Elevate Your Brand, Raise Your Prices: The Must-Haves of Premium Websites

filed under: Branding
Ever wondered why some people seem to be able to get paid so much for their services and products, while the rest struggle to get just a couple of customers despite having much lower prices for essentially the same services?

Have you, perhaps, been struggling with this very problem and wondering how you can raise your prices so you can focus more on each client, and actually deliver the high-value work you know you’re capable of, when you’re not burned out from working 24/7 just to scrape by?

Well, hold on to your coffee cup, cause we’re about to lift the curtain and take you deep into the world of luxury websites and premium pricing.

The two main factors to commanding premium prices.

:: The first one is internal and has to do with your skills ::

Be insanely good at what you do. We’re not gonna lie. You gotta be good to get paid good.

But is that all? Does it mean that if you’re good at what you do, customers will crash down your website fighting to buy from you? Not quite. This is where the other factor of premium prices comes into play.

::This second one is external and goes has to do with your presence ::

Construct a brand that matches the quality of your skills and exudes confidence. Customers can smell confidence from a mile away, and if you don’t ooze it, they won’t come. Period.

Aristotle once said that “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Similarly, we say:

The aim of branding is to represent not the outward appearance of your business, but its inward value.

When your brand (or your website, since that’s our focal point today) represents the inner value you bring to the game, you’ll start receiving the analogous external (monetary) value, as well. And in case you’re thinking that it sounds a little backwards? You’re totally right.

You first have to show people that you’re exceptional at what you do. (Yes, before they hire you.) And then deliver that ultra-special premium value of yours that will actually have them thinking they got you at a steal, no matter how much they paid.

So taking as our jumping-off point your killer expertise and immeasurable value (cause we know you got game), let’s see how you can roll it all up in chocolate, sprinkle it with caviar, and turn it into a Totally Luscious Website that will have people shoveling money your way faster than you can yell out “crashing!”

1. Exclusive Experience

What a lot of entrepreneurs don’t realize when creating their websites is that they’re not just putting up a digital flyer for their services. When creating a website, you’re actually building an experience through which your customers will come to know you, and which will dictate how you work (or don’t work) together. Because experiences create expectations. And expectations are hard to change once they set in.

What a lot of entrepreneurs don’t realize when creating their websites is that they’re not just putting up a digital flyer for their services. When creating a website, you’re actually building an experience through which your customers will come to know you, and which will dictate how you work (or don’t work) together. Because experiences create expectations. And expectations are hard to change once they set in.

It doesn’t matter how good you actually are at what you do, if the quality of your website doesn’t match the quality of your work, no one will agree to your prices.

This doesn’t mean that your website has to look ultra-sophisticated and sleek, if that’s not your style. The experience your website offers must represent your true style and match the quality of your work. If you’re loud, show it. If you’re refined, show it. If you’re artsy-craftsy and all about DIY, then please show that. But don’t let a bad design and an overall cheap-looking website undercut the value of your services.

2. Beautility

Ever heard that term, beautility? No? It’s a compound word that comes from the marrying of Beauty + Utility = Beautility. (Kinda like “Brangelina,” but much more useful.) And Beautility represent the essence of all premium websites:

Beauty and Utility must stand on equal footing.

The reason the boutique owner can charge higher prices than the bazaar seller isn’t just because of the quality of her product. It’s also because the customer gets exactly what she wants with minimal fuss. Not only does the beauty of the place instantly elevate the mood of the client and make her feel like she deserves more. The organization and neatness of the space give her cluttered mind a break and let her enjoy the personal attention and exceptional service the owner provides. The experience makes her feel special, and she’s willing to pay extra for special. We all are.

And for your website to offer the same exceptional experience of the boutique, it can’t just look attractive—it has to be exceptionally functional too. Want to add a picture to that super-helpful new post? Make sure the picture is just as super-wow as your post to attract your visitors to it. Just created a snazzy new headline for the homepage that advertises your services? Make sure it functions as a link too, or no one will ever know what you actually offer, even if you have a “click here” link beneath it. Broken link? Chase it down and fix it. If you’re going to attract visitors to your website content, make sure you’re attracting them somewhere useful that makes them feel special.

3. Be Professional, Not a Stiff

If you saw a seller at the bazaar wearing a dirty, old tracksuit would you really care or even notice at all? No, because you don’t expect much more: she’s only a bazaar seller after all. But when you step foot into the private boutique, you do expect more. Least of which is that there be no holes in the owner’s clothes. Same goes for your website.

If the design of your website looks kind of slapdash, and the story of the copy is full of holes, visitors aren’t going to expect much. Or expect to pay much. To command premium prices and prestige, your entire online presence must project professionalism and quality.

But looking professional doesn’t mean you have to be a tedious bore.

