Just take the bridge

With maps and GPS we can find our way to the bridge and across it, even through the fog. If we're familiar with the area, we might drive a little slower, but we can still make our way.

But if you're new in town and you don't have a map or GPS, finding the bridge and getting across it is going to seem much more daunting.

Unfortunately, many consulting websites look like the bridge sticking through the fog. There's the city on the other side, but it's not clear how to get there.

Maybe there's a "Subscribe to Newsletter" form or "Book Free Consultation", but these are about the consultant, not the prospect.

Show people how to get to the destination they want to reach.

Be specific, and be helpful.

Make it really obvious to your ideal client that they are in the right place. (And to everyone else that they are not.)

Use the right words-- the words they use to describe themselves and their challenges. Cut out the jargon and the B.S.

• If your ideal client is an owner of a family business who wants to pass down the firm, but some kids won't be involved and the owner doesn't want to destroy the business or the family, offer your strategy and tactics for solving that problem.
• If you help solo consultants get more leads and conversations from their website, give examples of how to do that.

Don't try to help everyone you could possibly help. Aim for the ideal client.

Make that Call-to-Action (CTA) the thing the ideal client would want to do next. (You can have the consult and newsletter links available for those who want it, but they aren't the right primary CTA. Make it about how they can solve the big problem.)

Start helping before visitors even talk to you with your content-- the site and the Lead Magnet(s).

Then, when people request your Lead Magnet(s), you can have a non-sales-y conversation about the issue they're facing that you're an expert in handling. (Yes, conversation.)

Instead of seeing the top of the bridge through the fog, the visitor can see the general path, and get the next step of their journey.

If you want help on this journey of making your ideal client's journey easier, join me for my 21 Day Independence Day Positioning Challenge, which will get you the right language to be the obvious choice for your ideal clients, a tight "pitch" for those Zoom networking meetings, and a compelling lead magnet. (Find out more here, but we are kicking off on Friday.)

p.s. True story-- my dog woke me up at 5AM this morning. I was having a dream about designing CTAs for some kind of cat website (I don't have any cats). I was trying to explain to a customer why we wanted to add secondary and tertiary CTAs to the main CTA, and I was even diagramming them out on paper. In my dream, I was clever enough to be mobile-first, but the whole thing made no sense, as my diagrammed forms covered more and more of the page, and my explanations for why this was a good idea were nonsensical. Maybe my dog was trying to rescue me.