What Are The Best Consultant Websites? Which Consultancy Website Design Templates Or Layouts Work The Best?
We all know now that one of the first place we all go to find any service provider is the internet, which is why it is so important that consultants get their website design right. When they do, it makes attracting new clients to their consulting business easy. This article will discuss the most important elements of consultant websites so that you can make the best of your marketing asset which works away for you 24/7/365 when you get it right.
What qualities and features does a consulting website need to ensure that your future client moves a step closer to becoming your ‘now’ client when they find you online?
First, a very little about me. My name is Nick Jervis. Until 2003 I was a solicitor who loved marketing. Since 2003, when I set up my own consultancy business, I have been a marketing consultant who loves marketing.
I help consultants to attract more of their ideal clients so that they can grow the consultancy business that they have always dreamed of running.
Having run a successful consulting business since 2003, now hopefully you might believe I can help you with your own consulting website.
The Vital Elements Of Website Design For Consultants
There are several vital elements for a consultant’s website design to ensure success, so let us look at each of these in turn.
1. What Are You Actually Selling From Your Consulting Website?
This point is vital, yet I find that so many consultants are never educated on it.
In answer to the question, what are you selling?
If your answer is “my consultancy services” then 9 times out of 10 you are wrong.
Sadly, if you are a consultant, in most cases, it is very rare that a prospect will take the decision to contact you the first time that they land on your consultancy website.
Why?
Consultancy services are a slow sell.
Unless you run a crisis management consultancy, for example where you step in when a client’s business is caught up in a media frenzy and needs desperate and urgent assistance, in most cases people will stumble across your website when looking for advice or information around your topic of expertise.
For example, I run a marketing consultancy business.
I show consultancy business owners how to attract their ideal clients consistently. However, most of my prospects come to my website when ‘googling’ around my topic of expertise.
Think about how you have landed here today. You probably typed in something along the lines of “Best consulting website designs” or similar and landed on this article.
You probably didn’t type in “Get me a marketing consultant for my consultancy business today”. That rarely happens.
Therefore, my aim with you visiting this website today, which I hope you will fulfill, is for you to download my free guide below once you have read this article so I can continue to prove my expertise in this area to you and continue to help you to grow your own consulting business.
Now that you know this, you should actually be more keen to go through this process and download my guide because it is the point that I am making; this is how you should set up your consulting business website design too!
I am showing you both on this page and in my practice how you should do this, so you should copy this process.
Therefore, the best website design for consultants is one that provides lots of valuable information around the consultant’s topic of expertise and then offers even more valuable guidance and advice if the website visitor provides their name and email address to download a free guide, book or video course.
Unless and until you do this 99% of the people visiting your consulting website will leave without taking any action, meaning you miss your opportunity of convincing them of your expertise by sending them regular emails until they are ready to talk to you about how you can help them.
For more details on website design and growing a six figure consulting bsiness, click the button below to download my guide:
For more on the topic of marketing a consulting business, read my DNA Marketing Nurture Guide:>>
The Ultimate Consultancy Marketing Plan
Now that you know what you are selling from your website, let me share with you the ultimate consultancy marketing plan , based on my experience of running my consultancy business and of advising clients how to sell their consultancy services since 2003.
- Build a website that offers an ‘item of value’ in exchange for your prospects name and email address, This ‘item of value’ can be a PDF book, a video training course or even a series of emails, so long as it adds value to your prospect and proves your expertise.
- Send your high quality (it must be good) ‘item of value’ to your prospect using automated email marketing software so that you only have to write the guide and the email sending it out once.
- Send several more emails to your prospect expanding on each topic that you covered in your ‘item of value’, perhaps by including case studies or success stories, ending each email with the offer of a free telephone strategy call in which you will provide the prospect with bespoke advice for their business.
- Add a weekly high quality blog or article to your website which answers the questions your ideal prospects are typing into Google every week to attract more people to your website.
- Use these emails as the basis for a weekly email to your growing email list, always ending with the offer of a free strategy call to receive some of your bespoke advice. When appropriate to do so, explain how your services can help your prospect to achieve better and faster results – this is my SERVE NOT SELL approach which works very well because it is primarily based on serving your prospect, not selling to them.
