Time flies and even more so on the internet. Busy decision-makers swipe their phones quickly and may check 50 or more websites when they are searching for the right speaker for their next event. How can you make yours stand out amongst so many? Well, first you must have some speaker website essentials in place.
You may have read that the best place to gather this essential information is on a meeting planner page. For years I (along with other fellow experts in speaker marketing) have preached the need for a meeting planner page. “Have everything in one place” we said. “Make it easy for decision-makers to hire and work with you.”
We aren’t wrong. Those things are still vitally important – but is a separate ‘meeting planner page’ the right place for it?
Now, I’ve learned that as much as a “meeting planner” page, a “meeting professional” page, a “work with me” page, or whatever you decide to call it, helps, you should still make the effort to have that initial conversation with decision-makers for you throughout your entire website. That’s the whole purpose of it after all.
Nowadays, it is difficult to have a conversation with someone who is busy and only has about 15 seconds to decide whether or not you are worth talking to.
It’s important to make it easier for them to find all they need to know about you without much effort, especially for decision-makers, who often look at multiple speaker websites. Let’s take a look at some speaker website essentials you must have to catch the eyes of decision-makers.
What elements should your speaker website have?
Even though some of these questions should be answered on your website home page, they are still speaker website essentials you must keep in mind when updating your page.
Your biography
Oh, the boring speaker bios I have read throughout my time. No one wants to hear about your years of experience in the first paragraph. You are a storyteller by trade, tell them the story of you, and where your passion to share this particular message came from. Show them your credibility – don’t simply tell them.
My recommendation is to have a long version — about 300-500 words is enough— and add a short version of it in your speaker one sheet.
Your reel and videos of press conferences or interviews
Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular due to multiple factors. Hubspot even wrote a very interesting article explaining everything you should know.
For your speaker website essentials, you can add your sizzle reel, and clips from interviews and other presentations you’ve given. They don’t need to be too long. Remember we are keeping this short and sweet. I recommend keeping your clips short – no more than 2 minutes, and also having an option to watch the longer version (but no more than 10minutes)
Good testimonials
It is vitally important to add testimonials to your speaker website essentials. Decision-makers want to know that groups similar to theirs have hired you and found value. They want to know you weren’t a diva, that you stuck to your time, that you stayed and spent the day with the audience participants. They want to know you were invested in their success.
Your contact information and social media links
Pretty self-explanatory, no need to tell you why this item is part of our speaker website essentials. Let decision-makers know where to find you if they want to know more about you.
Marketing materials
For those of us who are booked to speak as part of a conference where the organizer has to create marketing material, it is going an extra step above and beyond to have everything they might need available to them. Marketing materials include:
Headshots
About 4 to 5 good quality headshots in both high resolution and web quality are more than enough.
Your Introduction
Bet you hadn’t thought of that, had you? There are hundreds of things on the mind of the person running the show. Have your intro pre-written and available for download so they don’t have to chase you to get it last minute. Or even better – have your introduction be a video that they can download. That way you are 100% sure the introduction you get is the introduction you want.
And, no, an introduction is not only your bio. I wrote about this a while ago, so check out this article to know the difference between a biography text and an introductory text.
A client list
Keep adding to your credibility with your list of clients. I like to group them into the industry if at all possible.
AV requirements
If you only use a lavalier microphone, or you always need a flip chart, etc. Don’t assume they know.
Your Speaker One-sheet
The speaker one-sheet will usually be the last piece of information decision-makers will come back to when they are thinking about hiring you. Make sure it includes a shorter version of these speaker website essentials, plus a quick outline of the topics you could discuss.
In addition to these speaker website essentials, make sure all of their questions are answered on the home page. This will also save you time and help don’t miss a thing.
And if you still don’t know where to put this page, it’s simple. I like to have a “Work with Me” section as a sidebar and each of the bulleted items above becomes a separate page, with links to show the website user what to do next. The sidebar item should stand out, but not more than the other key elements, your topics, and your video.
So what do YOU think? Is it time to take a fresh look at your website?
