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High-Converting MSP Website Headers

I’ve always had a confusing relationship with MSP websites and landing pages. On one hand, I love nothing more than creative expression and the ability for a company to shape and deliver messaging that feels unexpected and unique. On the other hand, there are a lot of MSPs out there with “copy-paste” value propositions that may be better off sticking with a tried and true website template, as opposed to completely reinventing the wheel. 

One of the reasons I love talking to Nate Freedman, Founder of MSP Sites is that he always has a way of finding a happy medium between each side of this argument. He starts with a formulaic approach that has proven to actually convert, and then layers on touches of creativity and professional design that help differentiate each company that uses their services. This is a refreshing approach compared to the “turn and burn” MSP website templates that have been peddled in our industry for almost a decade. 

While reviewing a few of Nate’s templates, I asked if he would be open to doing a deep dive into the anatomy of these sites so that our audience can better understand the logic behind what he’s built and how they could apply it to their own sites. The result is a three part article series, starting with the website header: 

1. Branding Colors

Use multiple colors, including light and dark variations of your primary color, to create a sophisticated and visually appealing design.

One of the consistent themes throughout the 10+ websites Nate and I reviewed was the use of color. This is one of those things that really can separate professional design from a ‘do-it-yourself’ look. Much like painters, great web designs have a way of working with color that just feels right. According to Freedman, this is all made possible by expanding your palette. “You need multiple colors in your brand. If you just stick with one or two, yeah, it might be memorable, but it’s going to make it a lot harder for your designs to look good.”

“A lot of people miss this, but you should try to use the lighter version of your primary color to mix things up. You don’t need to reinvent color theory, just take the main color and have a lighter version and a darker version of it. That’s how you make a site flow visually without it feeling flat. Contrasting colors also work (purple and orange, blue and orange). These are on opposite sides of the color wheel, so they naturally look good together. But the real trick is using a light version and a dark version of the same shade. That’s what makes a design feel sophisticated instead of clashing.”

If you don’t have a style guide or color palette already, it’s worth the effort to create one and keep it on-hand. I personally have hired designers on Fiverr and Upwork just to expand and document a new color palette for a brand and it is generally an inexpensive project ($75-150). With a newly expanded palette you open up a world of new design possibilities and you will find that the work you receive on future design projects will be consistently better. This doesn’t just apply to websites, but also social posts, brochures, business cards, etc. 

2. Logo & Tagline

Always place the logo in the top left of the header. If using a tagline, ensure that it is readable and not embedded in the logo image. Use appropriate color variations. 

The next topic that we talked about was the logo. Having reviewed my fair share of MSP sites, I can’t tell you how many logos I’ve seen that are rasterized to the point where they look like they were scraped from a free clip art website. Unfortunately, this small detail can sometimes spoil even a good page design. 

According to Nate, your logo is also not the place to explain what you do or add a catchy slogan. As he explains, “Don’t put your tagline inside your logo image so that it’s too small to read. That’s a major mistake I see all the time. It just makes you look like a hack. You want your website to look professional, so when people land on it, they think, ‘I want to work with these guys, not my current guys.”

He also believes that there is no reason to entertain other placement choices besides the standard and sometimes even reducing to a single color can offer a more satisfying visual. “Put your logo in the top left, and don’t overthink it. Look, there are websites where you have a dark background, and you use the white version of your logo. If that looks good, just go with it. Don’t feel like you need to have the color version of your logo as the first thing people see.”

3. Primary Navigation 

Structure navigation logically like a sales letter, starting with proof (results/testimonials), followed by your branded program, an ‘About Us’ section, and a ‘Contact Us’ page. 

As we talked through navigation links on the page, Nate took inspiration from Donald Miller’s Storybrand Framework.“Think about your navigation structure in the same way that you would think about a sales letter. A sales letter starts with a hook, then builds credibility, and then moves into proof. Your navigation should follow a similar logical progression. From left to right, start with what you want people to see first. You need results, testimonials, some kind of proof that you’re legit—this could be five-star reviews or case studies. 

