Donald Miller Called This “One of the Best StoryBrand Websites”—Here’s Why

[00:00:00] Welcome to From Click to Client, where we transform a confusing message into a clear, compelling story that sells. I'm your host, Kris Jones, story brand marketing expert. I'm here to help you attract more dream clients with the power of story.

Speaker: If you have a website and you're not getting the clients you want from it, this episode is for you. Today, I'm gonna do something I haven't done before on the show. I'm gonna take you inside a real client transformation, showing you the before site.

And the after site and walking you through exactly what changed and why. My client, Susan, is a former lawyer, turned divorce coach. She spent 30 years in law, including time as a prosecutor and a TV legal analyst on M-S-N-B-C. She came to me with a website that listed all of that,But it still wasn't connecting with the people she most wanted to help

Susan has generously given me permission to use [00:01:00] her transformation as a teaching example on the show today. So I'm so grateful. She's also part of Donald Miller's mastermind. He's the author of Building a StoryBrand. And because she was in that mastermind, he reviewed her website inside. So to be in his mastermind is a $25,000 investment.

And part of that investment means Donald gets to look at your marketing, your words, and everything that you're building in your business. So when he looked at her website, He called it arguably the best website he'd ever seen for a coach or consultant.

So by the end of this episode, you're gonna know exactly what was broken, what we fixed, how we fixed it, and what you can take away from this and apply to your own website today. Let's dive in.

Okay, so I've got Susan's before website in front of me, and you'll see the main headline is her name and divorce coach. So. One great thing that she's [00:02:00] doing here is she is letting people know that she is a divorce coach. Then underneath that she has the SOUL method. So at this phase of the exchange, if I'm landing on her website as an as a potential client, I actually don't care about how she does what she does.

The SOUL method is really how she does it. I really care what she does, so I wanna know. What she does, I wanna know how is it gonna benefit me? And so what Susan has here is her name, divorce Coach, the Soul Method, and then she has the phrase out of the darkness I found within me an Invincible Light, which I think we can all agree is beautiful.

It's poetic, but. The problem with leading with poetic, is that it's just not clear. It doesn't carry with it information about what she actually does and how she can make my life better as her client. So the, the issue here [00:03:00] is really, lack of clarity, poetic, and using big words for her name rather than using big words to communicate what she does.

So, so the contrast of this is in her current website. Now, this is her wire frame. We haven't fully even designed the website yet, but we've mapped out the words for the website on this blueprint so you can see the difference. When we landed it on this website. it says Make smart divorce decisions today that build the life you want.

Strategic coaching to help you protect your children, your finances, and your future. So I'm gonna go back to the original here, Susan. Divorce Coach, the SOUL method out of darkness I found within me an invincible light. Okay. Beautiful, poetic, but not useful to the visitor. I'm gonna go back here to the new website.

Make smart divorce decisions today that build the life you want tomorrow. Subhead, strategic coaching to help you protect your children, your [00:04:00] finances, and your future. And then we follow that with a very clear call to action. Infused into that call to action button is an actual benefit. So book your heroic divorce strategy call.

Oh my gosh. I get to book a call with this woman and. It's gonna be strategic and it's gonna be worth my time. And there's an aspirational identity attached to heroic divorce. So this is very clear. It answers the questions, what do you do? How's it gonna make my life better? And what do you want me to do next?

We do follow this up with some authority around susan's qualifications. So we've got former prosecutor, trial lawyer, M-S-N-B-C, senior Legal Analyst, certified divorce Coach, and certified divorce mediator. So we're doing so much heavy lifting just in this hero section of the website where again, we're answering those questions, what do you do?

How's it gonna make my life better? What do you want me to do next? [00:05:00] We're calling them to action right here, building authority with some of her past roles in law. And then I want you to notice up here in the upper left hand corner underneath her logo. So in the upper left corner of any website, there's typically a logo and we're introducing the idea of her method here. And we're calling it the Heroic Divorce Method.

