Is the following statement true for you?

“I feel confident that my website is set up to generate leads. And I definitely do not stress about my website, nor bury my feelings about it deep down in the mines of my heart, where Balrog pursues.”

Most business owners and freelancers lack confidence in their website. Maybe once you were proud of it. But now it’s outdated and honestly kind of embarrassing. Your social media presence is polished, but your website is cringy. You wish people would email you instead.

You’re not very motivated to improve your website, anyway, because it’s not producing as many leads as you thought it would. Where are all the hot prospects? 

You deserve a website that you’re proud to share—and a website that actually works, that produces leads for you. That's what we’ll cover today.

Reason #1. Your Website Isn’t Getting Enough of The Right Traffic

Without traffic, it’s impossible for your website to generate any leads. But don’t panic! I don’t want you to think that you need a ton of traffic to produce the leads that you need. For many freelancers and small businesses, 10–20 clients a year is really good. You may not need a lot of clients—just a few good clients. Either way, you should be aware of the traffic on your website, because if your website is truly getting low-to-no traffic, you can’t expect it to generate any leads.

Here’s a bit of good news: You don’t have to be on Page 1 of Google to get traffic to your website. You don’t have to outbid competitors on ads to get traffic to your website. There are other ways. I call them The Two Traffic Buckets.

The Two Traffic Buckets

Traffic Bucket #1

The first traffic bucket is Brand Marketing.

Ask any small business owner: “How do you get your leads?” The most common reply will probably be “from word of mouth.” That’s how the freelance and small business marketing engine has operated, on brand marketing efforts like:

• Word of mouth
• Referral partners
• Repeat clients

When a person gets curious about your services, what do they do? Do they send you an email right away asking to talk? Hardly ever. They’re much more likely to Google your name, check out your social media profiles… and explore your website.

Much brand marketing happens organically. Your reputation is growing. People are starting to talk about you. Individual prospects want to make connections with you. You gain some partners who refer people to you on a regular basis.

Those organic results are wonderful. But if you find they’re not enough, I recommend you consider the second traffic bucket.

Traffic Bucket #2

The second traffic bucket is Marketing Activities. Think of this as what makes up your standard marketing plan. It’s the answer to the question, “What are we doing for marketing?” This includes:

• Content creation
• SEO
• Direct outreach
• Social media posting
• Email marketing

All those are marketing activities. And all those have the potential to drive traffic to your website.

That said, don’t try to do them all at once. Any can work. The sustainable path is to pick one or two marketing activities that you commit to for the long haul. Over time, people who see your marketing activities will check out your website.

A magic bullet this is not. It’s not as simple as “check this box to turn on website traffic.” But for so many websites, I’ve seen traffic slowly build through the business leaders doing marketing activities with quality and consistency over time.

If You Want More Traffic, Pick a Marketing Habit

This is my top recommendation for small business owners who want more traffic: Pick a marketing habit. Then stick to it.

Unsure how to get started? I love Austin Church's “Morning Marketing Habit” framework, which I learned by taking his course on it. I recommend that course for every freelancer and small business owner. It’ll get you started with a content marketing habit on whichever platform you decide is best.

Pick a marketing activity and commit to a daily habit. Then double down on what's working on the brand marketing side. That’s how you fill up the two buckets of traffic.

Reason #2. Your Messaging Isn’t Connecting with Your Visitors

Your visitors will lump you in with all the other boring, irrelevant websites they’ve browsed… unless you avoid these four messaging traps.

Messaging Trap 1. Too Broad

A copywriter: “Words that connect, convert, and grow your business.”

Could be for anybody. Appeals to nobody. The fix is to get specific:

“I write lead magnets and email sequences for manufacturing companies.”

Messaging Trap 2. Too Clever

A marketing consultant: “Marketing, reimagined.”

Okay… which means what? Absolutely nothing. The fix is to say it plainly: 

“I run paid ads for SaaS companies.”

Messaging Trap 3. Too Corporate

A graphic designer: “Innovative design solutions tailored to your brand architecture”

The writer tried to sound important but just sounds stuffy. The fix is to talk like a human:

“I design logos people actually remember.”

Messaging Trap 4. Too Selfish

A coach: “With over a decade of leadership experience, I’ve coached executives across five industries…”

I call this style the “ME MONSTER,” because it selfishly hogs all the space for itself. The fix is to talk about them:

“You got promoted into management. Nobody taught you how to lead.”

Three Messaging Tips

Here are three quick ways to improve the messaging on your website:

1) Try the quotation marks exercise.

Find the spots on your homepage where you speak to the problems your ideal client is having. Copy-and-paste the language into a blank document. Add quotation marks around each line. Then ask yourself: Is this how my clients actually talk?

For example, do your clients say, “I wish my logo was tied into my full brand identity”? Or “If only I could run ad campaigns that deliver measurable ROI”? Or “find a coach to help me develop personally and professionally”?

Nope nope nope. Your clients don’t speak like that. Write it like they actually say it, so they recognize themselves when they visit your website.

The easiest way to do this is the second tip:

2) Use your clients’ own words.

