How to Use Storytelling to Write Your Website Homepage

Brand Gravity, with Kaye Putnam and Kris Jones

Speaker 1 (00:02):

Welcome to the Brand Gravity Show, where we explore the intersection between brands and psychology. I'm your host, psychology driven brand strategist Kay Putnam. 

Speaker 2 (00:14):

On this show, we talk about all of the ways to build your brand on truth, not trends, so that you can attract your ideal clients on a gut emotional level. 

Speaker 1 (00:24):

Let's get to today's interview. 

Speaker 3 (00:34):

Most business owners know that telling a story is important. It's how humans connect on a psychological and emotional level. However, most people don't know how to do it well and they lack a structure and a clear how to do it. In today's episode, we dive into the nitty gritty step-by-step tutorial for how to use storytelling to write your website homepage. Copy, and you can get this done in just a few hours with this framework. Welcome to the Brand Gravity Show. I'm your host, psychology driven brand strategist Kay Putnam. I cannot wait to dive into today's conversation. My guest, Kris Jones, is StoryBrand certified and she has a framework to show you how to write compelling website copy that sells. Most business owners know that story is an essential part of business growth, but they don't have time to write it themselves. Today you're going to walk away with a simple formula that you can use to create compelling copy that tells a story so that you can effortlessly convert leads and increase revenue on your website. Let's dive in. Kris, thank you so much for being on the show. I'm so excited to chat about storytelling and particularly about web copy today. 

Speaker 4 (02:02):

Me too. I'm really, really happy to be here. 

Speaker 3 (02:05):

Amazing. Okay, let's just dive straight into the meet. I don't want to make people wait. We all know that storytelling is important. How does it relate to website copy? 

Speaker 4 (02:18):

Well, it's everything, right? I mean story, you hear about story all the time, but really when people talk about the importance of story, they really mean the importance of story and how you show up online, whether that be your website, your social media, all the ways that you show up. So I think that what happens is there's this disconnect between, okay, let me tell my story and I have to write something on my website. How do I tell my story in a way that makes a good website? And when I talk about making a good website, it's like, how do I tell my story on my website so it gets me new clients and new leads and grows my business? So that's the big challenge. I think anybody who's read the building a story, brown book nods their head like, yes, story. I love it. 

Speaker 4 (03:14):

I get it. And then they're like, okay, now. So it is really hard to break it down, but the beautiful thing about the framework is that there are seven parts, and really it's a way to filter your message because we love what we do, we love talking about it. We have a lot to say. And the biggest problem is when you put too many words on your website. So using a framework like that, there's lots of great frameworks out there, but using a framework can help you filter out the noise. So you only have on your page what is essential. And what's even more challenging is just the fact that people don't read websites anymore. They scan them. So it's like, how do I tell a story in a handful of words that are being scanned on a phone or scrolled through on a phone in five seconds? There's a way. There's definitely a way to do it. Do 

Speaker 3 (04:20):

You have a little anecdote or something to show us what's possible when we implement this framework that you'll teach us into our brands? 

Speaker 4 (04:30):

Yeah, I mean, I've worked with so many clients over the years. I've been doing the work for 20 years, and I've been intentionally integrating StoryBrand strategy into every website that I built since 2017. And it's kind of mind blowing what can happen when you actually implement the framework. The most important one being that you show up with more confidence and when you have clear words to communicate what you do, you end up walking differently even. And you don't cringe when people ask you what you do and you watch people respond with interest and curiosity, and that just continues to build that confidence. But I've had clients, I had a client named Mike who I went through the framework with him. We built his website, got all his branding dialed in, and prior to working with me, he was on the verge of, well, he was burned out and he was on the verge of closing the doors of the company. And then after we revamped his story, he was able to charge six times more for the service that he was doing before, and he had people lined up to work with him. I mean, that's the power of this work. It affects so many different story is really, really powerful that way. And branding too, as you know. 

Speaker 3 (06:02):

Yes, and it's definitely an important piece of it. Alright, so you piqued my interest and I have experienced it just even recently where we're building out a website with a client and we're trying to say what we need to say with less words. How do we find or how do we decipher, filter through what are the right words so that we're not just word vomiting all over the page and leaving people more confused than ever? How do you start this process? 

Speaker 4 (06:37):

Well, you began the process, I believe, with crafting your header area, which you can filter it through really thinking about if a caveman were looking at this section of your website, literally if a caveman we're looking at this, could they answer the questions? What do you do? How does it make my life better? And what do you want me to do next? And if you get that right, you're doing better than 99% of the websites out there. So you want to do that. And sometimes it can be hard to do it on your own. So go to coffee shop and literally offer to buy somebody a coffee if they just look at the top part of your website and can answer those questions. 