You have above the marketing plan that I have followed for my business since 2003 and that every successful consultant who I work with follows.
I have given it to you free of charge because I want to ensure that you follow it. Obviously, knowing what you know now, I hope that you want to discover more of the detail so you will download my guide below, but you don’t have to. I think you would be wise to because then you will see first hand how I use this marketing strategy to grow my consultancy business and you can replicate it for your business.
I have spent some time on the primary purpose of a consulting business website design because unless or until you understand this, the other elements below are irrelevant.
Now that you understand this, let’s move onto other elements needed for the best website design for consultants.
Best Consultant Websites Element 1.
Are You Clear About The Consultancy Services The You Provide?
This might seem like a really obvious point to make, but please do not skip on before you read the next point.
I have come across sales consultants websites that offer a range of services, none of which I actually understand, and a business continuity consultant who mentioned every service under the sun except for his own, so it is vital that you think about this.
If a prospective client lands on your consultancy website, will he or she be able to establish in under 20 seconds exactly what it is you do and how you can help him or her?
On my website I say that I am going to show you “How to get more clients coming to you.” This is what I teach my clients. If you want more clients, I will show you precisely what you need to do to attract them; consistently.
Look at your website from a client’s perspective and see if you can quickly assess the services on offer.
If not, this is the first place to start.
Here is my short exercise to help you nail this part.
Answer these two questions as many times as you can, until you see the common thread of what you do, the zest of your expertise as it were:
- Who do you serve? Who are your clients? What industries or sectors?
- What do you do for them? What results do you achieve for them? What do they get after working with you that they didn’t have before?
What is it that you do?
Best Consultant Websites Element 2.
Are You An Expert Consultant Or A Run Of The Mill One?
If you have established the first point and you have successfully held your prospect’s attention for those vital first 20 seconds, what does your prospect need to see next on their journey to talking with you about your consulting services?
If you have covered the basics, the next thing they want to see is that you are an expert in your line of consultancy services. Run of the mill consultants are ten a penny, but they want someone who is at the top of their game.
Does your website put you in this arena?
Do you feature some or all of the following on EVERY page of your website -I stress the word ‘every’ because you must remember that prospective clients are only ever likely to see between one to three pages of your website, so you really cannot afford to hide your light under a bushel.
Does your consulting website feature:
- Details of the publications that have published your articles;
- Information about any books you have published;
- Details of any relevant memberships you hold;
- Details of any relevant qualifications (not vital but if you have them, display them);
- Reviews from satisfied clients; and
- Case studies of successful results.
If you do not have most of these items featured on your website on every core page, I can guarantee that this failed element of your website design is costing you lost business.
People do not want a run of the mill consultant, they want an expert. Put yourself in the position of expert and you can soon improve the profitability of your consultancy business.
Best Consultant Websites Element 3.
Do You Sell A Completed Enquiry Form Or Telephone Call?
What is your core call to action on your website?
Do you push your client to telephone you or complete an enquiry form on your website? #
If you do, again you are missing massive opportunities to win new clients from your website.
You may notice that this is a re-emphasis of my starting point for this article. I put this in again here because unless or until you firmly grasp this point you will not create the utopia of a steady and consistent stream of new client enquiries.
99% of the time, selling consulting services is a slow burn process. This means that if you do not currently offer something of value to your prospects in exchange for their contact details, you will find it very hard to create a steady and profitable consulting business.
…If you do not currently offer something of value to your prospects in exchange for their contact details, you will find it very hard to create a steady and profitable consulting business.
You must offer a free guide, report, video series, email training series or even a printed brochure in exchange for your prospects contact details so that you can follow up with an automated email series unless or until your prospect enquiries about your service. Fix this on your website and you will soon see a change in the profitability of your consulting business.
Summary Of The Best Website Designs For Consultancy Businesses
You now have in your hands the Ultimate Marketing Plan For Consultants, plus all of the vital elements that your website design must feature to ensure that you attract more of your ideal clients in order to sell your consulting services consistently.
If you are not yet following the Ultimate Marketing Plan For Consultants, you should now start to do so.
For more details on this plan, and to discover how to reach and exceed six figures per annum in your consultancy business, click the button below to download my six figure consultancy guide:
You need to see how I practise what I preach so that you can implement the same into your business :).
