Advertising can be a highly lucrative way to attract new members.

It can also be extremely expensive if you’re doing it wrong.

The first challenge is to get your ads shown in the right places, at the right time, to the right people.

Then, you need to make them sure your ads are compelling enough to click.

And assuming you’ve done all that successfully, the job now belongs to your website.

The quality of your website is the difference between wasted money and acquiring new members.

And if your website is not well optimized, you’re wasting money.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of 10 features your website should have before you start advertising:

1. A modern, simple, and mobile-friendly design
2. An unambiguous, compelling, and differentiated value proposition
3. Good website sales copy that is “you-centric“
4. Professional-quality photographs, floor plans, and/or a virtual tour (or renderings and drawings if pre-selling)
5. Prominent call to action (schedule a tour) and telephone number on all pages
6. Bite-sized features and benefits that are easy to skim and speak to your target members’ real needs and wants
7. Easy-to-find location information (map + address + directions)
8. Clearly defined services and pricing tiers (don’t make me think and not too many options, please)
9. Ability to instantly schedule a tour using a tool like Calendly or ScheduleOnce
10. A chat widget, like Drift

If you implement any of these items, report back and tell me the results so I can give you a few bonus ideas.

Keep fighting the good fight!