Consultants often describe what they do in terms that make sense only to other consultants: frameworks, methodologies and buzzwords that look impressive on a slide. A potential client reading the website is usually asking a simpler question: "Can this person solve my problem?" A website that answers that question in plain words does more work than one full of impressive terms.
This guide explains how to describe your expertise so a busy owner or manager understands it in a minute.
Start with the problem, not the title
Describe the problems your clients bring to you, in their own words. "Our sales are flat and we don't know why" is a problem a client recognises. "Growth strategy and commercial optimisation" is a label that might mean anything.
Give two or three of these problems on the home page, each with a sentence on how you help. A visitor who recognises their own situation is much more likely to keep reading.
Describe your approach in steps
Explain how you usually work, in the order a client experiences it. For example: an initial conversation, a review of the current position, a proposal with a clear scope, and then the agreed work. Keep each step to a sentence or two, and say what the client gets at each stage.
A visible approach makes you easier to trust, because the client can see what happens next.
Say who you work with
Name the kinds of business or the stage of growth you're best placed to help. If you only work with small firms, or only with a particular sector, say so. Saying who you don't work with is useful too, because it saves both sides time.
Use case studies only with permission
Case studies are powerful when they're real and the client has agreed to them. Describe the situation, what you did and what changed, in plain language. Don't claim a result you can't show, and don't name a client without their written permission.
Avoid the jargon test
Read each page aloud and ask whether a non-specialist would understand it. Replace any term you couldn't explain to a friend with a plain phrase. Keep your specialist words for the conversation with the client, where they can be explained.
Quick checklist
- Describe two or three problems clients bring, in their own words.
- Set out your approach as steps, with what the client gets at each one.
- Name the kinds of business or stage of growth you work with best.
- Use case studies only when the client has agreed to them in writing.
- Read each page aloud, and replace any term you couldn't explain to a friend.
- Remove any claim of a result you cannot show.
What to do next
The consultant websites page shows how the problem list, the approach and the request section are usually arranged. The layout behind this is covered on the business websites page, which suits any consultancy building its first site. Write the problem list first, in the words your clients use.