Stop Attracting Tire-Kickers: What Premium Clients Want to See on Your Website

Why do some websites attract premium clients while others seem to only draw in bargain hunters and price shoppers? 

After ten years of writing for brands and businesses, I've learned that client quality isn't about luck—it's about signals. Premium clients (people who value expertise, understand that quality costs money, and are serious about getting results) are scanning for very specific things when they evaluate your website. And if those signals aren't present, they simply move on.

Instead of what pushes visitors away—like we discussed last week—I'm talking about what attracts the right people—specifically, premium clients who are ready to invest. 

I'll walk you through the three main signals they're looking for and cover the smaller details that premium clients pick up on, from how you talk about pricing to your overall confidence level. 

This isn't about making your brand look luxurious or expensive—it's about showing premium clients the specific things they need to see before they feel confident about reaching out.

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EPISODE 168.
Read the show notes and view the full transcript here: 

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Here's the info on your host, Erin Ollila
Erin Ollila believes in the power of words and how a message can inform – and even transform – its intended audience. She graduated from Fairfield University with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and went on to co-found Spry, an award-winning online literary journal.

When Erin’s not helping her clients understand their website data or improve their website copy, you can catch her hosting the Talk Copy to Me podcast and guesting on shows such as Profit is a Choice, Mindful Marketing, The Power in Purpose, and Business-First Creatives.

Stay in touch with Erin Ollila, SEO website copywriter:
• Learn more about my VIP intensive options or just book a strategy session to get started right away
• Visit Erin's website to learn more about her business, services, and products

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Register for Homepage Hot Seat

Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM EST

Learn what essential homepage elements make visitors convert, watch live homepage reviews, and discover the simple updates you can make to improve conversions without a complete redesign.

