it really started taking off in the eyes of the bigger corporations. All of a sudden we saw the big guys from the energy, accounting, finance, mining and media industries sign up for accounts and send out Tweets about the company. The problem? It was all very boring. No one wants to hear what a multinational corporation is up to. Nobody wants to add you as a friend on Twitter only to see updates that are dry, calculated and ever so corporate.

If you are going to use Twitter you need to develop a personal voice. Save the business updates for the company website and make Twitter about the people behind the company. People want to connect with other people, not other businesses.

But this presents a problem. Do you Tweet under the company name or under your own name? It is a question that I am still debating. I think the answer has a lot to do with how much the person doing the Tweeting is associated with the brand of the company. Let me explain. My Twitter name is TaplinWebDesign but under the name section I put Ramsay Taplin. It is my business and as such I do all the Tweets. Darren Rowse from Problogger does a similar thing. His Twitter name is his business name (ProBlogger) but he Tweets as himself, Darren Rowse. As such he will write on a much more personal level as opposed to boring Tweets about what the website is doing.

Mistake #2 – Obsessive self promotion
Quite often you will follow someone on Twitter and then after a day or two promptly delete them. Why? Because all they do is promote their own website, business or services. It is important to realise that, even though you joined Twitter with a view to promote your own business, that is not why people follow you. People follow you because they perceive that you might add some value to their lives. If, then, you spend the entire time just promoting yourself, they will get bored very quickly.

If you want to grow a large and relevant following on Twitter you need to make sure that you are doing a lot more than just self promotion. In fact, you should limit the amount of self promotion to just once or twice a week. The rest of the time you should be creating meaningful Tweets that add something to your following’s day. The could be inspiring and relevant quotes, industry news and opinions and, most importantly, replies to other people’s Tweets. The more engaging you are the better. Self promotion is the least engaging of all.

Mistake #3 – Letting personal opinions overtake your brand
Something that I see quite often on Twitter is people getting engaged in fights defending their personal opinions even though these opinions might harm their businesses brand. You can never forget that tens, hundreds or even thousands of people are going to see your Tweets and will form an opinion about your brand based on what you say.

photo credit: chada

One of the best examples of this phenomena happened in the last American Presidential election campaign between Obama and McCain. Barack Obama had, early on, realised the importance of Twitter and Youtube and as such began promoting his causes via these social media websites. He gathered a huge following in a short amount of time, especially on Twitter, and these people began sending out millions of Tweets supporting his campaign and denigrating McCain and Palin. But what people forgot amongst this passionate support was that not all of their customers shared the same political views. Some of their customers were staunch Republicans. And while you should never change who you are for your clientele, you should be somewhat sensitive to their beliefs and behave appropriately. I’ll never forget seeing one Tweet that said, “Anyone who follows McCain and Palin hates America. What’s wrong with you?” The response was brutal. This person had sent out the Tweet from a business Twitter account.

Make sure your Tweets always accord with your businesses brand, values and principles. It is perfectly alright to express political or social opinions but make sure you do it in a way that is gentle and amicable. It is just too easy to create a reputation that is difficult to undo.

Mistake #4 – Tweeting the wrong amount
Twitter is actually a very fine art. Too many Tweets and you are in danger of appearing like a spammer. Too few Tweets and people don’t see enough of your face to care. It is important to use Twitter the right amount if you want to use it to grow your business and make some money.

So what is the right amount? Well some people say that between 15 and 20 Tweets per day is ideal. That might seem like a lot and, to be honest, it is. That dedicated type of Tweeting requires constant attention and an excellent amount of dedication. But you if you put out one Tweet every 30 minutes of the work day you might make enough. Or you could make ten replies and do five originals. It all depends on what works for you. And that is the key. You might get the same results from one Tweet per day as you do from 30. So test, test and do some more testing before locking yourself into a routine.

Mistake #5 – Tweeting in un-English
In my opinion the most successful Tweeter on the the planet is blues player John Mayer. He has over 3 million loyal followers; a number that is growing each day. He recently released his latest album Battle Studies after a long and very transparent writing and recording period where he would constantly Tweet about how he was feeling, progressing, etc. Every now and then he would share some lyrics or talk about an emotional block that he was having. People got hooked. And when Battle Studies finally got released it climbed to the number one spot in the USA, mostly off the back of the social media build up. Twitter land was dying to hear it.

So why was Mayer so successful at harnessing the power of Twitter? Simple. He is a lyricist. He has an excellent command of the English language and uses a conversational tone that is so intimately personal that you get suckered into thinking that you know him. I would often talk to my partner at the end of the day about what John Mayer had said on Twitter, it was as if I was talking about someone I knew. John didn’t create some un-English type of language in order to fit into the 140 characters that Twitter allows. He simply used regular English in a very powerful way.

