189. Are Your Most-Visited Website Pages Doing Their Job?

1 - > Kristen Doyle: News flash about your website. Just because a 2 - > page is popular and gets lots of traffic doesn't mean it's 3 - > actually helping your business in any way. We've been talking 4 - > over the last few weeks about analytics and ways to see what 5 - > people are doing on your website, but sometimes those 6 - > analytics show us that the most visited pages on our website 7 - > aren't the ones we thought they were, and they might not be 8 - > helping people do anything useful to them or to your 9 - > business.

10 - > Maybe those pages get lots of traffic, but they don't explain 11 - > what you do or build trust, or answer the next question, or 12 - > make it clear what someone should do next. And if that 13 - > sounds familiar, then today's episode is for you. I'm sharing 14 - > how to find those most visited pages on your site, decide which 15 - > job each one of them should have, and make small changes so 16 - > that your website is not only more useful to the people who 17 - > are already visiting it, but it's also working harder for 18 - > your business.

19 - > You've built a strong business with happy customers, but 20 - > somewhere along the way, you picked up advice that says you 21 - > need to be doing more, post more, sell more, hustle harder. 22 - > But that's not what you need. 23 - > Welcome to Small Business Savvy. 24 - > I'm Kristin Doyle, and I am so glad you're here.

On this show, 25 - > we're covering what actually works, business systems, website 26 - > strategy, simplified marketing, the stuff that grows your 27 - > business without burning you out. Let's get into it. 28 - > So first things first, we need to figure out which pages people 29 - > are actually visiting the most already. This is where you would 30 - > go into Google Analytics, which we installed and set up in 31 - > episode 186 a few weeks ago.

32 - > When you get into Google Analytics, go to Reports and 33 - > then look for Pages and Screens under Engagement. This will show 34 - > you your most visited pages. You can set a date range in the very 35 - > top right corner of the screen. 36 - > I like to set it to the last 90 days, so that I'm seeing a 37 - > little bit bigger window of data than just the current month, 38 - > which I think is the default.

39 - > And look at what your top pages are. Typically, for most of us, 40 - > your homepage is going to be in there, but what else is in those 41 - > top pages? Remember, not everyone starts on your 42 - > homepage, and so it's important to make sure not just your 43 - > homepage, but these other top pages, are also giving people 44 - > the right next steps. 45 - > So your first step is go and find your top five pages.

Look 46 - > at each of those pages, keeping in mind that every single one of 47 - > them needs to make sense as a first impression that people 48 - > were getting of you. So it needs to work well to introduce you to 49 - > someone and give them a next step to take. 50 - > Now, every page on your website needs one job, and that means 51 - > each of these top five pages also needs one job. Obviously, 52 - > we can't tackle every page on your website all at one time, so 53 - > we're going to focus right now just on those top five pages.

54 - > There are three main jobs that website pages can do. The first 55 - > is to explain. Some pages are there just to explain what you 56 - > do, who it's for, where you work, those kinds of things. The 57 - > second is to build trust.

Trust building pages need examples or 58 - > proof of your work. They need photos, reviews, credentials, 59 - > those kinds of things. And then the third type of page is there 60 - > to help people take action. 61 - > Maybe it's to give you a call, book a call, register for an 62 - > event, sign up on your email list, request a quote, whatever 63 - > it is.

Those pages, the primary goal is to get people to take an 64 - > action. 65 - > Now I know, as I was saying those you might have been 66 - > thinking, Yeah, but don't all my pages need to do all of those 67 - > things? And yes, in a way, those are the main three things that a 68 - > sales page needs to do. A lot of times we treat our home pages 69 - > very similarly.

We want to make sure that we are doing those 70 - > things across our site. But that doesn't mean you need to do all 71 - > three of those things equally on every page. There should be one 72 - > of these that is the primary goal of each page, depending on 73 - > where it falls in the ecosystem of your website, and in that, as 74 - > overused as this phrase is, in that customer journey, that path 75 - > that they take from discovering you to actually making a 76 - > purchase.

77 - > So for example, the goal of your homepage is not to get people to 78 - > book a call. It is not to get people to register for an event. 79 - > The goal of your homepage is to explain who you are, what you 80 - > do, and who it's for, and just to get them to take one next 81 - > step, to get to those pages where the goal is to continue to 82 - > build trust, or to get people to take an actual action. Examples 83 - > of pages that are built specifically to get people to 84 - > take action: your contact page, your book a call page, a 85 - > checkout page, even a sales page.

Sales pages have to do 86 - > triple duty. They have to kind of do all the things, assuming 87 - > people might only see that one page. 88 - > But most of our pages really can do one thing, and not all of 89 - > them. Some pages are there to build trust.