Speaker 3 (07:28):

Yes, yes. I always like to say that that's the context piece. People when they land on your website, the first thing that they're asking is not like, oh, who is this person? Or do I even like them? It's like, what's in it for me? Is this the right place for me to be and to spend some of my attention? And that's so incredibly key. I love that example or that idea to have a stranger, because even asking your partner or friend or a client, they're like, oh yeah, this is great. This is fantastic. But it takes that outside perspective and that untrained perspective sometimes to give us that accurate reflection. Amazing. So we start with the hater. We start with what's in it for this person that's landing on the site? Arguably, that's not so much the story, right? It's like we're just setting the context. So where do we go next? 

Speaker 4 (08:17):

That part is just making sure they don't bounce, they don't leave. We want to let them know that they're in the right place. And then the story begins at the section below that. So every story begins with a hero that has a problem. And that's how I recommend beginning your website. So start, what's the overarching problem that your customers or your clients are just struggling with? What's keeping them up at night? What problems can they just not solve that they're actually on the internet looking for someone to help 'em solve that? So I do this with a nice overarching headline that just defines the problem. It could be, I worked with a client yesterday and the overarching problem was many moms take care of everybody else and their health suffers as a consequence. That's a problem. And if I'm someone that has that problem, you have just pulled me into the story and you're not really telling a story, you're actually, you're crafting a narrative that's inviting them into a story with you where they're the hero and you are the guide. And so we do that by defining the problems and the struggles that that hero is having. And then I follow that headline with three to five bullet points that just expand on that problem. What else is a problem because of that overarching problem? 

Speaker 3 (09:54):

Yes, yes. I want to make something super clear really quickly. It's not actually relevant, but just because so many of my audience is really familiar with the word hero in the archetype context, this is something that's separate. So kind of divorce that language. It's not that every one of your clients is the hero archetype in the way that I teach archetypes. This is more about centering the story around this person as the primary character. So I just wanted to make that clear. Sometimes I get that confusion around my work and the story StoryBrand work. So I wanted to just make that clear. But I love this because we're leading with empathy. We're introducing the dragon, if you will, the tension that is present already in our ideal client or customer's mind. And like you said, it just invites them right in. So where do we go from here? 

Speaker 1 (10:48):

We're going to get right back to the interview for the next few seconds. I'm going to share with you my brand Clarity Collective and how it can help you grow your income and impact. If you're an entrepreneur who feels stuck or uncertain about what makes your brand stand out, then this is for you. The Brand Clarity Collective is a mastermind multiplied by mentorship. It's part online curriculum, part digital Mastermind, and it's designed to help you get crystal clear brand clarity so you attract more perfect clients and grow your business. We have a thriving community of entrepreneurs who are all smart and driven. As a member of the collective, you get an all access pass to all of my best branding courses as well as access to our private community where you can connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and get feedback and support directly from me on our coaching calls, the Brand Clarity collective is priced at just 2 97 per month, and after six months, you keep lifetime access to all of the courses to learn more and to see if it's right for you. Head over to my homepage@kputnam.com. There's a big section where you can click to learn more. I'll also include the link in the show notes wherever you are listening or watching. All right, let's get back. 

Speaker 4 (12:10):

And what's cool about that, and you probably, I mean you're a psychology driven brand strategist, so all this stuff, but what's really fun about that section is even though it's a little bit negative, it actually helps them feel seen and heard. And when you articulate the so clearly, they automatically think that you're the best one to solve it. So when you get this section right, you're really killing it. It's really, really powerful. So then they are continually scanning the environment to figure out how their life can be better, how they can solve the problem, and their life can be better. And so we really want to just spoonfeed that to them in the next section by showing them what's possible and showing them a better life for themselves now that this problem has been solved. So in that section, I often will put a stake in the ground around what my client believes. 

Speaker 4 (13:14):

I believe there's a better way, I believe you don't have to add more to your plate to take incredible care of yourself. The one that came up yesterday was, I believe everybody benefits when women take the time for self-care. So you're actually not being selfish about it. It's actually really helping the world anyway. And then we paint the picture around that. So this was for a coach who she worked with women who were just feeling depleted and burnout. And so we really painted a picture for them of what their life was going to look like without chronic disease, without the pain that they were going through. So her clients were diabetics and people with chronic illness. And so we paint that picture of, and it's just pulled from what's happened for her clients when you just referenced what you've witnessed in your client's lives. And the thing I wanted to make really clear here is that it's not about features of your offer or your program, and it's such a common thing, and I get it. We're all excited about what we're offering and we want to talk about how great it is, and there is definitely a place for that. But right up front, we really just want to clearly show them how wonderful their life is going to be once this problem is solved for them. 