Register here: https://erinollila.com/webinar-homepage-hot-seat/

Transcript

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Some websites just seem to attract better clients, the kind who are ready to invest, who respect your expertise, and who don't haggle over every dollar or inclusion. But there are those website visitors that are, let's call them price shoppers. People who may not be serious about moving forward or making a purchase with you. So how do we determine what our site attracts? Because client quality or customer quality is extremely important in running a successful business. So some people may assume that what's happening here is just luck but in the past 10 years of writing websites for brands and businesses, I've learned that premium clients are looking for very specific signals when they land on websites. And if those signals aren't there, they're just going to move on to a different service provider or a different small business that does have those signals on their website. So last week we talked about website silent killers. All of the things that push away visitors from your website without you possibly even realizing it today, we are completely flipping that. We are talking about what actually attracts the right people in specifically what many people would call premium clients. And when I say premium clients, I am not just talking about people who pay more . Though premium clients are often willing to pay more. I am specifically talking about clients who value your expertise, who are ready to invest in real solutions, who understand that quality does cost money and sometimes, and who are serious about getting results. These are the clients that you actually want to work with. Because here's the thing, premium clients evaluate websites differently than bargain hunters do. They're looking for different information and different signals. It's not just about making your brand look, fancier, more expensive. One of my favorite words from clients, luxurious. So often people will tell me that they want to like exude luxury on their websites or their brand, or their business is for luxury clients. So that's fine, and especially if you are working with clients who are seeking luxury. But what does that mean? It's, it means different things to different people. First we have to identify what it means, but next we have to identify how to show that meaning through the the overall website messaging design. And very often my clients who want their websites to exude luxury are often the clients who take brand photo shoots and they completely change their attire to match a person that they just simply are not. They do this because they think that. Just having these other visual cues are what premium clients see, and then that kind of moves them to take action. That's not the case. It isn't about making your website look fancier or more expensive. It is about showing premium clients the specific things that they're looking for that they need to see before they feel confident about reaching out. Today we're gonna cover the three main signals that premium clients are scanning for, plus a few other subtle things that reinforce those signals. If you are going to put so much time and energy and invest money into your website, I want you to attract clients that are respectful of your time, respectful of your expertise, excited to work with you, that have trust in you, that have confidence that the job is gonna get done well. So before we even jump in and talk about the specific signals, let's talk about how premium clients are actually thinking when they land on your website., They wanna know. Do you think strategically or are you just going to execute what I, as the premium client tell you to do? Because then they either need to hire out a strategist to develop whatever the, the strategy is in place, or they have to take the lead, which they may or may not have skills to do. Back to the questions. Do you deeply understand my specific worldview and the challenges that I am facing? Are you. Confident in your positioning, in your expertise. Also, have you gotten results for people like me before? Can you, this is kind of summing it up, can you be a true strategic partner and not just someone who completes task? Here is why that is important to understand because they're not just making a purchase decision. They are making everyone pause. You ready? They're making an investment decision. The cost of getting this wrong is high to them. It's not just the time, the money, the opportunity cost, it is the risk of things not working out, so they are being careful. And they're willing to pay more for the right fit person. Because they understand the expertise cost money. They're not looking for the cheapest option. They're looking for the best for them option. And that is someone who can solve the problem or someone who can celebrate whatever that need is for them.'cause it doesn't have to be all pain point driven. Someone who understands context and someone that they can just trust to deliver. Now this is different from how bargain hunters are evaluating you, they're focused on priced on logistics on whether you're available right now. They're treating it more like a commodity purchase who can do this task for the best price, not necessarily the lowest price, but they are still very price driven and worried about their bottom line and their ROI. Premium clients look at the bigger picture. They really want that strategic thinking. They want expertise, and they want someone who is going to make their life easier and not harder. So. I am about to start talking about the signals that they're looking for, the specific signals. But before I do, I want to just pause and let you know that next week I will be running a workshop called the Homepage Hot Seat. And the only thing warm about the hot seat here is the cozy vibes that you are going to get when I teach you how to give your website a glow up. This is not going to be a tear down experience. This workshop is going to be part training part showing by example. So I'm inviting you to come and join me for free next week. I will put a link in the show notes where you can register or you can pretty much find me anywhere on social media and all of the workshop shop registration pages will be linked in my post. When you register, I also am giving you a very teeny, tiny form that asks you if you would like to share your homepage with me and with a group of us who will all be together next week so that I can point out either what you're doing really well or what you would like to improve on your site to attract more premium clients, just like we're talking about today. Again. You might hear the word hot seat and get nervous that I am about to grill you, but think of it more like driving in a car that actually has seat warmers that keep your back and bum nice and toasty and cozy while you're driving that experience is what I hope you are gonna get when I teach you how to glow up your website because you can, I, I say this over and over again. You can do the work to improve a website without starting from scratch, but let's just jump in and we'll talk more about the signals that premium clients are looking for. Signal number one, and that is clear specific positioning. What they're doing is they're scanning to see whether you speak their specific language, and scanning is very important for what I want you to understand because most people do not read word for word on websites. Even if you invest a lot of your own mental