Examples of those 90 - > are things like your portfolio page or a testimonials or review 91 - > page. The primary goal of that page isn't to get people to book 92 - > a call, it's to build enough trust that they want to click 93 - > the button to learn more about your services or to book a call. 94 - > So keep in mind that while there might be pieces of all three 95 - > purposes on any given page on your site, there should be one 96 - > primary goal. 97 - > So what I want you to do now is decide for those top five pages, 98 - > what is the primary goal, the main job of that page?

And if 99 - > you're making a list of these, or you've dropped it into your 100 - > note taking app or something, go ahead and jot down what that 101 - > main goal is for each of your pages. And then you're ready to 102 - > start asking questions. So step three is to figure out what 103 - > those pages are actually doing and what is missing. 104 - > So the first question to ask yourself is, what is this page 105 - > supposed to help someone do?

And then look at your page 106 - > objectively. Is it doing that thing? What questions do people 107 - > probably have when they get here, and does this page answer 108 - > it? What proof or trust building elements are they looking for, 109 - > and are there enough of them on here?

What is the next step I 110 - > want people to take from this page, and is it obvious and 111 - > clear? Are there too many competing options for next steps 112 - > on this page, or is this one of those orphaned pages that 113 - > doesn't really have a next step? 114 - > Take a look at your pages and figure out, based on the primary 115 - > goal, what is missing on that page. 116 - > Let's talk about some examples.

117 - > If your about page is up there in your top five, then your 118 - > about page needs to not just tell your life story or how you 119 - > got into your business, it needs to work hard to build trust with 120 - > people. The main goal of an about page is to build trust. So 121 - > you need to make sure that it's telling your story in a way that 122 - > sets you up as the expert who can help your ideal client or 123 - > customer with whatever they are struggling with, and then it 124 - > needs to give them a clear next step at the bottom of the page.

125 - > If your about page just tells your story and doesn't give 126 - > people anywhere else to go, then it's not doing enough work for 127 - > you. And I know a lot of us assume that those buttons in the 128 - > navigation bar at the very top are enough, but imagine for 129 - > these pages that those buttons don't exist, that there is no 130 - > menu at the top. What is that page guiding people to do next? 131 - > Is it to contact you?

Is it to learn more about your services? 132 - > Is it to visit your shop, to get on your email list? And whatever 133 - > that page is guiding people to do, is that actually the most 134 - > important thing that you want them to do after they read that 135 - > specific page? 136 - > If you have a portfolio or a gallery page, this is another 137 - > page that is meant to build trust.

It needs a little context 138 - > around what you do for those people who do land on this page 139 - > first, somehow, but the goal of a portfolio page, a gallery 140 - > page, a testimonials page, is to build enough trust to get people 141 - > to hire you or to go to book a call, whatever your process is. 142 - > So if that is one of the pages in your top five, then look at 143 - > it. Is it giving context to the images or examples or reviews 144 - > that you're sharing? Does it have a clear next step?

Are you 145 - > including enough social proof? 146 - > Do you have testimonials there along with photos, or is it just 147 - > photos of the work you've done? 148 - > Because a really good portfolio page is going to have both. 149 - > Even something like your contact page can do a whole lot more 150 - > than just have a contact form on it.

It can do a lot to answer 151 - > people's questions, to build trust, to help them feel 152 - > confident reaching out to you. 153 - > Make sure that you're explaining what happens after they reach 154 - > out, what you need to know when they reach out, all those kinds 155 - > of things that you can share to make them more comfortable 156 - > contacting you. 157 - > If your booking page is in that top five, then congrats, because 158 - > that is an action taking page, and we want people getting to 159 - > that page.

But does your booking page just have the calendar to 160 - > book a call with you, or a checkout form to schedule a 161 - > service? If it does, if that's all that's on the page, then 162 - > you're missing a lot of opportunities, again, to answer 163 - > people's questions, to build trust, to help them feel 164 - > confident booking with you. So make sure you're including 165 - > things like testimonials and a reminder of what it is that you 166 - > do and how you can help them, maybe even a little FAQs section 167 - > below your form.

168 - > Once you've figured out what you're missing, don't be tempted 169 - > to jump into a full redesign of the entire page. Start with 170 - > those pages that get the most traffic and just make little 171 - > improvements to each of those pages, one at a time, things 172 - > like a better headline. If your contact page just says contact 173 - > and then has a form, there's a lot you can do to that page that 174 - > we just talked about. Better buttons, better text on the 175 - > button.

If you've got generic buttons that just say contact or 176 - > learn more, think about better copy that you could put on those 177 - > buttons to cause people to take action. 178 - > If you're an in person service business, are you clearly 179 - > highlighting your service area? 180 - > And I don't mean just by putting a map that shows a pin of your 181 - > location. Are you calling out the areas where you work?

Maybe 182 - > you add a short FAQs to your services page, or work with me 183 - > page, or even your contact and booking pages. If you have 184 - > photos of projects you've done, are they captioned? Or are you 185 - > telling the story to go with the photos, especially on something 186 - > like your reviews page or your portfolio? 187 - > Do you have testimonials?