“I think the next thing you want to do is list your main program—not necessarily a giant list of all your services. There are definitely cases where listing out every service makes sense, but in most cases, you want to highlight what you actually do in a way that is compelling. We encourage our MSPs to brand their program with some type of intellectual property. Call it No-Nonsense IT, Security First IT, No-Brainer IT, whatever makes sense for you. It needs to be something that stands out and makes it clear that you have a defined, repeatable system for delivering value”

“The ‘About Us’ section should be next in your navigation. This is where you talk about your mission, how you help, and who your target audience is. After that, you might include a ‘Contact Us’ page for press inquiries or general inquiries outside of sales and support.” I loved the simplicity of this approach, as I’ve often seen how overstuffing the navigation can offer too many options to visitors and may cause them to get lost along the way.

4. Call To Action

Place a standout button in the main navigation that clearly instructs prospects on their next step (e.g., schedule a call, book a consultation).

Every landing page needs a call-to-action (CTA) and according to Freedman, this should be exactly where the visitor lands as their eyes work their way through your navigation links. As he explains, “The last thing in your main navigation should be your call-to-action button. This should clearly communicate the first step a prospect needs to take—whether it’s scheduling a call, booking an IT consultation, or something similar. Make it encapsulated in a button so it stands out.”

Something I noticed from all of the websites we reviewed, was that Nate doesn’t seem to stray from the basics when it comes to CTAs. His opinion was that if you ultimately want your visitors to contact you, then that is what you should tell them to do. Getting “too cute” with your button text, could ultimately decrease your conversion rate, which ultimately makes your leads more expensive. 

This is another area where I find myself a bit torn. For example, if I am a cyber-focused MSP that attempts to drive net-new prospects toward a risk assessment, then I love the idea of pushing this as my primary CTA. Nate’s argument (which I find it difficult to disagree with) is that having too narrow of a call-to-action will only disqualify visitors and distract from your goal of converting them to a lead. 

5. Contact Information 

Display the phone number prominently above the navigation bar and include separate numbers for sales and support to streamline calls and keep your CRM clean.

I was surprised to learn just how many leads still come in via a phone call for the MSPs that are using Nate’s services. As a matter of fact, in the MSP Website Blueprint that we collaborated on last year, the data stated that 41% of all their clients’ leads came in via phone call. While trackability and attribution were once a challenge for this lead type, tools like Call Rail have made managing phone leads almost as simple as form completions. 

Freedman also has a clever tip on how exactly you should position the phone number and why presenting multiple options makes sense. “Above the navigation bar, I always want the phone number there. The schedule call button and the phone number need to be very close to each other. We use two phone numbers; one for sales inquiries and one for current clients. That way, people know exactly which number to call, and we can record sales calls without cluttering up our CRM. This is honestly the lowest-hanging fruit that any MSP has right now.”

He also expressed the importance of actually answering these calls as they come in. As he suggests, “It’s shocking how many people would rather call than submit a form. That’s the way they want to contact you. If you’re a small MSP, and there’s one thing you should invest in, it’s picking up your phone. Either you answer it, or have someone ready to pick it up—someone who’s actually prepared to answer questions, not just frustrate the caller. Live answer within two rings.”

6. Social Links

Avoid adding social links in the header as they can distract visitors and lead them away from your site before converting. Blog links are acceptable since they keep users on your site. 

I happened to pick up on a consistent theme on all of Nate’s websites, specifically in regards to social links. In many cases, companies will place their social links in the secondary navigation bar, within the vicinity where the phone numbers were located. Yet on all of the sites and templates that we reviewed these were missing. 

This prompted me to ultimately ask Nate if this was by design and whether or not MSPs should include their socials anywhere in the site header. To this he had a rather entertaining response; “No, no, no. Number one, 99% of MSPs—your socials are just going to embarrass you. And number two, why? Why do you want people leaving your site? The entire point is to get them to contact you, not to get them scrolling Facebook and then watching some viral video of someone shaving a fish.”

I thought this was a really great point. Just the mere mention of a “fish-shaving” video made me want to pause the conversation and look one up on YouTube. It’s proof that your visitor’s attention is so fragile and that you need to handle it with care. He went on to explain, “The goal of your website is to get someone to take action. Social links just provide an easy off-ramp that takes them away from your business and into a distraction rabbit hole. You’re literally handing them a way to leave instead of filling out your form or scheduling a call.”

Conclusion

The beautiful thing about optimizing your website header is that you almost can’t mess it up. The options are so limited, yet they have such a large impact on the performance of your landing page. Just a few small tweaks following the best practices that we discussed could drive a legitimate difference in performance and increased ROI on your marketing and advertising spend. 

While this wraps part one of this article series, we will pick up where we left off next month with the “Hero” section. Stay tuned!