In today’s digital landscape, it’s more important than ever to have a beautiful and strategic online presence. Your website should be your 24/7 sales agent, working to sell your services round the clock — while you work with your current clients, while you spend time with your kids, and even while you’re sleeping!
60% of visitors who land on your website have not yet decided if they want to work with you. So that means you’ve been given the opportunity to win their business. Don’t waste it!
It’s more than just the visuals. Beautiful websites are great, but if they aren’t strategically designed to convert, chances are your ideal client is closing that tab and heading over to your competitor’s website. Download my free guide 10 Website Essentials to Turn Browsers Into Bookings, which highlights the elements that your website needs in order to convert. Don’t let yourself be in a never ending cycle of panic posting on social media or wondering where their next lead is going to come from. It doesn’t have to be this way! There’s a better way.
Introducing Showit
Showit is a powerful website-building platform that empowers brands to create stunning, custom websites with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface and pixel-perfect design control. It is my platform of choice for design freedom.
Benefits of Showit
Below are some reasons why I believe Showit is the best platform for service-based businesses.
Creative Layouts
Showit is known for its versatility and ability to generate some of the most creative websites on the web. This is due to their drag-and-drop feature, allowing elements to be placed anywhere within a canvas and not limited to specific boundaries that other platforms have. This allows for layered image collages, overlapping text elements, and overall unique designs. Showit was originally created for photographers to help them showcase their work, but the platform has grown and expanded and now serves a wide variety of businesses.
So when your ideal client clicks to your site, you immediately stand out from the competition and the 27 open tabs that they have in their browser. They will immediately notice the investment you put into your business and online presence, and be more willing to trust you as a professional that they would want to work with.
Blogging with WordPress
While the Showit platform primarily focuses on the design and layout of a website, it seamlessly integrates with WordPress for blogging and advanced plugin functionality. You can enjoy the benefit of beautiful custom layouts, while leveraging the power of one of the most popular platforms for blogging, content management, and SEO optimization.
So when your ideal client Googles a question about a pain point they are experiencing, it pulls up your blog post in the search results and helps them solve their problem. This not only drives more traffic to your site, but also adds a layer of trust and credibility!
Responsive Design
While most platforms automatically create the mobile version of your site by shuffling and resizing the elements from the desktop version, Showit allows you to completely customize your mobile site for enhanced UX (user experience). This could mean hiding certain elements that aren’t necessary on a smaller screen, or completely adjusting the layout for a better flow.
So when your ideal client is scrolling on their phone at 3am, it is presented beautifully and in a way that is easy for them to navigate. They can easily find what they are looking for and click the button to book your service!
Easy Tech Integrations
As a service provider, you likely have a variety of tools you use to operate your business. This could be anything from a CRM like Dubsado or Honeybook, a call scheduler like Calendly, an email marketing platform like Flodesk or ConvertKit, or a scheduling app like Acuity. Another major benefit of Showit, is that you can easily integrate these apps directly into your website! This is what makes the booking process so easy for the website visitor. Your call-to-action doesn’t need to take them off your website to a 3rd party app, you can create a seamless experience all within your own site.
So when your ideal client clicks the link to book with you, they can do it right from your site! And you wake up to a notification that you have a new booking without any back and forth in your Instagram DMs, hooray!
Unbeatable Support
The Showit support team is hands-down the best support team out there! There is a chat icon within your design app and you can easily message them with questions about the site builder, your account, or help with launching your site. They usually respond pretty quickly and can get to the bottom of your issue.
So you (as the business owner) are working on your website and something goes wrong, you chat with the support team and they get your problem solved so you can get back to work and your website continues working for you, bringing you more bookings!
Options for Showit Websites
Okay, so you’re sold on why you need a Showit website, but the next question is how to go about getting one? Good news is, there are plenty of options!
Work with a Showit Web Designer
A great way to get a beautifully designed website that is completely customized to your business is to work with a website designer who specializes in Showit. While anyone can design a website on Showit, they have a Design Partner program that recognizes experienced Showit website designers who have produced consistently beautiful site designs, follow their design standards, and provide a great client experience. Some designers only work with specific niches, while others work in specific styles. Find a list of all Showit Design Partners here, along with mine here.
Purchase a Showit Template
Showit templates are not like templates or themes for other website platforms. They are full blown websites, designed with style and strategy, and ready to be customized to your brand! There is a wide variety of templates available — from one page websites to 20+ page sites, plus add-ons for podcast pages, long-form sales pages, advanced blog pages, and so much more.
So where should you purchase from? We have a few recommendations…
- Tonic Site Shop — Tonic is known for having some of the most beautiful, versatile, and robust website templates out there. They are elegant and editorial, like they fell right out of a fashion magazine. Use code NORTH15 for 15% off your template.
- Elizabeth McCravy — Elizabeth’s templates are great for women solopreneurs. Her style is more playful and colorful, featuring sections that allow you to really get to know the woman behind the business. Use code NORTHDESIGNCO for 10% off your template.
- Showit Marketplace — You can also buy templates directly from the Showit Marketplace, which features a wide variety of designs from various Showit Design Partners.
This is a DIY approach to your website and the most affordable option. While some business owners have the capacity to customize their templates themselves, there is a small learning curve and time investment to get it done and launched. Because of that, many business owners choose to hire a designer to customize their template for them.
Showit Template Customization
This option can be the best of both worlds. Depending on the template and designer that you choose to work with, you can often walk away feeling like you got the benefit of a completely custom site, without the hefty investment. With this service, the designer will custom tailor your template to fit your businesses’ unique needs. This can include changing the fonts, color palette, adding your logos and brand images, re-styling pages or sections, and even adding pages to your site. Many designers even include the cost of templates with the cost of the service.
Don’t sleep on getting a beautiful and strategic Showit website for your business, so you can get back to doing what you love and let your website sell your services for you.
Bio:
Michaela is the owner and designer at North Design Co., a boutique brand and website design studio and official Showit Design Partner. She serves creative female entrepreneurs by helping them stand out from the competition and book more dream clients by implementing thoughtful and cohesive design across all avenues of marketing. Michaela believes in a strategy-first approach paired with stunning visuals to connect with a brand’s target audience and leave a lasting impression ❤︎
https://www.instagram.com/northdesignco/