Today’s post begins with my favourite lesson from the best book ever about the best band ever.

In the introduction to Revolution in the Head, author Ian MacDonald talks about his subject’s relentless search for fresh ideas and little improvements.

The subject, of course, is the Beatles.

“They kept [their music] from becoming stale by continually inventing new methods and concepts: beginning and ending songs in the “wrong key”; employing modal, pentatonic, and Indian scales; incorporating studio effects and exotic instruments; and shuffling rhythms and idioms with a unique versatility.”

Inspiring stuff for musicians, but what about everyone else?

Well, think about this:

The Fab Four introduced their celebrated innovations one at a time, track by track. They took baby steps, and got stronger in stages.

You can do the same thing with your business’s website. And you can do it today, without spending a penny.

Begin by making any of these four minor tweaks, and I bet you’ll get more clients. That might not be as impressive a feat as leaving an indelible mark on popular culture like those moptopped Liverpudlians did, but everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right?

1. Stop messing up the most important part of your homepage

The cardinal sin of corporate websites is having this headline on the homepage:

“Welcome to [insert company name here].”

Do you know why?

Well, consider the state of mind your client or prospect is in when they arrive at that homepage.

They’ve either searched for something like “financial planner near me”, or gone to your website directly, having been told about you by someone they know.

In either scenario, what your prospect or client wants most of all is confirmation that you solve problems like theirs for people like them.

The single solitary thing visitors don’t need is confirmation of your company name.

By the time people are on your site, they either already know who you are, because they’ve been referred to you by someone else… or they’ve clocked your big shiny logo at the top of the page and already scrolled eagerly past it.

They’re ravenous for more from you. So give it to ‘em.

Quick fix: Write a homepage headline of 5 to 15 words explaining what you do, who you do it for, and why you stand out. Like: “Award-winning independent financial advice for busy professionals in Dulwich”.

2. Use your keyboard’s Caps Lock button wisely

Y’know what’s not soothing?

Being shouted at.

Y’know which group of humans most needs to be soothed?

Babies. But also: people who are worried about their finances.

Writing in capital letters, or all-caps, is the text equivalent of shouting at someone. But there’s a better reason to avoid it than mere politeness.

The guidelines on digital accessibility by no less an authority than Harvard University state that:

“Readability is reduced with all-caps because all words have a uniform rectangular shape, meaning readers can’t identify words by their shape.”

To be clear: all-caps have their place. Used in short headings and links, they can be impactful. 

But if you’re using all-caps for even short stretches of body text on your website, you’re likely putting people off. Time to make that right.

Quick fix: Check your site for any uses of all-caps over two lines or more, and swap them for sentence case (i.e., lower case with only the first letter capitalised).

3. Encourage more clicks with some very specific phrases

The success or failure of your website ultimately hinges on one thing and one thing only:

Its ability to connect with people.

Your website must speak directly to the type of client you hope to attract. So, when you want that client to take action, why not do so in their own voice?

In 2013, marketing software company Unbounce ran a test. 

Half of the visitors to Unbounce’s sign-up page saw a button reading “Start your free 30-day trial”. The other half saw a page with a button that read “Start my free 30-day trial”. 

The result?

The first-person button (“Start my free 30-day trial”) drove a 90% increase in clickthroughs.

Of course, your own website might not see such spectacular results from swapping out just a single word. But where’s the harm in giving it a shot?

Quick fix: Try changing any buttons or calls-to-action on your site written in the second person (“you”, “your”) to the first person (“me”, “my”). Consider introducing pronouns to any buttons or calls-to-action that don’t already have them.

4. Don’t swamp small screens with walls of text

Take this next statement with a hefty pinch of salt (I’ll explain why in a sec):

Most people read financial planning firms’ websites on a laptop or desktop computer.

That’s based on our analysis of the websites we’ve built for financial planners and advisers since 2017. There are loads of ‘em, so we’re confident it’s an accurate portrayal of wider browsing habits and behaviours in the profession.

Okay, ready for that pinch of salt?

Most people read financial planning firms’ websites on a laptop or desktop computer, but that will change, and soon.

As older advisers retire, and the needs of current clients’ children for financial planning become greater, the profession will get younger. And since it’s well established that younger people use their smartphones as their main browsing device, how people find financial planners online will be transformed.

All of which is to say: you have no choice but to make sure your website is mobile-ready. And there’s one simple task to tackle first:

Make text scannable.

Those four paragraphs you’ve written about pensions might look great on a MacBook. But try to view them on an iPhone, narrow and squished together, and you’ll wear your thumb out well before you’ve scrolled to the end.

The Nielsen Norman Group, pioneers of online readability research, recommend “chunking”. That just means breaking text into short sentences, paragraphs, and sections, and presenting information in a way that’s easy to absorb at a glance.

Whisper it, but there’s no real skill involved in this, only patience. Muster some. 

Quick fix: Use the “Enter” key more. Use the “Delete” key more. Use full stops more. Use subheadings more. Use bullet points more. Use numbered lists more. And write less.

If (and only if) you need it, seek expert marketing support

Want to improve your website yourself? The key is getting “a little better all the time,” according to a Beatles lyric from 1967. 

Although, that same year, the Scousers also sang about “a bridge by a fountain where rocking-horse people eat marshmallow pies”. So, in hindsight, maybe not the most reliable source of marketing wisdom…

Joking aside: as a busy business owner, you may not have the time or inclination to make even these changes alone. Or it might just be the right moment for a full website refresh. With The Yardstick Agency, you have at your disposal a growing team of talented and experienced copywriters, web developers, and more who work exclusively with financial professionals.

Competitive prices. Nice people. Great taste in music. Call 0115 8965 300 or email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk and get a little help from your newest friends.