energy, your writing expertise or just the finances in hiring a copywriter, not every word is getting read, and that is why headings, subheads, eyebrow copy and just body text is so important. It's also why white space, it will always be one of my favorite things on websites because we need to give. The end user a chance to absorb the information, and if they're just scanning things like headings or bullet points, help their brain consume that information in the way that we want them to. While they're scanning, again, they're checking to see whether you understand their industry, their specific problem, their needs, whether you are a specialist or generalist, and they're looking to see if you've done this specific thing that they need assistance with before. So what does this actually look like on your website? Well, it's the specificity in your headline and your positioning. It's using their own industry jargon and terminology, not just generic business jargon or. Worse your own industry's jargon that they may not be as familiar with. It's also demonstrating that you understand their specific challenges, not just business challenges in general, but whatever is causing their specific situation to seek out someone like you. It's showing them that you've worked with people like them before, and you do that by being clear about who you serve. Now I feel like I've talked in, maybe just because I am a service provider myself, I feel like I've kind of spoken a lot from how someone would seek out a service provider, but premium clients are often looking for B2C like businesses as well. I worked last year with a dog grooming and dog boarding business, obviously they're B2C. Business, but they absolutely provide a premium experience to their customers. Their customers are premium buyers. They are willing to spend a lot to make sure that their dog is taken care of when they are away from town, or that their dog is mentally stimulated while they're away from the house during the day. And think about if you have a pet, think about how much you love your pet. They're a part of your family. You do not want to leave them with people, that you're gonna worry about how they treat your animal. You want to leave them with a business that you know will care for them. With a business that has experience with all types of dogs, with a business that, is trustworthy so in that instance, if you are looking for a pet grooming or pet boarding business or any type of B2C business, you still wanna see these same, same signals. You still wanna see the positioning to be specific, right? Like this is not a boarding facility for dogs, cats, kangaroos, cockatoos, lizards, and. Moles, right? This is a dog boarding and grooming facility. So even though I kind of just spoke very much from like a service provider context, know that these signals are work pretty much the same across all different types of small businesses, whether it's B2B, B two E, or B2C, so let's do examples. We all know I love examples., If you are doing the intro section of your about page, you might say something like, hi, I'm Joanna and I help,, experienced professionals achieve their goals. That's great. You know, the qualifiers here are that they are experienced, , also that they're professionals, but one still has to question what is a experienced professional, what field, what industry, what type of experience? And then goals, gosh, their goal could be to , run a marathon. It could be to read 120 books in the year. So let us be more specific with our positioning. Here's an example. I help leadership level women in tech navigate the jump to C-suite without sacrificing their personal lives while it happens. Okay. Now, if you're, if you are someone who is inching your way into the C-suite level,, which would you choose? Experienced professionals achieving goals., And let's talk specificity. This is not just leadership level women. This is women in tech. This is women in tech who are specifically trying to get into the C-suite, , women in tech who are trying to get into the C-suite without sacrificing their personal life at the same time. So there's lots of levels of specificity there, and one of them gives you confidence. You as the premium buyer. To know that this person that you're looking to hire understands your specific situation, then unique challenges that you're facing and the nuances of being specific does not turn away opportunity. What you're doing is you are attracting better fit clients, better fit clients and customers who are willing to invest more because they feel more confident, of course you can work with people outside of, , your stated niche. No one will stop you from doing that. And in fact, I cannot tell you how many service providers specifically that I know who might have niched into a a particular industry. One example, Coley James, she works with photographers to, improve all of their client experience systems. Let me tell you more than photographers hire Coley because she's so good at what she does. So she will absolutely work with someone that she knows is a good fit for her if they're not a photographer, because people who really trust you and people who know that you're gonna do a great job in your job, they will reach out even if they are not within your niche. The key part here in this signal is really make sure the positioning is done well and meets their needs. All right. Signal number two is strategic value. Premium clients will scan to determine whether you think strategically. You're just ex executing on what you are told. So they might think things like, do you understand the bigger picture of their business? Are you going to advise them and maybe even challenge their assumptions? Are you a task executor or are you a thought partner? And this matters because they're not. Necessarily buying your time or your tasks. They're buying outcomes. They're buying strategic thinking. They're buying trust and confidence. They value your judgment and your expertise, not just your ability to execute. And that's what they're willing to pay the premium price for the expertise that guides them toward the right solution. So what does this look like on a website? Well, it's talking about outcomes and transformations, not just deliverables. It is framing your work around what actually changes for them, what becomes possible. What problem goes away, it's showing that you understand the why behind the what and not just the what itself. So, let's try a different type of business. A website designer, instead of just saying, oh, I design websites. You could say, I help creatives turn a website into their most effective sales person. As a copywriter, instead of just saying I write copy, I could say that I create messaging that positions you as the obvious choice. These are still generic examples. Yes, I'll give you that., But one focuses on the task and the thing that's being done. The other example focuses on a strategic outcome. What changes for them? In the web design example, it's the fact that that website is the sales person and the copy example, it's the positioning your business as an obvious choice with the words being used. So one opportunity to adjust, maybe what you have right now would be to lead with a problem that you solve and the outcome that you create and support that with things like process and credentials, because. Premium clients, they do care about how you do it. They just want to also see that you understand what they need when making a decision to work with you. So instead of leading with