When I’m talking to entrepreneurs who want to begin speaking on behalf of their business, one of the first questions I ask is: “How do people know you’re a speaker?” What still surprises me is how many of them respond with that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look and: “What do you mean?”
Let me share a story. I recently visited the website of someone who wants to speak more. As soon as their home/landing page loaded, I could see a problem. The only thing the page promoted was their book. That was it. There was no mention of their expertise, or that they were a speaker. This had me wondering if I was looking at their website, or a landing page for promoting and selling their book.
Being a people person, I do miss the days when you could get invited to speak as a result of meeting someone, handing them your business card, and talking about who you are and what you do. But it’s 2023, and we have to start accepting that our website is the “new norm” for making a good impression, while also letting people know we’re available to speak.
So now you say… “Beth, I have a website. But I’m a (insert your topic here) expert first, and that’s what my website speaks to.”
That’s great because obviously, you want your website to accentuate your expertise. But don’t stop there. Your website needs to share enough about you to inspire a planner to reach out to find out if you really would be a good speaker match for their audiences. So here are three opportunities for making sure your website sets you up for speaker success.
#1 First impressions are so important, and you literally have seconds to make one. If a planner can’t quickly see or find what they’re looking for, they’re simply going to move on to the next name on their list.
- Consider how much of your homepage is immediately visible when someone’s checking out your website. What’s right there? What do they have to scroll down to see?
- If you want to speak about your expertise, speaking has to have a visible presence as well. Use your homepage’s visible area to get your two major points across — that you’re a subject-matter expert AND a speaker.
#2 Speaking should have a dedicated area or page on your website. Most entrepreneur speakers accomplish this with a “speaking” tab. This tab should include:
- A listing for each of your talks, complete with title, a brief description, and 2-3 audience takeaways.
- Your Speaker bio—which is different from your overall “about” page bio. This bio is less about you and your credentials, and more about how your content addresses people’s interests and/or concerns. It should be slanted towards answering questions an event planner would ask you anyway, such as how you will share your expertise with their audience.
- Testimonials. Everyone needs testimonials, which means you’ll need at least a couple of testimonials as evidence of your ability to deliver your content to an audience.
- A few more items planners will be glad to find are: a clickable/downloadable PDF of your speaker one-sheet, links to videos of you speaking, and photos that show you in action as a speaker.
#3 Make sure your contact information — email address, phone number, and social media links — are easy for the planner checking you out to find. At the very least, they should be listed at the top and bottom of each page, and definitely on your contact page. Make it easy for people to reach out to you, and they’ll be more likely to do it!
It’s a new year, and we have a choice. We can continue to look to the past and what worked then, or we can look ahead and start embracing new norms that can help us generate more interest in the expertise we have to share as a speaker. I’m all in. Are you?
3 “P’s” for Adding Pizazz to Your Presentations
