Building a website for your brand can be equal parts fun and equal parts stressful. There are SO many decisions to be made, especially if your website has more than one page.

Your website is a place for you to put what you do on display and give others the opportunity to hire you to provide your services.

Putting together a website is no small feat, and in order to make your time worth the effort you’ve put in you should make sure you’ve created an effective website.

Below are 5 ways to make sure you’ve built an effective website:

1. Have an intriguing “about me” page

Your About Me page is the best place to connect with the person who is viewing your website. Of course your goal should be for your website as a whole to resonate with your audience so you draw in your ideal clients, but your About Me section is where you should especially aim to make a deeper connection.

While it’s great to list your technical knowledge and what makes you awesome at your job, that’s not necessarily the most effective way to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Instead, focus on sharing what makes you as an individual stand out from others in your field. Some questions you can aim to answer in your About Me page that give potential clients a better look into who you are on a personal levell:

• What specifically got you involved in the field you work in?

• What about your career brings you joy?

• How would your best friend describe your personality in 3 words?

• What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Bonus tip: Make sure you include a picture! I know it can be nerve-wracking to put yourself out there, but how can someone connect with you if they don’t even have a face to associate with the brand? Make sure your photo is professional-looking and high quality. There’s nothing worse than a pixelated, messy About Me photo to set the tone for the type of services you’ll be providing. So make sure your photo is an accurate representation of your brand and the level of services you provide.

Click here to read my own About Me section for inspiration

2. Have a clear color scheme

When someone clicks onto your site they should be blown away by the display of the services you’re offering - not distracted by the compilation of colors you’ve thrown together.

Make sure you have a clear color scheme, and that the color scheme matches your brand. It’s important to study color theory and have an understanding of the messages that different colors can convey.

To keep it simple, pick 3 colors and from there you can adjust the shades and hues of those colors. Using the color wheel can help you choose colors that will coordinate well with each other and bring vibrancy to your website.

To learn more about color theory and how to use it in branding, click here.

3. Make sure your location is listed somewhere

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve logged onto a website and have not been able to find the company’s location listed anywhere. Now, this is alright if you’re a business that only provides an online service of some sort. However, if your service is something that has to be received in person then you’ve essentially wasted your time building your website but not sharing your location.

Making a potential client do more work to find you is a quick way to turn them off to your business. No one wants to go on a scavenger hunt to locate your business when there’s 10,000 other suggestions on Google that have made it easy to find, contact, and book them.

Make it easy on your potential client and make sure your city, at the very least, is listed somewhere on your website.

4. Include your credentials and features

I know this tip may feel as if you’re being a little brag-y, but it’s something you should definitely consider when building your website.

Think of your own experience as a consumer. Would you rather go with a company who has experience with handling your specific needs, or someone who’s completely inexperienced? Hopefully you chose the option with more experience.

So what’s a better way to display acknowledgement of your experience than including your credentials and places you’ve been featured on your website? Showcasing these things just reinforces your expertise to your potential client and makes you a better candidate in their eyes.

5. Look at your website from your viewer’s point of view

Take the time to go through your website from start to finish as if you’re a random person clicking through with fresh eyes.

As the person building your website, you may think some things are obvious or understood. However, your website may or may not be as intuitive as you think, and looking at it from someone else’s POV can help you make that discernment.

When clicking through your website from your viewer’s POV, keep the following things in mind:

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your website’s ease-of-use?

• Is all of the substantial information about your brand on display and easy to find?

• Is there a way to contact you within one click?

Making sure your website checks off every item on the above list should yield you an effective website that shows clients what you do and gives them a way to hire you to do it for them.

Bonus tip: make sure your links open new webpages, when appropriate.

It’s disappointing when an online article includes a link that carries you off the current page and onto another webpage entirely. If you weren’t finished with the original article, you now to have click back to the article and scroll down to find your reading spot.

When it’s appropriate, avoid this issue by setting your links to open new web pages so that your viewer can browse your recommended articles without interruption the page they’re currently viewing.

Are there any tips you think I missed?

Share them below!