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If you're running a consulting business, it's vital to have a website that markets who you are and what services you provide. A website helps you to establish authority in search engines, among your network, and with potential clients.
Although it’s also important to establish your presence on social media and other marketing channels, your website is the place where anyone interested in your work can come to discover:
What your business is about
Examples of your work
How to connect about potential projects
An effective consulting website should sell your strengths, experience, and the unique solutions and services you can offer your clients. Follow these six steps to establish your online presence with a professional looking consulting website.
1. Consider your brand personality
The first step to creating your website is to identify and define your brand. Brand identity is the combination of your company’s values, mission, and vision. When developing your brand, it helps to think about:
What your brand's story is
What makes your business unique
How you want your audience to feel when they engage with your business
Put simply, your brand is the personality of your business.
Whatever you decide, ensure your brand reflects your values and connects with your target audience. Be authentic and consistent. Apply your brand voice across all of your marketing channels and your web design.
Get tips for promoting your website
2. Choose a website design
Whatever your area of expertise, a thoughtfully designed website acts as a home base for your brand and a storefront to showcase the services you offer.
Think of the visual brand you present in your website as your first impression. First impressions are key to catching the eye of new clients and establishing yourself as a professional worth working with. Along with your messaging and voice, you can express your brand identity through the design elements of your brand, like your logo, color palette, and fonts.
If you're unsure of where to begin, consider starting with one of Squarespace’s professional services templates. Our website templates are pre-made frameworks you can use as a jumping-off point for building your website.
After choosing a template, you can make customizations to it to develop your own personalized branding. A unique visual identity will help to differentiate you from other consultants in your industry.
Get tips on bringing your brand design to life
3. Create your homepage
Your homepage is the first page visitors encounter when visiting your site. Think about what impression you want the page to create and what information you want to present.
The exact homepage layout that works for you will depend on your site, your goals, and your audience. Whatever you choose, it's essential that you draw prospective clients in by explaining exactly what you do, who you do it for, and what makes you the best choice.
Get straight to the point about your value proposition on your homepage. Showcase any relevant information or visuals that communicate what makes your business unique. That could include awards and certifications, completed projects, or client testimonials.
Learn more about how to design a homepage for your website
4. Add more pages
To determine what pages will branch off your homepage, decide on what pages will best support your business strategy. The exact pages you use will vary depending on your business, but they can include:
About page: Tell your brand story and share more about yourself and your background. Include a clear call to action on this page so visitors can book an introductory call with you or contact you to learn more.
Client testimonials: Incorporating honest, positive feedback from your clients into your website is a great way to establish trust and turn prospective clients into new clients.
Contact page: This is where you should highlight all the ways potential clients can connect with you, including social media profiles, email, and a contact form. You can also offer appointment scheduling on this page.
Member Site: Share your content and expertise by selling membership access to online courses, classes, newsletters, and videos.
Portfolio page: Provide context about the work you've done, the roles you’ve had, the clients you’ve worked with, and the results you've achieved for them. This is also a good place to highlight types of projects you're looking to do more of in the future.
Store page: Whether you sell physical products or book services through an online scheduler, a page to showcase what you offer is an integral part of your consulting website. Include product descriptions or service details, and focus on how they benefit your audience.
Your blog: A blog is a great place to offer free resources to draw in potential clients. Hosting and consistently updating a blog will also help search engines recognize your website as having fresh, valuable content.
If you need help creating copy for all of the pages you’re adding, try getting started with Squarespace AI.
5. Add features to simplify your workflow
As a small business owner, your time is precious. Take the time to add features and automations to your website that take some of the administrative work off of your plate. Depending on your business, that could include:
Self-scheduling calendar: Add Acuity Scheduling to your website so clients can book and reschedule appointments and classes on their own. Add the option to your site through a scheduling block or on a separate scheduling page.
Custom intake forms: Is it helpful to start with a baseline understanding of your client or their project? Create a custom form and make it part of your appointment booking flow so you can come to meetings with everything you need.
Invoice templates: Choose an invoicing software, like Acuity Scheduling, that makes it easy to autofill appointment types and fees, duplicate invoices, and track their status.
Email automations: Write a few email templates for common client interactions, like appointment reminders and follow-ups. Set them to send automatically before or after a consultation so you don’t have to manage it manually.
Create a cancellation policy: A cancellation policy protects you and your clients by setting clear expectations about respecting your time together. To protect your bottom line, take payment information or a deposit at booking in case of no-shows or late cancellations.
6. Get a custom domain
A domain name is what customers type into their browser to access your website. All Squarespace sites on an annual billing plan include one free custom domain. For branding and promotional purposes, your domain name should be related closely to your business name, if not exactly the same.
This is also a good opportunity to set up a custom email address for your business. A separate business email looks professional and will help you stay organized.
Squarespace hosts a dedicated domain name search database. Plug your domain ideas into the search to find out if they’re available.
7. Optimize your website for search engines
Every Squarespace website is optimized for search engine indexing, which makes it possible for your website to show up in search results. Each website also includes SEO tools to help you optimize your pages for what your target audience is searching.
In addition to search optimization tools, there are steps you can take to increase your website’s visibility and rank in search results.
Incorporate keywords into your copy: Your language and sentence structure should flow naturally and stay consistent with your brand voice, with keywords naturally woven into the copy.
Add SEO descriptions: Adding SEO descriptions helps search engines properly index your site, making it easier for people to find your content online. Potential clients can see these descriptions in search results and decide if they want to click into your site to learn more.
Enable SSL: After registering a domain, ensure you enable SSL. This means visitors can access every page of your site with a secure connection. Search engines consider SSL important and may penalize sites that don't have it enabled because they’re considered less secure.
Get advanced SEO tips to boost your visibility
Ready to launch your consulting website?