The best guide I’ve ever seen for writing your homepage is Carrie Klassen’s eBook How To Write a Loveable Homepage. 

And, over the years, one of the biggest questions I’ve gotten about websites and homepages is, “What if I offer three different things? How do I represent this on my site?”

The first thing is that, sometimes, the truth is that you actually need three different websites. If you’re a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker? You need three sites. People would be so confused if they saw those three things being sold on one site.

But if those three things are fairly in line with each other, “I run men’s groups, sell men’s health products and lead men’s adventure weekends,” well then… there’s a clear thread of ‘men’. So, those can all fit on the same site easily and it will make sense to people. 

Remember the old adage, “The confused mind says ‘no’.” 

We don’t want to confuse them.

We want them to hit our site and know not only exactly what it’s about but also if it’s for them. 

Now, that’s a larger question of niche which I won’t get into here, but it’s important.

Assuming you’ve got a clearish niche, you might still have a number of different things you do.

Case Study #1: JenniferSummerfeldt.com

Jennifer Summerfeldt is a dear friend of mine who dove into the business world and started creating websites. But, soon, she had so many websites. She didn’t know what to do with them all or how they connected. She felt overwhelmed with what to tell people when she met them or where to direct them. As she described the different websites she had – women’s counselling, birth coaching and postpartum counselling, there was a clear thread of ‘women’s empowerment’. 

I suggested she book JenniferSummerfeldt.com and put her three websites onto it in a clear way so that people could land on her site and quickly find the resources that were relevant to them, as if she had a virtual concierge standing there, directing them to whatever was most relevant in the area. Three buttons they could click. Three options.

 

Case Study #2: TheUncagedLife.com

My colleague Rebecca Tracey did a similar thing on her site by naming four particular situations her clients might be in and inviting them to click that box. This is simple and genius.

What this means is that people won’t land on her site and spend three minutes trying to figure out if there’s anything relevant for them there and then leave. If one of those four pieces is relevant to them, they’ll take a next step. 

Case Study #3: ThriveWithAutism.ca

My colleague Jackie McMillan helps those who are struggling with autism and lays out four very clear options for people to choose on her homepage by naming the four major groups of people with whom she works: parents of autistic children, educators, professionals and spectrum adults.

Case Study #4: The League of Adventurous Singles

Kira Sabin who runs The League of Adventurous Singles has this on her homepage.

If you hover your cursor over the three buttons you see these…

Case Study #5: Corrina Gordon-Barnes

Corrina Gordon-Barnes is a relationship coach and her homepage is a gem of clarity.

Again, this seems so simple but I see so few websites do this.

Consider your own homepage and how you might make it, visually, more clear.

How could you lay out the main options or pathways they might take in an unmistakably clear way?

If you do this your clients will…

• Know if your website is for them much more quickly and waste less time.
• You’ll start getting clients who are pre-filtered and a much better fit for you and waste less of your time.
• Feel much better about sending people to you site.

Additional Reading About Filtering in Marketing:

The Three Roles of Marketing – There are three roles in marketing: 1) Getting their attention 2) Filtering & Establishing if it’s a fit 3) Lowering the risk of their taking the first step. I see so few businesses doing that second role well.

The Are You Sure Page – This is another example of how you can actually interrupt the purchasing moment to make sure that the only people who buy from you are those for whom your offering will be a good match. This means less refunds, less shitty clients and better word of mouth.

The Niching Nest – This is the basis of any filtering. Do you have a clear niche? If not, start with this.