So if I met Susan and I was going through a divorce and she told me, oh, I have a heroic divorce method. I, my curiosity would be peaked. I would be leaning in. I'd wanna know more. If I met Susan at a cocktail party and she told me I have the SOUL method. I don't know if I would necessarily wanna know more.

the SOUL method really doesn't tell me anything that I can relate to if I were someone going through a divorce. If I were going through a divorce [00:06:00] and I heard the heroic divorce method, I'd be like, whoa, this woman, I would feel so much comfort. This woman has an actual method.

She has a proven framework or a system that she uses to allow me to navigate through my divorce. And not only that, come out of the divorce as a hero. So we've already started really strong. One of the things here in the original website that Susan had was that she's really making herself the hero of her own story.

It's really all about her upfront. And notice here, this is all about our potential client or all about our hero,Let's move down the page so as we move down Susan's page, she has a line that says, I help people in the hell of divorce reclaim their power legally, financially, emotionally, before, during, after.

Oh my gosh, is that a [00:07:00] mouthful or what? It's a lot of commas and a, and a long list. And our brains will check out. When we have long sentences or a lot of commas or a lot of lists. So it says, I'm gonna repeat it again. I help people in the hell of divorce reclaim their power legally, financially, and emotionally before, during, and after.

It's just a lot for the brain to try and digest. This is a really good example of a high cognitive load statement. And then we've got ignite your purpose, unleash your life. The divorce was just the catalyst. Now let's build the life that you want. Divorce isn't just an ending, it's an invitation to transform. Some of the words in here are actually really beautiful and really poetic, but again, intangible. My brain doesn't have anything to grab onto here. So this section here is not doing Susan any favors. What we did in the next [00:08:00] section is really articulate the problem that our heroes are navigating. What are they struggling with?

Let's help them feel, seen, feel heard, feel understood. And we do that by articulating their problem and helping them realize like we get them, we know what they're going through. So on her new website we have. Divorce forces major life decisions when you're least equipped to think clearly. Whoa, that is an overarching problem that I can grab onto.

Are you tired of lying awake terrified that wrong one, wrong move will cost you everything? Are you tired of not knowing who to trust or what to do next? Are you tired of making decisions from a place of fear or overwhelm? Are you walking into critical meetings without anyone truly in your corner? So these lines are really meant to help the visitor understand that they are not alone in this struggle. [00:09:00] And that we really get where they are.

We understand the problem that they're in. So let's jump back to the old site . And again, we've got.difficult words that are hard for a human to wrap their brain around. She has questions, who am I now? what do I truly want? How do I rebuild not just my life, but my sense of self?

we don't really want to burden our visitor with a bunch of heavy, lofty questions. so there's a disconnect here and it is not working and this is how we fixed it. Let's move on to the next section. What do you get? What's the benefit of this? So. The benefit here on this original website is break free, rebuild, rise higher, and that is too vague to actually connect with an ideal client.

Break free, rebuild, rise higher again, poetic.[00:10:00] but unclear. And telling a story on your website is all about being clear, so. We counteract that with a new website with you. Deserve steady strategic guidance when the stakes are highest. Know what to do next. Protect your children and your finances.

Restore your sanity. Those are things my brain can actually grab onto and notice, we're not even talking about Susan yet. We're talking about her client. We're talking about their struggles. We're talking about their success, what they want more than anything. Let's keep going down the page. one of the things that you'll notice here on this page is there's a lot of all caps, fonts, all the fonts are roughly the same size. there's three or four different font sizes, but they're all very similar. It's like a 19 point [00:11:00] font, a 22 point font, a 23 point font, and a 24 point font. So for those of you who are not font nerds, the idea is we need to create a hierarchy of messaging.

We want clear headline fonts, clear subhead, fonts, and clear body copy fonts. When everything on the page is the same size, meaning all the words are the same size, it looks like everything is being screamed at me at the same volume. That divorce isn't just an ending, it's an invitation to transform all caps.

All big, all the same size. Whereas if we pop over to Susan's new website, the eye knows where to go. It knows to go to the headline first. It knows to go to the subhead second and then it knows to go to the paragraph or the body copy third. this type of hierarchy is one of the most important things that we do together that [00:12:00] will allow the visitor of the website to actually take in and digest the message that we're trying to communicate to her. So let's keep going down the page. in the next section of Susan's website she has, Introducing the SO method, strategic, open, unstoppable, liberated,I don't know what that means. It's taking me too much work to figure out what that means, and it's coming into the page too early. I'm still curious about what she's gonna do for me. later on in the page, we can talk about your method and how you do it, and I'll show you what that looks like.