Don’t change your tone for Twitter. Write as if you were talking to someone in person. Don’t make announcements and don’t Tweet as if it is a White House press release. Write as if you are talking to each person individually. Make it sound like people have no choice but to reply to you and engage with your brand or your website. If you can use English half as well as John Mayer you will make a lot of money.

Conclusion
Twitter is a little bit like riding a bike. It takes some time to learn the ropes and to find your balance but after a while it is almost effortless. Try to avoid the mistakes of Tweeting like a corporation and getting into “flame wars” and you will find that it does a lot for your business. The most wonderful thing about Twitter is that you will meet and befriend people who will help you grow and learn about yourself. If you don’t engage people on a personal level you miss out on this powerful element.

photo credit: René Ehrhardt

Okay so maybe the word “survive” is a little dramatic but in many cases it is true. After all, one in five small businesses close within the first year of operation. So how can a website make a difference? How can a website bring in more customers, engender better customer loyalty and make a small business more money? Let me show you. You might be surprised.

1. Google is like the biggest shopping mall in history
When I first mention the word “Google” to my clients I see a mixture of excitement and unadorned fear in their eyes. It is so vast and complicated it seems to be put in the too hard basket. And that is a big shame because Google has the power to make or break your business. If you rank well on Google you can become rich overnight. If you don’t rank at all on Google you can be putting your business in a seriously jeopardized position.

Think of Google as the world’s biggest shopping mall. A good Google ranking would be like having a store in the mall right by the entrance where everybody looks as soon as they walk in. A bad Google ranking might be like having an upstairs shop when the only other thing up there is the toilet and the janitor’s room! There is no way it can really get the attention it needs. When you start to look at Google as a new place to stake your business’ real estate its starts to seem more approachable. And then benefits are many:

• Google can bring you new customers
  Imagine you are a restaurant located in an Adelaide suburb somewhere. You have a great menu, excellent staff and the locals come back every week. Profits are good, but they could be better. Now imagine that I tell you one day that restaurant reviews on Google are a huge way to bring in traffic. Imagine having a website for your restaurant where people could go and look at your menu, photos of your beautiful food and easily find your phone number to make a booking. All of a sudden you have customers who might never have known you existed.
• Google can make old customers more loyal
  Having a website that is easily findable on Google means that many of your old customers will turn into repeat users. Why is this? Well the days of the phone book are over. If someone wants to look up your phone number they will now type in your business name on Google. If they find your website they will likely re-use your services. But if one of your competitor’s websites come up then you have lost that customer forever.
• Google can make word of mouth a solid marketing strategy
  Word of mouth customers are wonderful because they just come to you without much effort. But the numbers aren’t that great. It won’t bring you a huge flood of sales. But if you have a website that ranks well on Google you are more likely to consolidate these word of mouth searches into customers. And the reason is simple, people forget. Imagine someone told you about a really great pizza place that just blew their socks off. Six months later when you feel like trying it you will likely have forgotten its name, location or why it was special. But a quick search on Google will correct that. All of a sudden Google has helped that business’ word of mouth marketing.

Let’s go back to the idea of Google being a giant shopping mall. Like a shopping mall, the best way to get the best real estate is to get in early. The longer you wait the harder it is to penetrate because the old guys are growing and solidifying their position. The internet is just starting to take of in Australia for small businesses and now is the time to jump on Google because Google is not going away, ever.

2. A website can save your reputation
Imagine you spend years developing your business. You find a great shop, fit it out with wonderful furniture, find excellent staff and sell a top quality product. You bust your guts managing the taxes and finances and spend months developing relationships with your customers. And then all of a sudden someone comes a long and writes a scathing web review of your store for no apparent reason. And now, to make things worse, imagine that review is the first thing people find when they go to Google. You are losing a lot of business because of this one bad review.

photo credit: Paris by Mouth

This actually happened to one of our clients. Grotto Pizza-teca is a fantastic little pizza shop just off of Norwood Parade with some of the tastiest pizzas you will ever eat. The ambiance of the restaurant itself is really cool and then location is just perfect (car parks, outdoor sitting, near the movies, etc.). But six months ago the top Google ranking for the search term “grotto pizza” was a scathing review calling them “boring” and “greasy”. This was just not the case. I knew it and the owners knew it.

The solution was easy (or relatively). Create a brand new website with professional photographs of their location and pizzas. Make the website as Google friendly as possible and hope that in a few months it outranks the bad review. And it did. You can check it out here. In just a few months Grotto Pizza-teca has completely changed their online reputation. We have since been told by the owners that they have seen an increase in business with people coming into the cafe with the coupon that is only available on the net. A website can save your reputation.

