[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Three, two, one. Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people, and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite online business podcast. If you are listening, tuning in, watching on the day that it drops, it is Monday, July 13th.
Welcome to the middle of summer, for you folks, at least the folks in the Northern Hemisphere. I do hope summer is summering, and you're getting to do what you want to do. So I'm going to jump right into today's topic, because I have no life updates.
Because I'm recording this literally three minutes after the previous episode, I batch recorded a bunch of episodes because of my Gstaad trip, which hopefully went amazing, because at the time right now that I'm recording it, it hasn't happened yet. But I will recap that trip for you on next week's episode. If you follow me on Instagram, then you would have seen what happened there.
Hopefully good things happen, I don't know, in the future. But I will recap that on next week's episode once I am back to my timely recording schedule and only recording episodes one week in advance, not three weeks in advance. So today we are talking about whether or not you actually need a website.
And both the long and the short answer is yes, abso-fucking-lutely yes. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I don't care if you're in person or online.
I don't care if you're a solopreneur or you have a team. You need a website. Three reasons.
Number one, it forces you to organize your thoughts. And this is the number one reason I want people to have a website, for nothing else. I actually don't care about people finding something like that.
I care about it because it forces you to organize what's in your head. Number two, it's a nice place to collect all of the important information. It allows you to collect all of your important information about you and your business in one place.
And then the third reason is that it gives people a way to pay you. I'm putting a little asterisk there because I will speak about the actual tech side of having transactions in a bit. So obviously I have been doing quite a bit more website work with folks since evolving into the messaging niche.
But even before then, when I was exclusively deep in online business coaching, building a website was something I was talking about and it was the first task. Always the first task that I would assign people who worked with me. And the reason that I made it the first task is because it gives you a plan.
It gives you an outline. It gives you structure. Yes, I am all about fast action.
I love it. But I'm also about directed and purposeful fast action. Right? And that it's in the direction that you want to be going.
If you start off sprinting in the wrong direction, I'm not going to clap and be like, well, at least you got started. No, right? Because the bar is higher than that. Especially because if you're the type of person, and no shade here, but it's the truth, if you're the type of person that needs clapping in order to keep going, you're going to stop as soon as you realize it was all in the wrong direction.
Right? So I'm going to encourage you, I'll be there with you, but I'm going to push you to go in the right direction. And that is why a website can be so, so, so helpful. Because it makes you sit down and say, what do I want? How do I want to help people? What am I about? What are my values and my thoughts? And put it all in one place.
Do I actually want to do this? Right? So let's take a moment and make sure we're going in the most correct direction first. Right? So everything I'm going to talk about from here on out, this is for the online business owner, namely the solopreneur. My zone of genius is the personal brand.
Yes, I do copywriting. I do copy consulting. I do website work with that kind of copy for brick and mortar businesses as well.
But when it comes to what my passion is, and what I'm the best at, and what I can also bring a ton of business coaching to, that's going to be the solopreneur online brand. I love that online personal brand. I really, really do.
Right? And in my opinion, that's going to be the easiest to build a website for. It will also be easy to build a website for a solopreneur that's in person. Right? The main thing here is that it's a single person.
You're not trying to have a voice for like a bunch of people or like you're worried about like it's too much me. Like this is supposed to be all you because it's your thing. Right? Again, the reason I love having a website, the reason I push people to do this first is because your website, it is there initially simply to give structure to ideas and to provide a home for your information.
Right? That's it. Give structure to what's in your head and it provides a home for all of your information. All that it needs to have to start off a homepage, an about page, and a contact page.
That's it. You don't need some massive fucking site. What are you even going to put on it? Yeah, nothing.
Once you have those and you start going and doing the things, then yes, you will start to build out the site. And typically the next additions become a blog, service pages or service page and service pages. Right? Typically it's a service page, just one person.
Then you can have more services and you have more service pages. And then of course the back end Instagram page. Right? So it's not linked in your navigation bar, but that exists.