Look over the testimonials and reviews that your clients have given you. Literally pull their words, verbatim. Put those words on your website. Like:

• “I was tired of having an outdated website.”
• “I’m less frustrated with my ads now that they actually work.”
• “Now I feel ready to lead my team.”

3) Answer the Fab Five at the top of your homepage.

At bare minimum, your website should be super clear on these five items:

1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. Who do you serve?
4. What problem do you solve?
5. What’s the next step to work with you?

Your visitors should not have to puzzle out the answers. Put the answers on your homepage, in or near the hero section at the very top.

By answering these five questions and avoiding the four traps, your website messaging will be better than 95% of freelancers.

Reason #3. You’re Asking Visitors to Trust You Without Giving Them a Reason To

Of course you say nice things about yourself. But visitors wonder: Do your clients agree?

That’s why you need social proof (testimonials and reviews).

I know asking for reviews feels overwhelming sometimes. But it doesn't have to be as hard as we make it out to be.

How to Get Over Your Hesitation to Ask for a Review

Here's one method that I use that tends to work really well. 

Open an email to your client. In the subject line, say something like: “John, I have a massive favor to ask.” And then in the email body, say, “Would you leave me a quick review?”

Asking for a “massive favor” prepares the reader for an onerous request. But then they see you just want a review—which is a big deal for you but easy for them. In my experience, most people reply “Of course!” It’s a quick tactic to get over the mountain of feeling like asking for a review is so hard.

How to Get Reviews That Are Better Than Blah

“The service I received was professional and the communication was clear. Five stars.”

That’s a review. But does it hook your interest? Does it compel you? I doubt it.

Most clients leave “blah” reviews because they don’t know any better. You can help by asking them these four questions:

1. What problems were you dealing with before you reached out?
2. What did we do during our work together?
3. What has life been like since we worked together?
4. Would you recommend me to someone else who is dealing with the same problems you were?

Those prompts guide your client to leave a powerful review.

Stack Your Proof

One more tip: Expand your definition of a testimonial. When your client emails back, “I love this! It’s the coolest logo I’ve ever seen!”—that’s a testimonial. Screenshot it and put it on your website. (Ask permission first, of course.)

And don’t be afraid to stack your proof. You can pretty much put an unlimited amount of proof on your website, and it won’t feel like too much—it just gets more impressive. Tools like Senja and Testimonial make it easy to collect and format the reviews you receive. But you can also do it yourself by taking screenshots and putting them right on your website.

Adding proof to your website is a secret weapon (which really shouldn’t be secret). A lot of people just don’t do it. Or they add three short quotes and think they’ve checked the “social proof” box. You can do better! Make this a practice. Every time you complete a project, collect more social proof and immediately put it on your website. Give visitors every reason to trust you.

Reason #4. Your Only Call-To-Action Is “Book a Call” (And Nobody Wants That)

I first heard this from Alex Hormozi and was struck by how true it is. Among everyone who visits your website, hardly anyone wants to talk to you right now. But that’s pretty much the only call to action that most business websites have—either “Contact Us” or “Schedule a Consultation.”

Maybe a few people who were referred to you by a friend are ready to book a call. But for the other 95% of people who didn’t wake up this morning thrilled at the idea of booking a call with you, what about them? What next step do you have for them to take?

You need something on your website that makes your ideal client say, “I want that.” The marketing term for this is lead magnet.

There are five main types of lead magnets. (I get most of these from Alex Hormozi’s book $100M Leads.)

1. Reveal a problem (diagnostic, quiz, assessment)
2. Trial the solution (free period, sample, taste)
3. One step of a process (audit, single deliverable)
4. Tool or resource (calculator, template, checklist, framework)
5. Valuable information (PDF guide, mini-course, ebook)

Offering any of these, even if it’s just a one-page checklist, is better than “book a call” alone. Leave the option to schedule a call on your website—like I said, a few people will be ready right away. But for everyone else, offer a lead magnet that actually solves a small part of the problem they’re having today.

Reason #5. You’re Playing It Safe

Nobody gets offended by a bland, boring website. So it’s less scary to play it safe. But I encourage you to view your website through the lens of the question, “How can I be radically helpful to my ideal client?”

A great place to start is by answering the most common 20 questions people ask about your industry and your service. These questions may be uncomfortable:

• “Why does it cost so much?”
• “Who should not do this?”
• “What causes projects to fail?”

Your competitors are too afraid to put this info on their websites. But you know what? You’ll have to answer these questions eventually, on a discovery call. You might as well get it over with. Polish persuasive answers and make them public.

Here’s what I recommend: Do a competitor audit. Pick a few of your competitors who offer a similar service. Read their sites to see what questions they’re answering—and which they’re avoiding. Think how your website can be more useful to prospective clients.

Be radically helpful.

Conclusion

Your website cannot fail to generate more leads if:

1. You drive more of the right traffic.
2. You write messaging that connects with your visitors.
3. You give visitors reasons to trust you.
4. You offer several next steps.
5. You choose to be helpful. 

You don’t have to keep burying your feelings about your website in the mines of your heart. Fix the traffic, the messaging, the proof, the CTA—and find the courage to be helpful. That’ll keep the Balrog buried where it belongs.