3. Social media works best with a website
I’m sure you have all heard of Facebook and Twitter. These are the two biggest social media sites on the internet; places where people becomes “friends” or “fans” of their high school buddies, work mates and, yep you guessed it, their favourite businesses. But without a website the traffic that is generated from social media sites sort of falls on deaf ears. It is the website that ties these social media sites together and allows your “friends” and “fans” to turn into paying customers.

Let me give you an example. Imagine you start a new business as a florist. You set up your shop and start arranging beautiful bouquets of flowers. You might create a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account for the business and your friends and family add you to their lists. But if you don’t have a website link on the Facebook page and Twitter account people will be less likely to buy your flowers when the need arises. Why? Because it is unlikely that they will log into Twitter or Facebook in order to search for you. They will still look for your business on Google. They will want to see high definition photos of your product, see your email address, phone number, online store, etc.

photo credit: Alan Stanton

Think of social media as planting the seeds of commerce and the website as the fruit. Social media sites like Facebook are a wonderful way to spread the word about your business and any updates you have to share, but you need a website in order to really convert those “fans” into customers.

photo credit: flequi

As your web design business grows you will soon realize how important the client is to your survival. More than just an invoice-paying shadowy figure in the dark, the client is someone with whom you need to become very well acquainted. Your relationship with them will determine how many referrals you get, how good your designs are and even how much money you make.

In this post I am going to show you five things that every web designer should remember when dealing with their clients. These five things must become etched on your memory as they will form the basis of your website design firm’s customer relations philosophy. These seven tips are golden.

1. Your client knows their business better than you
One of the first things that a web designer needs to realize is that the client knows their business better than you. It is folly to think that you can walk into their office and after 20 minutes be able to school them on how things should be run at their place. Realize straight off the bat that your client knows what they are doing. This is what they do, day in, day out. Use this knowledge to your advantage and pick their brains. If you put the arrogance aside you will be much more open and receptive to certain ideas that they might have.

For example, when you first meet your client ask them about the history of the business, how they got into the industry and how the day to day operations work. When you start to see it from their eyes you will get new ideas about how you can help them with your ideas.

2. You know your business better than the client
The second point is intimately related to the first. While the client might know their business better than you do, they do not know your business better than you. They are not professional designers or online marketing gurus. They do not know as much as you about Google best practices or social media. That is your arena. Remember that. If you can walk into a meeting with the confidence that you know your stuff and that you are there to provide a valuable service the client will respect you more and be open to your ideas.

3. You are an expert in your field providing concrete benefit
When I go to meet a new client I never get nervous. Instead I get excited. Why? Because I know the internet can really help this person’s business grow. I know a professionally designed website, some tight online marketing and some solid Google rankings can put more money in their bank account at the end of each month. And while I never refer to myself as an expert (because it sounds stupid), I know that my ten years of internet experience means that I know enough to really help this person. And so the nerves just slip away.

photo credit: wetwebwork

When you go to meet a new client or sit down with an old client you should remind yourself that you are an expert providing a concrete service that has tangible benefit for everyone involved. Some businesses will need your help more than others. Some business owners will treat you like a car salesman. But at the end of the day, you will be a better web designer if you remember that you are doing them a real service.

4. Under promise, over deliver
One of the first lessons I was ever taught by my business partner was that clients love it when you under promise and over deliver. Unfortunately for me, I learned this by doing the opposite. I promised a client that a certain project would be completed within a week and when it turned out to be significantly more complex than first thought I ended up delivering it a week late. They weren’t too happy. Since that time I have made every effort to under promise and over deliver.

Now, this does not mean that you tell your clients that their website will be ready in two years time. That is just lazy! What it means is that you give a estimated deadline for each stage of the project and then beat that deadline every time. For example, if you have a new web design contract you will like go through the stages of submitting a quote, then a contract, then a draft and then the final coding process. If you can submit each one ahead of schedule your client will instantly like you more. It also has the net effect of putting them in a better mood for when you first show them your concepts and ideas.

5. Clients like (need) social proof
Clients are people, remember. And people are social creatures. People like to know that they are not the first to do something, they are not standing out in any uncomfortable way. And the method for reassuring your clients that they are making the right choice is by using statistics and social proof. If you can back up your decisions with “references” your clients will be much more likely to place their trust in you and your suggestions.

A classic example of this is the Google heat map pictured above. I always take a laminated copy of this heat map to my meetings with clients when I first show them their website. Why? Because I can use it to justify my decisions for why I put the image there, the text over there, etc. This related back to the point about being the “expert”; you put your client at ease when you show them that someone else has done this already and that you (their web designer) knows about the trend.

Conclusion
The relationship between web designer and client is an important one. It is vital that you adopt these five tips as they will help you get the most from your existing clients as well as creating a reputation that will allow you to find more business. They will also imbue you with a lot of confidence that will have a long term effect of making you a much better designer.