Very simple. Right? This is very, very simple and you can absolutely get this done in a weekend. You could get it done in a day if you just do that super short bit there, but you can absolutely get it done in a weekend.
Right? And this is not to be confused with easy. It is not at all to be confused with easy. If you're not technologically inclined, you may be tested a bit.
AI and YouTube University will be your best friends. Have them help you. If you struggle with writing or you simply haven't thought about the words that you want to use to describe what you do and how you do it, that will take time.
And this will definitely expand past a single weekend. Absolutely. If you go back and forth because you're like, I don't know the colors and things like that.
Yes, this is going to, this, this can become a bigger project, but this is the type of thing. If you have these things decided, you have these things. What is what I'm looking for? When you go in, not accumulated, that's not the right word, but when you have these things gathered, this is something that you could get done in a weekend.
I, I believe in you. I do. Websites, you know, I'm talking about this, like there is a lift.
They are, there is effort to make this. All right. But they are great because they're not continuous, ongoing effort.
It is very much a front loaded effort. And then you add to it as you go, but like very small things, right? You know, with small things that you need. And then there's the occasional revamp or refresh that some people will do every few years.
You know, if you're like just really into that stuff and it can be sooner than that, but like it is a front loaded thing. So the parts of it, the things here. First, the name.
What's the name going to be? Ideally, you already have a name picked for your business, but when in doubt, just use your name to start off with. Hopefully you don't have some super common name that somebody already, you know, has, but just start with your name, right? Make sure that that name isn't trademarked. If it's your name or like the business name, make sure it's not trademarked by somebody else.
As for the colors, hopefully you have some colors in mind for this thing. If you don't, go online and search, right? Ask AI, like where, what are sites that I can use to help me pick colors from, for my brand? Make sure you like them and that the colors work well together. Again, this is where it was nice to use like a color palette picker.
You can go ahead and Canva and do that. Ideally, you have a dark color, a light color, and an accent color, right? Simple. This doesn't have to be this big thing.
Yes, you could hire this out. Absolutely. I am not here to downplay anyone that offers these services.
Lex is phenomenal with building out websites. I'm thinking about cams. I'm thinking about Kristen Mann.
They are great with graphic design, right? But if you're like, I can't afford that, do it yourself. Like literally do it yourself. My first site, built myself.
The second one, I outsourced it. And my third one, which is Prompting Curiosity site, go check it out. I worked really fucking hard on that.
I built that one out myself completely, right? So the name, ideally you have one. You know, when in doubt, use your own name. As for the colors, go on Canva, get a palette that you like.
Cool. There you go. There's your colors.
As for the font, when you go to build a website, there will be a default font already. Use it unless you hate it or you know specifically what you want. I really like a sans serif font.
And if you go to my Prompting Curiosity website, you will see I wanted this like kind of pixelated font. I had a vision for this. So that was different.
And I use AI a ton to help me out with things. But keep it simple. Just get this thing done.
Next up, the domain, right? So www.themovementmeisture.com. That is the domain, right? You're going to purchase that from somewhere. I recommend namecheap.com, right? I like to have the domain and where the domain is, who owns the domain and where the site is, hosted. I like to have them as different places, right? It is just kind of best practice.
When I was first starting out, I had a techie guy I was friends with and that's what he suggested. I own like 12 domains. I used to be collecting domains.
But the domain is here. The actual URL is here. You can buy it through Squarespace if you want.
I personally don't like doing that. I like to have them separate. But you can absolutely do it all in one if you want, right? Obviously, there are more steps involved if you purchase the domain somewhere else.
But like I said, best practice in the tech world, having it named. I would go with Namecheap. I wouldn't use like GoDaddy or something else.
But if you want to keep it simple, just get it from Squarespace, okay? Speaking of, building the actual website. Where does it live? My recommendation is Squarespace. That's what I built my first site with.