Speaker 3 (14:42):

Yes, connection before the conversion, every single time connection. First, lemme zoom out, really quick question. So a lot of my students have a challenge when it comes to both of these sections where they're like, my ideal client has, or I have several different ideal clients who experience all different problems and they get all different kinds of results across this spectrum. How do we reflect all of the things that could happen or how do we would narrow down to what we're actually going to highlight on our site? 

Speaker 4 (15:16):

I get this question on almost every call that I'm on, and it's really common, and there's always, always a golden thread that is a theme because you're you and you're doing this work, there's always a common thread that ties all your clients together. And fundamentally, we're talking about core problems and core desires, and there's always a way to kind encompass different offerings, different client types into this. 

Speaker 3 (15:54):

Yes. Yeah, I a hundred percent agree. And to pair with that, I think it's really important to be specific. I don't know if you recommend this or not, so I hope I'm not derailing the conversation, but sometimes when I'm writing sales pages or homepage, I'm utilizing those bullets to illustrate a few different possible outcomes so that we can maybe represent some of that spectrum a little bit wider. But we want to, like you said, find that red thread that's going through everything and maintain some level of specificity so people aren't just like, oh, you're going to have a great life after you work with me. 

Speaker 4 (16:29):

Totally. In what way? For example, this coach that I worked with yesterday, she works with women who are over 50, and so a lot of them really want to have stamina to be able to play with their grandkids, but not all of them have grandkids. So we spoke to that, but we also expanded it. So it's like you want to have the stamina to play with your grandkids or travel with your friends or So it's encompassing all of them. 

Speaker 3 (17:01):

Yes, love it. Okay, so now we've made the connection. We've empathized with where they are at and where they want to go. Where do we go next in this grand story that we're crafting? 

Speaker 4 (17:12):

The next phase of the story, and you'll notice this in movies that you watch or every movie you watch, every book you read about 20 minutes and a guide will enter into this story. And now we have earned the right to introduce ourselves because we've established that resonance and connection and showed them what's in it for them. Now they're actually curious like, oh, who's behind this and who's puppeting this process, basically. And so then you can show up and have a photo of yourself, make sure you're looking at the camera. We're looking for a real connection, and we show up as the guide through empathy and authority. So this section, it doesn't have to be very long. You can show your picture and you can begin with an empathetic statement. Not having time for self-care is really frustrating or not taking the time to care for yourself is really depleting and it's hard. 

Speaker 4 (18:20):

So empathy just goes such a long way in this section. And then we want to talk about ourselves, but as it relates to the things that our clients care about. So what they care about really is that you know how to solve their problem. That's what they care about. They don't really care about all your accolades and all your history. They want to know you've solved the problem many times before and it can be helpful for them to know if this is true for you, that you've been through this struggle yourself and you overcame it, you came out on the other side, and now it's your passion to help other people achieve this goal or solve this problem. And so I think of this kind of like a letter from me to you. I know this is a hard situation you're in and I've been through it. I know how to get to the other side. Here's how I do it and join me. So it doesn't have to be a big long history about you. 

Speaker 3 (19:27):

Yeah, we can leave the pet names out of this section. We don't need to know that you used to cross country ski in high school yet. We can keep it relevant to the story. Yes, 

Speaker 4 (19:41):

Absolutely. Amen. Yeah. 

Speaker 3 (19:44):

Amazing. Okay, love it. Then where is the mind? Where's the psychology of the person that's reading it going next? What is the next question that they're asking 

Speaker 4 (19:53):

Themselves? The next part is just to make it really clear that you know what you're doing. So maybe a section about this should not take up much room at all, but just a simple strip or bar that shows how many clients you've worked with. If you are a coach, you might want a logo of the coach that you're certified with, or it might mean how many, let's see how many clients you have, how many years you've been in the industry, something like that. You don't have to go heavy handed on this. They just want to check that box in their head really simply that you know what you're doing and this is really done for people that aren't reading very much. So this is kind of one of those things we want to make sure as they scan that they're like, okay, she or he is a pro and they know what they're doing. 

