277. Why Your Website Isn’t Working (Top 3 Mistakes) With Kris Jones

Have you ever slogged through writing a sales page on your website thinking, "This is the one; it's going to work!" And crickets. Nothing seems to stick. If you run a business and you have a website, you know what I'm talking about.

Kris Jones will explain exactly why that's happening and what you can do to fix it. StoryBrand's Donald Miller hand-selected Kris as a mentee. She's cracked the code on turning expertise into sales.

She helps coaches and consultants scale from $30,000 to $300,000 months using her signature storytelling system, proving that you don't need endless content or complicated funnels to attract premium clients – just one story told very well.

"My heart's always been with that self-employed business owner, the small business, the solopreneur, the people that are really also on the planet doing the work that they're meant to do, right, that are really aligned with their purpose," says Kris. "Those are the people that I like to help. And those are the people that really can benefit the most from telling a really powerful story."

When you apply a story to your website, people recognize that you're somebody they can really trust. It's important that the story you're telling them doesn't pressure them to take action but inspires them to take that next step of wanting to work with you.

"Our environment has changed a lot as far as the digital world that we live in, but we are all wired for story, and that is never going to change," says Kris.

Kris says the biggest mistake people make on their websites is making themselves the hero of their story. She likens it to meeting someone for a quick coffee date—you sit down and connect with them first, then check in with where they are.

You wouldn't sit down and say, "I just had a flood at my house, and this is the best plumber, and you should work with this plumber!" They don't have any plumbing issues. Take the time to connect with them first. 

In your website copy, you want to let people know that they matter and understand what is going on in their lives before you start talking about yourself and the problems you solve.

The call to action needs to be a natural next step in working with you. She says many people offer a "learn more" call—nobody wants to "learn more."

People don't want to have to go to multiple pages to gather the information they need. Kris suggests a one-page homepage format, which allows users to scroll. It's a comfortable and natural mobile design.

It also allows the story to unfold and provides all the information rather than siloing your website's copy on different pages, such as services or testimonials. Changing pages requires more effort than the scrolling motion.

Another common website mistake is designing the page as an afterthought. The design components need to bring your story to life and align with it. Our brains process visuals so fast. 

Photographs are so powerful. Instead of having pictures of ourselves, show the client in their happy, successful state. Shift the lens to make your clients the hero of your story through both words and visuals. 

"When you're the hero of your own story, you kick a potential client out of your story," says Kris.

That's the most powerful way to create that connection on your website—really articulate their problem. Clients then feel seen, heard, validated, and not alone. Most importantly, when we articulate their problem well, they feel like we are the best ones to solve it, says Kris.

"The way that I see a lot of people doing this wrong is that they take this opportunity to talk about features of the work they do, which is actually talking about yourself," says Kris. "We really want to answer that question that they have in their brain when they land on their website. They're asking three important questions: What's in it for me? What's in it for me? And what's in it for me?"

 

Connect with guest Kris Jones: From Click to Client: https://www.reddoordesigns.com/book

How to Write Compelling Copy in 5 Minutes: https://www.reddoordesigns.com/free-resources

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