My second site, TheMovementMaker.com, that is a WordPress.org site. My third site, Prompting Curiosity, that is also a WordPress.org site. And I love it.
I love WordPress. I needed more functionality and I wanted more control. And that is what you have.
It is driving a manual transmission. You are in charge of everything. It is self-hosted.
I am in the computer for that thing, right? So all the backend stuff with certificates and hosting, again, and PHP. I know that's gibberish to you. But all of that stuff, I have to take care of on my end.
So I do not recommend that for folks who are just starting off. It is just too complex. It's unnecessary, right? It's super DIY.
If you're into that shit, all right, cool. But if you're not, you're not techie, just go with Squarespace. It is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get builder.
It's simple. It's straightforward. There are lots of templates already inside of it that you can just get started with.
I will also plug Lex's templates. She sells them. We'll link that in the show notes.
Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Jojo. If you want to use something else besides Squarespace, go for it.
But don't ask me why I don't recommend those other things, right? I've told you what I recommend. Squarespace. If you're really techie, I do love WordPress.org, but I'm going to recommend Squarespace.
It's just the easiest, okay? And with using that, realistically, you can get it done in a weekend. I believe in you. As for the actual content that goes on the site, do not, folks, do not have AI write it.
I actually just did an episode for my other podcast, Prompting Curiosity. That was episode 50, maybe? I think it might have been episode 49. And it was just titled, Stop Asking AI to Write for You.
It does a terrible job, right? Yes, writing a copy for your website, writing a copy for anything. It's going to take time. Absolutely.
And it may be really tough for you. There may be the toughest part of the whole site. That's why I have people do it.
Because it forces you to get words for the things that you're thinking, the things that you're feeling, the things that you want to bring to life. I believe in you, right? Again, all that the website needs to have on it to start, your homepage, right? The homepage is going to have that top section that's the hero, right? The main title on there, we call that the H1, right? All that's going to say is what it is and who it's for. Underneath that, you have a little subheading.
Underneath that, you have what I call an identification section. It allows people to feel seen, heard. Underneath that, we have an approach, if you're, what to expect.
Under that, we have an overview of your services. And under that, we have a short little about you. You can mix and match with what the order is.
And this is 100% what I work on with people. But those are the main parts that I'm seeing that I want to see on the homepage. Next, we have the about page.
That's about you. Why'd you start this thing? Who do you help? What's your approach? What are your beliefs and your values? And then a relevant FAQs, any relevant FAQs. That's it.
And then we go to the contact page. Just simple submission form. Done.
That's it. That's all you have to have to start off with. That's it.
When you're ready for more, you're like, all right, cool. I'm done. And it's living and great.
But I'm going to start adding stuff. The next thing is typically a blog. That is very easy to add.
That is a feature, quote unquote, in Squarespace. It's not like this whole thing you have to code. Very simple.
From there, you'll probably have service page or service pages. With service pages, I see people kind of missing the mark here. And they don't have enough information.
Assume people know nothing. So describe the service. Describe the outcome.
Describe who it's for. Describe the process. Describe the deliverables.
If you have them, share testimonials. Put the pricing on there. And then include any relevant FAQs.
That's it. Imagine that people don't know anything. Tell them everything.
And that's how you can break it up. I know I'm speaking quickly. You can go and read the transcript.
Courtney is the best. Joe and Courtney. They are the best.
Courtney links the transcript for every episode. So you can go and check that out. It'll be in the show notes.
Services pages. And this ties into what I said earlier with a little asterisk. Services pages give people a way to pay you.
This is where we start to see the extra step and a little bit more techie for websites. Because you need to have some sort of payment processor. The easiest thing you can do, if it's a one-on-one service, my favorite is to use Acuity Scheduling.
And that allows for payment. That's what I've used for years. Cool thing is that I'm like a super OG with Acuity.