Speaker 4 (20:49):

Really that's more of just kind of an add-on to the guide section. You just want to make sure that that comes through. And then after that, every guide gives their hero a three step plan. Ideally a three step doesn't have to be, but this again, every movie, every book, it always happens. It's the plan. Here's what you have to do in order to overcome this hurdle. And the initial step of the plan begins with the call to action. What do you want them to do next to engage with you? And then the second one is whatever your process is, you want to communicate, this is what we're going to do together. You're going to get a custom roadmap or whatever it might be. And then the third step in the plan is really that happy end result that they're going to experience. So this section really lets them know that getting from the beginning of this process to the end of it where they've accomplished their goal or overcome their problem, that it's actually not going to be that complicated or hard. Essentially, they're on one side of a big raging river, we're on the other and we're throwing out three big boulders and letting them know, hop on over, you can do it. 

Speaker 3 (22:13):

I was going to say water's warm, but we don't actually want them to get into the raging river. That is not the intent. There's a way to avoid all of that. I love it. So I've completely lost track of our steps. How many more steps do we have after 

Speaker 4 (22:26):

This? Gosh. So we've given them a clear plan. What we want to do next is just remind them what's at stake. If they do nothing, no story is interesting. If there are no stakes, if the bomb got turned off after five seconds and there was no fear that it was going to go off, everybody would leave the movie. So we want to just remind them that what is at stake if they do nothing, if they keep going the way that they are, and it can be gentle, but it's like life is short. If you don't want to look back on today and wish that you had taken action, just let a gentle reminder. It's actually, I think of it as a gift and then letting them know that together you can overcome the problem. 

Speaker 3 (23:14):

Yeah. Yes, it's really important. The human brain prefers the comfort zone, and even if they're in pain or just dealing with a problem, it's still easier to stay there than to take a risk sometimes. So we need to make people aware and just recognize what they're missing out on. Give them that bit of that loss aversion by not taking action. Such an important piece. Love it. Okay. Is there anything else? 

Speaker 4 (23:41):

No, just a reminder, this comes up a lot too, is just the fact that every guide calls their hero to action. So whatever your call to action is, whatever you want them to do next to engage with you. For my clients, they typically want to get on the phone with a lead. So schedule a call is a good one, but the way I approach it is you want your call to action to be all over the place. You want it to be consistent, repeated. You can't really do it too much. You want it in every section. So if you were to go back through all the sections that we just talked through, make sure your call to action is at the end of each of those sections so they clearly know what you want them to do next. 

Speaker 3 (24:28):

Yes. And people are ready to take the next step at different stages. Some people are super fast. They're like, okay, I really need to solve this problem. You articulate my problem really well, let's do this thing. So we want to continue to invite people into the next step, which I love. So I wanted to switch directions a little bit here. So you have a belief or you have an interesting story I imagine, and I want to hear this story about how to actually get this done. Do you hire an expensive copywriter to do this for you? Do you gut through it yourself? What is the most effective way to actually get this accomplished? 

Speaker 4 (25:06):

I love that phrase. Do you gut through it yourself? Because it's so damn accurate. It's brutal. I was thinking this morning, I was walking my five-year-old to school, and I was like, the copywriting model is kind of broken because there's so many entrepreneurs and so many people taking the leap into becoming self-employed, which I'm such a huge fan of. I believe in for people that want to be self-employed, I believe you should take the leap. I think it's a beautiful path, but what we don't realize when we get into it is all the damn writing that needs to happen. And we think, oh, we're going to get just to do the work that we love. I'm a massage therapist or a chiropractor or whatever I do, and I just want to do the work that I love. And there's this whole other part-time job of creating content, writing your website, posting on social, all this writing that has to happen. 

Speaker 4 (26:08):

And it's not only that you have to do the writing, but you have to learn how to do the writing well and strategically, which can take a lot of time. So I spent years watching my clients. I started out in the industry doing web design, and I would often just ask my clients to write their own website copy. And I just watched the torture that they went through around it and the delays and the frustration and the headaches, and I was just like, okay, we got to figure this out. It should not be that hard. So back to the original problem of it just being like this torturous process, the alternate option of that is to hire a copywriter and have kind of outsource your own voice, which when you're your own business, you can't outsource your voice. So what happens is copywriters are usually very skilled, know what they're doing, they know how to write, but no one can capture your voice the way that you can. 

