Website Big Picture Checklist (Student Access)

This is one of many parts of The Profitable Producer Course, and it was designed to help home studio owners grow their businesses.

If your douchebag friend shared this with you, they weren't supposed to. I hope you enjoy it, but keep in mind that this is merely a fraction of what the rest of the students are experiencing inside the Profitable Producer Course. 

If you want to learn more about The Profitable Producer Course, go to www.theprofitableproducer.com or you can read more free content at www.thesixfigurehomestudio.com.

Your Copy

In case you didn't know, "copy" is just another term for any kind of text composition. The words you're reading now are copy. Your website's headline and body text is all considered copy. 

An Actionable Headline

Your landing page headline is just like any other headline -- it should entice people to take some sort of action.

In this case, that action is filling out the form on your landing page. Make sure that your copy uses action-oriented words that communicate the value of the offer behind the landing page.

For example, compare "Free Checklist: Your Go-To Guide for Studio Preparation" to "Studio Preparation Ebook." The first is much more enticing. (we'll cover content marketing on week 4)

Headline Matches Intent

Why did the person come to your website? Do they need mixing services? Are they looking for a voiceover studio? Are they trying to find a producer who can shape their half-assed ideas and turn them into hits? 

The actionable headline on your website needs to match the intent of the people who come to your site. There's no use calling someone to take an action they have no interest in taking. For example, if I'm a 5 person metal band looking to for a mixing engineer, the last thing I'd ever want to see is a headline that's written for solo pop artists that are looking for production services. 

Sub-Header Describes Benefit Of The Action (optional)

Think of your sub-header as a more practical extension of your headline. Your headline should be flashy yet indicative of what people will get by filling out the form. Your sub-header is a much less flashy tagline -- it's very clear on what the benefit is of the offer.

So if your headline is"Free Checklist: Your Go-To Guide for Studio Preparation," your sub-header would say something like "Learn to make the absolute most of your time in the studio."

Body Copy Is Scannable, Scrollable, and Compelling

Next up is the actual body copy of your landing page. People shouldn't have to read this part of your landing page to know what your offer is about -- the headline and sub-header should accomplish that. But if they want more info about "what's in it for them," the body copy's the place to find it. There's not a set length on the copy -- just make sure it's informative and enticing, yet easy to scan.

Bullet points can help with scannability. Also, think about keeping your paragraphs to only a few sentences -- that'll help people on mobile, in particular, scan through your page.

Meta Description Draws People In

This is the text that shows up on Google when someone searches for your name. It's also the text that shows when someone shares a link to your studio on social media. I shouldn't have to explain why this is important. Make sure it's clear, concise, and draws people into your website.

Your Portfolio

Your website's ultimate success or failure depends on the quality of your portfolio. What good is a website if your potential clients can't listen to examples of your work?

Your Photos

Images of your own studio should only be included if you have high quality images of an aesthetically pleasing facility. If you don't have a professional or semi-professional looking facility, you can use professional photos of you inside of a professional facility.

The alternative is using stock photography, however, do not choose this option if clients are actually coming into your facilities. This option is only for those who offer remote services like mixing, mastering, editing, midi programming, etc. 

This checklist includes mostly optional photos, and should only be used to help guide you when taking professional photos of your facilities. 

Contact Form

This is the most important part of your website. If you have nothing other than two things, it would be a portfolio and a contact form.

You have two options when creating your website from.

1. High quantity, low-friction form
2. Low quantity, high-friction form

1. High quantity, low-friction form

This is a form that is easy to fill out, and contains only the minimum necessary fields. This lowers the friction involved with filling out your form, resulting in a higher number of form submissions. The negative of this is that the quality is lower, and the form submissions will almost always have incomplete information. 

This is the option you should go with when you're starting out and you're getting less than 10 form submissions per month.

Here's what should be on a low-friction form:

2. Low quantity, high-friction form

This is a form that requires all project details before it can be submitted. This increases the friction involved, but filters out anyone who isn't serious about working with you. This results in a lower number of form submissions each month, but increases the quality of those submissions.

It also gives you the full project details necessary in order to give an accurate quote for each project, without having to go back and forth with them in order to get more info. 

This is the option you should go with when you're getting more than 10-15 form submissions per month. 

Form Submission Is Clear

Whichever form type you go with, make sure that it clearly lets the person know the form was successfully submitted. Ideally it should take them to some sort of "thank you" page where it gives them a few more details about how the process works.

At a bare minimum, you want the form to clearly show "your form was successfully submitted". You also want an email to automatically be sent to them letting them know this. 

Your Website Passes The Blink Test

Even if you've checked off all of the above off your landing page to-do list, you still need to step back and take the "blink test."

Look at your page for five seconds (aka the time before you need to blink again). 

Is it clear how to get the offer behind the landing page? If not, you'll need to tweak the above items again. 

Your Navigation Menu

This is simply the bar at the top of your site where people can move to different sections quickly and easily. 

My personal preference and recommendation is to keep your entire website on one single page. This reduces load time, and keeps people from getting lost. If you go with the one-page website, the navigation bar will simply scroll them up and down the page to each section. 

Website is Mobile Responsive

You want people to be able to fill out your landing page form no matter what device they use. But if your mobile visitors are doing the frantic pinch-and-scroll, chances are they're going to skip filling out your form. So make sure your landing page layout is responsive so people can access your landing page no matter the width of their browser.

Your Font Size Is Readable On All Devices

Nothing is worse than tiny font sizes forcing you to squint, zoom, or skip reading altogether. Make sure your font sizes are big enough to be read on even the smallest of devices. 

When in doubt, bigger is better. 

Your Music Player Doesn't Suck Ass

Get that Soundcloud shit out of here. With the tools at your disposal these days, there is no reason to be using something like that for your music player. The user experience should be the #1 concern.

Your Website Navigation Is Easy and Clear

As I've mentioned many times in the past, your website should be easy to navigate. The best way to do this is to go with a one-page design. This means all elements of your website are on one long page, which each page section linking to your navigation bar.

If you need an example of this, go to my own studio's website: www.456recordings.com

Their Next Steps Are Clear

What is the point of the person coming to your website? It should (hopefully) be to show a potential client that you are the shit and they should work with you.

If your website succeeds in this, what are their next steps?

Go back to The Blink Test and see if this is clear in your call-to-action. What should the person do if they want to work with you? What are their immediate next steps? 

If this isn't easily figured out during The Blink Test, then you're losing customers.