How to Make Your Website Your Smartest Sales Tool

Your website might look great.

 It might even feel fast.

But if it’s not attracting leads, building trust fast, and converting visitors into buyers—it’s not doing its job.

And the truth is, most websites are actually working against their owners.

In today’s episode, I’m going to walk you through what a smart website actually does—and why yours might be quietly costing you sales.

You’ll learn a 3-part framework to help you turn your site into your smartest sales tool, along with the most common mistakes to avoid.

And stick with me to the end—I’ll share one silent homepage killer that could be repelling your dream clients in the first five seconds.

Hey, it’s Carrie here with a quick update - eCommerce Made Easy is now Smarter Online Business!

Same practical tips you love, just a clearer name for coaches, course creators, and online business owners. You’re still in the right place to learn how to turn your website into your smartest sales tool. 

Find our show notes at our new domain

https://www.smarteronlinebusiness.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Website Failures and Episode Preview
• 1:33 Evaluating Your Website's Performance
• 3:40 Attracting the Right Visitors
• 5:23 Building Instant Trust and Connection
• 6:59 Making it Easy to Convert
• 8:56 The Silent Homepage Killer Revealed

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:27

Your website might look great, it might even feel fast, but if it's not attracting leads, building trust and converting visitors into buyers, it's not doing its job, and the truth is, most websites are actually working against their owners. In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through what a smart website actually does and why yours might be quietly costing you sales. You'll learn a three-part framework to help you turn your site into your smartest sales tool, along with the most common mistakes to avoid. And stick with me to the end. I'll share one of my silent homepage killers that could be repelling your dream clients in the first five seconds. So let's dive in Struggling to turn website traffic into real sales. You're not alone and you don't have to figure it out all yourself.

Carrie Saunders: 1:10

Welcome to Smarter Online Business, the podcast. For course. Creators, coaches and e-commerce entrepreneurs who want their websites to convert visitors into buyers without the tech overwhelm. I'm your host, Saunders, a website strategist and conversion expert with over 20 years of experience. Each episode delivers simple, proven strategies to help you generate more revenue and make your website your smartest sales tool. Welcome back to the show.

Carrie Saunders: 1:35

Today is an exciting episode because it is the first episode of our official rename of our podcast from e-commerce made easy to smarter online business. We have a new name, same, similar content to help you with your website and propel it, but with a name that kind of helps, you know, exude what. We are more now, and we're today going to be diving in how to make your website your smartest sales tool. So first, let's currently evaluate what the state of your website is, and please don't have any shame here, no hard feelings or anything. We want an honest evaluation, though, because if we don't honestly look at something that we need to improve, we won't know how to improve it, and we'll just be in denial and stick our head in the sand, which is really easy to do on websites, and sometimes we get busy and stick our heads in the sand too, so don't feel any shame or guilt here, but here's a moment I want you to think about and take this seriously, because we do need to take this seriously.

Carrie Saunders: 2:37

If your website were an employee, would you promote it or would you fire it Now? Yes, that might be a bit extreme to say, but it's really kind of true, though, and this sometimes will come off as a thud for some people, but most business owners haven't been taught what their website is supposed to be doing. So again, no shame or remorse here, but it is something you need to consider. Is it being a great employee for you? You might have hired somebody to do the design. It might look nice. It might even match your brand colors. But that's where the story typically can end. It might sit there passively hoping someone figures out what to do next. And if that sounds like your site, you're not alone. It is very common. It's something we help clients fix all the time, and the good news is, like I said, it is fixable. But we want to do it with a smarter approach.

Carrie Saunders: 3:30

So let's dig into what a high converting, strategic website is actually built to do. So. If your website isn't pulling its weight, there's usually three missing pieces, so we're going to break each of those down. So, first off, it doesn't matter how gorgeous your site is, if the right people aren't finding it, it won't work. So first, we want to make sure the right people are finding it. A smart website is designed to attract ideal visitors, which means it has a search engine optimization strategy already built in. We have lots of podcast episodes on SEO, so if you're curious about those, you can go to our show notes at smarteronlinebusinesscom and search the top for SEO and you're going to find all of our SEO related podcast episodes. We also have a free mini course on search engine optimization. We'll also link to that in our show notes as well, so that if you need a bit of a refresher or a start on it, that's going to be a great way to get started on it.