Almost every page in your website 188 - > should have a testimonial or two somewhere on it, even if it's 189 - > toward the bottom, because it's one of the best ways to show 190 - > people that other people have worked with you or purchased 191 - > from you and like what you offer. 192 - > Do you have a super clear process laid out that shows 193 - > people what happens next? Is there some sort of pricing 194 - > guidance, if it's on a page where you're talking about 195 - > services and products, or is it left completely ambiguous where 196 - > people don't know if it costs $100 to work with you or 197 - > 100,000?

Because people need some sort of guidance about 198 - > pricing. 199 - > Those top pages that you have, they are already getting a lot 200 - > of attention. In fact, if your data looks anything like mine, 201 - > you have top pages that are getting the vast majority, well 202 - > over 70% of your website traffic, and then all the other 203 - > pages are so far beneath it that when you really look at the 204 - > data, it makes it super obvious which pages you need to be 205 - > putting your time and energy into, and which ones you don't.

206 - > In fact, I'll share a little reality check with you. As I was 207 - > looking at my data to record this episode, I realized that 208 - > there's a page I've kind of been neglecting lately. It's been in 209 - > the back of my mind. I keep thinking, I really need to 210 - > update this page because it's not as current as it should be.

211 - > Some of the things listed on there aren't really what I'm 212 - > focused on right now. And it turns out that page is actually 213 - > in my top five. It is actually getting about 9% of all of my 214 - > website traffic to that one page. So that tells me that I 215 - > really do need to prioritize fixing this page, because, like 216 - > I said, it's not super current.

217 - > It's not one I really share right now because it's a little 218 - > out of date, but it is getting some of the most traffic on my 219 - > site, so it needs an update, and I need to make that a priority 220 - > pretty soon. 221 - > Bottom line is those top pages are already getting attention 222 - > and traffic. So instead of spending tons of time and energy 223 - > trying to get more traffic to other pages, don't waste the 224 - > traffic you're already getting to those top pages.

Make sure 225 - > every one of those pages is more clear, more trustworthy, and 226 - > easier for people to take action right away. 227 - > If you find that you have a page in the top five that doesn't 228 - > really have a specific action for people to take, that's 229 - > something that I have run into a lot on one of my other sites 230 - > that is blog heavy. I had some blog posts showing up in my top 231 - > five, and a while back, when I did an audit like this, I 232 - > noticed that those blog posts that are consistently in my top 233 - > five or top 10 didn't really have anything outside of the 234 - > menu bar in the navigation at the top to cause people to take 235 - > action.

236 - > And let's be real about the menu bar. I kind of said this 237 - > earlier, but it is there people know it is there, and sometimes, 238 - > sure, they'll look up there and click on something. But it 239 - > doesn't inspire action. It's just there as a reference for 240 - > people who already know that they need it and look up at the 241 - > top, otherwise that can get ignored.

242 - > What I noticed was there really wasn't anything below the menu 243 - > bar at the top to get people to take action on those posts. 244 - > There wasn't even an email opt in. So what did I do? I went 245 - > back in and I put a really good email opt in on those posts so 246 - > that now, if nothing else, it's at least getting people onto my 247 - > email list.

Some of them, I was able to put some product 248 - > references in and link over to those as well. So don't waste 249 - > that attention that you're getting on those top pages. Make 250 - > sure that they are doing something for your business. 251 - > All right, let's do a quick recap of your action steps for 252 - > this episode.

Your first thing to do is check your Google 253 - > Analytics. You're going to reports, pages, and screens, 254 - > it'll be under engagement. Set the date range to the last 90 255 - > days, and jot down what your top five pages are. Then, for each 256 - > of those pages, decide what its primary job is, whether it's to 257 - > explain, to build trust, or to get people to take action.

And 258 - > then look for what's missing from the page or what might be 259 - > confusing based on that primary job. 260 - > Make one little fix at a time, whether it's a better headline, 261 - > some added context, testimonials, FAQs, better calls 262 - > to action on your buttons, whatever that one page needs. If 263 - > you're finding a lot of changes that need to be made, focus on 264 - > just those top five pages and make the fixes one page at a 265 - > time. Remember little improvements that you make on 266 - > those high traffic pages make a much bigger impact than fiddling 267 - > around and making things absolutely perfect on pages that 268 - > nobody really sees.

269 - > Now, if you are looking at your site and you're thinking, Man, I 270 - > have a lot of changes I need to make. Too many pages that don't 271 - > have a good action for people to take, then let's book a website 272 - > game plan call. If your site's feeling outdated or unclear or 273 - > just harder to use than it should be, then a game plan call 274 - > is a great way for us to talk about what is working, what's 275 - > not working, or what's getting in the way, and what I could fix 276 - > for you.

If you're interested, head to 277 - > kristendoyle.co/gameplan, and I'll talk to you soon.