Speaker 4 (27:15):

So when a writer goes off and writes for you often, and not all the time, but often I hear from my clients that it just ended up being even more time consuming. It didn't feel like their voice. And so there was a lot of revisions and a lot of back and forth and very time consuming. And the reason they hired a writer in the first place was to save time and not have to write. So it's kind of like you're in a pickle, basically. You have to stay up late and try and write it yourself. And even though you don't want to or spend a lot of money and hire somebody, and that doesn't always feel really aligned with who you are. And if you're going to be sending people to your website, you've got to be excited about them going to visit your website. 

Speaker 4 (28:09):

You've got to feel really confident and good about it. And so over the years, I've developed a method that is really collaborative. So you get, as the business owner, you get the best of both worlds where you don't have to write it yourself and you don't have to hire a copywriter to just do it for you. It's very collaborative. So my method, it happens in two and a half hours. You're done with your website copy completely. So there's about 45 minutes to an hour of just answering some questions and watching a few videos that I have and answering some questions, and I know how to, like those golden nuggets are all in you. I just know how to pull 'em out and I know how to filter out what's not necessary. And then I do write your wireframe or your website for you, and then we get on a 90 minute call and go through each section very in a very detailed way just to make sure it's right on target with your voice, your clients. And because I'm pulling from the questions that you've answered, I get a feel for your voice. So by the end of that 90 minute collaboration call, you've got your copy and it's done for you. 

Speaker 3 (29:31):

Yes. I love it. What a masterful example of that story structure that we just shared because you presented the problem, the frustration, and presented another way, another possibility. Absolutely incredible. If people want to learn more, where should they go and what resources can they find? 

Speaker 4 (29:51):

Yeah, so if you go to Red Door Designs, it's R-E-D-D-O-O-R designs with an S on the end.com. You can find everything that I offer there. My main offer is the one that I just talked to you through website copy that sells in 2.5 hours flat. I also have a free resource there that shows you how to write compelling copy in five minutes. 

Speaker 3 (30:18):

Nice, nice. We will put the links to everything in the show notes or below the video if you're watching on YouTube. Amazing. And one final question. If people could take everything that you just shared and do one thing, what would you want them to do next? 

Speaker 4 (30:35):

Oh gosh, what a great question. Honestly, I would have them download my freebie so they start to understand the fundamentals of a story, and there's a worksheet there, a companion worksheet that will show you how to get these things out of your head and onto paper so you can start to understand the structure. Just how you mentioned, oh, what you just shared really followed that structure. I didn't do that intentionally. That's just kind of the way that I do it. But that's what I want for your audience. I want them to start listening with an ear like that where they're like, oh, here's the story, here's the problem, here's the benefit, and here is the solution. So that's what I would recommend. I think that another thing that you could do is just go through the grunt test with your website, go to a coffee shop, show your website to somebody and say, tell me what I do. And I think that would be really fun. Yes, 

Speaker 3 (31:42):

Yes, yes. Please reach out to either Kris Ryan and let us know how that goes. I would love if somebody actually did that because I think that you would learn so much. We take so much for granted, and we get so blind to our own brand and messaging just in it. And of course they might not be your ideal client, so you might not get super applicable if they just don't understand the problem. But just that clear context in the beginning of your site is so important to get just dialed in that that feedback would be invaluable. I love it so much, and thank you for wearing matching hats with me. That was super fun. 

Speaker 4 (32:23):

I ran out to my closet and got my hat on so we could be twins. Yes. 

Speaker 3 (32:28):

I love it. Amazing. I appreciate you taking the time to share your genius and to share this really valuable lesson and applicable lesson with us today. And definitely everybody that is listening or watching head over and grab that freebie and see everything that she has to offer. Thank you so 

Speaker 4 (32:44):

Much. Thank you so much for having me. And one thing I just want to throw in, when you go to my website, you'll be able to see visually each of those steps that we just talked through. So that'll be would be a good visual example too. 

Speaker 3 (32:58):

Nice. Thank you so much. See you in 

Speaker 4 (33:00):

Action. I have so much fun today. What a blast. 

Speaker 3 (33:03):

So what do you think, have you ever had that conundrum where you tried to hire an expert copywriter to write on your behalf, only to find out that it still needed some work after, or maybe you've just been trying to DIY it and you've been feeling like you have been banging your head up against a wall. I think that Kris gave us a really interesting way of looking at this, of navigating those two things, kind of getting the best of both worlds. And I hope that you enjoyed this episode and that you learned something I know that I did today. You're amazing. Keep building that brand, getting your genius out into the world. Thank you for listening. I will see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you want to discover your innate brand advantage to attract more ideal clients online, you're definitely going to want to take my quiz, which you can find at the link in the show notes. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode. See you on the next one.