Carrie Saunders: 4:26

We also want to make sure that our messaging speaks directly to our dream client. So double check your messaging. Make sure it speaks directly to your dream client. And you also want to make sure that you're showing up in places they're already searching. This can take a little bit of digging to figure out. Where are my ideal clients searching already? Where am I showing up? Am I showing up where I should be? But it is very important to evaluate this one regularly. You don't usually need 10 times more traffic. You just need better match traffic. This is true for leads as well. You know we just need the right leads, not more leads necessarily. And when your message is clear and your site is optimized, you won't have to shout louder. You'll start drawing in the right people who are already looking for what you offer. This is how we can become a smarter website.

Carrie Saunders: 5:19

And then number two is we want to build instant trust and connection. You've got five seconds to make a first impression and that's it. If your homepage doesn't give them a reason to stay, they're going to be gone. People are impatient, as we all know. They're busy and it takes such a little amount of time for somebody to judge your website. And a smart website makes it obvious who you help, what you do and what they should do next. It creates trust in a blink or a flash like. It creates trust immediately.

Carrie Saunders: 5:51

So how can we build this trust? We can do that by creating a clear, above the fold headline. So a headline that really speaks to who you serve, who you are and what they should do next. Strong visuals that align with their brand. So we want to make sure things are all in brand alignment. That helps build trust. We also want to make sure things are all in brand alignment. That helps build trust. We also want to, later on the page, have some social proof or testimonials or recognizable logos. Those are usually a bit below the fold.

Carrie Saunders: 6:17

We start getting their trust though, first with the headlines and the strong visuals, and then our navigation at the top also needs to be very intuitive so that they don't have to think. A confused mind says no. We mentioned that a lot on the podcast and it's so super true up in the navigation. Make sure each of your navigation links are clear and not clever. A design alone can't build trust. Clarity behind that design and behind the elements on it and the words on the page does build trust. And they are confused. They won't ask questions, they don't have time for it. And the words on the page does build trust and they are confused. They won't ask questions, they don't have time for it. They'll just close the tab or close the browser on their phone and they will move on.

Carrie Saunders: 6:55

So number three is we want to make it easy to say yes. So, even if your website looks great and feels clear, is it converting Meaning? Is it collecting leads, booking calls or or making sales? What is your goal of your website? Is it to collect those leads? Is it to book those calls or make those sales, in case you're e-commerce or a service provider? So is it doing what it's supposed to be doing? A smart website guides your visitor to the next step. That feels easy. So is your next step easy. This can be improved by having one clear to call to action per page. Each page should have its own goal. We don't want it to be blended in too many decisions. People will get confused Again.

Carrie Saunders: 7:37

We're coming back to the confused mind says no. We want to make sure that the buttons say exactly what they're getting. Grab the free guide, not just submit. We want to make sure it's action oriented and very clear as to what they're getting. And then we want to build pages to reduce friction and not create it. So make sure your pages flow well. It needs to be super easy to scan and understand what each page is about, and conversion isn't about saying it louder, it's about being clearer. We need to be super clear here, and when you simplify the next step and align it with what they already want, you make it easier for them to say yes, and they will definitely say yes.

Carrie Saunders: 8:14

So then I want to ask you again if your website were an employee, would you keep it on payroll or would you give it a performance review and evaluation? If today's episode got you thinking differently about your website and what you want to get started to get smarter about how it works for your business, then I'd love to help you with that. Each week I send out an email filled with website tips, tools and strategies to help you improve your website without the tech overwhelm. So you can just join our newsletter at smarteronlinebusinesscom forward slash newsletter or click the link in the show notes to join. It's quick, free and gives you one small thing to improve each week. Think of it as a website strategist in your inbox.

Carrie Saunders: 8:53

But before we wrap up, here's one silent website killer. I promised you. I see it a lot and it's probably on your homepage. No call to action above the fold. Let me say that again. No call to action above the fold. Or, even worse, a very vague one like learn more or click here. That space at the top of your homepage is prime real estate. It's your best chance to guide a new visitor before they scroll away. So I want you to look at your website and I want you to fix it by adding benefit driven buttons, wordings such as download a free checklist, start your free trial book, a strategy call contact us in case you're selling e-commerce and they might get confused. That builds trust right away, even though they might not contact you right away.

Carrie Saunders: 9:38

On that one we want to make it clear. We want to make it obvious and we want to make it useful and helpful to them. Think again benefits to them. One small change like that could shift your entire conversion rate this month. So I challenge you to look at that. Let's do a quick recap. So first, smart websites attract, engage and convert, and pretty doesn't equal profitable. You don't need more traffic likely you probably just need a better strategy with your website and one homepage tweak that can make all the difference. That's that clear call to action at the top. So if this episode helped you see your site in a new way, I would love for you to share with a business friend. And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter so we can keep getting smarter together. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Smarter Online Business Podcast. I will see you next week.