Testimonials early on a homepage, two main navi menus, becoming a happy and productive writer

(If you're reading the "ultra-short tips" series for the first time, these are the tips I send out every second week to give you a break from the in-depth stuff)

Phew... I'm finally back from my 3-week vacation.

If you missed me complaining about it, here's the summary: Went to visit my in-law family, which is good. Laptop broke on day one. No access to fresh or freshly cooked veggies or bread (other than sweet white toast). Not good at all.

I came back on Tuesday and slept for 11 hours straight.

Have been eating German bread and veggies for all the meals 48 hours straight.

Was awake at 5 am today, yet feeling fresh and full of energy.

So here come your brand new website tips powered by belegte Brötchen and jet lag.

Today, we'll talk about:

  • using a testimonial right after the header on your homepage: yea or nay
  • splitting your website navigation it two
  • writing good content faster, and feel happy in the process.

Let's go.

Tip #1: Should you put a testimonial right after the header on your homepage?

Somebody asked me this question on Twitter last week.

I guess that somebody was spying on my homepage, because I indeed have a testimonial on that spot 😃

But anyhow, should you? Or am I making a mistake? Will any testimonial work?

It depends. I don't think so. And... no.

Glad we talked about it. Next tip!

Just kidding.

Whether you should put a testimonial right after the header depends on two things:

  • what the testimonial says
  • whom it is from.

But let's take a step back (my favorite move, if you noticed) and think about what you should communicate on your homepage right after the header.

What your homepage should communicate right after the header

If you did a good job with your header and gave people a clear idea of what you do, the next thing you need to do is to get into specifics of your value proposition.

Are you a copywriter? What kind of copy do you write?

A designer? What's your style and specialty?

An agency? What services do you offer?

Now, this is what you need to communicate clearly. How you do it, it's up to you.

You can keep talking to your prospects yourself.

You can make somebody else do the talking (hello, testimonials!).

Theoretically, you could even draw a picture or make a video if it continues to explain to your prospects how exactly you solve their problems.

Which means that:

✔️ You can use a testimonial right after your header on the homepage if your business has a narrow focus and that testimonial:

  • ideally, communicates the same thing you would say yourself at this spot if you didn't have the testimonial
  • describes your offer more specifically
  • mentions your name (if you're a one-person business)
  • comes from an authoritative figure in your niche.

❌ Having a testimonial right after the header may be not a good idea:

  • for businesses that offer diverse services or sell diverse product (because then you won't be able to find one testimonial that says what you'd like to say at this point taking into consideration all the different segments of your target audience)
  • and/or if the testimonial you're using doesn't offer more details on your value proposition or comes from a person / company unknown to your audience.

Here's the testimonial that comes right after the header on my homepage analyzed:

Testimonial analyzed

Basically, imagine you saying all the words from the testimonial yourself. Will it make sense in the context of continuing the conversation you started in your header?

If yes, then use it. If not, then, obviously, don't.

I even have 3 consecutive testimonials on my homepage, but that's a story for another day. Which brings us to a semi-related tip:

Related tip: Do not copy the structure or the elements of a web page from somebody else's website if you don't know what the reasons for using this structure or that element are.

Tip #2: Need more than 7 navigation labels? Have some navi labels that don't fit the rest? Use two main navigation menus.

When you started your business, it was just Home - About - Services - Contact.

But now you wrote a book, created courses, and started offering more services. And you want to tell your prospects about all of it.

One problem: If you link to all this awesome stuff from your navigation menu, it will explode!

I have a solution for you: Use two main navigation menus.

Here's what I mean.

Let's say, this is what you currently have in your navigation:

Navigation menu: Before

Notice how the labels can be separated in two categories:

  • Sales pages where your prospects learn more about your offer: Home, Training Programmes, Services, Case Studies, The Book.
  • Discovery pages where your prospects learn more about you or get in touch: About, Blog, Contact Us.

Here's what happens if we split this one navigation menu in two using this grouping:

Navigation menu: after

You can also use a different principle while splitting your navigation menu.

Here's another example for eCommerce with the navigation menus are separated by public access / member access.

ECommerce navigation: Example

Advantages of splitting your navi in two:

  1. It becomes more scannable: It's easier for your visitors to process a group of 5 labels and then another group of 3 labels than a group of 8 labels.
  2. Your visitors will feel less overwhelmed as they now have fewer labels to select from: Based on what they want to do right now, they'll be selecting either from 5 or from 3 labels, and not from 8.
  3. An individual label has now more chances to get clicked: See #2 + the fewer the labels to select from, the higher are the chances for an individual label to get clicked.

And yes, your visitors will be able to spot and use your second navigation, as this design is common practice.

Your main website navigation is really important, actually. To be sure your navigation does the best job it can, check out this article I wrote a while ago:

How to Turn Your Website Navigation into an Effective Click Magnet (+ Examples)

Tip #3 How to produce good content fast and write with joy [4-Day Opportunity]

How do you feel when you write?

Is it something you look forward to and enjoy?

Or are you a master procrastinator doing laundry, organizing your desk and scrolling down your Twitter feed on social because writing feels like a mini torture, you keep getting stuck or think you can't write well?

If it's the latter, here's what you need to do:

  • Unclog your mind and gain focus - a superpower that multiplies productivity (and a useful life skill in general!).
  • Form a writing habit to overcome resistance to writing.
  • Troubleshoot your writing process to get unstuck more quickly and produce good content faster (Did you hear? Produce good content FASTER!).
  • Quite your inner critic to find more joy in writing and grow your confidence.

Unfortunately, there is no magic wand I could swing to make you learn all these things. But this is a close second - A new self-study course from Henneke Duistermaat that will make you a joyful and prolific writer.

If you know Henneke, you know how valuable her blog posts are. And those are free. Now imagine, how valuable her course would be!

The course is just $99 if you join by Monday, November 19 (after that, the price will go up to $199).

Write It, Don’t Fight It. A Step-by-Step Course to Become a Prolific and Joyful Writer

And no, it's not an affiliated link, and I have no personal stakes in that course. But knowing how many of you don't blog or stopped blogging because they couldn't find time, didn't enjoy it or couldn't concentrate, I thought I must tell you about it.

Because seriously, $99 for learning how to blog consistently or finally write that ebook and feel proud of your writing? Don't tell Henneke I said that, but she is too modest with her prices 🙊😃

***

This would be all from me for the week.

Foggy greetings from Germany,

Gill

Disclaimer: This email may contain typos, and I'm fine with them because cloning humans is, unfortunately, still impossible. Spending more time proofreading my emails would mean I'll have to share fewer tips with you. And sharing more and better tips is more important to me than sharing tips that are grammatically perfect. I hope that's fine with you, too.

Gill Andrews