A lot of people tend to confuse professionalism with “seriousness” and think that they can’t have fun with their business if they want to be taken seriously. But that’s simply not true. Just think about brands like Apple, Google, Nike, AirBnB. Are they professional? You betcha. Are they “serious”? Nope!

  • Professional doesn’t mean you have to wear a three-piece-suit for your website photos. But it does mean you should have good, professional photos taken, even if it’s a picture of you sticking your tongue in a chocolate fountain!
  • Professional doesn’t mean that your website design should imitate that of large, faceless corporations. (Hell no!). But it does mean your site should follow professional design standards and practices, even if it looks like a fun park for adults.
  • Professional does not mean that one should compile one’s material into insipid compositions that estrange the reader with soporific archaisms. In plain English? Professional doesn’t mean you have to sound like a 19th-century stiff English Lord. (Unless you’re in the top-hat and tails business, and then it might actually be fun to sound like that.) But it does mean you have to have good and useful content that showcases your expertise in a voice and manner that grabs your readers by the heart and makes them fall in love with your brand.

4. Tell a Story

Remember that post about the bazaar and the boutique and how your website should have the characteristics of the high-end retailer if you want to command premium prices?
Oh wait! That’s this post isn’t it?

We could just as easily have given you a dry list of rules that we know from experience will elevate the status of your website, but where’s the fun in that? Even if you’d managed to read through a terrible post like that, you wouldn’t remember anything at the end of it. Just that there was a list of rules.

Kinda like when you rummage through a bazaar’s sales table for a whole day and then your friend asks you “Did they have any socks?” You blank out and go: “Honestly, I have no idea. There were so many things piled on there, I don’t remember anything.”

But if she asked that question after you visited a private boutique, you’d know the answer, wouldn’t you? You’d be like, “Oh my gosh! They had the finest silk socks I’ve ever seen! And all of them had these silly little designs one them like bathtub duckies and funny emojis and memes… Look! I bought two pairs!”

Good stories help us make an emotional connection to the content.

And that’s why we’ve created this whole post around the idea of the bazaar and the boutique. Not only is it more fun, it’s also more memorable and reflects the values we’re communicating. And storytelling isn’t good just for blog posts. Everything on your website, from your homepage, to your About page, to your Sales pages, should be telling a story. What story? The story of you & your customer. The story of how your relationship with her, and of who she (or her business) becomes through the experience of working with you.

5. Be Direct

The worst stories are meandering ones. The ones that start at one point, then move in circles beating about the bush, only to finally get to the point we all knew they were trying to make from minute one. If you’re at the bazaar and ask for a specific item, the stall owner will probably have to look for a few minutes before finding it under a pile of junk, meanwhile offering you all sorts of other items you don’t need or want, and murmuring “I know I had it somewhere here.” The boutique owner on the other hand, will immediately show you her exclusive collection, explaining the story of each item as your try it on. Or she will tell you right away that she doesn’t carry that item (so as not to waste your time), and direct you to a good friend of hers that can give you exactly what you’re looking for.

What you don’t want to have on your website are meandering and meaningless stories that lead visitors nowhere.
You don’t want these stories in your copy, and you don’t want them in your design, either. Don’t add five paragraphs of “backstory” that may have been important to you, but do not interest your readers. Don’t make people click on 5 different links just to get to what they were looking for in the first place. In either case, you’ll lose most of them along the way. Always ask yourself if the extra steps add value to your visitors’ experience. If not, cut them out and get directly to the point.

And there you have them. 5 steps for establishing a strong presence in the marketplace that showcases your true value and commands premium prices.

Now you get fancy!

The worst stories are meandering ones. The ones that start at one point, then move in circles beating about the bush, only to finally get to the point we all knew they were trying to make from minute one. If you’re at the bazaar and ask for a specific item, the stall owner will probably have to look for a few minutes before finding it under a pile of junk, meanwhile offering you all sorts of other items you don’t need or want, and murmuring “I know I had it somewhere here.” The boutique owner on the other hand, will immediately show you her exclusive collection, explaining the story of each item as your try it on. Or she will tell you right away that she doesn’t carry that item (so as not to waste your time), and direct you to a good friend of hers that can give you exactly what you’re looking for.

What you don’t want to have on your website are meandering and meaningless stories that lead visitors nowhere.
You don’t want these stories in your copy, and you don’t want them in your design, either. Don’t add five paragraphs of “backstory” that may have been important to you, but do not interest your readers. Don’t make people click on 5 different links just to get to what they were looking for in the first place. In either case, you’ll lose most of them along the way. Always ask yourself if the extra steps add value to your visitors’ experience. If not, cut them out and get directly to the point.

And there you have them. 5 steps for establishing a strong presence in the marketplace that showcases your true value and commands premium prices.