So before we get to the method, we really want to continue to build trust. So for the new website we have: call me first before you call your lawyer. I've been on both sides of the courtroom. Now I'm on yours. Then we have a video of Susan. All of this is important, right?

But one of the most important things that you can do on your website is to have a video of [00:13:00] you speaking directly to your potential client. That allows them to get to know you, to hear your warmth, your expertise, your care. And so that's what we're doing here for Susan. then we're going to introduce her as the guide.

This doesn't really happen on her old website at all. she doesn't really position herself as the guide. Because she has already positioned herself as the hero. So what I wanna do next is go into. The method.. So we've got her original one was called the Soul Method, We updated that to the Heroic Divorce Method.

if we have a method or our own way of doing things, that's awesome. That shows that you're different from everybody else. It shows that you know what you're doing, that you have a process. What I want you to consider about your process when you're naming it is that it's always gonna be stronger if you infuse an [00:14:00] aspirational identity into the name of your method.

So if I'm going through a divorce, I wanna come outta my divorce, a hero. And her method. Shows that her clients are going to be heroic. So we've named it the Heroic Divorce Method. Make the smartest decisions of your life when the stakes are high.

Don't stay trapped between fear and fury when a clear path forward exists. Together we'll turn chaos into clarity because you deserve the, to be the hero of this story. And then another call to action book your Heroic Divorce Strategy call. So you can see the difference between having your own method and having a visual that communicates that method and having the words in that method actually describe something that matters to the ideal client.

This here, the Soul Method, strategic open, unstoppable, liberated, doesn't really tell me anything. [00:15:00] So the other thing I want to show you today is this: how we work together one-on-one, elite soul coaching, high level mastermind retreats and bespoke transformation experience. So she's telling me three things that she does, but really what she needs to be doing is giving her hero a plan. So instead of talking about all the things that you do, I want you to call your hero to action with a clear and simple plan. Here's how it works. Book Your Heroic Divorce Strategy call Step one of your plans, always gonna be your call to action.

Step two, move forward with confidence. We'll build a smart personal strategy around your family, your finances, and your future. You'll be ready for every critical moment before it arrives, and then step three of the plan. Always gonna be the happy end result. Protect your children, your finances, and your privacy.

That is step three. Come through your divorce knowing every decision was made with clarity, courage, and strategy. Alright, so those are the [00:16:00] core components of Susan's page. We we are building trust here with testimonials. We're showing how we're different with a unique process infographic, and then we're going deeper into the

the services that she offers for her clients. Here, she has a tier one service, a tier, tier two, and a tier three. When I work with my clients, this is one of the things that we do together is really craft your suite of offerings so a potential client can identify which tier they're interested in.

So what does this mean for your own website? Here's the question I want you to sit with after today's episode. Whose story is your website telling? Is it your story Or is it your client's story? Pull up your homepage right now if you can and look at the very first thing someone reads.

Is it your name, your credentials? Is it your method name? Is the site telling your story. If it names the situation your client is in, or an [00:17:00] outcome they want, the site is telling their story. That one shift changes everything about how a site performs. So a quick self-audit would be, read your hero section headline aloud.

Does it name a result your client wants, or does it describe you? Look at where your credentials appear on the page. Do they come before or after you've named your client's problem? if you have a branded method name, could a stranger understand what it means in three seconds without any explanation?

If you went through the audit and realized your site is still telling your story instead of your client's story, that's exactly what we work on our money making messaging call. It's a 40 minute working session while we're go through your messaging together and we'll figure out what's getting the way of you getting the right clients to say yes.

So go to my website, red door stories.com, and click on the blue button and book a money making messaging call with me today. And if you know of another coach or consultant who [00:18:00] needs to hear this, please share this episode with them and tell them to start here. Thanks so much.

Is your website turning away potential clients? I can help you turn that around. Book a money-making messaging call with me today, and we'll transform your story into your most powerful sales tool. That's all for this episode of From Click to Client. Don't forget to subscribe and follow. I'm Kris Jones, and I'll see you next time