And then eventually, Squarespace bought Acuity. So it's already linked in. It's like a higher tier that you have to pay.
But it is linked in with it. So the embedding is very easy. And so if you're doing a one-on-one service, people can book the service.
You have an online calendar, online scheduler. And they can pay for the service. Very, very easy.
You'll need to set up a Stripe account. And then you'll tie those things together. If you're looking to sell digital goods, an e-book or something like that, my recommendation to start off with is to utilize an email marketing service.
In this case, I prefer Kit. I convert Kit. They accept payments.
And so you can sell everything through there. It's just the easiest first step. Again, I'm looking at my online business owners.
Obviously, if you're a brick and mortar, you're probably using something like Jane or whatever software you want to use. Again, like I said earlier, this, what I'm presenting is for the online business owner. So Squarespace for the website.
And then for payment, I love to use Acuity if it's a one-on-one service. And they can pay. It's a phenomenal service.
Phenomenal software, rather. And then for digital goods, the easiest thing to do is your email marketing service, in this case, what I recommend is Kit. But that page, that service page, that comes in the second round of building for most people.
It's usually not the first thing because you don't have a business yet. When you're thinking about starting an online business, which I think I'm going to do in an upcoming episode, is like how to launch your online business. But when you're thinking about starting this thing, you attract and build the audience first.
I cannot say this enough. I have a whole free… We will link that as well. I have a free 90-minute masterclass on basically whether or not you should start an online business and what you need to do, exactly what you need to do in order to start that online business.
We will link that. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Jojo.
It's on my website. But the first thing you got to start with is attracting the audience. Build and attract the audience.
Then you see what they need and what they want. And then you build that. Then you productize.
So many folks just start off with the thing and I'm like, who's buying this? How do you know if people want it? For most people, your first thing that you sell will be a one-on-one offer. One-on-one coaching or support in some way, shape, or form. And then the first leveraged offer that you sell will typically be something like a workshop.
So a low ticket, $27, something like that. I did an episode not too long ago about… I think it's one of the most underutilized trust-building strategies, techniques, assets for online business owners. So again, those services pages, they come after the fact.
First, we're going to build the website. Then we're going to build the audience. And then we can look to build a service page based on building an offer that we know people want because we have the people there and we're listening.
And that's the whole website. Again, it's just there initially. This website's just there initially to give structure.
It gives structure to ideas that you have in your head and it provides a home for your information. It forces you, and this is typically the hardest part for people. It's hard to write this.
I know, that's why I have you do it first. It forces you to organize your words. From there, once it's built, you can send people to it.
Sending people to Instagram is really tough for them. I'm not judging you if that's what you do, but it's just tough for the consumer, right? Because nothing's organized on Instagram. So this website will be an asset that will serve you for many, many years to come.
It can, and it will grow with you. So can you run a business, make sales without a website? Sure, but it's a way less desirable user experience, right? And it only takes like a weekend to put together, right? And it will make things, I promise you, it will make things easier for you down the road. And it will cut down and cut back on so much back and forth.
So when should you build a site? As soon as you're like, I'm gonna do this online business thing, I'm in, right? Do not build an offer first. Build a site, build the audience, then you can wrap up building the offer, right? Get your ideas together, build the site, start sharing on social, whatever social channel you want. And then we go from there.
Okay, so again, Lex has templates if you don't like what Squarespace has to offer. If you want help with what actually goes on the page, aka what to write, I can absolutely help you out with that. Your best bet is gonna be my website messaging audit service.
We will link that, but I'm happy to chat with you and see what's a good fit. So right now it's mid-summer, it's mid-winter. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, things tend to be slower.
So it's a great time to go and build your sites. I mean, we can do that if you're out there sending people to Instagram, right? All right, gonna wrap it up there. A bit more technical one, fun for me.
Hopefully you enjoyed it as well. My DMs are open, the texts are open, if you got any questions. As always, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you.
Until next time, friends. Maestro out.
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