How to Make Your Website Your Smartest Sales Tool

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Your website might look great.

 It might even feel fast.

But if it’s not attracting leads, building trust fast, and converting visitors into buyers—it’s not doing its job.

And the truth is, most websites are actually working against their owners.

In today’s episode, I’m going to walk you through what a smart website actually does—and why yours might be quietly costing you sales.

You’ll learn a 3-part framework to help you turn your site into your smartest sales tool, along with the most common mistakes to avoid.

And stick with me to the end—I’ll share one silent homepage killer that could be repelling your dream clients in the first five seconds.

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Episode Transcript

Carrie Saunders (00:00):
Your website might look great, it might even
feel fast, but if it's notattracting leads, building trust
and converting visitors intobuyers, it's not doing its job,
and the truth is, most websitesare actually working against
their owners.
In today's episode, I'm goingto walk you through what a smart
website actually does and whyyours might be quietly costing
you sales.

(00:21):
You'll learn a three-partframework to help you turn your
site into your smartest salestool, along with the most common
mistakes to avoid.
And stick with me to the end.
I'll share one of my silenthomepage killers that could be
repelling your dream clients inthe first five seconds.
So let's dive in Struggling toturn website traffic into real
sales.
You're not alone and you don'thave to figure it out all

(00:43):
yourself.
Welcome to Smarter OnlineBusiness, the podcast.
For course.
Creators, coaches ande-commerce entrepreneurs who
want their websites to convertvisitors into buyers without the
tech overwhelm.
I'm your host, Saunders, awebsite strategist and
conversion expert with over 20years of experience.
Each episode delivers simple,proven strategies to help you

(01:03):
generate more revenue and makeyour website your smartest sales
tool.
Welcome back to the show.
Today is an exciting episodebecause it is the first episode
of our official rename of ourpodcast from e-commerce made
easy to smarter online business.
We have a new name, same,similar content to help you with

(01:23):
your website and propel it, butwith a name that kind of helps,
you know, exude what.
We are more now, and we'retoday going to be diving in how
to make your website yoursmartest sales tool.
So first, let's currentlyevaluate what the state of your
website is, and please don'thave any shame here, no hard

(01:46):
feelings or anything.
We want an honest evaluation,though, because if we don't
honestly look at something thatwe need to improve, we won't
know how to improve it, andwe'll just be in denial and
stick our head in the sand,which is really easy to do on
websites, and sometimes we getbusy and stick our heads in the
sand too, so don't feel anyshame or guilt here, but here's
a moment I want you to thinkabout and take this seriously,

(02:09):
because we do need to take thisseriously.
If your website were an employee, would you promote it or would
you fire it Now?
Yes, that might be a bitextreme to say, but it's really
kind of true, though, and thissometimes will come off as a
thud for some people, but mostbusiness owners haven't been
taught what their website issupposed to be doing.

(02:29):
So again, no shame or remorsehere, but it is something you
need to consider.
Is it being a great employeefor you?
You might have hired somebodyto do the design.
It might look nice.
It might even match your brandcolors.
But that's where the storytypically can end.
It might sit there passivelyhoping someone figures out what

(02:51):
to do next.
And if that sounds like yoursite, you're not alone.
It is very common.
It's something we help clientsfix all the time, and the good
news is, like I said, it isfixable.
But we want to do it with asmarter approach.
So let's dig into what a highconverting, strategic website is
actually built to do.
So.
If your website isn't pullingits weight, there's usually

(03:12):
three missing pieces, so we'regoing to break each of those
down.
So, first off, it doesn'tmatter how gorgeous your site is
, if the right people aren'tfinding it, it won't work.
So first, we want to make surethe right people are finding it.
A smart website is designed toattract ideal visitors, which

(03:32):
means it has a search engineoptimization strategy already
built in.
We have lots of podcastepisodes on SEO, so if you're
curious about those, you can goto our show notes at
smarteronlinebusinesscom andsearch the top for SEO and
you're going to find all of ourSEO related podcast episodes.
We also have a free mini courseon search engine optimization.
We'll also link to that in ourshow notes as well, so that if

(03:54):
you need a bit of a refresher ora start on it, that's going to
be a great way to get started onit.
We also want to make sure thatour messaging speaks directly to
our dream client.
So double check your messaging.
Make sure it speaks directly toyour dream client.
And you also want to make surethat you're showing up in places

(04:15):
they're already searching.
This can take a little bit ofdigging to figure out.
Where are my ideal clientssearching already?
Where am I showing up?
Am I showing up where I shouldbe?
But it is very important toevaluate this one regularly.
You don't usually need 10 timesmore traffic.
You just need better matchtraffic.
This is true for leads as well.

