Why updating your website for a Sale matters

Wondering if you have to update your site because you're running a sale?

The short answer is no. You don't have to do anything, it's your business - you can do what you want.

But when it comes to a sale, I always recommend making a few changes so website visitors can see straight away that you've got an offer on.

Step 1. Update your Homepage

If you’re anything like me, you love an excuse to jump into your site and give it a wee facelift, and sales are the perfect opportunity to jump in and make some quick changes to give your site a new look, whilst driving attention to your discount. 

The easiest update to make is a banner with a special January Discount message. Once it’s made, you can actually add this to all of your pages, so if anyone lands on your About Page or Reviews, they’ll still know you’ve got a sale on.

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Another thing to consider is a new Hero Section to your homepage, or creating a landing page with specific signage that ingrains SALE into your customers’ minds. 

These are a bit more effort than adding a small banner like above, but worth the time spent if you want to make a big deal of your discount.

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Step 2. Improve your Sales Copy

This is a big one no matter the time of year, but when you have a sale coming up, definitely treat that as an opportunity to get your copy down to a T.
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Ask yourself these questions when reviewing you websites copy: 

• What problem is my client facing?
• Does this cause them pain? Why?
• How can I help them?
• What results to I get them? What's the benefit of working with me?

Make sure your website copy is answering these questions, and if not then jump in and do a spring clean, updating as needed. 

If you need more help with this, then I recommend reading this article by Crazy Egg or if you’re looking to invest in some help, definitely check out the Copy Template Shop.

Step 3. Show the benefits

People are visual beings, and we like to see the transformations your clients have had since working with you. So whether it’s some beautifully written reviews, or before and after photos, let your website visitors see the results that you get for your clients.
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If you don’t have any reviews on your site yet, (or you do but don’t love how they look) then here are 3 websites that share their testimonials really well.

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Number 1: Danbee Shin ~ Web Designer and coach

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Why it works - Danbee’s clean and simple way of sharing testimonials is just 👌 I love how elegant her reviews look throughout her website. They’re clear and easy to read, and by having a photo of her clients, her reviews act as a way to elevate and enhance the overall user experience of her site.

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Number 2: Milla Lascelles ~ Health and Wellness Coach

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Why it works - I love a video, and like so many of you, it’s probably my favourite kinds of content to consume which is why Millas approach to video testimonials works so well. Hearing the way someone gives feedback naturally, can be the thing that makes a potential customer go “Yup - sign me up!”. Of course, she still has traditional reviews featured that you can read through as well 👏

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Number 3: David Grant Simpson ~ Photographer

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Why it works - It’s clean, it’s classic and it’s functional 😍 David offers visitors to his site a chance to skim read some of his *brilliant* reviews, paired with a beautiful photo of each couple so you’re able to put the faces to the names. If you want to read more, then you can click to read the full review and see another photo of the happy couple. Love it.

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Okay Rachel, but do I need to sort out my reviews NOW?
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All I'm saying is, if you're not showcasing potential customers the brilliant results you've got for your clients then you're leaving money on the table. Before you launch your offer, I'd pull together your best and latest reviews and make sure they have pride of place on your website.

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Step 4. Add Urgency

Alright so, so far you've:
✨ Created an offer you’re excited to share with your clients
✨ Added a banner to the top of your pages
✨ Updated your website copy to showcase how you solve a problem
✨ Pulled some great reviews together and attractively shared them on your site

But how can you light a bit of fire under some bums and really drive visitors to get booking? Another option for boosting sales is to add a countdown widget to your site, so you can inform visitors how long the offer is running. 
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The caveat here though is to obviously be honest. Don’t be telling potential clients that the sale ends in 3 days, but if they come back a week later the discount is still running. This can be viewed as misleading customers and result in bad reviews - not what we want!

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Countdown widgets are fab, my favourite platform to grab these is Elfsight, who have a bunch of different options that you can customise and add to your site.

*Honesty is the best policy - the above link is a wee affiliate link. You won’t get charged extra for using it, but if you decide to make a purchase then I get a small percentage*

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Step 5. CTAs

Please please please, make it easy for people to buy or book your services 🙏 As a rule of thumb, you want every section to have one kind of Call to Action, whether it's a button that invites people to book a consultation, a contact form, meet the team,  buy now - you get the gist. The key is not to leave visitors going “okay, you’ve convinced me - but how?”

If the call to action encourages potential customers to stay on your website, then it has done its job.

Not sure what to say? Some strong short CTAs are “Get Started”, “Sign Up”, “Add to Cart” but if you want to create a more emotional response and add urgency during your sale, then adding the benefit or the discount into the Call to Action is another good option. Examples of this could be “Get 50% Off Now” or “Book Your Free Session”.

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Step 6. Update your Title and Meta Tags

When you’re running a sale, you want to make sure that that shows up in your search results. So jumping into your website page settings, and doing a quick update that tells potential clients that you’ve got a great discount is a biggie. 

But how do I do that?

Step 1: Go to your page settings

Step 2: Go to SEO settings

Step 3: Update Title Tag & Meta Descriptions

Step 4: Publish

Now, depending on your website builder then this will look different but here are some screenshots showing how easy it is to update your page description using Webflow. For the purpose of this example, I’ve updated my own Title Tag from “Rachel Mess - Web Designer”, to “Freelance Web Designer”.

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Hit Save and then Publish to your selected domain - and you're ready to go 😎

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Conclusion

If you’ve decided to put a sale on in, then make it clear on your website so potential clients can: 

a) Find you 

b) Know they’re getting a deal the second they land on your site

What’s the point in creating an offer if nobody who lands on your website sees it? So check out your site, make some changes and put your business in the best position for an increase in sales in January 🥳