Most nonprofit consultants find their first clients before they have a website. But if you want to grow beyond close referrals or expand your service offerings, you will eventually need a website for your consulting business.
Today, websites are like digital business cards that carry a heavy messaging and marketing load for your business.
Your website is how potential clients get to know you, learn what you do, and discover what makes your services so valuable. Your website also showcases your expertise and professionalism.
Once you get your website messaging down, you can use the same content for LinkedIn, marketing one-pagers, and during networking and discovery calls.
Whether you are developing your first consulting business website—or revamping your current one—here are five key elements to include.
1) One or More Pages That Describe What You Do
When a potential client lands on your consulting business website, you want them to immediately know what you do and who you do it for.
This sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, if you look at many nonprofit consultants’ websites, you’ll quickly realize this is not as easy as it sounds.
Many consulting business websites have vague platitudes about impact or strategy, yet leave visitors scratching their heads about WHAT the consultant actually does. Don’t let this be you!
Before you can describe your services to others, you need to actually know what you do and the value it provides your clients.
That’s why the first step in creating your business website happens offline. You must develop your services and how you talk about them. (Note that this is something we help a lot of nonprofit consultants do through our 1:1 Consulting Boot Camp.)
When writing and talking about your services, be sure to communicate the VALUE of the services you provide to clients, not just list activities. For example:
- If you do grant research and write grants, what value are you delivering for your clients? You’re helping them build a viable and sustainable grant funding pipeline. This helps nonprofit organizations grow, saves them time, and frees up staff to focus on the mission rather than getting lost digging through grant databases.
- If you’re a grant writer, you’re helping clients put their very best foot forward to current and new funders. You’re also saving them tons of time (and saving money by not having to hire and train a full-time grant staffer), bringing a fresh perspective to their written materials, and helping them speak more effectively to different donor audiences.
Many consultants include one or more service pages on their website, which is great. But you also want to be sure that your home page, services page (or pages), and About page all consistently convey what you do. Don’t make visitors go digging.
2) A Compelling About Me Page
Let’s be honest, most consultants run out of steam by the time we get to writing our About page. So, we slap up a picture and a hastily updated bio and call it a day.
Unfortunately, clients today are looking for a lot more than a resume or bio.
When people visit consultants’ websites, a surprising number will check out the About page.
Potential clients want to know what you are “about.”
Clients want to know about your experience and qualifications (without having to read a dry resume).
Clients want to know what drives you to do the work you do. (Yet another opportunity to share your services.)
Clients want to know you are a human being who knows their stuff (and not a generic bot that will offer platitudes without results).
And clients want to get a good sense of what it’s like to work with you—and whether you would be a good fit for their organization. Are you buttoned up? Are you blunt and straightforward? Are you fun and casual? Are you passionate about specific causes or approaches?
Make sure your business personality and work style shine through.
If you are new to consulting and struggling with writing about yourself and your services, check our guide to becoming a nonprofit consultant.
3) A Contact Me Page and Form
Once clients are inspired by your About page and consulting services, you want them to be able to contact you as easily as possible through your website.
In general, you should choose a primary intake process and workflow that you can easily manage and maintain. Popular options include:
- Book a call – Many consultants get higher conversion with prospects through phone or video discovery calls. Booking tools generally enable you to include an intake form, which is useful for vetting prospects before giving them your time (for free).
- Submit an intake or contact form – Some consultants prefer not to have to maintain a calendaring tool. In this case, a contact form can do the job of starting client intake. Keep in mind that the more fields your form has, the fewer people will complete it and hit submit. Luckily, you can adjust your form over time, adding more fields to vet potential clients if you start getting too many contacts that aren’t a great fit.
- Send an email – This is a less popular primary contact method. But including your email can serve as a useful backup for those who don’t want to book calls or complete online forms.
4) Email List Signup
If you are interested in selling courses, running webinars, or selling other products (aka passive income), you need an email list.
If you’re working with a website developer, ask them to set this up for you. If you’re creating your website yourself, some platforms (like Wix) have built-in list management tools, while others (like WordPress) will require integrating a third-party mailing list tool (like MailChimp, Kit, Constant Contact, etc.).
5) Site Indexing
Many consultants work with web developers to build beautiful sites that never get “indexed” for search. Why is this a problem?
If your site isn’t indexed, it cannot be found online unless someone types in the exact address! That means even someone searching for you and your business by name won’t be able to find you.
When it comes to search engines, Google dominates, so you will want to start there. If you’re working with a web developer, ask them to create a Google Search Console account and be sure all pages of your site are indexed. If you’re doing it yourself, you can do a quick search for “Google Search Console indexing” and add the name of the website platform you are using. You should be able to find clear instructions online.
Conclusion: Creating a Website That Sells Your Consulting Services
At the end of the day, your consulting business website has one primary job: to inspire potential clients to work with you.
That’s why taking the time to figure out your messaging is so critical. This isn’t the place to rush or cut corners. Be specific and be authentic in showing who you are and how you work.
Once you get clear on your messaging—especially your consulting services and your expertise—it will pay dividends beyond simply an effective website. You’ll have stronger marketing materials, consistent messaging across platforms, and greater confidence when talking to prospective clients.
