Three Priorities for Your Effective Heart-Centered Website

I’ve had the occasion to see a LOT of websites over the years, as well as going through three or four different versions of our own, plus a new redesign we’re in the middle of now.

Back in 2001 I first launched heartofbusiness.com when it was all hard-coded html, and now with the fancy bells and whistles content-management systems like WordPress, it can seem impossible to keep up with the technology changes.

Take a gentle breath, right now. Relax. It’s important to remember the timeless nature of the human heart and how we connect, because regardless of whether you’re making a tri-fold brochure a la 1986, or decking out a drupal-powered online learning membership site (and please don’t worry what that even means) there are basic things that make a website effective.

It’s your web designer’s job to make the technology work and make it look pretty. It’s your job to get clear on what your communicating. So let’s talk about that.

When a Potential Client Lands on Your Website

Whether they are ready to buy or not, I can guarantee you that a potential reader or client is facing three different issues.

First, there is a real need to belong, and feel safe.

Secondly, there is probably a lack of being truly seen and appreciated in their life.

Third, they are feeling stuck in the area or subject that you address in your business.

I can say this with confidence because these are basic human needs.We all need to feel like we belong. This is why the term “tribes” and the longing for community and connection are so strong.

We all need to be seen and appreciated. The Sufis teach the Divine had a deep yearning to be known, and so the Divine created the physical world, the creation, in order to be known. We’re all born with that Divine yearning in us to know the Divine, and to be known in an authentic, core way.

And, if the reader in question is truly a potential client, then by definition they need help with whatever it is that you help people with.

So How Do You Meet Those Needs?

Three expressions meet those three needs.

Your first priority is to meet their need to belong, and to feel safe in belonging. This is actually both fantastic, and a bit vulnerable, because you have to show up as you.

And not just you, the authentic real you. You have to show your values and what you stand for. When you take a stand for what you believe, when you express your core values, the ideal world you want to presence through your work, your best people can identify with you.

They’ll know if they share your values. They’ll know if what they hold precious and dear is also what you hold precious and dear. And that creates belonging, community and safety.

Take a look at this website, and notice the values and vision it expresses. Watershed Community Wellness Vision.

Your Second Priority: See and Appreciate Your Reader

Because it’s a website, and you can’t stare deeply into their eyes with all the compassion and love you can muster, you’re going to have to do it with words.

You have to use empathetic statements about the struggle they are in. When someone is struggling is when they often feel the most stuck, the most helpless, and doubt themselves and who they are the most. Trying to cheer them up can often backfire, “Come on! Things aren’t that bad!” because if they don’t believe you’ve truly seen and understood their situation, they won’t believe your cheery words. “Ahhh… what do you know? I’m *really* messed up.”

Empathetic statements help them trust that you get the situation they are in. And because you know your clients and what they tend to struggle with, you can name what’s going on for them, and the emotional struggle that goes with it. And you can do it without judgment, because you know so many people struggle like that, and doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them.

Such a relief to be seen as struggling but not broken, to be accepted in your stuck places and loved and cared for anyway.

Empathetic statements look this. Check out this page, and see how your feel: Watershed Community Wellness Empathy.

Finally, Your People Need Hope

You need to show them you have something that can help. This is done in a few different ways.

• Explaining the philosophy behind what you do, so they can buy into your methodology and approach.

• Showing proof of the effectiveness of what you do. If you’ve been trained in a particular modality, your industry may have statistics on how effective it’s been. If you’ve been seeing clients, you can track how many of your clients reach their goals or are happy with what they got, and use that as a statistic.

• Tellings stories and anecdotes in the form of testimonials and case studies. If you’re new, you might have few of these. It’s worthwhile working with a few initial folks for free to gain testimonials and case studies, as well as your own confidence.

Take a look at this services page, and scroll down to read the testimonials. Marissa Bracke Services.

She didn’t use all three of the points I listed above, and yet for the right people, it’s still a powerful page, I find.

It Takes Heart

To show yourself as you are, and to take a stand and show your values means being vulnerable and strong at the same time. To stop thinking about yourself and show caring and empathy for another person takes heart.

And bringing proof takes a profound humility. As you see the proof of your effectiveness, it can be easy to get shy or feel vulnerable, “Am I really that good?” Yet in humility, offering proof of the path you provide to clients is a tremendous service to them, for it nourishes hope in their heart, and brings safety and peace of mind in hiring you.

Your website can be heart-centered and effective in bringing in business. You can be wildly, beautifully, powerfully you, and also humble, in service, and facing the people you want to help.

Get to it! Your people are waiting!

p.s. Creating Heart-Centered Websites

If you’re needing clear heart-centered strategy on how to write a website that shows your caring, your love, and your expertise, a website that really does bring in business, check out our home study program.

Click to read: Creating Heart-Centered Websites