what you do or what you deliver, talk instead about what changes, what becomes possible, what problem goes away, make it about the transformation and not just the transaction. All right. Signal number three. Yeah, you've heard me talk about this before. All of these things are, they're repetitive because it comes up in so many ways. But the third signal is social proof. Premium clients and customers are scanning to see if you've worked with people like them, whether you've even gotten results in similar situations that you know that they're experiencing, whether you might understand the nuances of their, of their specific needs. This is huge and this really builds upon the other two signals I've mentioned If they see a generic testimonial that says, I loved working with Erin. Everything about it was, you know, so fun. What does that tell a premium client? That I am fun not in marketing, like I need you guys all to know that I am a solid and strategic thought partner, that I am an excellent marketer with a ton of experience that I have, you know, given them light bulb aha moments, or I have kind of connected dots that they might not have seen, not that I am fun. Although I should tell you for the record, I am pretty fun sometimes. But again, we don't want generic testimonials. Specificity, benefits, social proof so let's talk again about what this looks like on a website. Well, it's featuring testimonials prominently on the homepage, not hiding them on one separate page. That, let's be honest, most people won't visit. Case studies that tell the full story. This is so good for transformation'cause you can talk about where they started, what changed. And even more what has become possible as a result of working with you? It is including specific numbers and outcomes whenever possible. If you've worked with recognizable companies, show those client logos and make sure that the proof that you have speaks out to the outcomes that those premium clients really care about. And again, you know, I've mentioned we're working with recognizable companies because. Relevance is important. You know, premium clients are looking for proof that you get their context. So B2B clients in general like to see B2B results. Senior leaders want to ensure that you have worked with other senior leaders, so the more relevant the proof is to their specific situation, the more confident they will feel reaching out to you. If you are just starting to focus on social proof, you might've heard everything I just said and thought to yourself, oh crap, I I don't have a testimonial that says this, or, my testimonials are so vague. Cool. Put it on the website and then improve on it. Develop systems in your business where you are. Actually getting specific feedback from your clients so that you can update all the old testimonials, right? Like you might have a generic one for, for now, and then in a couple months later change it. So it's specific. Yes. You wanna focus on outcomes. Yes. You wanna make sure that, it's specific enough to show their individual needs in their problems and transformations. But you still want to show that other people trust you, even if it's general. Because people trust other people, again, in the example of the the dog boarder or dog groomer, they wanna see that other pet parents are, are comfortable with your company and that they love sending their pet to your facility. That's what makes them move on and and make a purchasing decision. All right, so we've talked about the three main signals, which are clear positioning, strategic value, and relevant proof. But there are some smaller things that premium clients will pick up on when they evaluate your websites, such as how you talk about pricing. It's noticeable if you're confident without being defensive about your rates. If you are clear about the investment without sounding like you're apologizing or hedging, confidence around pricing signals that you know you're worth. Also boundaries and process are helpful. Not, they won't hurt things. They're helpful if you can show that you have a clearly defined process. It shows you've done this before, that you know what works. So set those expectations upfront,, because that will signal professionalism. Most premium clients actually appreciate the boundaries because it shows that you're selective about who you work with and how you do the work that you do. Third polish and professionalism. Sounds simple, but try to limit the typos that you have. Try to limit broken links. Invest in good brand photography, not using very obvious templates or, or stock images that are overused. Having a cohesive visual presence is huge and keeping your content current and maintained because. If it looks like you are not investing in your business, a premium client does not also want to invest in that business. They want to see that you care about quality. And finally, I would say the last one is your over overall confidence level. How do you describe your work? How do you describe yourself? Are you boastful, extremely boastful on the about page. Or worse, are you too humble or apologizing for your expertise? We want to hit the specific target of being established, of speaking in a. Tone that sets the stage for a good partnership because all of these little things do contribute to the overall energy that your website gives off. It is hard to quantify, but premium clients absolutely feel it. Does your website feel like you need them as a client, does it feel scarce and desperate you don't want that. You want your site to show warmth,, be personable and approachable while still signaling expertise. It's not about being cold or corporate or putting up walls with your site. It is just simply showing confidence. Clarity and having standards and boundaries. So to summing this all up, here's what I want you to take away today. Premium clients are looking for those three main signals, specific positioning, strategic value and relevant social proof. But all those teeny, tiny other little things that I mentioned are what influences those three signals. And it's what strengthens your website, strengthens the confidence that they feel when they reach out to you and want to work with you or hire you. I will be back on Thursday to talk about the homepage hierarchy because. I wanna get tactical, like I want you to understand structure so that you can play with that, right? You need to know the rules so you can break the rules. I want you to know what the rules of your homepage are so that way you can organize it., So it acts like a guide for your visitors instead of being confusing or overwhelming. Hopefully Thursday's episode will be hands-on and practical, but I don't want you to get confused and think, well, why do I even come to the workshop if we're going to talk about homepage on Thursday? Two different things. Sure. I'll talk some tactics on Thursday. Sure. I'll explain hierarchy, but you come to the workshop so you can see in person. The ease in which you can make changes, how huge changes actually can be with just a few word updates, maybe just, adding a transition and moving things around the page. So it's definitely going to be hands-on, during the homepage hot seat, but you'll still learn a lot from both. So. Again, see you Thursday. I hope you come next week as well to the hot seat. And if you'd like your website to be one of the homepages that I review during homepage Hot seat, make sure you add it to that form that I have attached to registration see you on Thursday where we'll keep talking. Copy.