(04:36):
You know we just need the rightleads, not more leads
necessarily.
And when your message is clearand your site is optimized, you
won't have to shout louder.
You'll start drawing in theright people who are already
looking for what you offer.
This is how we can become asmarter website.
And then number two is we wantto build instant trust and

(04:56):
connection.
You've got five seconds to makea first impression and that's
it.
If your homepage doesn't givethem a reason to stay, they're
going to be gone.
People are impatient, as we allknow.
They're busy and it takes sucha little amount of time for
somebody to judge your website.
And a smart website makes itobvious who you help, what you
do and what they should do next.

(05:19):
It creates trust in a blink ora flash like.
It creates trust immediately.
So how can we build this trust?
We can do that by creating aclear, above the fold headline.
So a headline that reallyspeaks to who you serve, who you
are and what they should donext.
Strong visuals that align withtheir brand.
So we want to make sure thingsare all in brand alignment.

(05:41):
That helps build trust.
We also want to make surethings are all in brand
alignment.
That helps build trust.
We also want to, later on thepage, have some social proof or
testimonials or recognizablelogos.
Those are usually a bit belowthe fold.
We start getting their trustthough, first with the headlines
and the strong visuals, andthen our navigation at the top
also needs to be very intuitiveso that they don't have to think
.
A confused mind says no.

(06:02):
We mentioned that a lot on thepodcast and it's so super true
up in the navigation.
Make sure each of yournavigation links are clear and
not clever.
A design alone can't buildtrust.
Clarity behind that design andbehind the elements on it and
the words on the page does buildtrust.
And they are confused.
They won't ask questions, theydon't have time for it.
And the words on the page doesbuild trust and they are
confused.
They won't ask questions, theydon't have time for it.

(06:24):
They'll just close the tab orclose the browser on their phone
and they will move on.
So number three is we want tomake it easy to say yes.
So, even if your website looksgreat and feels clear, is it
converting Meaning?
Is it collecting leads, bookingcalls or or making sales?
What is your goal of yourwebsite?
Is it to collect those leads?

(06:45):
Is it to book those calls ormake those sales, in case you're
e-commerce or a serviceprovider?
So is it doing what it'ssupposed to be doing?
A smart website guides yourvisitor to the next step.
That feels easy.
So is your next step easy.
This can be improved by havingone clear to call to action per
page.
Each page should have its owngoal.

(07:07):
We don't want it to be blendedin too many decisions.
People will get confused Again.
We're coming back to theconfused mind says no.
We want to make sure that thebuttons say exactly what they're
getting.
Grab the free guide, not justsubmit.
We want to make sure it'saction oriented and very clear
as to what they're getting.
And then we want to build pagesto reduce friction and not

(07:27):
create it.
So make sure your pages flowwell.
It needs to be super easy toscan and understand what each
page is about, and conversionisn't about saying it louder,
it's about being clearer.
We need to be super clear here,and when you simplify the next
step and align it with what theyalready want, you make it
easier for them to say yes, andthey will definitely say yes.

(07:48):
So then I want to ask you againif your website were an employee
, would you keep it on payrollor would you give it a
performance review andevaluation?
If today's episode got youthinking differently about your
website and what you want to getstarted to get smarter about
how it works for your business,then I'd love to help you with
that.
Each week I send out an emailfilled with website tips, tools
and strategies to help youimprove your website without the

(08:10):
tech overwhelm.
So you can just join ournewsletter at
smarteronlinebusinesscom forwardslash newsletter or click the
link in the show notes to join.
It's quick, free and gives youone small thing to improve each
week.
Think of it as a websitestrategist in your inbox.
But before we wrap up, here'sone silent website killer.
I promised you.

(08:31):
I see it a lot and it'sprobably on your homepage.
No call to action above thefold.
Let me say that again.
No call to action above thefold.
Or, even worse, a very vagueone like learn more or click
here.
That space at the top of yourhomepage is prime real estate.
It's your best chance to guidea new visitor before they scroll

(08:52):
away.
So I want you to look at yourwebsite and I want you to fix it
by adding benefit drivenbuttons, wordings such as
download a free checklist, startyour free trial book, a
strategy call contact us in caseyou're selling e-commerce and
they might get confused.
That builds trust right away,even though they might not
contact you right away.
On that one we want to make itclear.

(09:14):
We want to make it obvious andwe want to make it useful and
helpful to them.
Think again benefits to them.
One small change like thatcould shift your entire
conversion rate this month.
So I challenge you to look atthat.
Let's do a quick recap.
So first, smart websitesattract, engage and convert, and
pretty doesn't equal profitable.

(09:35):
You don't need more trafficlikely you probably just need a
better strategy with yourwebsite and one homepage tweak
that can make all the difference.
That's that clear call toaction at the top.
So if this episode helped yousee your site in a new way, I
would love for you to share witha business friend.
And don't forget to subscribeto our newsletter so we can keep
getting smarter together.
Thanks so much for tuning in tothe Smarter Online Business

(09:58):
Podcast.
I will see you next week.